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Israel Cooper

Check Out Israel Cooper’s Story

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Israel Cooper.

Hi Israel, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Since middle school I’ve always had a passion for seeing a lot of things in different perspectives such as sports entertainment arts or even Music.

I never really started making music until 9th grade which i carried a lot of tasks while starting out the years making the varsity basketball team for “Sherwood High School” located in Sandy Spring MD, I also attended Instrumental Band through 5th to 11th grade aswell as jazz band and Music production which is where we as students were given access and tutored on how to create on Mix Craft – and Ableton Live I never really knew much about the logistics but there were people that were better experienced than me that were class leaders in a sense.

From that point forward that was the main spark of inspiration for making a career out of nothing but from the ground roots of educations support and the help of others.

I had a big reputation away from music in my area of sports which gave me a fan base and not only was I passionate about both hobbies I somehow loved basketball more than music and I was too young to understand the balance between both so i went full time with basketball until i graduated and made the decision to not attend college and work save and invest into something else.

After i graduated from Sherwood, I didn’t know what to expect career wise. It was very traumatic but still worth the effort of completing school and earning a diploma. I started work at the age of 17 and struggled with saving, worked numerous of jobs in the same area of Olney md and learned a lot on my own but yet still was worried and frustrated that all my friends and good peoples all got scholarships or they were attending college and they made it look so easy but I couldn’t really get that chance.

Through that phase it pushed me back to a point where I don’t know what’s next but the only thing I had in front of me was a job so I spent 6 years in the food industry 4years doing Security Clearance and I used that profit from those shifts to get me a Brand new iPhone cause at the time I was recording on a app by the name of Voccolo it was like bandlab before Bandlab. That app has helped me structure what I think makes me feel free and having the access to record for the first time was the peak of it cause I can be myself and I’ve been patient through the process of working but still kept a routine it was work get off record in the car go home literally all month long all year long.

I had met some guys connected with the Afrobeat industry which i actually went to school with and this phase was when I was homeless and I got kick out my moms I had nowhere to stay so they took me in and they were heavily musically inclined in the field of Auto tune Daws Pluggins Gains a professional mic studio space in the home and all like it was an actual setup and to me experiencing being around all of that equipment really helped me escape recording on the phone with the app. We made strictly Afrobeat music and it was the prime start of Who I am La Foux which translates to “Crazy” in French I given myself that name at the time because from the moment i graduated to the moment i was in after had been quite a crazy journey and it remindeds me that even though life is full of blessings prepare for the craziness in the journey you take individually which is a message I tell myself as a Black African American.

I would say this is the lit part of my come up meeting the Afrobeat musicians, we would travel around the dmv locally and would host our own shows where we would perform the songs we made in the studio back to back and we actually made money off of the streams the shows and the bookings which started a business mindset for us as a group we did that process for about 3 months and then we fell off as a group and individually started our own career which put me back into that mindset of loneliness and fear so I saved up and moved out and got my own place in Wheaton and invested into my own studio by the name of FXSL STUDIOS
Mackie 5 speakers AKG studio headphones AKG p420 mic focusrite 3
MPk and more literally built it from the ground up of no knowledge of knowing everything is sold separately and also knowing how to wire things or even what wires to get but it came out beautiful and it came out exactly how i imagined and in that moment I would never ever forget how I felt to finally have something from nothing and it was how i imagined it.

I spent a lot of time learning fl studios specifically vocal work and mix quality
I didn’t know how to make beats or do anything pretty much but the basics
I recorded tracks and released them for feedback and I honestly had to let my old mix grown on me because I didn’t know how to mix well I was new to the game. I failed sometimes but people still supported me partially I struggled with promotion and engagement for a while and honestly understanding what I wanted to chase as an artist. I took a break since I had a studio of my own and picked up my camera and started bringing it with me to a small club in Wheaton by the name of Singapore and I was hired nightly to shoot recap pictures and videos and I had a good strong relationship with the club until one night it was burnt down and my night gig was ruined and it put me back into that Loneliness feel as if I really felt like “La Foux” or crazy like wtf is going on with life. I spent time after that away from music and started to establish other things to shoot on my camera which was a Sony a6000 DSLR I was never picky about what I shoot as long as it wasn’t wild asf so I fell in love with that and started to pick up small very small amounts of clients like 1 every 2 or 3 months and each client was someone with a different personality and a different emotion to them and it really impacted me and opened my mind because I spent so much time on me and my situation but yet never sit down to watch someone else’s movie(Life or emotion) I never noticed but I was turned into a creative director without even knowing someone who wanted to vision but sees it for someone else and makes it look good too. I found out I had a gift not only for people but for myself but it only requires how much energy do I put in it for me as well as others.

This is where my life becomes colorful
I’m working doing good in life very consistent and very organized with the studio and I started to learn how to record and mix and lil better so made a song I really liked and I wanted to shoot my very own first video to it by the help of my wife which was my gf at the time, I told her every angle to capture lightning and all and we literally made our own label out of nothing and structured drops for me and I made the covers and invested in shows and performances and made my own profit independently.

I started being more consistent than others cause my situation made me very disciplined at a young age of 18-19 years old and it started to catch the attention of studios and other creators.
I get a dm one day from a guy name JACO(CEO of highlife studios) he asked me if he can book me for this showcase at twin vally in Rockville Md I do the shoot and the photos come out just like how they were at the club the same feeling and everything but different crowd but this time this was the right people to be around and I never knew it was out here in front of me on a day to day basis because of work and my situation.

Jaco asked if I can meet him at his studio in dc
He introduced me to the team who was working there at the time Giela Davion Jojo and more Jaco interviewed me and just got to know more about me so I told him everything even this story im telling you all now and it landed me into the position to be a full time Creative Director for not only the DC location of Highlife Studios but the Rockville location aswell and I started shooting clients of my own mixed with there clients strictly camera work so even tho I wanted to introduce my music side to highlife I had to remain humble. I covered majority of highlifes content and really pushed there social media engagement to another level of leverage by capturing real time events real time sessions and cover work on big get artist who are labeled. I made enough revenue to move out and move my wife in a place with me and still remain committed to the studio.

Working with highlife has helped me branch off and make connections with brands people and communities and still till this day they are still a studio I can call family and would never ever not have love and respect for.
Through out my time of work I decided to shift a bit and put the camera down and start to learn beats and that’s when I met basementsam DMV known producer known for producing electronic rap beats or trap beats Samples literally any sound fr but meeting Sam not only gave me a brother that cared but gave me the opportunity to learn how to make beats and learn how to mix I sat in a bunch of his sessions and picked up on different beats different sounds and different artist and how they record energy wise and took it back home to originate my own sound and my own wave since I only really knew afrobeat I had to sit down with myself and ask myself what do I really want and I decided to go for electronic alternative rap beats aswell as fuck fusion trap beats, needed a tag Sam helped me structure one. Sam was by far the most talented but yet thoughtful person I’ve ever met he looked out for me beyond and I had no other choice but to creative direct in return for him.

From there I had everything on lock and I finally knew what what needed to be done for my career it looked like basketball but that was what wanted not needed. Music speaks to me it
Visuals help me understand through sight
Connections fill in empty spaces
I’m not crazy I’m just La Foux

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
My journey has been shaped by uncertainty, financial struggles, homelessness, and having to build a career without the traditional path of college or scholarships. I worked multiple jobs for years while teaching myself music production, recording, mixing, photography, and videography with limited resources. I struggled with saving money, promoting my work, finding my identity as an artist, and dealing with setbacks such as losing important opportunities and support systems. There were moments of loneliness, fear, and frustration where I didn’t know what was next, but each obstacle pushed me to become more disciplined, independent, and creative. Instead of letting those challenges stop me, I used them as motivation to build my own studio, develop my skills, create opportunities for myself, and ultimately turn nothing into something.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Creative Director
Cinematography
Music Artist
Performer

What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
The essential qualities that have carried me through my journey are resilience, discipline, self-motivation, adaptability, creativity, and persistence. I’ve learned how to keep moving forward through financial struggles, homelessness, uncertainty, failures, and setbacks. I’ve had to teach myself many skills and create opportunities instead of waiting for them to come to me. I’m willing to learn from others, remain humble, and adapt when something doesn’t work. Most importantly, I’ve developed the discipline to stay consistent with my goals and the vision to turn limited resources into something meaningful. These qualities have helped me build myself, my music, my creative career, and FXSL from the ground up.

Pricing:

  • Music Videos 300
  • Visuals 200
  • Photoshoots 150
  • Studio Recordings sessions 65 hr
  • Recaps 250

Contact Info:

Two young men stand side by side in front of a black vehicle, one with arms crossed, the other making a hand gesture.

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