Johan Ishak or better known as Joe Flizzow, is no stranger in the Asian urban entertainment scene. Over the past three years, his presence has grown from strength to strength after the release of his award-winning English album entitled ‘The President’ in 2009 as a solo artist with stage appearances in various countries like The United States of America, Netherlands, Britian, Japan, Maldives, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and Brunei, cementing his status as Asia’s hip-hop superstar.

This business-savvy, young entrepreneur is also the founder and CEO of Kartel Records, the biggest independent Hip-Hop record label in Malaysia and is responsible for overseeing its growth as one of Asia’s most recognisable Hip-Hop collective and brand. The label hosts a stellar cast of artists such as Altimet, SonaOne, Micbandits (Brunei) and Ila Damiaa.

Under Joe Flizzow’s leadership, Kartel Records released ‘Made Men: Volume 1’, a Hip-hop compilation album which received rave reviews both locally and regionally. ‘Who Do It Better’, the lead single from the compilation featuring Joe Flizzow, was a critically acclaimed chart-topping hit that reintroduced the “boom-bap” sound to radio listeners.

To add on to his list of creative repertoire, Joe Flizzow also actively writes and produces songs for himself as well as for other prominent artists. His most recent production for the artist Rossa (Indonesia), ‘One Night Lover’ achieved platinum status in Indonesia selling 500,000 units within the first month of its release. Other notable international collaborations include ‘Get It Done’ featuring KRS-ONE (USA), ‘Do It Big’ featuring Thaitanium (Thailand), ‘Complicated’ featuring Asian Idol Hady Mirza (Singapore) and ‘Bersamamu’ featuring Joeniar Ariff (Indonesia).

In 2010, Joe Flizzow made his TV presence as a permanent jury on Media Prima’s 8TV award-winning reality show, ‘Showdown’, a dance competition show for break-dancing and street dance crews in Malaysia. His involvement in ‘Showdown’ has continued with the show now in its third season as of 2012.

In 2010 also, Joe Flizzow was invited by Media Prima TV3 to participate in a singing competition / reality TV show entitled ‘Mentor’. This was where he discovered his protégé Ila Damiaa at an audition in Kuching, Sarawak.. Joe’s belief in Ila Damiaa’s talent extended well beyond the duration of the TV show and he eventually signed her on as a recording artist under his Kartel Records label. Joe is personally involved in grooming Ila as a full-fledged artist and is also overseeing the production of her debut album which is currently in the works.

Patriot is the title of Joe Flizzow’s sophomore studio album which incidentally will be his first full length Malay language album. Its lead single ‘Untukmu’ featuring Ila Damiaa is currently receiving heavy rotation on all radio stations nationwide and is fast making its way up the charts. The song is a special dedication to Joe Flizzow’s family, friends and fans, who have supported his career over the years and has shown him love in all aspects of his endeavours: from music, television, business and personal life.

With a studio album, appearances on three TV shows and a nationwide tour in the works, 2012 is the most exciting year for Joe Flizzow yet. As the artist sucinctly observes, “we used to have a dream, now we have a plan”.