Rutgers—Newark student finds his way on debut album, 'ID SAY IM LOST'

When Godard Aristil, a School of Arts and Sciences sophomore at Rutgers—Newark, isn't in the classroom, he's performing as a musician under his first name, Godard. At the end of September, all of his hard work came to a head as he celebrated the release of his first album on Apple Music, Amazon Music and a host of other streaming formats.

"ID SAY IM LOST" is a mix of R&B, hip hop and rap. The theme of the album is being lost in time, according to Aristil.

"Within the album, each lyric in one song at least relates to another song on the album, it has some sort of connection," he said. "And throughout the album, it's more telling a story of seeing your future, knowing your past and your present, but still not knowing exactly where you're at right now ... It's like feeling lost but knowing everything that's happening."

Aristil gained an appreciation for music at a young age when he would listen to a multitude of artists and read poetry, alongside his father.

"I remember as a kid, I used to leave the radio on every night before I went to sleep, and I just listened to whatever was playing at the time. And I think that's something that's still instilled in me," he said.

Eventually, during his junior year of high school, he would try his own hand at music, focusing on rap and developing his own sound. It was there that he learned how to balance his music pursuits and his education. Now, as a Rutgers student, Aristil doesn't find himself struggling to find balance in both endeavors, even if he candidly considers one as being more enjoyable than the other.

"I guess it was pretty easy for me, because I started in high school, and I guess the way I did it in high school was (that) I did the music first and then the school work second, but I always had time for both," says Aristil.

He and a friend would make music, drawing from artists that they listened to, like Kendrick Lamar, Isaiah Rashad and Tyler, The Creator. He credits those artists for inspiring his style, drawn to their intricate rap flows and lyrics that make listeners think deeper about the meaning of the song they are listening to.

His passion for music and the people who influence his own music leads to him listening to music in a "different" way — it's a part of who he is.

"I find the artists I'm listening to at the time, listen to their songs, their albums, see what it is that makes their music good, and not try and replicate that, but use that as like a framework for the stuff I'm working on," Aristil said.

His love and passion for music still remains. It's the authenticity and the artistic prowess of his musical influences that serve as a reference and push him to be his best self.

An enduring essential skill as a music artist today is the ability to produce music or beats and, fortunately, Aristil has that covered. He produces some of his own beats for his music, despite not seeing himself as a traditional producer. Part of his production process involves chopping and skewing samples up to make his own beat.

"For someone to be a producer, I see it as they're creating melodies from scratch," he said. "They know music theory. They know how to listen for notes. They know the correct pitch to match a song to, and they know how to create things from scratch."

With this album and other future projects, Aristil hopes to be heard by the masses while remaining true to his own sound and being authentic through his artistry. He's already got his foot in the door — in addition to his debut album, one of his tracks, "She Know What She Wanted - Jersey Club Remix Slowed" has amassed more than 45 million plays.

"When starting music, I had this one goal in mind. It's still the same goal, to have my music reach millions of ears, and I've managed to do that, but not with the actual type of art I really create, like I did that with the viral Jersey Club Remix but not with my actual lyricism and artistic creativeness," Aristil said.

He said that discussing "real world events, real life issues (and) real life problems" helps him reach a bigger audience. He said that if his music discusses topics such as relationship problems and self-love, more people will be able to relate to him and use his music as a healthy coping mechanism. In his eyes, music is so much more than art.

"I feel like music is just art that can happen at any point, and it's in almost everything we consume nowadays," Aristil said. "Music is everywhere. That's what it is for me, it's everywhere. It's in everything."