Laythen Joseph aka joshuabraintubes
Age: 10
In three words, his music is: funny. random. straight-up weird
Laythen Joseph was writing music and making videos before he joined the Mixtape Project. Joseph, who specializes in music
with humor, partnered with his older brother for their YouTube channel, joshuabraintubes — which is also his performance
name.
“My favorite I did was called ‘Spitting Llamas.’ It’s really random, that’s how most of my stuff goes,”
said Joseph. During Mixtape workshops, Joseph wore a sweatshirt with his moniker on the back.
While he was the youngest in the group, he said he felt supported.
“It was kind of nerve-wracking. I didn’t think he (Daniel Oyinloye) was going to actually allow me to do it ’cause
I’m not even a teenager,”
said Joseph, 10. Joseph said he took much away from this experience.
It opened his eyes to the lives of other teens, and adults, in our community. Hearing their tracks, “I could understand
where they were coming from,” he said.
Mixtape organizers wanted to get a feel for an artist’s personality and what is happening in their life.
For Joseph, it was difficult to remember, write it down and make it sound good, he said.
And while he does focus on humor and light-heartedness, he did write and share about the death of his family dog.
Used to have a dog named Rufus,
if you ask me, he was kind of a doofus.
Then he died, I was kinda fried.
He put a lot of time into it, and it was gratifying seeing him look at music in a different way, said Joseph’s mother,
Men As Peacemakers staff member Ashley Cohne.
“Seeing him hanging out with teenagers that were older than him and being a natural at it.
It was very cool to watch him do his creative thing while being a part of the group — and feel like he was part of it,”
Cohne added. Participating showed Joseph new things about recording, he said.
He now knows a mic with a muffler is best vs. a headset, and to check your mic sensitivity.
He now has a clownfish voice changer, and is looking forward to using it in more of his “cringe rap” work.
Joseph’s advice for other creatives: “Don’t be afraid of people who make fun of you for what you write."
“You can rap about a water bottle, you can rap about ice. Hey, that’s a good lyric. I’m gonna include this in my next rap:
‘Hey guys, I just saw some ice that has lice.’”
written by Melinda Lavine
