The daily grind of balancing academics, personal life and extracurricular activities can be stressful for anyone. But Issack Cintron, a Cayuga Hall RA, cinema student and musician, seems to be doing it with grace and ease. His music talent is what marks the eye though.
Cintron was surrounded by hip-hop throughout his whole life, from toddler years to middle school and present day.

“Hip-hop came to me because of my mother,” Cintron said. “She was into the genre and played Laurent Hill consistently. Laurent Hill reminds me of my mother.”

Cintron chuckled because that was her favorite artist.

Cintron learned about rock music on his own. He is into all types of rock.

“Metallica taught me that it was okay to be different,” he said. “I was a black kid who liked rock ‘n’ roll while everyone else liked hip-hop.”

That love for rock began in 2007 and writing music then kicked off in 2012. His aspiration to begin a band started there.

Cintron’s EP “The Glass House Dimension” only took seven months to create. From writing the first song in July 2015 to editing the final song in January 2016, that is impressive for a first EP for a rookie band. The number one hit “Boardwalk” wasn’t the first track Cintron and his team worked on. It was “Halls (Part I),” which was produced by Cintron’s lead bass guitarist Daniel Nunez.

How did the most popular song “Boardwalk” come to be? Cintron said that on a day where him and his team were jamming, Nunez, Cintron’s best friend, was playing a baseline and Cintron the guitar and that a sudden feel of ‘walking on a boardwalk on a gloomy day’ came to mind. He felt originality and out of the box with that song.

“The song’s sound reflects metaphors for drug addiction,” Cintron said. “The music has a bigger aspect than the lyrics.”

Cintron thought of the band since 2012 but nothing was to strike until 2014. Cintron met Nunez in 2009 and have been best friends since then. The two united for Moxy Lane in 2014. The final official member to join was Amanda Gibson in early 2016, but it wasn’t Cintron who met her. Nunez was at Guitar Center and Gibson popped out of nowhere and sang along Nunez’s rhythm while he was playing around with the guitar. Cintron was then introduced to her and she became the lead singer just moments after.

“At home, it’s music and at school it’s film,” Cintron said.

Thinking about his summer plans, “A journalism internship may be the immediate future; unfortunately for music and film there is no right first step.”

Cintron is often asked if being an RA gets in the way of his media work a lot.

“I love being an RA,” Cintron said. “But it is time consuming and gets in the way of film, but music not that much. Directing a film is difficult while being on call often.”

Although Cintron’s other major is journalism, he says that career path is plan B.

“My heart lies more in film and music than journalism,” Cintron said. “I would like to keep this band no matter how my career in film or journalism goes.”

Cintron gave a sneak peek at his next EP.

“Expect the whole album to sound like ‘Mr. Glass’ A rage and aggressive sound, much different than ‘Boardwalk’ and ‘Halls (Part I)’.”

Cintron’s number one goal with Moxy Lane is to one day perform at Wrestlemania. He would love to have a song of his be a theme song for a WWE pay-per-view or be an entrance theme song for a pro wrestler.