Ash Winston Riser (August 29, 1989 – June 12, 2021), also known by his former stage name Ashtrobot, was an American recording artist and music producer. Born and raised in California, he embarked on his music career when he was 15 years old, forming a

rock band A rock band or pop band is a small musical ensemble that performs rock music, pop music, or a related genre. A four-piece band is the most common configuration in rock and pop music. In the early years, the configuration was typically two guita ...

called Pistol Pistol (stylized P!stol P!stol). Due to differences between members, the band broke up in 2009 and Riser subsequently began to put his focus on music production, fusing electronic and hip hop music, among other genres. Riser later began working with longtime friend, Derek Ali of Top Dawg Entertainment, who introduced him to West Coast rapper Kendrick Lamar, with whom he began heavily collaborating. Riser would go on to sign a record deal with Israeli music producer Borgore's record label, Buygore and also had a production deal with Chest Rockwell Entertainment. During his life, Riser had played multiple sold-out shows with fellow label-mates and musicians such as ETC! ETC!, Kennedy Jones, Ookay, Protohype and Dirtyphonics. In 2016, Riser received a Grammy Award for his contributions on Kendrick Lamar's '' To Pimp a Butterfly.''

Life and career

Ash Winston Riser was born on August 29, 1989, in Redondo Beach, California. It was here he first encountered music and founded his rock band, Pistol Pistol (stylized P!stol P!stol), at the young age of 15. The band, which he formed with high-school classmates, initially started out as a cover band, covering songs by Weezer and The Strokes, among other bands. His first serious music project !stol P!stol was a great success with appearances on ''The Drop'' on

Sí TV NuvoTV (formerly known as Sí TV) was an American cable television, cable television network. It was launched on February 25, 2004, and catered to the Latino community with exclusively English-language programming. It ended operations on Septembe ...

and music featured on ESPN. During their time together, P!stol P!stol released an album titled ''The Cause''. However, due to differences between members, the band broke up in 2009. Since the break-up of his band, he decided to spend countless hours in the studio perfecting his style and sound, producing bass music. While focusing on music production after P!stol P!stol's disbandment, Riser got a phone call from his longtime high-school friend, Derek Ali, better known as

MixedByAli Derek Ali (born November 1, 1989), better known by his moniker MixedByAli, is an American mixing engineer. His career began in Los Angeles in the late 2000s recording and mixing for Top Dawg Entertainment artists Kendrick Lamar, Jay Rock, SZA an ...

, the in-house mixing engineer of West Coast indie record label, Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE). Ali asked Riser to come by the studio and record vocals with an artist he was producing for named Kendrick Lamar, a

Compton Compton may refer to: Places Canada * Compton (electoral district), a former Quebec federal electoral district * Compton (provincial electoral district), a former Quebec provincial electoral district now part of Mégantic-Compton * Compton, Que ...

-based rapper. Lamar and Riser had an instant musical synergy, with Lamar finding Riser's voice to be very original and complementary to his own. Lamar appreciated that Riser used his voice as a musical instrument to add more soul to tracks. In 2009, Riser was featured on Lamar's debut extended play (EP), '' Kendrick Lamar'', on a bonus track titled "Determined". Lamar and Riser collaborated again in 2010, for Lamar's '' Overly Dedicated'' project, appearing on the song "Barbed Wire". In 2011, Riser was featured on Lamar's '' Section.80'' project, lending his vocals on the tracks, "Keisha's Song" and "Ronald Reagan Era". In July 2011, Riser released an EP under his label, D.R.E.A.M. Brigade Recordings. The EP, titled ''21st Century Electric Church Music'', is a collection of songs compiled by different artists and includes Riser's song, "Ghetto Blastuh". Riser then began collaborating with Lamar's

Black Hippy Black Hippy is an American hip hop supergroupAb-Soul Herbert Anthony Stevens IV (born February 23, 1987), better known by his stage name Ab-Soul, is an American rapper, singer and songwriter. Raised in Carson, California, he signed to indie record label Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE) in 2007, where ...

. Riser was featured on "Beautiful Death", from Ab-Soul's 2012 project, ''

Control System A control system manages, commands, directs, or regulates the behavior of other devices or systems using control loops. It can range from a single home heating controller using a thermostat controlling a domestic boiler to large industrial c ...

''. In 2013, Riser signed a

recording contract A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist (or group), where the artist makes a record (or series of records) for the label to sell and promote. Artists ...

with Israeli music producer Borgore's record label Buygore, as well as his management company, Buygore Management. Around that time, Riser also signed a production deal with Chest Rockwell Entertainment, founded by Greg Ogan and Spencer Neezy. On April 22, 2015, Riser released an EP titled ''Modern Medicine'', which he mixed, mastered, produced and recorded by himself. In June 2015, when asked if he was still with Buygore, Riser responded with: "not since 2014". On June 22, 2016, Riser released his third EP that year, titled ''R.I.S.E.'', which includes productions from 808 Mafia, Metro Boomin, Sonny Digital, TM88 and Zaytoven.

Death

Riser was one month away from releasing his second studio album, ''H.O.P.E.'', when he unexpectedly died in the early hours of June 12, 2021. His death was a shock across the Los Angeles music scene, and several of his fellow musicians paid tribute to him.

Discography

Studio albums

EPs

Singles

;As lead artist ;As featured artist

Guest appearances

Remixes

;2010 *"Glaciers (Ashtrobot remix)" by Her Majesty & the Wolves ;2011 *"When I Look At You (Ashtrobot remix)" by

Emalkay Martin Knowles, better known by his stage name Emalkay, is an English dubstep producer Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises ...

*" She Will (Ashtrobot remix)" by Lil Wayne *"Beg for Mercy (Ashtrobot remix)" by Adam Lambert *"Purple Swag (Ashtrobot remix)" by ASAP Rocky ;2014 *"Oakland (Ash Riser remix)" by Vell *"

No Type "No Type" is a hip hop song by American hip hop duo Rae Sremmurd. It was released on September 15, 2014, by EarDrummers Entertainment and Interscope Records, as the second single from their debut studio album ''SremmLife'' (2015). The song was ...

(Ash Riser remix)" by Rae Sremmurd ;2015 *"Run Ricky Run (Ashtrobot remix)" by Manolo Rose

Awards and nominations

Grammy Awards

{, class="wikitable" !Year !Nominated work !Award !Result , - ,

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

, '' To Pimp a Butterfly'' (as background vocalist) , Best Rap Album ,

References

External links

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