He's got four albums and an EP under his belt. He published a book of his own poetry entitled "Diary of an American Witchdoctor." He's collaborated several times with Outkast and Goodie Mob. On Wednesday he'll be opening up for Ghostface Killah in the sold-out Granite State Room at UNH, on a tour put on by Cartoon Network's [adult swim].
Atlanta-native Erin Johnson, a.k.a. Witchdoctor, is a hard-working man. "I'm 24-hours on this music," said Johnson in a phone interview from tour starting-point SUNY Albany, N.Y., on Monday.
His music, a more smooth and at the same time rougher counterpart to Ghostface's stream-of-conscious flow, is inspired by hard times and makes an active attempt at touching listeners.
"God gave me this gift to do music and use poetry in all different ways," said the Doctor. "What can I say that will amaze you?"
He owes his success to "a lot of hard work, a lot of writing, a lot of praying, being in the right position at the right time and weathering the storm," he said.
And MySpace.
The Doctor caught the eyes and ears of Williams Street Music, a subsidiary of Warner Music Group through his 2006 album called "King of the Beast" sold on his MySpace profile. The Doctor was approached about doing a song or two for them, maybe even an album.
"I thought the album thing sounded real good and like a real good opportunity," said Johnson, so he accepted.
He was then asked to open up for Ghostface Killah on a cross-country collegiate tour this month, starting out yesterday in SUNY and ending at the University of New Mexico on Oct 19.
"I thought, '[this] was a blessing in disguise,'" said Johnson. "It's God telling me 'This is it, this is it!'"
Internet musicians are a dime a dozen, but The Doctor believes he brings something different than all of the others.
"What's going to separate me is the creativity," he said. "When I record 12 songs, I like to record maybe 60-70 different voice tones," he said. "So when people hear me and hear the album, they won't get tired of hearing the same voice all the time."
Witchdoctor's new album entitled "Escape to New York" should be dropping and he hopes to catch on to a tour with a "bigwig" like Kanye West or 50 Cent, he said.
First things first, however; he's still got to show his true colors to the general public's eye, and the UNH show on Wednesday is the perfect opportunity to amaze a huge room full of college kids with exactly what he can do.
Catch Witchdoctor opening for Ghostface Killah at a free show for students in the Granite State Room on Wednesday, Oct 3. Doors open at 8 p.m.
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