HavinMotion Was More Than a Tragedy
Josh Svetz remembers Dwayne Omar Isaacs Jr., who was shot and killed last month.
In interviews, HavinMotion insisted he didn’t want to get into DC politics. This was borne out in his catalog; he worked with Nino Paid and Yung Maaly, KP SKYWALKA and SituationSlim. It didn’t matter who had beef with whom. Motion existed adjacent to, but meaningfully outside the abrasive and lawless free car scene, DC’s more chaotic answer to the sample drill that has unfurled from Booklyn over the past half-decade. He had songs that the ATV squad around the city would crank from their speakers, yet also recognized how to infuse go-go rhythms and the textures of ‘90s neo-soul into his music. On some tapes, like 2024’s Motion, he raps with a controlled freneticism, weaving outlaw tales of selling on the corner and protecting himself from cops and opps alike. Elsewhere, Motion smoothed out his sound: On 2025’s Sorry Ma—a stripped back, 2010s club R&B-tinged LP—he delved into personal strife with love and his family.
No HavinMotion album sounds quite the same as the others. His curious ear for beats and mix of blatant and obscure samples made him the Kanye West of crank. “I like that elevated shit, that old school shit,” he told Big Mouf Media. If KP Skywalka is the loverboy of the DMV, and Nino Paid is the embodiment of grappling with childhood PTSD, Motion is the conflicted youth, hoping to escape the trenches through music, but leering of straying too far.
Motion notched hundreds of thousands of views on songs like “Vibe 2,” “10 Hour Drive,” and “I Just Want U.” He stamped Maryland, repping Bryans Road out in Charles County, but believed in the mission of the DMV scene. “It don’t matter where you from, DMV fye as shit,” he told Big Mouf Media. “When you divide it shit don’t go nowhere.”
On April 23rd, HavinMotion was shot and killed on the 3300 block of Wheeler Road in Southeast DC. He was 22. The DMV has some of the most creative and talented rappers in America, yet like far too many of his peers, Motion saw his life cut short. And like most of those fellow late DMV artists, his introduction to national audiences came when he was in a casket. That’s not how it should be. So let’s honor HavinMotion the best way possible: through his music.
“I’m Sad”
One of the first HavinMotion songs to get a release, featuring a foreboding beat that sounds like you’re entering a particularly cursed dungeon. It’s mostly braggadocio, and Motion is still finding his flow, but the short stanzas flash the potential he’d make good on later.
“B Road Flow”
Another early glimpse of his potential, Motion digs into the crate to pump up Smokey Robinson & The Miracles’ “Much Better Off,” showcasing improved control in his flow and refined punchlines with the rhythmic bounce to his cadence that he’d continue to utilize.
“10 Hour Drive”
Motion lays out the circumstances of an intense drug run, capturing the exhilaration and fear of the experience. The sped-up “Flashing Lights” channels the paranoia of a late-night drive where one slip up could lead to a violent end.
“Vibe 2”
The quintessential HavinMotion track where he turns Kendrick Lamar’s “Bitch Don’t Kill My Vibe” into a refreshingly longing love song. The 808 beat blasts as he rattles off items he’ll buy her and what she means to him. A hood loverboy classic.
“I Just Want U”
The melodic sample is contorted beyond recognition, adding an eerie, liminal atmosphere to the track. Motion is back in his loverboy bag, but this time the girl doesn’t want expensive things, she’s concerned about his lifestyle. The song sounds like a long phone call of reassurance, broken up by a confessional conversation. The bliss and struggles of modern youth in love, packaged into a catchy song fit for 2 A.M. reflections.
“Night Shift”
An early preview of the sample crank Motion would continue to tweak, “Night Shift” screws a beat that sounds like OutKast’s “Da Art Of Storytellin Pt.1.”
“Already Knowin”
Motion rarely used features (aside from with Swerv, and even then mostly before he blew up), though he was happy to deliver assists like Luka on many DMV rappers’ songs. That’s one element that makes this track special—the other, his tradeoff flow with superstar Nino Paid, proving he could go toe to toe with the best coming out of the area.
“Cheaper To Leave Her”
Blissful piano gives way to foreboding energy. Despite that, this rounds out into something comparatively lighthearted, a tongue-in-cheek realization about relationship ambivalence. In this economy, I couldn’t blame him.
“Shit To Do”
An indie rock sample gets injected with bounce as Motion crafts one of his most poignant and reflective tracks. He opens up about his fear of leaving the trap because the environment is all he knows; about friends he’s lost; about his dependence on drugs to regulate all those feelings. An honest depiction of the tension between wanting to make music work, but fearing the unknown, that made many Motion tracks compelling.
How Life Been
Combining his breathless energy, ravenous appetite for inventive beats, and more detailed honesty over his trying circumstances, How Life Been fleshes out HavinMotion’s vision, giving extra depth and a new dimension to an already rich catalog. His experimentation ramps up: reverbed and screwed Jodeci to express his struggle to change his ways (“Insane”), spacey cloud rap to underscore his grief over losing his friends to the street and the cell (“Free Tall”), menacing synths to soundtrack a stick up (“StoreWalk”), twisting Erykah Badu’s “Don’t Cha Know,” into a reflective rap song (“Kickin’ My Cup”), it culminates into a project that proves he’s a student of the game, finally realizing his vision.
How Life Been feels like a step forward. Motion coalesces all the different sounds he experimented with into a varied, sharp, and eclectic account of the trials and tribulations of being a buzzing rap star with one foot in and out of the streets.
During the interview, Motion is asked why he hasn’t reached the next level of buzz. He doesn’t get mad, calmly explaining the situation. “I take breaks from rap,” he told Big Mouf Media. “I don’t be feeling it sometimes, I just get in some type of mood. I like getting money and rapping don’t get no money. But ever since the end of 2025, I had to get focused. I gotta show them I can really rap, I don’t got to diss, I can make real music.”
He was on the path to taking his career seriously, possibly capitalizing on the potential that captivated listeners during his breakout. Instead, we’re left with a catalog of ghosts of the talent we’ll never see flourish.