Josh Imhof | features editor

As the last of the Light Up Night fireworks exploded over the Clemente Bridge on Nov. 22, a different kind of spectacle began to capture the attention of the crowd.

While thousands of attendees headedhome, some began to gather outside of the Byham Theater to watch a man in an orange jacket emphatically sing into a microphone.

“Ain’t no party like a Pittsburgh party ‘cause the Pittsburgh party don’t stop!”

The man was Isaiah Smalls, and like the Pittsburgh party, he did not stop.

Smalls, a Duquesne Mary Pappert School of Music alumnus, has been a street performer around Pittsburgh for the past two-and-a-half years, but he has been a musician for as long as he can remember.

He began playing music at the age of two using his older brother’s instruments.

“He had drums, keyboards and guitars around the house,” Smalls said. “Those were my toys.”

In college, he began playing with others, like his college roommate Jake Guerra. He and Guerra would produce music in their dorm room.

“It was always fantastic. He’s just such a creative individual, and you can just tell he really has fun with it,” Guerra said.

As he got older, Smalls took on the persona of “Orange Music,” a homage to his regular trips to Tennessee with his mom. Sometimes the color gets misinterpreted in Pittsburgh.

“The Bengals are orange. The Browns are orange. Those are definitely two hated teams,” Smalls said. “We played some music over in Cincinnati, and it was kind of nice to match with everybody.”

Although originally from Minnesota, Pittsburgh has become a part of Smalls’ identity, especially in terms of the musicians he looks up to. He met Mac Miller and Wiz Khalifa, two of his musical idols, during performances at Mr. Smalls in Millvale and was even able to play his music for them.

He said it was nice getting approval from someone he held in such high regard.

“They just gave me a lot of hope and a lot of inspiration,” Smalls said.

This inspiration eventually led him to cross paths with another Pittsburgh street performer, Parker Webb, also known as Fungi Flows.

Webb, identifiable by his large, red and white mushroom hat, was attending Miller’s vigil after his death when he found Smalls singing and playing Miller’s songs on a keyboard.

“It was really cool because he was channeling the childlike love and childlike free spirit that Mac brought,” Webb said.

The two became immediate collaborators, with Webb rapping over the beats Smalls was playing.

Since then, the two frequently perform together and have even traveled to different cities to share their unique brand of music.

“We’ve taken each other to the next level,” Webb said. “That’s my man now. Definitely one of my best friends.”

One of the things that makes a Smalls performance unique is his lyricism.

As a kid, he began writing his own songs. His first one, “The Teletubbies Song,” now serves as an unlikely precursor to his current work.

While he has matured musically and performatively, he still keeps the simplicity and youthfulness of his early attempts at songwriting.

“That’s really what I like these days, too,” Smalls said. “I got songs called ‘Babies on the Dance Floor,’ and I’ll just go through a whole bunch of nursery rhymes.”

Smalls will combine these songs with adlibs of his own, which often encourage people to dance. He will also add in the hooks of popular songs, such as the Bee Gees’ “Stayin’ Alive.” Smalls said the simple lyrics and melodies are easy enough for people to latch onto so that they can feel like they are a part of the show but upbeat enough that they will be able to dance to it.

“They could be country fans and still get down to ‘Pittsburgh Party,’” Smalls said.

During a show in West Virginia, Smalls said ‘Babies on the Dance Floor’ got an entire street shut down.

“We had the kids dancing in the streets, and they were going crazy,” Smalls said. “We were playing outside of this pizza place, and we were on the sidewalk. All the kids took over the whole street, and the police had us shut it down.”

While Smalls does not want every show of his to end this way, he does hope to continue getting the opportunity to play larger gigs in other cities.

“I think you need to times everything by 10,” he said.

Still, he has enjoyed the success he has had so far and plans to continue performing around the city.

“I don’t need the recognition… my dreams already came true,” Smalls said. “Everything is just icing on the cake.”

Josh Imhof can be reached at imhofj@duq.edu