Eddie Cai, better known as Ionika, is a music producer who works within the realms of electronic, hip-hop, and pop music. Born in New Jersey, he started out writing and producing dance music influenced by Skrillex, Avicii, and other Dubstep artists from 2012-2014. He put out his first EP in 2013, titled The Meltdown, containing 4 originals and 4 remixes. In 2015, he attended the NYU Steinhardt pre-college program where he began to redevelop his sound and style with help from his teachers: pop sensation Lauv & experimental electronic artist Yonsei. Learning the ins and outs of mixing and mastering, alongside bettering his production process, the following year, he released his debut album titled ‘​Reality​’, a compilation of experimental electronic music influenced by Flume, Ta-ku, and ODESZA.
Throughout 2017, Ionika began to discover new music and explored the world of hip-hop, analyzing old-school​ producers such as Dr. Dre, J Dilla, and RZA as well as new rappers in the modern rap scene such as XXXTENTACION, Rich Brian, and Travis Scott. In 2018, he released his sophomore album titled ‘​the afterlife​’, a hip-hop infused electronic album that focused on combining Ionika’s Chinese background with modern music, telling his musical journey throughout the album. He also featured many artists from his NYU pre-college program on the album. In the summer of 2018, he grew to become more comfortable with writing music, and now raps and records his own lyrics rather than having other artists feature on his productions. This was after learning about the Asian American hip-hop explosion through 88rising. Presently, Ionika is based in Philadelphia, studying at Drexel University in the 5-year MBA music business program.