Watch out, Atlanta music lovers. It seems a sigh of relief is finally here as Akua Bishop aka “B.I.” is making the music we’ve been waiting for.
Rolling out got a chance to catch up with B.I. for a pleasant conversation.
Describing himself as one in “a love for life, with a short temper for nonsense and a drive for being successful”; B.I. is definitely a rapper whose liberated spirit and lyrical prowess are expressed through his compelling songs. His artist name alone signifies that B.I. means business.
What makes him different? First off Akua “B.I.” was born in Manila to an African-America military father and a Filipino mother. B.I. was brought to the U.S. as a baby and raised in a single-parent home in the east side of Decatur, Georgia.
“My dad was a DJ,” B.I. rcalls. “It was just the two of us, so he had to take me to every gig and every party. It was my little self, sitting behind the DJ booth listening to George Clinton, Bootsy Collins and Parliament-Funkadelic. I absorbed it all.”
Drawn to the drums at an early age, B.I. excelled in the band playing the drums throughout grade school. It wasn’t surprising that soon after high school, B.I. would link up with two friends to form their own band and soon be part of 2Raww – an energetic young hip-hop trio. Unfortunately, sketchy business associations derailed the group’s aspirations and the allure of street life threatened to put B.I. away (behind bars): “I got snagged up when I went down that road. It was the most devastating time of my life. My freedom was taken away. I was looking at a lot of time,” he recalls. Miraculously, it all worked out. “I came back a changed man. The lessons I learned would not allow to me go down that path; I was given a brand new start.”
Now, with a tight professional team, supportive producers and a solid business structure, B.I. is imagining the most powerful music of his life. “I listen to the track a million times and the message comes out naturally. It’s like a blind man with a paintbrush. He can’t see what he is painting but his mind tells his hand what color to dip in,” explained B.I.
The shades of B.I.’s songs are vivid, bright and vital. In his own words, his lyrics “…dance on the tracks.” And he prefers not to draw on negativity or to depend on stereotypical urban themes in his lyrics.
“Trying to deal with the day in or day out, making ends meet is depressing enough. Music frees me from that – I just come up with some feel good stuff. It makes me feel good to express myself. That’s all music is anyway. This ain’t no Bisquik, it’s like your momma’s biscuits – we make it all from scratch,” he said.
Let us know what you think about the new single “1Hundred” after checking it out on sound cloud, released by Monetary Music group.
