UIUC talent steps it up a notch
I found Bee.Kay sitting in the lobby of the Union, Mac book open to Illinois Compass and making polite conversation with a fellow student. Beneath the very unassuming demeanor of this senior of advertising and public relations lies true star power. Bee.Kay recently released his first single “Clouted” and corresponding music video, directed and edited by the talented duo @Twobrainz and @LA_Productions, from his sophomore mix-tape 8 Semesters. Besides being a talented lyricist this Chicago native is a man of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, the president of Writers Organizing Realistic Dialect and he is a member of Pyramid Productions and Marketing Solutions LLC. From his experiences growing up on the south side of Chicago and life on the University of Illinois campus, Bee.Kay has created a compilation of songs that every college student can relate to.
Her Campus: How did your experience growing up in Chicago influence your music?
Bee.Kay: I grew up in Roseland and there weren’t too many positive influences. The people I grew up with ended up falling into bad influences. Chicago’s environment pushed me to go to church more with my family because growing up they just wanted us to stay safe. So I found music while at church, started rapping in church.
HC: Describe the evolution of your music.
B.K: My transition was from Christian rap in church to more mainstream rap. I take the religion out of it now because I know I’m not perfect. I’ve seen Christian rappers who have messed up and it has really hurt their followers so I would rather that part of myself stay personal.
HC: How long have you been doing mainstream rap?
B.K: I started flirting with the idea of pursuing a career in rap about four years ago, prior to that I was in a rap group with my church. That’s where I started to write verses and actual songs better. As I developed more as a person I started to figure out what I actually wanted to do.
HC: Describe the concept behind your second mix-tape 8 Semesters.
B.K: The concept of 8 semesters is pretty much telling the story of someone who has a deep love for music to the point where they want to dedicate their life work to it but they’re in college because they have promises they’ve made to family members and it’s the right thing to do. It’s about me being in school and trying to do both, school and music, along with personal stories about me and my guys and experiences with girls.
HC: The music video for “Clouted”, which is your first ever video was released today, what has the feedback been like?
B.K: I’ve only gotten positive reviews via text, tweets and Instagram posts. Honestly, I was looking for the negative reviews but I haven’t really found them yet. Everyone likes the song and thinks the video and song go perfectly together. @Twobrainz and @LA_Productions did their thing. I gave them the song and what I was thinking of doing and we bounced ideas off of each other and ended up making something that the people liked.
HC: Who came up with the concept behind the video? It is very up close and personal; it’s just you and the lyrics. Was that planned or spontaneous?
B.K: The final concept of clouted came out of the photo-shoot its self. I can’t take credit for it; It was Twobrainz idea. He directed it and made sure that he was doing something that he had never done with any other video and I was blown away with what they were able to come up with. We wanted it to be simple and he said the close ups would make people pay attention to the video as well as listen to the music.
Fun Facts:
Favorite artists: Kanye West, Jay-z, Drake, Kendrick Lamar, Lupe fiasco, A$AP Rocky,
Dream collaboration: Kanye West
Celeb crush: Rihanna and Teyana Taylor
Watch “Clouted” below and be on the look-out for Bee.Kay’s 8 Semesters in March.
For updates follow Bee.Kay on Twitter at @BeedotKaay.
Video:
Photo Credit:
**Photos by Twobrainz (groupiesgalore.com and @Twobrainz on Twitter)**