For any artist from overseas making their UK debut it can be a daunting prospect, but for B-Lovee it was a slice of cake. Making several regional appearances in Birmingham and Manchester before heading back down to the capital for his highly anticipated headline show at the O2 Academy Islington, the viral sensation had already made quite the impression before his arrival. As the world began to go into lockdown amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, B-Lovee took that time of silence and made a world that was going to change his life. Putting pen to paper he started pushing out music of his own and swiftly gained viral success.
Collaborating with UK hit-maker Digga D earlier this year on ‘What You Reckon?’, the 21-year-old is one of the many artists from New York that is pushing drill but in a way that’s accumulating the masses. Putting the skittering beats and heavy bass to one side, sampling old-school tunes in with drill’s reputable grit is a trend that’s become increasingly popular over the past few years. Capturing the attention of many with his break-out single ‘My Everything’, you may or may not recognise – hopefully you do – Mary J Blige’s reputable track ‘Everything’ weaving in and out of the production. Glossing his fiery tone and jumping flows atop, he’s since collaborated with many boast-worthy names including A Boogie Wit da Hoodie, Coi Leray, G Herbo, Kay Flock, and Dougie B. Proving to be one of New York’s hottest artists to arise, B-Lovee is on duty to take international drill by storm.
Clash got the chance to catch up with B-Lovee ahead of his show in Manchester for a quick chat about his rise to fame and more. Tap in below to see what he had to say!
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If you could take it back to the beginning with me and talk me through how you started rapping and the kind of music, you were listening to growing up…
I grew up listening to all types of music from R&B, hip-hop, rap, drill, and singing; all that kinda music. I started rapping around two years ago in the pandemic, we were still inside due to Covid and everything. We didn’t have a lot to do but we had a studio set-up in a closet so we would go in there and make music. We started gaining a bit of a buzz, people were really liking it and that’s when we started taking it seriously.
You are part of this new wave of Drill artists that are taking over and are primarily known for sampling songs. What made you want to take this route with Drill?
I didn’t know it was going to be that much of a hype, I didn’t think it would have such a big impact on drill.
Why do you think so many people took to it?
I honestly don’t know! I think it goes back to using older songs that people have grown up listening to. But it’s crazy because I didn’t realise that the sample in ‘My Everything’ [Mary J Blige’s ‘Everything’] was a sample until I really listened to it. When I released that song, it went crazy!
I’ve read that your artist’s name originates from the Child’s Play movie – tell me a bit more about this and why that inspired it?
Yeah, the Chuckie movie! They named me after the Chuckie doll when I was a baby. Somebody in there was called Buddy Love so my name was originally Buddy and they started making jokes calling me Buddy Love and one day I just decided to run with B Lovee.
You’ve linked up with Digga D as well this year on ‘What You Reckon’, tell me how this collaboration came about?
He reached out to somebody that I know in New York, a YouTube reactor and they got me on a FaceTime call, we chopped it up and he sent me over the record to get on. I sent it back and we linked up in Miami where we shot the video for it – it was crazy!
Are there any more UK link ups on the way?
Oh yeah, 100%!
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Your career has blown up pretty quickly over the past year or so. How are you dealing with what comes with being an artist and social media? What keeps you grounded?
Understanding that this is an entirely new life to what I was used to before, it’s a lot of change.
Do you find it to be quite overwhelming at times?
Yeah, for sure. Everything I do from now on reflects on my career, so I have to be really careful with what I say and stuff.
You released your latest project ‘Misunderstood’ earlier this year. Was there anything in particular you wanted to put across or was it more to show your listeners what you can do?
Yeah, it was a fun little project to put out. It was essentially a set of songs that I had already made; following the release of my singles, we just wanted to put something out there that the fans could enjoy.
You have your show in Manchester later – what song do you most look forward to performing when you’re doing a show and why?
Probably my biggest singles like ‘My Everything’ and ‘IYKYK’ because those are the ones that everybody knows the most. The crowd goes crazy when we play those songs, it’s good to see them hyped!
What else can we expect to see from you this year?
I might be working on a project soon. I’m definitely on a UK tip, I would love to do an EP with UK artists and producers, maybe around four or five songs so that should be good!
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Words: Elle Evans
