American rapper, Bas, announced the release of his highly anticipated album, 'Last Winter', with features from J.Cole, Lil Tjay, as well as Diesel, Cedrick Brown and T-Minus on production. While many may argue that this is different from what his fans are used to, Bas in his interview with SA’s media said that in order to grow as an artist, he has learnt to be open minded and intentional about everything he does in his career.
“Going around, I was just looking at my career, challenging myself to say what’s the next frontier, what is the next challenge for me creatively and commercially? I wanted to approach that with intention. That’s how I got to the song The Jackie. I felt like even though I already had an album in the works, I wasn’t tripping so much about an album as much as I want to make some big records. I felt like it was time for me to start taking big swings and be more calculated with even the way we curate these records.”
One wonders how artists grow and develop to that level of thinking - to realize that passion does not always put food on the table and that one can’t just drop a song and hope for the best. Based on what Bas had to say, artist development plays a huge role in building an artist’s thinking, beyond the music they make.
Nurturing artist’s growth as individuals tends to filter into their thought process and empowers them to think out the box, and make more wiser and intentional decisions about their careers. This mentorship and constant development makes them realise that collaboration over competition enables one to catapult their careers beyond a genre, a sound and continent, to a global landscape- where Bas is seemingly thriving.
More than signing to a record label and investing money in the aesthetics of a brand, the holistic development of an artist is equally important to an artist’s longevity and sustainable career growth.
“Something that was always preached at Dreamville, and we were all blessed to have that, was artist development. Everything from making albums that people want to see you tour, working on your live shows, putting together some cohesive bodies of work. I’m proud to have gone through that because it took me all over. On my last tour, I got to touch South Africa. I did about 70 seventy cities on that world tour.”
Bas has earned his stripes as a lyricist, often making a buzz as an underground artist than a commercial one, however, one cannot deny the growth and value that comes with being a commercial artist- something Bas says he is now more aware of and is intentional about, hitting the commercial scene through collaborations and learning from other artists.
“That’s where I am now, I ain’t underground but I’m underground, and I don’t want to stay underground. I find that with any creative process, it’s a puzzle, like how do I achieve this or get that done. The Jackie is the first step in doing so. We approached that song with intention to where we wanted to take it. It’s dope to see it get the response we wanted it to.
Cole, in that week, was pushing me to not write stuff- to just get on a mic and do what I feel, and then go in to refine the words, make lines a bit witty etc. It was all about feeling it out and doing what feels good , finding the melody and find your tone etc.
It was kind of an exercise in song writing, it just ended up being a record. It’s a summer New York vibe.”
Faced with the predicament of staying underground because he had a strong fan base there or to explore something else and break out from the underground scene, Bas decided he wanted more for himself - to reach a wider audience without losing his day one fans. Being intentional about this made it possible for him to do both- to cater to new audiences whilst retaining fans who started this music journey with him. Although a contrast to how he usually makes music, where he would make cohesive songs and not think about appealing to a different audiences, or exploring a new sounds, this time, every song is out with a specific objective in mind.
“I’ve thought about it with a lot of intent. The art in it is to be able to make bigger songs with wider appeal, that can appeal beyond your core fan base without leaving your core fan base feeling like who is this dude.
It’s knowing your core fan base but knowing that you want to grow beyond that. Even with my album, there’s a lot of records that are going to appeal to the very core of my fan base that might have fallen in love with my music through Too high to Riot which is much more moody and introspective. A lot of the album I did during quarantine so there was a lot of me and 4 walls and getting my thoughts out, very much what you’d expect from a Dreamville project. It’s very conscious.”
The Jackie, a single on Bas’ new album and features J.Cole and Lil Tjay. Although other songs on the album are said to be deep, thought provoking and “moodier” as Bas would say, The Jackie is quite the opposite. It is a feel good song about The Jackie, a highway that takes you from Queens to Brooklyn. On the single, Bas talks about meeting a girl who has many guys from her hood wanting her be with, and the guys “ice feeling you” because the girl is into you and not them.
“So we pulled out a beat and I said let’s do something new because all the other content is a little heavier and moodier. The first beat T-Minus pulled out was The Jackie and we were just like ‘that’s one’. It was a lot of fun to make because that’s always that energy in the summer. It’s a very relatable New York summer story which is why we put TJay on that. We wanted another bro to come on and represent that summer New York story. Tjay went crazy for the Bronx of course [chuckling].”
Working with J.Cole was an experience Bas seems to be honoured to have experienced. Not only did he reap the benefits of collaborating with a musical giant such as J.Cole, but the process in itself helped him grow, expand and explore new ways of making music. It helped him pursue the idea of breaking out of the underground scene with intention, ultimately leading him to collaborate with Gunna.
“This time, there’s an intentional reasoning behind it. It’s trying to grow bigger, trying to grow my audience. It’s also the challenge of it, as an artist, you always want to challenge yourself to reach a new height, reach a new goal, reach a new level and to maintain your artistic integrity along the way. It’s definitely a balancing act but I think that’s the fun part, it’s make these songs and say yes this fits and it’s bigger than the rest of the album.
There’s another single like that I’m going to put out and it features Gunna, and that’s another collaboration no one would expect- just like no one would expect me to be on a song with Cole or TJ. So I was just kind of consciously trying to get out of my comfort zone, get out of our circle of the same collaborators and just try find other artists and bring them into my sonic the landscape, bring them my sonic world, which has been a lot of fun.”
Bas has always collaborated with artists in his circle, which has not only strengthened his core base, it has also solidified his talent and lyrical skills. Collaborating with artists from different walks of life is something Bas is intentional about to expand his reach.
When asked about who we would still like to collaborate with, Pharrell, Kodak Black, Bobby Shmurda, NBA Young Boy and Roddy Rebel came top of mind for Bas.
He also mentioned working on a project solely dedicated to collaboration with artists in Africa only. The project would be an EP that he hopes to release after his album.
“I’m working on a 5-6 song EP that I want to drop post album where it’s just a lot of African inspired records. KDDO and I connected for a couple of joints on that. There’s a song I like that I might just put on the album if it makes sense.
I always flirt with one or two songs on the project that are inspired by the continent and I just wanted to give it a whole EP of me working in that sound, and release it before I come back out there. KDDO is my guy. It’s easy work every time we link up. I actually met KDDO at Sumo. We had a section next to each other and we started jiggin’. I saw him the next night and the next 10 nights at the club so I was just like, let’s make a song.
Collaborating has been a big part of my process especially after we did the Revenge of the Dreamers in those 11 days, just working with a million different artists. I think it helped me open my process even more than it was and kind of approach these songs almost with a producer’s ear as far as ‘how do we keep the song dynamic, what kind of voice can we interject here, who’s going to bring something that is so different and keeps the listener’s attention,’ as opposed to just hearing the same voice over and over. It’s kind of why Tjay worked out so well - he’s got such a unique voice.”
Artists lend themselves to various experiences that inspire their craft. They also lean towards varying writing processes- some think of a story they want to tell and then find a beat, other can flow on any beat and others need to write first. Bas leans to his African origins, his experiences growing up in Europe and being moulded in New York when making music. With Milkyway, there are some songs that have a South African house vibe, others have a “New York gritty” rap vibe and others have a French house sonic landscape.
“As far as sound goes, I look everywhere, high and low for my sound and just to keep my sound well rounded. I think a lot of my albums kind of sonically tell that story. I don’t think that’s going to change. I think I’ve always been able to tell my story the best, through sound as far as the places I come from, and the places I draw inspiration from. So it’s just about knowing the times we’re in and being aware of the sounds that are moving people, and try to implement all of those. I need to get with the Amapiano bros too. Let’s take it there.”
Even more interestingly, Bas’ music is always a contrast to how he is feeling or the space he is in at any given time. With the global pandemic and COVID-19 affecting lives across the world with no discrimination, Bas’ album is yet another reminder that we may live in different cities and lead different lifestyles, but on some level or another, we are all going through the same things- precisely why we can relate to his music.
“A lot of my album was written during lockdown and quarantine. It’s interesting because even before all that I had just come off tour and done some time at home. Generally, I find that my writing is always a contrast of my current situation. If I’m on the road, I might write about my home issues and when I’m home, I might draw on road life and write like partier, a feel good record. The Jackie isn’t necessarily a representation of the body of the album.
Being in there during lockdown, there was just a lot of being alone with my thoughts so the album is moodier. It’s a lot of what a lot of us were going through in the lockdown and kind of feeling like your life is stalling out, feeling like all your goals and everything you were pursuing is put on hold and you’re lacking that interaction with other human beings. A lot of it comes from trying to come out of a dark space. I trust that it will be well received by fans across the world.”
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