In an an era of mumble rap and trap artists flexing over the beat, A Boogie Wit da Hoodie’s style brings-hip hop (and most musical genre’s) back to its roots, singing about love and growing up.
When asked about his style and why he doesn’t dabble in the elusive art of mumble rapping he told NewsWeek,
“I guess I never really got to a point where I decided I wanted to rap like a mumble rapper. As a New York rapper, I feel like I can’t take it there anyway. That would be changing New York. My music, it needs to be heard. Sometimes the vibe is good, but I don’t really care about [being played in the club]. I care to be heard.”
Artist Julius Dubose was born in Highbridge, NYC in the Bronx (the same place as Cardi B) and started rapping at age 12. He acquired the name “A Boogie Wit da Hoodie” for a multitude of reasons.
The A comes from his first name, Artist. The “boogie” comes from being from the Bronx. And the “hoodie” part is due to the fact that he always had a hoodie on as part of his wardrobe.
Although A boogie stays repping New York, he credits his real incentive to taking rap seriously and entering the game by the time he spent in Florida.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, A-Boogie went on to explain how his parents moved to Florida first and how he ended up down there with them.
“My mom and my dad moved to Florida first. I was in New York, I got in trouble a few times – just regular little weed charges and shit. They were like, ‘It’s over, you gotta come with us.'”
It was in Florida where Artist met producer Mr. Whyte, who evidently helped him turn into the artist he is today and reach the stardom he has achieved.
With songs like “Say A”, “No Promises”, “Undefeated”, “Beast Mode”, and “No Comparison”, (and let’s not forget “Drowning”) all breaking the Billboard top 100 off of his first legitimate studio album The Bigger Artist, it seems that Artist (get it?) Dubose has already established a solid foundation in the rap game.
But this is just the beginning, A Boogie went into detail about new directions he wants to take his music in the future, telling NewsWeek,
“I would like to do more singing, but I want more of a pop feeling when I do that. I don’t wanna just do it out of nowhere. [My career] gotta rise more.”
A Boogie is quietly taking over the rap game, with a famous artist like Drake as his cosign, the sky is the limit for Artist Dubose.
Of course, being under the spotlight at such a young age brings about a lot of stress. Being that he is twenty one years old, A Boogie is not immune to cracking under the pressure.
Earlier this year on October 21st, A Boogie and his crew allegedly attacked Lil B backstage at Rolling Loud music festival after an altercation between the two parties.
Everything turned out ok, no one was severely injured, and the two parties absolved the issue pretty quickly. In fact, Lil B came out during his show and publicly forgave A Boogie right after it happened, and A Boogie apologized a couple days later via Twitter.
All incidents aside, Artist Julius Dubose is an up and coming artist with a very melodic flow that’ll take you on a musical journey, backed with meaningful lyrics.
He is helping bring the rap game back to its rightful home, New York City, albeit with a very new sound.
A Boogie is up next, and we can’t wait to see what he does with it.