Getting to Know the Very Special Talent of Bktherula

In 2019, Bktherula broke out of Atlanta on her terms with a perfect combination of magnetic melodies and airtight bars. On the heels of the buzzworthy single “Tweakin’ Together,” she served up her 2020 independent debut, Love Santana. The project generated over one million streams as Fresh Fruit Only called it, “an immense 11 track project packed with more flows and styles than you could imagine.” Signed to Warner Records, she ignites her next chapter with the release of her mixtape Nirvana which is a trippy mix of spiritual and raw energy…actually as she puts it they are “…fucking harsh”.

Nirvana is an experience not to be missed and Bktherula is an artist I predict will be on the minds of lovers of lyrical missiles and clever storytelling for decades…she gets you hooked from the opening bell.

The Hype Magazine got Bktherula to weigh in on a few things and she gave it to us raw and uncut just the way it should be!

From the outside looking in who is the artist Bktherula?

I would describe myself as loving and swaggy as fuck.

Was there a defining moment that brought you to music as a career?

Probably like watching award shows and shit. People performing at award shows, definitely. I knew I was going to be doing the same thing for sure.

Summer and Admit It adeptly set the stage for your mixtape Nirvana, what does the project mean for you?

Well, it means peace. Literally the whole project is just peace. Like it means the end goal is peace. The end goal is Nirvana because in this project, there are some songs that are very very spiritual and there are some songs that are very fucking harsh. And there’s some songs that are just right there in the middle. And I just feel like those are all the emotions you need to feel. You need to be 50/50 in order to reach Nirvana. So it just means peace to me. It means that everything is at an equilibrium.

There is soul in your sound, what brought that out of you on this project?

My experience, honestly. Moments. Like my sound evolves based on what I’m doing. So I can take a trip or just in my everyday life crazy shit happens to me, so I can incorporate it into my music. And my sound just starts to evolve. I honestly can’t tell anyone how I have this sound. It’s so weird how it kind of comes to me, but it’s just almost like a higher power is just speaking through me.

What do you want listeners to get from your music?

Love. Love for sure. I think it’s the main thing that I would want my fans – or even if they’re not my fans, even if they hate my music, but they’re still listening to it – I would want them to receive love from it because I think that that’s what connects us the most. That’s why my supporters are so into me – almost cult-like – because they feel love.

Of course we want to know about the name and where it came from!

It really just came from the definition and really how I was feelings at the time and how I feel still. I just feel like Love Santana was cool, like my first little thing. You know, like my letter to my fans. And now it’s just like we’re going to change this shit up. I went through a spiritual awakening and realized a lot of shit. And I was just like, I really want this next project to be like Nirvana. I want to experience Nirvana when I made this project, so I actually manifested feeling the emotion of Nirvana. Like acutally going through it. I actually manifested reaching Nirvana through calling the project that and also going through everything to create it. It was more than me just recording in the studio. It was hella shit I fucking went through – like fucking crying and hella emotions and very very big highs and very very big lows. It was exactly what Nirvana is and the end goal is just the peace, which is, you know, definitely how I feel.

Dream collab if any?

Definitely Tame Impala. I’d love to work with Tame Impala. I know Tame Impala doesn’t really do any features, but even if I’m not working with, just to actually connect with or see each other one day and talk. I would definitely love to work with Tame Impala. And I really want to work with Pharrell. I deadass want to work with Pharrell. Like bad.

What’s the greatest satisfaction for you in making music?

My greatest satisfaction would have to be the moments that I go through. The moments that I go through is what goes into my music. The moments where you’re actually just making the music and talking about everything you just went through is probably the best part. Also experimenting with new shit I feel like is the most fun part of music.

What was the biggest surprise about the business side of the music biz for you?

It’s dark and evil. That was the biggest surprise. It’s evil as hell and I think it’s the evilest industry you can possibly get into. Like everyone is so dark and everyone is so envious and everyone is so fake. And everyone has a big ego. And everyone lies and no one really loves you for real. In this industry and this business aspect for real, they just want money. That’s it. So that was the biggest surprise because like when you’re not that up – when you’re up-and-coming, but not that up – you don’t realize that shit until you start making money off of it and you just start becoming a business. Then you get scared you’re like, “Wow. This is how y’all act?” It’s kind of like they have no soul. It’s just weird. People in the music industry, I’m not going to say all of them, but just the majority of the music industry is just so dark and evil and they love it.

Tell us about your work and passions outside of music, if you have time for anything else!

I don’t know if this is considered a passion, but I love to travel like crazy. Like going on little retreats. I do that shit probably like every month. I take a little spiritual retreat and I go somewhere alone. I want to go to Miami after this and take time with myself. I really love the water. I’m very passionate about the water. I pray in the water like in the beach. I have a passion for clothes as well. I really love clothes and I eventually want to have my branding thing. And that’s really it. Travelling, art, clothes, and everything.

What’s been your craziest WTF experience thus far in your career?

When these n***as locked me out – it was just random n***as – but I got locked out of my fucking distro kit. Like I got locked out of my music distributor. And like n***as was telling me that I had to pay to get it back. That was the craziest of my life. That shit was crazy. That shit was insane.

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Bktherula – Photo By Lamont Roberson II

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About the Author

Dr. Jerry Doby Editor-in-Chief of The Hype Magazine, Media and SEO Consultant, Journalist, Ph.D. and retired combat vet. 2023 recipient of The President's Lifetime Achievement Award. Partner at THM Media Group. Member of the U.S. Department of Arts and Culture, the United States Press Agency and ForbesBLK.