Coke Bumaye

It's only been a few months since Jackson hip-hop artist Coke Bumaye released his mixtape, "If You Love Me Let Me Know," at the end of 2015, but fans didn't have to wait long for more new music. Bumaye returned March 23 with a streamlined special edition featuring 11 new songs and seven revamped tracks, giving fans a deeper gaze into the heart of the rapper.

"This album has a track for everybody," Bumaye says. "If you're in love, if you hate a person, wherever you are, you understand where I'm coming from on this album."

Growing up in south Jackson, Bumaye always had a fascination with hip-hop, and about seven years ago, he began using music as a channel to express himself and push through whatever plight he was enduring at the time. He wanted to create music that would be reflective of his life and ideal for his generation.
"I was just chilling with my homeboys, and we just knew we needed to create relatable music," he says. "We started going to the studio and just kicking the tracks out."

Bumaye says he contemplated leaving the state after seeing that his music wasn't taking hold in the way he had hoped, which he attributes, in part, to the fact that Mississippians rarely see artists launch from and grow beyond the local music scene.

"People aren't used to seeing people make it out of here, and sometimes, they don't show you the love that you need to fuel your dreams," Bumaye says. "In places like Atlanta or these other big cities, they're so used to seeing people go to the next level, and they get behind you from the door, but here, you've never seen people go to the next level like that."

That struggle is the source for many of the expressive songs found on "If You Love Me Let Me Know: Special Edition." Bumaye highlights a wide array of topics, from his feelings about relationships on the track "Uneven Exchange" to the battle to succeed in music on "Pain." The collective efforts of the album's main producers, Hollywood Luck and D. Banks, allowed for a broader-reaching production style, Bumaye says, and the album also features many well-known Mississippi artists, including Tito Lopez, David Banner and Big K.R.I.T. Rather than focusing on the rappers that preceded him, though, Bumaye says he draws his musical inspiration from the ordinary people that he encounters in daily life.

"I take my life experiences and put them in the music," he says.

"Those experiences change day to day, and that's how I create my sound. ... I look up to people I know, just from being around them, more so than other artists. I feel their stories need to be told, and I try to make it my point to tell them."

Although Bumaye says his lyrics have progressed over the years, the subject matter has not changed much since his first solo project, "Translation," in 2010. He says his music is based in universal truths, no matter what listeners are going through or what part of the world they are hearing the album in.

"We all speak the same language, and that's what makes music so beautiful," Bumaye says. "(With) politics and religion, the barriers that they can't break, music can because it's a universal language. Love and pain are felt the same everywhere, and when you speak that, it's hard for the people not to relate when it comes from that place." - Jackson Free Press

If You Love Me Let Me Know is the latest mixtape released by Mississippi hip-hop artist, Coke Bumaye. The tape-which was released in December-is a compilation of electrifying, high energy tracks shedding light on the southern rapper’s true feelings towards his hometown, Jackson. Coke takes us on a journey through his inner thoughts-complete with love, hate, and everything in between.

Danie: When did you first realize you wanted to be a hip-hop artist?
Coke: I never wanted to be a hip-hop artist. I always thought they were corny. I wanted to be a teacher that spoke from a student’s perspective.

How did you come up with the name Coke Bumaye?
My mama called me Coke and some years ago I was watching a Muhammad Ali documentary and while he was training, he was running through the streets and the people were chanting “Ali Bumaye.” People didn’t think he was going to win the fight because Foreman was a monster, but Ali used the people to outsmart Foreman and make Foreman feel like he was the underdog. I took the people being behind you and rooting for you as winning. Plus Bumaye means ‘kill’em’, so I thought that would sound ill. Coke kill’em.

You recently dropped If You Love Me Let Me Know. How did this tape come about?
I wanted it to be a statement about how – in our city – people don’t know how to be true fans and how to embrace an artist. If you love something, you let that something know by supporting it.

I know a lot of artists in other states do not see Mississippi artists as a threat. Why do you believe they feel this way?
They might be right. Mississippi artists’ are not a threat because the industry is full of wack s*** and if that’s what they’re looking for, maybe they should overlook Mississippi. There’s no way somebody could listen to the Mississippi artists I listen to and still believe that.

David Banner’s track “Pain” featured you, Tito Lopez and Big KRIT. Can you elaborate more on what this track is about?
The track is about how terrible the world is and since people are starting to do something about that, we decided to give them a soundtrack.

How was your experience working with such big name artists?
I don’t know, you gotta ask them (haha). But it was a great experience working with such talented artists.

You were born and bred in South Jackson. What do you think makes the music scene in Mississippi unique?
I wouldn’t say it’s unique but it’s unheard. Music is universal. I don’t really know of a place where there isn’t any poverty, no murder, no injustice. Our injustice just doesn’t get the same light. So maybe not unique but just unseen.

How have you grown musically since your first tape Guilty in 2010?
I really don’t concentrate on growing as an artist. I only focus on growing as a person and everything else comes naturally. I have just become an iller person. So that should speak for the music.

Who has been some of the movers and shakers in your career?
My brother and friend, DJ Bang Bang. Also my brother and friend, Gedi Wee aka the Juice God. My brother and friend, C Lew. Donyale, my manager and friend. She works the s*** out of me but she makes sure s*** gets done. My guy Twa with Crown Me Entertainment. Also, David Banner.

What is the best advice you’ve been given about the industry and by who?
The industry knows nothing. It’s all about the creator and the industry follows. Given by the greatest himself, Coke Bumaye (haha).

Give me your top six artists in any genre of music that’s been hot within the last five years?
Anderson Paak, Miguel, The Internet, J Cole. Future, and Kendrick Lamar.

Who is your favorite up and coming artist in Mississippi right now and why?
I can’t name just one but Lil Ron, Silas, Hollywood Luck, Tricky, Savvy, The Jackson Jackals.

If you could collab with anyone in the industry, who would it be and why?
Erykah Badu, for obvious reasons.

What does Coke Bumaye bring to the table that other artists don’t?
We are rapping about the same s***, it’s just from my perspective. Nobody can give you me but me.

What’s next for Coke?
Just continuing to move the culture forward. - Intice Online