KB the Boo Bonic

Check out the interview with KB the Boo Bonic exclusively on Skilly Magazine Online.

Skilly: Tell us where this all began. What is your history in the music scene?
KB the Boo Bonic: I was born and raised in Texas. Early on I listened to a majority of country and classic rock (passed down by my parents). As I got older I pretty much just listened to everything. I wanted to hear it all. I always had a very fond love and intrigue for words. I think that made rap really stick with me.

Growing up in Texas, I always had that sense of pride about where I was from. I started getting into some of the pioneer Houston rap shit like Geto Boys and UGK. With the whole Screw Movement there was a lot of freestyling. I was largely shy when I was younger, so they weren’t really expecting it when I jumped in and began to freestyle. That continued on for a few years until I moved off to college.

I kept writing and freestyling throughout college and then in my senior year went to a studio in San Antonio with another artist. Thats how my first album, Scars Are Sexy, came about. After that I started doing little shows in San Antonio and San Marcos and got myself a little buzz. And here I am, almost a decade and a few projects later and I can’t quit the bitch.

What are the best ways to promote yourself as an artist? Any tips you can give us?
Having really good music helps. It sounds silly for me to say that, but I think especially when you are an independent artist who is wearing 10 different hats it can be easy to lose creative focus and the art itself can suffer as a result.

And of course fans. Fans are everything. Social media is a must. Genuine interaction is a must. Let people know you appreciate them and also ask them their opinion.

What do you ultimately want to become in your career?
I really am at a point where I would just like to be able to do this full-time. If I had a team of people helping me with ASCAP, management, booking, etc., I know I could do some really crazy shit. I also just want to give the ladies of hip hop culture something a little different. Female emcees who were well-known used to really wreck shit. They had content and were truly lyrically gifted and stood for some shit. I’d like to be reminiscent of that and give people, especially women of the younger generation, something other than the impression that you have to have a fat ass and talk about pussy on every track to be successful.

In addition to that, I’d really like to have a larger exposure on the Austin hip hop scene. There is a ton of talent here and I think it’s only a matter of time before people start to recognize that on a bigger scale. I’d love to play a hand in that.

What is the hardest thing about being in the music business?
Not quitting. I’ll get pissed or mad or discouraged for whatever reason and of course make some empty threat saying I’m through. Then within an hour I’ll be jotting down a rhyme or someone will contact me for a feature or a show and I’ll be all about it. I guess you could say luckily for me I just really need it. If I don’t record or perform or have it in my life for too long I get really, really depressed. It’s become part of my life, so much so that I can’t imagine what I would do without it.

What is it like in your city? What is the music scene like, and how is it like living there overall?
I think it’s pretty safe to say that Austin’s music scene is a horse of a different color. There is not one night that goes by that there is not live music at any number of venues across the city. The Austin hip hop scene itself has been pretty damn good to me. It’s kind of like the first place I really felt like I fit in when I moved from Houston. It’s definitely grown and definitely something I’m proud to be a part of.

There are some people that are just in it to make some quick money. There are people out here selling slots to play gigs which I think has kind of been something plaguing live hip hop in more than just Austin. I always tell younger artists and people who are new to the city and trying to get their first shows to avoid pay to play at all costs. Spend your money on production, studio time, merch, web design, and anything other than that. If you get all those other things on point, the shows will come.

What are some of advice you can give and share to other artists who are still trying to come up?
I would say that especially in the current climate of the music industry, don’t sign anything without really having someone who knows about legalities and contracts look over it. Lawyers aren’t cheap, but having a knowledgeable music attorney look over something you’re not 100% sure about could ultimately save you years of misery and a lot of damn money.

What is the best thing that’s ever happened in your career?
I think anytime you hear someone else singing something that you created, at least for me, it is the craziest euphoric feeling. I recently did my first international gig and played Festival Ajusco in Mexico City. It was amazing because I had never been to Mexico but have always wanted to go. Secondly, it was insane because the people there were so incredibly beautiful. I had never been to this country in my life and there were people who were treating me like I was a superstar.

People were almost ravenous for new music, and it was a completely different experience from doing a gig in Austin. Music fans in Austin are spoiled rotten. They can see pretty much any artist they want to on a regular basis here. Out there they don’t have that luxury, so when someone like me comes from another country they are incredibly inviting and show their appreciation.

What is your inspiration?
I think it’s a combination of the real spirit of the hip hop culture and my mom. I fell in love with hip hop because of its rebellious nature and the way that real true hip hop makes it a point to call out injustices and reveal the truth. When you listen to a KRS-One track you are going to be getting raw truth and deep content that is timeless.

And then my mom, I’m like her and unlike her in so many ways. She was a single mom and she taught me by example that you can be a woman with a strong work ethic, moral fiber, and get what you need with those tools and with your intellect. She taught me not to depend on anyone and to have respect for myself.

Do you feel anyone can be successful now in today’s world of music?
Absolutely not. I do feel like it is easier than ever and there is a lot more access for artists to get into the business than ever before. If anything you have to want it even more nowadays because labels aren’t trying to give you shit unless you basically already made it yourself.

I think the landscape has potential to change (and already really has) in a beautiful way because there isn’t just a little assembly line of manufactured acts and artists that labels are putting out anymore. There is vast expanse of independent artists out there making music out of love and having complete creative control. - Skilly Magazine

KB THE BOO BONIC
“I never want anyone to be like ‘Oh she’s good for a girl,’” the young rapper says. “I want them to be like ‘Damn. She’s a really good emcee!’” Over the last 10 years, KB the Boo Bonic has gained a nuanced insight into the Austin hip hop scene, watching it develop and flourish and finally begin to garner some of the attention it deserves. But she wasn’t just passively witnessing the changes; she was making them. Ever since tapping into her gift for putting words together in high school, the ‘femcee’ has been freestyling her way to the top. Her big break came when she met an inspiring producer and recorded her debut album at F.A.M. Studios in San Antonio. Just last month, she released her sophomore album Farrah Flossit — an album where she turned more to themes of female empowerment. But at the end of the day, her music is universal. “It doesn’t matter if you’re male or female.” Her message is for people who are chasing their dreams, she says. “I’m about people who are raising their kids, people who are working hard,” she says. “Just people who are doing positive things.” - Tribeza Magazine

The Weird City Hip-Hop Festival returns for a second year with a vengeance, pulling out the big timbers at Delta Millworks, located at Fifth and Springdale. There’s mystery to the new digs, a lumber mill smack in the heart of East Austin. Equally mysterious is the headliner’s row – specifically the inclusion of ever-elusive savant Jay Electronica.

Setting itself up as Austin’s early fall classic – Sept. 18 & 19 – the front line includes mercurial Detroit rapper Danny Brown, garrulous Bay Area wordsmith Aesop Rock, and resident hooligan MC (and Austin constant) Freddie Gibbs. Former mixtape maven turned Interscope signee Charles Hamilton arrives trending up, reigniting a career miraculously reborn after numerous missteps. The Harlem rapper and former XXL Freshman has fought depression and bipolar disorder..

New Orleans’ Electronica, who released “Road to Perdition” featuring his label boss Jay-Z in March, has reemerged after his dalliance with a UK Rothschild heir in full Fruit of Islam regalia. He was previously scheduled for a December 2014 date at the Mohawk, so this is something of a makeup date. Heads will be hopeful the flighty MC stays put, at least through “Exhibit C.”

The bill is packed with Austin luminaries, such as two-time Austin Band of the Year, Riders Against the Storm, who are currently prepping a new release. Ditto for Dat Boy Supa, who crested to new heights with 2014’s Supacabra. Youth is served with Magna Carda, still kicking a July residency at Holy Mountain.

Local crews roll up en masse, including talented misfits – and recent Chronicle Cookout highlights – Subkulture Patriots and the mighty LNS Crew. Swang and bang set the League of Extraordinary Gz appears in many iterations, including Green Room’s Tuk Da Gat, S. Dot, Eric Dingus, and Dowrong, and Lowkey as a solo act. Continuing the two and over theme, super vets Crew54 put in the “Labor.”

Austin Mic Exchange host and Weird City founder Protextor, who just dropped new single “Austin,” maintains performance mode. Verbosity doubles down with a changed and forward-marching Scuare+, who’s flipped his sound considerably – to the positive. “Farah Flossitt” herself, KB the Boo Bonic, floats in on a new spaced-out single, “Stars Ain’t For Us,” featuring the Moon Guys.

Perennial ATX favorites Doughbeezy and Fat Tony make the trip from Houston.

Shows start 3pm Friday and at noon on Saturday. Two-day passes are $65 or $150 for VIP treatment. More at the Weird City Hip-Hop hub.

A.Dd+

Adrienne Mack-Davis

Aesop Rock

Anthony Maintain

Bamsworth

Ben Buck

Buckamore

Chakeeta B

Charles Hamilton

Clemits

Click-Clack

Cory Jreamz

Country Kingz

Crew54

Da’ Shade Moonbeam

Danny Brown

Dat Boy Supa

Dominican Jay

Doughbeezy

Fat Tony

Feral the Earthworm

Freddie Gibbs

Green Room (Eric Dingus, S.Dot, Tuk, Dowrong)

Jae Jax

Jay Electronica

KB the Boo Bonic

Krypol Haze

LNS Crew

League of Extraordinary Gz

Lowkey of LOEGz

Magna Carda

Mindz of a Different Kind

Modal

Protextor

Public Offenders

Riders Against the Storm

Ruler Why

Scuare+

Sertified

Sip Sip

Space Camp Death Squad

Subkulture Patriots

The Outfit, TX

The Underdogz (Phraynkh P + Mainstreem)

Topic

Worldwide - Austin Chronicle

Texas lady rapper, KB the Boo Bonic is releasing her sophmore release, Farrah Flo$$itt EP and released the title track and accompanying video.

The full album is available for pre-sale on iTunes now, and the title track is available for immediate download. The album releases the day after Valentine’s Day but the title single is available now.

Check it out! - BReal.tv

Months before becoming only the second local rapper to play the Austin City Limits Music Festival – 2008 – Bavu Blakes tucked into a corner booth at Magnolia Cafe on South Congress to discuss his progress on a yearlong series of releases.
By then, the 33-year-old Garland-bred UT grad was more than a year removed from a Chronicle cover and 2007's energetic The Woodgrain Collection, a mixtape made in tandem with celebrated beatmaster DJ Rapid Ric. He'd worked with all the scene notables: NickNack, Tee-Double, DJ Phyfteen, Gerald G. Through his weekly Hip-Hop Humpdays at the Mercury (now Parish), he and MCs Tray God and Tee-Double, plus multi-instrumental wizard D-Madness, seeded a new millennial hip-hop community hungry for a home field.
Well before our food arrived that day, those trendsetting Wednesdays on Sixth Street had become a distant memory. Six years later, he'd settled into elder statesman status. Until it went off the air that August, Blakes held post as the Urban Music Director at ME Television.
Discussing his "08 Is So Great" campaign and upcoming set in Zilker Park, he didn't hesitate when asked if there was anyone working hip-hop locally that might impact the national scene.
"No, but I think there are some younger ones out there learning from us who will."
Whut It Dew
Ric DJ Rapid Ric Almeda
Back in the Nineties, when today's OGs were just new Gs, the question of who could hit big outside city limits was mooted by a more pressing concern: Who could score a headline gig Downtown? Catfish Station, an oasis for hip-hop in a sea of Sixth Street blues bars, shuttered for good in 1995. For years afterward, you'd be hard-pressed to find a local rapper setting up shop in any venue west of I-35.
On East Riverside at the Back Room, local rappers put on shows to exclusively black crowds. Nook's Jump on It concerts in Eastside parks helped developing acts flip bars with more established artists. Eventually Salih Williams, now guitarist in Latasha Lee's Blackties, linked up with Big Moe from Houston and Wreckshop Records. In 2004, he delivered "Still Tippin'" to Swishahouse. That went national.
Austin remained completely local.
"Austin hip-hop doesn't have its own sound," Dirty Wormz's Smackola told these pages in 2002. "There's a lot of diversity. You've got the Down South rappers, the Screwheads. You've got the East Coast-oriented acts, and you've got the West Coast. Everybody I run into is doing something different."
Houston's emergence didn't change that, but it did give Austin something to look up to. South by Southwest hired Matt Sonzala, brought in to book European acts. In 2004, he rallied his co-workers to what was happening in his native Houston. Mike Jones and Paul Wall's Swishahouse were soon guests of the festival, booked alongside UK whiz kid Dizzee Rascal.
"Bun B played as a favor to me," noted Sonzala, now a local promoter, last month. "He didn't even know what South by Southwest was."
Homegrown talent was equally outside the loop. Sonzala remembers the first time MC Fatal, "the OG of this city," got a badge:
"He was like, 'Wait until I show this to all the people in the hood. They won't believe this shit.'"
Houston's emergence put Texas on the rap map, with visits now regular to Austin. Suddenly, the Capital City gained proximity to the hottest spot in hip-hop.
"I remember when Chamillionaire was just selling CDs at MusicMania," says Blakes. "Now look at him! You can't not be inspired by that. You look at him and say, 'What was he doing? He's messing with these people. I can do that.'"
H-Town also birthed a marquee Austin gang. A loose, regional clique that included local Eastsiders Gerald G, Da Ryno, and Black Mike, the Whut It Dew crew bit on H-Town's off-kilter, wholly faded modernization of DJ Screw. DJ Rapid Ric was its architect, adopting the nickname "Mixtape Mechanic" for his endless stream of expansive compilations.
Watching from the wings, the next generation.
"Go back and look at whoever made a Ric mixtape when Whut It Dew was dissolving [at decade's end]," implores Blakes. "It's damn near everybody. It's the League [of Extraordinary Gz]. It's C.O.D. It's Southbound. It's Zeale. It's Phranchyze."
Dark Side of the Moon
Zeale
Valin "Zeale" Zamarron can safely claim to have accomplished more nationally than any rapper from here. Now 31, the South Austin native has spent the past two years almost exclusively in Los Angeles or on a tour bus. Zeale isn't strictly hip-hop, however.
"I love guitars," he asserts from home after a run with Blue October. "I love distortion. Growing up in Austin, that's what you have: There's a bunch of live music everywhere."
Last fall's high-octane Frnz & Fngz EP makes evident Zeale's enthusiasm for big guitars. Ditto for his 2009 debut Haterz & Robotz, produced by – you got it – DJ Rapid Ric.
"The main song was a remix of Pink Floyd," he says of "Dull Daze," his take on Pink Floyd's "Time."
Nonetheless, Zeale's forays into hip-hop did as much to advance his career as it did to progress a style within the city. His 2008 collaboration with Phranchyze brought local hip-hop to Fun Fun Fun Fest, and a Lucky Lounge residency with Boombox ATX, Tray God, and MC Overlord further bridged the gap between generations of hip-hop and rap.
By 2010, Zeale had outgrown the market. He took six months to himself and emerged with a new sound helmed by Croatian DJ Marko Jelic. Two years later, at Free Week, he boasted about making his living off of music. Now he tours the country to states as random as Montana and Ohio.
"You'll get 1,500 to 2,000 people out," he says. "That's the thing to do. Some of the bands who open up for us in other cities, man, they're terrible. But they bring out crowds, because that's all that's there."
Drawing hip-hop crowds in the 512 isn't strictly about talent. It's a deep-rooted racial issue in a still silently segregated city. Stack on the genre's local standing as fifth, ninth, or 19th wheel of genres, and it's no wonder Zeale saw fit to cross over.
"I love to see a mixed crowd," he says. "I don't care if it's guys, girls, white faces, brown faces. That's my own logic. I don't expect a certain type of person."
Kydd Jones
Five years his junior, fellow Southsider Kydd Jones zeroed in on Zeale's style after stepping into Mohawk one Saturday during his teenage years.
"That night I was like, 'No more all-black shows. I want to be performing to this crowd, to the white people in Austin,'" he says over brisket at Sam's BBQ. "Those are the people who are going to shed light."
Working with Chubbie Baby, a manager out of Atlanta who used to run with Dipset, Jones also reports living off his music. Companies like Red Bull have proven instrumental to his progress. He hopes to release debut album Gr33d this spring, complete with an assist from Chuck D.
Jones' modest live aspirations parallel a longstanding disparity in the local club scene (revisit "Cold Sweat," June 13, 2014), but Downtown no longer mourns Catfish Station. The North Door spotlights the genre, and Beauty Bar did the same. Holy Mountain, Beauty Bar's successor on Seventh Street, has also become a regular outlet. Transmission Events, whose Fun Fun Fun Fest rests at least one of its funs on hip-hop, books rap regularly at Red 7 and Mohawk. Empire Control Room, which opened last year as one of the most exciting venues in the city, features hip-hop as often as it doesn't.
Live instrumentation helped it happen. It's evident in the shows of Zeale, Kydd Jones, Phranchyze, Magna Carda, and Riders Against the Storm, a husband-and-wife duo originally from Rhode Island who arrived with club gigs that rival the precision of the Roots. Topping it all off, ATX's League of Extraordinary Gz – Dred Skott, Southbound, and southside neighbors Da C.O.D. – converged in 2010 and quickly became the preeminent rap troupe. When League architect Octavis "da 6th Street Bully" Berry died in Oct. 2011 from a pulmonary embolism, the community lost its Pac and Biggie.
"[We're] growing, but we're still suffering," says Jones. "We don't have any real major outlets. We need the industry outlets to make the hype."
Weird City
Adam Protextor (l), Leah Manners, and Aaron Miller of Austin Mic Exchange
Since the Bully's passing, hip-hop has finally grown into a vibrant and unavoidable component of the city's music scene, one that packs Downtown clubs on the strength of local talent. To go with it, a new, robust farm system. Austin Mic Exchange, the weekly Spider House open mic founded in 2012 by rapper Adam Protextor (P-Tek) and KOOP Development Director Leah Manners, offers a live forum through which aspiring MCs can develop alongside peers.
"It's a networking opportunity and unifying scene," says Manners, who hosts KOOP's Hip-Hop Hooray show Sunday afternoons, of the Tuesday residency. "We wanted to create a space where [rappers] could perform without charge. Where there's no barrier to entry in a space that's safe, open to experimentation, and inviting to newcomers."
Now, AMX alums like Feral the Earth­worm, Chamothy the Great, and Anya, a female rapper with a crack new band whose recent Free Week set turned heads, perform in clubs throughout the city. Meanwhile, with the help of Sonzala and others, Manners and Protextor doubled down and in September founded the Weird City Hip-Hop Festival, a club-bound weekend focusing on locals, nationals (Dilated Peoples, Guilty Simpson), and SXSW/FFF vets like Jean Grae and Pharoahe Monch. After a successful debut last year, Manners hopes year two hits bigger.
"We believe the talent is here, it just lacks the support network," she says. "We think the festival can become a good tool for that network."
That network truly needs it. Enough talented ATX rappers still feel ignored, and the dearth of women across the landscape remains even more disheartening. Save perhaps Anya, KB the Boo Bonic, Cha'keeta B, Staci Russell, Magna Carda's Megz Kelli, and Riders Against the Storm's Tiger Lily, local femcees have been met with steady roadblocks.
Dat Boy Supa
Before releasing Seventies-style blaxploitation stunner Supacabra in November, Dallas native Dat Boy Supa threatened to hang up his microphone altogether.
"Sometimes I feel like I'm shouting into a wind tunnel and nobody's listening," he admits. "That's frustrating. But it can be uplifting when that one person hears it and says, 'I love what's there.'"
Mr. Greezo, a LOEGz member who moved to Atlanta after collaborating on the hands-down best rap album this town's ever produced in 2013 debut #LeagueShit, has endured similar struggles.
"Hip-hop in Austin is like recreational softball," he says. "You'll wake up and be 40 years old and still performing at Flamingo Cantina. Bavu experienced it. Basswood Lane experienced it. You get to the point where you've done this. And I feel sorry for our fans. They support us but don't see any progress."
LaDarrian "Dowrong" Torry (l) and Eric Dingus
As far as an ATX breakout, Greezo has his hopes set on LaDarrian "Dowrong" Torry, the Bully's nephew and son of former Cooly Girl Juana Esparanza, who began hanging around the League as their 14-year-old, lion-besuited mascot. Now 21, Dowrong recently dropped The Dowrong EP in conjunction with Eric Dingus, a 19-year-old beatmaking wunderkind putting together music with Drake.
"What LaDarrian has with Dingus, that's one of the perfect combinations," proclaims Greezo. "If anybody has a chance from Austin, it's the kid who's putting out music with Drake's producer."
Dingus wouldn't confirm his relationship with the Toronto megastar when we met for coffee in December.
"Hopefully soon," he mutters at Dominican Joe's on South Congress and Riverside, a block away from the Downtown apartment he recently started renting.
Of record is Dingus' November 2013 remix of Drake's "Worst Behavior," which the rapper's manager Oliver El-Khatib posted onto his client's blog. That remix now has more than 270,000 plays. In June, just prior to a much-publicized appearance at Houston Appreciation Weekend, the Drake camp commissioned Dingus to make a Screwed Up mixtape celebrating both the rapper and Bayou City. Smack in the middle of said mixtape is a chopped-and-screwed take on Dowrong's "Shooters."
"That's a kind-hearted person," Dowrong says of his new producer. "One of the most kind people I've ever met. He's just a real humble dude. I can't even say too much about it."
Dingus recently released an EP with Austin's Bishop Light through he and his friend Zed DiMenno's Dream Sequence Records label. Aside from The Dowrong EP and Deathbedreams, an EP he made with LOEGz's Sandman, he's collaborated almost entirely outside of Austin, using the Internet to foster relationships with UK rapper Danny Seth and Minnesota breakout Spooky Black.
"He's this Internet sensation from the last six months," enthuses Dingus of the latter 17-year-old. "I found his song when he had less than 2,000 views. Now it has millions. It's crazy. I did a remix of his song 'Without You' the day after it came out when it had 1,000 or so views. He reposted it on his SoundCloud, and I was getting him attention. Now he's the one bringing attention to my SoundCloud."
Bavu Blakes can't stop talking about the potential future for Dingus and Dowrong a few days after Thanksgiving.
"The biggest rapper in the world doesn't commission you to make a mixtape like that for him as a favor," he nods.
Good Kid, Maad City
Riders Against the Storm
Now 40 and back in Austin after spending time in southern California while his wife pursued her doctorate, Blakes fills his days teaching English language arts to seventh-graders at Decker Middle School. He's a father now. He and his wife have an astute and outgoing little toddler named Ellison to cart around, so toys and tiny figurines lay out across the living room of their Northeast Austin home.
In August, the rapper released his first work in two years: a soulful single called "Summer Saturday Songs" about mowing the lawn and his son digging in the dirt. We take a drive to Pflugerville to pick up Ellison, who likes to queue up DJ Chicken George's Third Root on the car stereo. Blakes holds hope for the current crop of local acts.
"In the last two years, I've seen Kydd and Riders, and their presentations, go from good to great," he says. "The unfulfilled dream is an Austin artist becoming nationally and internationally recognized to the point of becoming a household name. Then, when they come back to Austin, their support rivals that of the other household names who come here from other places.
"Maybe not Jay Z. More like Kendrick Lamar." - Austin Chronicle

The video for KB the Boo Bonic’s “Farah Flossitt” premiered several months ago, but since the album of the same name just came out a few days ago, it seemed appropriate to give it some love now, particularly since we missed it the first time around. A vibrant travelogue that has KB the Boo Bonic strolling around doing her thing, the clip for “Farah Flossitt” looks like something Action Bronson might unveil, which is fine by me since too many ATX hip hop videos are about as vivid as a documentary series on pavement. Unapologetically flashy and bold, KB the Boo Bonic stands out from the pack sonically and visually and I’m hoping her new album will soon yield more videos like this. Oh, look at that, wish granted. - Ovrld

Iggy Azalea has probably fucked up the chances of any white girls getting a decent reception in hip hop anytime soon, but ATX vet KB the Boo Bonic deserves a second look regardless of your thoughts on that clueless Aussie. Over a Charlie’s Angels theme sample beat courtesy of the Moon Boys’ Dirty Rich, KB attacks the notion of the female rapper as strictly eye candy, instead preferring to view it as the baddest of bad assery, the kind of scene dominance that requires a brutal amount of multitasking as KB and her peers are asked to play harder and better than the boys and still look good while doing so. KB of course got her break via a DJ Rapid Ric mix, which you may remember the Chronicle saying earlier this month was like a badge of honor for any ATX hip hop act with any national aspirations. “Farah Flossitt” posits KB as Austin’s response to Baltimore Philadelphia queen bee Amanda Blank (who you all seriously need to wake up to– Iggy is the white hop hop maven you chose over this?) and while Blank never truly got her due, KB seems ready to go all the way with her upcoming sophomore release. - Ovrld

The Faces Behind the Beats
Thursday’s Flamingo Cantina Beat Battle puts mugs to the thuds
BY CHASE HOFFBERGER, 2:40PM, WED. APR. 30

Hip-hop protocol pairs two individuals (and their posses) in a studio: the rapper and the producer. They go to work, a record gets made. Typically, it’s the MC you see performing, getting his or her face on the flyers and drawing attention. The producer goes back to the boards, burrowing in the studio, and starts working on new cuts.
Leading ATX femcee KB the Boo Bonic remembers when she was just getting started with rap more than a decade ago. In Austin and her native Houston, she spent her evenings at beat battles, listening to new cuts from producers in competition to figure out who she’d like to work with.
For five months now, she’s thrown a monthly rap showcase at Flamingo Cantina, even bringing scalding hot H-town rapper Doughbeezy to the Sixth Street venue last month. Shortly after that show, she realized she hadn’t seen a beat battle in a while. Of course she decided to make one of her own.
Thursday, KB brings 12 local producers to Flamingo for a three-round, tournament-style beat battle. Yours truly and KOOP Radio “Hip Hop Hooray” host Miss Manners are slated as judges. The night should give hip-hop’s proverbial rhythm section the type of shine it badly needs.
Check Soulfresca’s airy Max Lo productions and PeaCE, with his soulful 2013 EP The Rapture, made in conjunction with Aleisa Lani. Dirt Rich crafted the arsenal of beats on KB’s forthcoming Farrah Flawsitt EP, while Aaron “AC” Combs produced the bulk of both Krypol Haze’s 2013 debut and East 35’s latest LP, in addition to tracks for members of the League of Extraordinary Gz and Houston hard hitters Big Hawk, Trae the Truth, and Lil Keke.
More: New Orleans ex-pat N.O.L. In 2005, he contributed two tracks to Lil Wayne’s Dedication mixtape – “Over Here” and “So Smooth” – before turning around at SXSW 2009 to track Curren$y’s Jet Fool classic “Star Power.” Then there’s Jay-Tigg, a rapper/producer from Kansas doing work with Big Henry.
There’s also names working rappers will likely recognize. Names like Raskal, Nova, and Hurrikane RG, Chamothy the Great, and Ty on da Track – names you’ve seen before on local Dat Piff and Bandcamp cuts. Rare is the chance to see the whole slew onstage together.
“I’m looking forward to it as an artist,” admits KB, adding that she plans to make next month’s installment an entire evening dedicated to local female rappers. “The people I asked were like, ‘Really? Really? I get to get onstage and play my work?’ Hopefully a lot of artists will come out, link up, and find beats.”
Doors at 10pm, with music kicking off at 10:30. $5 cover. Come out and show some support for rap’s back end. - Austin Chronicle

It started when Jean Grae said these magic words:

"Ask me bastard if I'm signed, I rhyme sick
But niggas is quick to turn they back on spitters with clits
Hit 'em with this, and ridiculous phrase flow that exit my lips
Hey, yo, I mean my face, though
They still want chicks with tits and ass out
My respect is worth more than your advance cash-out."

I was listening to her song "Knock," from 2002's Attack of the Attacking Things, which I pulled out again shortly after her gig at the Scoot Inn in April. It somehow got me thinking about our city's hip-hop scene and the women involved in it. There's a fair number of ladies in punk and rock bands here, so who are the females in rap and R&B who have the same womanhood to channel, the same need to express themselves through music, the same wreck to bring? Not just the lone girl in the crew, but women looking to spread a positive message on their own terms. I approached this story not in the hope of finding the next big thing, but rather of starting dialogue. A snapshot of what's going on, right now. With that in mind, I sought out a few MCs in the game, plus two promoters and champions of female talent, to shed some light.


"A lot of female rappers in the game are coming at it from a different perspective," says Lauren Lavezzari, who promotes under the name YellaStudNDaSouth and goes by LoLo. "Sex sells, definitely, but I think what everyone's waiting for is for female MCs to come out and not have to sell sex and still kill it onstage. Missy Elliott, number one example. She's dope on the mic and onstage. Rappers coming to the stage today got to bring something different, original.

"Still, so many gifted rappers are getting squashed by songs with a good beat, that makes the people in the club bob their head. Y'know, the 'jump to the right, push ya leg out.' Or people rappin' about stuff they don't even know about. It's like, yo, for real? You live on the other side of town, and you ain't got no car."

After years working for other people in the industry, and coming up under the mentorship of Will Hustle of Set for Life Records, the 27-year-old graphic designer started throwing her own shows about a year ago, learning by observation. "I watch a lot of guys in the hip-hop scene, see what they do, but I wanted to be different with my shows."


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One of those shows was April's Ladies Night at the Scoot Inn, co-organized with AustinSurreal's Matt Sonzala and featuring Jean Grae, Invincible, and locals Staci Russell, Latasha Lee, and Eyeris. Grae, of course, spit an insanely good set, and Invincible, a young MC from Detroit, lived up to the buzz around her whip-smart LP, Shapeshifters. But it was native Austinite Russell who seemed to come out of nowhere, all gospel voice and swagger. Lavezzari remembers randomly seeing her perform a year ago.

"The song I heard her do was 'Holla,' and I looked 'round, and there are niggas and girls dancin' to this song," she laughs. "So I asked Gerald G, 'How can I get a hold of her?' Then I put her on a show. I compare her to Mary J. Blige, y'know? She's got this beautiful, soulful voice, but she puts a hood twist on it. She can do R&B, flip it, do rap."

The 21-year-old Russell just released a mixtape, The Diary Part 1: In the Spotlight, a CD/DVD combo out via Houston's Game 101 Magazine, and Houston's Z-Ro is about to remix one of her tracks, "Spotlight." There's a certain hood charm to Russell, who started singing in church at age 4. Take her single "Holla," a pro-ladies night ode to the brush off: "Doin' my own thing, don't get me wrong, baby. Don't bother running games, 'cause I don't need you buying me drinks." Then "Hang It Up" brings more of that Blige soul, showcasing her church-bred voice, which easily lends itself to country and blues as well.



"I would equate my style to gumbo because I have a little bit of this and a little bit of that from all around the world," she says. "Now, myflow is Staci muthafucking Russell. I approach everything like a beast."

Then she points to something essential for all ladies if this scene is going to move forward: "My message, it's me expressing the negatives I've encountered in life and still being able to live positive."

It's essential for all women in the genre, since females have the double duty of trying to fit in with the men and transcending that role, and it doesn't help that an increasing number of rap songs have become Seinfeldian in nature: The ones about cars and cash and ass are essentially about nothing.

"You gotta be lyrically inclined to do this," Lavezzari relates, rolling off a list of other Austin talents, including Latasha Lee, who works with Carnival Beats; Miss Prissy; Raphina Austin; and Queen Deelah. "I go out to see a lot of hip-hop, and if there's a woman on the bill, I'll stay just to see what she's about. We've definitely got some females here. - Austin Chronicle

Top 10s

BY RAOUL HERNANDEZ

Top 10 National

1) ARCADE FIRE The Suburbs (Merge)

2) BEACH HOUSE Teen Dream (Sub Pop)

3) TOM PETTY & THE HEARTBREAKERS Mojo (Warner Bros.)

4) SIERRA LEONE'S REFUGEE ALL STARS Rise & Shine (Cumbancha)

5) JULIETA VENEGAS Otra Cosa (Sony Music Latin)

6) TITUS ANDRONICUS The Monitor (XL Recordings)

7) ELIKEH Adje! Adje! (Azalea City Recordings)

8) NEIL YOUNG Le Noise (Reprise)

9) SHE & HIM Volume Two (Merge)

10) THE SOFT PACK (Kemado)

Top 10 Austin

1) 'CASUAL VICTIM PILE' (Matador)

2) THE BLACK ANGELS Phosphene Dream (Blue Horizon)

3) JON DEE GRAHAM & THE FIGHTING COCKS It's Not As Bad As It Looks (Freedom)

4) JIMMIE VAUGHAN Plays Blues, Ballads & Favorites (Shout! Factory)

5) SLAID CLEAVES Everything You Love Will Be Taken Away ... (Music Road)

6) SAHARA SMITH Myth of the Heart (Playing in Traffic)

7) ALEJANDRO ESCOVEDO Street Songs of Love (Concord)

8) THE SWORD Warp Riders (Kemado)

9) AMY COOK Let the Light In

10) 7 WALKERS (Response)

Ten Locals To Grow On

1) HOSEA HARGROVE Tex Golden Nugget (Dialtone)

2) AUSTIN COLLINS & THE RAINBIRDS Wrong Control (Eight Dollar Music)

3) BLAZE FOLEY The Dawg Years (Fat Possum)

4) KB THE BOO BONIC Scars Are Sexy

5) 'QUEENIE PIE' (Longhorn Music)

6) DIKES OF HOLLAND (Sundae)

7) THE BLIND PETS Smashed

8) THE BRIGHT LIGHT SOCIAL HOUR

9) MY EDUCATION Sunrise (Strange Attractors Audio House)

10) RAY WYLIE HUBBARD A. Enlightenment B. Endarkenment (Hint: There Is No C) (Bordello) - Austin Chronicle

Top 10s

BY AUDRA SCHROEDER

Top 10 National

1) WARPAINT The Fool (Rough Trade)

2) GLASSER Ring (True Panther)

3) BEACH HOUSE Teen Dream (Sub Pop)

4) SHARON VAN ETTEN Epic (Ba Da Bing)

5) EDDY CURRENT SUPPRESSION RING Rush to Relax (Goner)

6) SUPERCHUNK Majesty Shredding (Merge)

7) TY SEGALL Melted (Goner)

8) WYATT, ATZMON & STEPHEN For the Ghosts Within (Domino)

9) TWIN SISTER Color Your Life (Infinite Best Recordings)

10) BIG BOI Sir Lucious Left Foot: Son of Chico Dusty (Def Jam)

Top 10 Texas

1) 'CASUAL VICTIM PILE' (Matador)

2) THE GARY Logan (Cedar Fever)

3) KB THE BOO BONIC Scars Are Sexy

4) SARAH JAFFE Suburban Nature (Kirtland)

5) NO MAS BODAS Erotic Stories From the Space Capsule

6) SHAWN DAVID MCMILLEN Dead Friends (Tompkins Square)

7) WEIRD WEEDS Help Me Name Melody (Autobus)

8) SHEARWATER The Golden Archipelago (Matador)

9) MY EDUCATION Sunrise (Strange Attractors Audio House)

10) ST 37 High and Inside

Local Chorus Line

1) SOFT HEALER "Gentle One" b/w "Movie Light" (Captured Tracks)

2) SARAH JAROSZ The New 45 (Sugar Hill)

3) FOCUS GROUP Unicornography

4) YELLOWFEVER (Wild World)

5) THE YOUNG Voyagers of Legend (Mexican Summer)

6) SIMPLE CIRCUIT "Boarded Up Houses" b/w "Moon Druggies" (Super Secret)

7) HOLY WAVE EP

8) SILENT DIANE "Riverside" b/w "Juliet the Painting" (Answering Machine Recordings)

9) AGENT RIBBONS Chateau Crone (Antenna Farm)

10) HOW I QUIT CRACK "Gone Away" b/w "In Realm" (Answering Machine Recordings) - Austin Chronicle

The pint-sized hip-hop artist took the stage solo -- wearing a fake beard to honor Denton, thank you -- spitting rhymes from her debut album Scars Are Sexy. She was plagued by a scratchy voice -- thanks to a winter cold -- but carried on gamely, compensating with a chilled-out arrogance that's only tolerable in hip-hop. - Denton Record-Chronicle

Just wanted to re-tag Audra Schroeder’s awesome piece about Austin-based female MCs if you didn’t see this week’s cover story in The Austin Chronicle. I’m embarrassed that I didn’t know any of these artists, but I’m definitely checking them out and thinking about adding them to the music history curriculum for GRCA. Because if I’m excited that KB the Boo Bonic describes herself as “a little Pimp C and a little Cyndi Lauper,” maybe other girls will be too.


- feministmusicgeek.com Blog

KB the Boo Bonic performs at Rubber Gloves Friday for 35 Conferette

So anyone else digging on 35 Conferette booking some quality hip-hop acts? There are some pretty legit national acts on the bill but I am equally impressed with the Texas hip-hop artists slated to perform this week in the form of Dem Southernfolkz, The League of Extraordinary Gz, Damaged Good$, 4th & Inchez, and KB the Boo Bonic.
In doing some of my research for the Conferette I came across this documentary about Austin’s KB the Boo Bonic. UT film student Chelsea Hernandez did a great job with the film, offering us a unique look into the life of a female emcee staking her claim in the mostly male-dominated rap scene. I think you’ll like this little flick as much as I did. The video was too large to embed but you can hit the link below to check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/user/kbtheboobonic#p/a/u/0/EJ3wd1P0Dts

-Josh - Earth to Josh Blog

BY AUDRA SCHROEDER

Who invented the typical girl?

Who's bringing out the new, improved model?

– "Typical Girls," the Slits

Ariane Forster passed away late in 2010, leaving in her wake a generation of female musicians who side-stepped tradition and expectation. She was better known as Ari Up, and the Slits, naturally, were not typical girls, having elbowed out space in a male-dominated music scene by taking concepts of beauty and sexuality into feral territory. In an interview with the Quietus, 2009, she explained thusly: "When we started in '76, why did we say: 'Anarchy for the UK'? Why did we take part in that whole revolution, all of us? Because there was that total oppression. The system is fucked, it's totally fucked."

She may have been speaking for women or speaking more generally, but in a year when we endured Internet-invented genres like "rapegaze" and "slutwave," how much has changed? There were shit-starters, sure: When Nicki Minaj growled, "First things first, I'll eat your brains" on Kanye West's "Monster," the NYC rapper asserted herself as both masculine ("My money's so tall") and feminine ("that my Barbie's gotta climb it"), but her much-anticipated debut, Pink Friday, didn't quite live up to the in-your-face persona. Jean Grae's been doing the same thing for more than a decade, albeit in a far less sexualized way, which is probably why she's not on the cover of Rolling Stone.

Minaj, like many women this year, used identity to channel issues, and the female experience was more physicalized. Lady Gaga's women-in-prison revue sat at the opposite end of the Barbie Dream House, a fetishistic take on glamour-horror. Willow Smith dealt with the pressure of being a 10-year-old by whipping her hair back and forth. Katy Perry shot fireworks from her breasts. Then there were more unique trailblazers, like Big Freedia and Invincible, reclaiming ladies' night for their scenes – New Orleans and Detroit, respectively.

It was also a year in which women made some of the best albums below the radar. L.A. quartet Warpaint's elegant debut, The Fool, was a tribute of sorts to the Slits' tribal buzz. Glasser's Ring, Zola Jesus' Stridulum II, Grass Widow's Past Time, Best Coast's Crazy for You, U.S. Girls' Go Grey, and Sharon Van Etten's Epic were variations on a theme, from rooms with different views. Locally, KB the Boo Bonic's Scars Are Sexy, No Mas Bodas' Erotic Stories From the Space Capsule, Agent Ribbons' Chateau Crone, and Dallas songbird Sarah Jaffe's Suburban Nature all revise the art of storytelling.

The idea of reinventing the typical girl never felt more appropriate than in 2010. Which begs the question: Should we remodel the dream house or have a demolition party? - Austin Chronicle

White and preppy; takes no guff.
-Paul Ford - The Morning News

The Ladies of SXSW

A friend alerted me to Roseana Auten's breakdown of women in bands at South by Southwest this year, which I found enlightening. We were indeed were out en masse, whether in bands, as poster artists exhibiting at Flatstock, or in the Film and Interactive portions of the fest.
ATL's Coathangers and Seattle's Tacocat both took me back to my late high school/early college riot grrl days. NYC girl group Vivian Girls put on a fair show, though the harmonies failed to live up to those on their debut album. I really wanted to like Angel Deradoorian's set, since I love her soulful debut EP Mind Raft, but on stage solo with just her guitar inside at Mohawk, she was drowned out by female-fronted Canadian thrashers AIDS Wolf, which played outside and was pretty awesome.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Viola player Anni Rossi has some definite Laurie Anderson potential, but playing the Central Presbyterian Church was not the best venue for her sharp, plucked strings. Thao Nguyen was a pleasant, poppy surprise at Waterloo Park. Despite losing her voice the day before, local MC KB the Boo Bonic showed potential behind the mic.
Nite Jewel: I don't get it.

PJ Harvey: I am not feeling your new album, but that fact that you came out onstage dressed like a psychedelic virgin mermaid makes me love you even more.

On the horizon locally, Church of the Friendly Ghost is organizing a monthly series of female artists, from May-August, guest curated by locals Alissa DeRubeis and Amanda Lewis.
- Austin Chronicle

Kara Bowers' debut LP, Scars Are Sexy, finds balance in changing up the MC game. The Houston-bred local steps into her DJ Rapid Ric-mixed full-length with tough songs, showing off her muscle first on "Click Clack" and "My M.O." While both might initially come off like typical one-up raps, when she spits, "Why I care about a hater, I'm too busy being fly," it's an assertion of self, not material things. Her slang is Southern, and when she really gets going, her flow develops a distinctive hiccup, as on ladies' night anthem "2 Playa." On "Touch Bass" she channels Jean Grae when she assures you she's a "lady laced with guts and grace." The title track is the clincher here, Bowers both singing and rapping until she finds her center: "If you wanna battle, go ahead and rap me/If you wanna hurt me, go ahead and test me/If you play dirty, it'll get messy/But scars are sexy." A local game-changer. - Austin Chronicle

WeLoveYourSongs Page: http://weloveyoursongs.com/artist/630/KB+the+Boo+Bonic


WHOA is there a bio here. This is as long as my articles! This is a hip-hop/rap artist from Austin TX. She grew up on the old, true country music, giving her a really great appreciation for real songwriting. Meanwhile, her first CD was the Biggles’ “Life After Death” (edited) and got her hands on every bit of hip-hop and rap she could. The original Texans were her first favorites and influences, eventually leading her to release her own album in 2012, “Scars Are Sexy.”

Oh, but that’s only the intro. Next we get a background on her freestyling (which started at 16) where she watched the boys and knew she could tackle it just as well. She met producer Bad Boy Ben during college when she moved from Houston to Austin, and started cutting her first tracks and MCing for live shows. This paragraph I’m pulling info from basically outlines that year or so of live shows, and the next talks about what radio stations and albums she’s been featured on. Lots of credits here, folks.

The closing paragraph is the best – it’s on WHY she makes music and performs. Now THAT is what’s going to pull me in to listening. Maybe re-arrange some things here to grab us earlier, and let us be impressed by the credentials after we start to care about you as an artist.

“Scars Are Sexy” is the known track apparently, and the first one listed. Lead with your strengths I suppose. She definitely has a harder sound than I expected to hear. The beat is really great, though I’d ditch the cutesy dropping glittery sound throughout. Maybe place it a bit more strategically. Otherwise, a really tight track and well done.

Trying to figure out if there’s a message at the start of “Glitter Ain’t Gold,” just because it sounds like she’s trying to make a point off the bat. I think it just winds up being a self-understanding that it takes work to make it, but money isn’t a success measurer. Loving the chorus beat on here – it can get pretty catchy after a while. This is probably what should be the second single. Real and hard.

“2 Plays” seems to have a start story… with gunshots. Seriously, I judged a book by it’s cover, and I’m sorry. This girl is far more hardcore than I expected. Really love most of the beats she lays down though. This has a little less production involved, and sounds a bit more homemade, but respect for that either way.

Not sure what the title means, as I’ve never seen the second word before, but the next one up is “So Throed.” Lotsa autotune. I think, though apologies if I’m wrong. This is a bit of a slower jam, not so much hard rapping, so you can concentrate in just a little bit more. Not a bad job here either, and lots of respect for her for experimenting with more and more sounds.

“Click Clack” rounds things out with a shout out to get the beat up and people moving. She’s back to a faster rap, but this time she’s calling people got to get dancing and enjoying the beat, which kind of winds up making for an awesome song. She’s also got this infectious little beat in the background that sounds really rooted in the middle east, bringing a new sound to an already fun song if you’re even just listening to the lyrics. I don’t know why, but this one is a great close out as we leave for the night on this act.

Lots of respect for this lady. She’s doing what she wants, the way she wants, and it’s actually pretty ok on the ears. Hopefully someone else will hear that she’s got a good ear for beats and what to do with them, and work with her to really make this music incredibly great.

Comments, questions, suggestions? EMAIL ME! I will reply! jh@weloveyoursongs.com
Read more reviews on Janelle’s site: Ears Like A Hawke: hawkeears.weebly.com

- See more at: http://weloveyoursongs.com/blog/view/219#sthash.quEwEvRD.dpuf - We Love Your Songs

"I always was very shy when I was younger and had trouble get up in front of people in any arena. I tell people who knew me when I was younger Im a rapper and they TRIP. It has been a great way for me to connect with all kinds of people though, and when it comes down to it, i just have a badass time doing it."

Pfresh: How was KB the Boo Bonic created and who are your influences?
KB the Boo Bonic: I started freestyling and rapping when I was in high school. I grew up in Houston during a lot of the SUC and Swisha House tapes were coming out. I was always the only chick who would get in there with the dudes and would freestyle with them. I have always been a bit of a tomboy and never have been scared to get in there with the boys and show them how it is done. Initially, everyone called me KB because of my initials. My government name=Kara Bowers. I also was selling a little herb when I was younger (like a dummy) and so folks knew me as KB for that reason as well. As I got older and started doing shows and recording, I added the Boo Bonic part because there were tons and tons of other rappers that go by KB. (I've had folks see KB on a flyer and think I was KB da Kidnappa, so when I got on stage they were quite confused). lol. My musical influences have always been pretty varied. When I was younger my parents were into rock and country. I started listening to rap in middle school. I started with Biggie and some of the mainstream rappers of the time. Then got really into the Texas rap that was coming out of Houston in the late 90s and early 2000s when I got into high school. It was dope because all of this music was coming out of my city and it was cats who went to school around there. It was really inspiring. I also got into punk and ska a little bit, but eventually came back to hip hop. Currently, I listen to a little bit of everything, same as before. I'm honestly not too big on anything in the mainstream right now. My favorite artists right now are Aesop Rock, Zion I, Jean Grae, Erykah Badu, Devin the Dude, Yelawolf, Smif and Wessun, Wu Tang ALWAYS and many many more. I've always dug the classic stuff like Tupac, Beastie Boys, Bob Marley, Gregory Isaacs and Geto Boys. Luckily, living in Austin there are a lot of really dope local groups as well. I've had the pleasure of performing with a few. I particularly am a huge fan of Riders Against the Storm, League of Extraordinary Gz, Bavu Blakes, Gerald G, and Phranchyze to name a few. It is so inspiring to live in such a vivacious and creative city and there is always some kind of event or show going on. They will definitely have to bury me here. I'm Houston raised, but Austin is my love and where I feel at home. A lot of what I rap about is what I see in music today that I dislike, like the never ending focus on material BS and the non stop degradation of women.

Pfresh: What's your favorite part of being involved in music?
KB the Boo Bonic: It started as a way for me to conquer my shyness. I always was very shy when I was younger and had trouble get up in front of people in any arena. I tell people who knew me when I was younger Im a rapper and they TRIP. It has been a great way for me to connect with all kinds of people though, and when it comes down to it, i just have a badass time doing it. My favorite part of being involved in music is that it gives me an avenue to express myself freely and also share and connect with others. It gives me a voice in an arena where women do not have a very loud voice in my opinion, but I hope to lend a hand in changing that.

Pfresh: What have you been up to and what's on the horizon?
KB the Boo Bonic: Currently, I am promoting my album "Scars Are Sexy". I recently played two shows during SXSW 2012 and hope to book more in coming months. I recently was approached by a publicist out of Tennessee who has worked with Raekwon and Crooked I. He will be helping me launch a promo campaign in coming months, which I am definitely excited about. I - Project Fresh Magazine

DH: How do you describe your style? I ask that because a lot of Hip-Hop out here especially the mainstream seems like a lot of people copy each other, plus Female MC’s that do come out seem like they were created as characters by their record labels. You seem like you are not scared to be different and be yourself.
KB: My style is a reflection of me. It is really random. Like I said before, I am a writer at heart, so I concentrate heavily on lyricism and wordplay, double meanings and flexing my vocab. I have had people say that I need to keep it basic, not use certain words because, speculatively, most people don’t know what they mean. It is insulting. I think people underestimate the intelligence of people who listen to hip hop and rap and that is ridiculous. I love when I have friends or fans tell me, “I listened to this song for like two months and still hear some crazy ways you flip the script and it could also mean this or that.” People are tired of hearing the same shit over and over again, and I think that is part of the reason why I have had quite a few folks showing me love lately. I am not the best rapper alive or the dopest emcee or the deepest thinker, but I am me. I am just a white chick from Texas. - Digitizedhiphop.com

Uhm yeah, its still Monday...But would you like a second big hip hop party? of course you do. Our homies at Keep it Local have teamed up with Beauty Bar this evening to give you three up and coming Austin hip hop acts. Starting with the lovely KB the Boo Bonic showin' off her skills. She'll be followed by the G.U.U.D. and then Crew 54. Damn, Beauty Bar goin' hip hop? I like. - ThePeenScene.com

Crew54 is a rap group out of Killeen TX consisting of G-Christ and M.O.S. The video can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yj-iyDdPHhc - Crew54

Featured in Reality Show. Can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yilYVLD_uiU - Crew54

This is a short documentary by UT film student Chelsea Hernandez. It documents the life of Austin Texas underground female emcee KB the Boo Bonic as she makes her own way in the male-dominated world of hip hop. - Chelsea Hernandez

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South by So Real 09 | open blog
Welcome to the second annual edition of South by So Real, where we rap with South by Southwest booker and hustler extraordinaire Matt Sonzala about all things hip-hop. If an...

No comments | Hide Blog Welcome to the second annual edition of South by So Real, where we rap with South by Southwest booker and hustler extraordinaire Matt Sonzala about all things hip-hop. If an MC is performing at the festival, Sonzala made it happen. Also, rappers beware: If you see him in the house and you’re rhyming over your CD with vocals, he will throw a bottle at you. After all, “This ain’t fucking Star Search, this is real life!”
Bump & Hustle: This is your first full year on the job. Did that make it any easier?

Matt Sonzala: Definitely not any easier because my responsibilities quadrupled. I deal with a lot of the bands coming from Europe, not just urban music now. It’s easier logistically in terms of convincing rappers to come down. Last year when we talked I said it was getting better as far as the industry recognizing and wanting to come down but this year everyone wants to come down. I’m really happy with what we have this year. A lot of rappers actually applied on time this year!

B&H: What about the festival has changed that makes hip-hop artists want to be a part of it?

MS: I really don’t think it’s changed that much. South by Southwest has done hip-hop forever, even early on when I came back in 1990. I saw artists like Decadent Dub Team and MC Overlord. I saw Sociopath Left and groups like that way back then. My role in Texas hip-hop has always been sort of a P.R. guy to an extent. We’re not a media center like New York or L.A., and we’ve suffered from that for a long time. SXSW is our outlet. You can get a lot done in those four days. Now people know that it’s the place to be.

B&H: Given that, do you feel an obligation to book a certain number of local acts?

MS: Across the board, we all do. We know that this is Austin, man. We have to bring in some local acts but we can’t book every single local act. Rap-wise, if I see them working and they’re doing some things, yeah, I do feel kind of obligated to bring them in. That said, a lot of the clubs don’t want rap and they don’t want local rap. I had an issue with a couple of acts that I had to take off shows because the clubs said, “No, we’ve had issues with them.” It’s hard because we can’t take every single rapper, there’s no way. But I think we have a good selection of local hip-hop. Could we do more? Yes and no. The clubs don’t want it. It’s not an easy sell. A lot of these guys are hustling and doing good work and I recognize that and I’m down for the dudes who really work. I think Bavu Blakes is amazing. I think Set 4 Life, what Dok Holliday and Will Hustle and them do in the streets, is fantastic. Southbound is an incredible group. Dred Scott is an incredible group. I like to see guys like Dubb Sicks, who go on the road and do little tours. But most of the groups get on because I want them to be a part of the conference. I want them to come learn something. I don’t want them to feel excluded. Back in the day, people felt if they were left off they were being excluded but not one of those people filled out the application. The people who got in this year got their applications in on time. That being said, you don’t have to necessarily do your 20-minute performance to get a benefit out of South by Southwest. The industry is here and whether you are wearing that badge or not you better be out there working.

B&H: What are a few Texas acts you think everyone should know about?

MS: I actually do wish that I had more Texas acts this year. I’m not doing a big Houston show because we’ve done it many times. Right now out of Texas I really love Question? from San Antonio. I like Fat Pimp out of Dallas, actually. I’m not big on club rap but he has more than just club raps – he has some really smart stuff too. From Houston, Rob Quest from the Coughee Brothaz is coming this year. He has always performed with Devin [the Dude] but he’s got a solo album coming out. I’m excited about the Memphis guys, legends like 8Ball & MJG. It’s diverse this year. There’s everything, from the biggest backpackers ever to club stuff to gangsta stuff, and it’s all mixed together.

B&H: I was really feeling H.I.S.D. What do you know about those guys?

MS: H.I.S.D. is a collective of guys from Houston’s indie scene. EQuality is one of the most incredible poets and Savvi is one of the most business savvy guys in that scene. They pooled their resources as opposed to trying to all be solo artists. They all came together and it’s obvious they’re making an impact. That whole scene has been going on for a long time but now they have strength in numbers and I think they’ll see big benefits from that this year. They’re releasing a record on the - Austin Chronicle

Around the time of the Chronicle's hip-hop report, “This Time Just the Girls,” Chelsea Hernandez posted this insightful mini-documentary on KB the Boo Bonic, arguably the scene's leading lady. It's worth your time. - The Austin Chronicle

By Jeff Walker
Features Editor

San Marcos — Daniel Evans is more of a Rock ‘N’ Roll guy than anything else. But when he teamed up with local free-style rap champion Chase Boy last year, he began to broaden his horizons.

Chase Boy was hosting a hip-hop gig for a local birthday party last May, but needed some speakers fast. Through a common friend, he got a hold of Evans, who has a plethora of professional equipment, and Evans was more than happy to help. The party went off great, and it’s pretty much been hip-hop since.

“I even brought my guitar (that night) and we jammed out, sort of crossing genres, ya know?” Evans said. “We began to think, ‘we could really make something out of this.’”

And they have. Evans, owner of Empire Music and Media, and Chase Boy host a Hip-hop Night every Friday night at Gil’s Restaurant just off the San Marcos square. Every week, local MCs congregate and take turns on the mic; regular performers include Diamond in the Rough, Kara Bowers, aka KB Live, Malachi, Lil’ Nova, Dysasta, Poet, Dscrutch, DeLeon, Alpha Male and Prawphet.

“Hip-hop is taking over this town,” Evans said. “I’m a rocker at heart, I still play shows around town, but I put most of my time and effort into hip-hop. That’s what all the people love.”

Empire Music has already recorded demos of Chase Boy, and is currently working on an album for Bowers. They have known her for quite some time, but didn’t know until recently, Evans says, the talent she brings.

“I call her the new queen of hip-hop, straight up,” Evans said. “Her voice just comes out hot on the recording.”

The throwdowns at Gil’s typically end with a free-style session. It’s here where Evans invites any local performers to join in.

“We have a lot of new artists trying to get with us,” Evans said. “I tell them all, ‘come to our shows and when it’s free-style time, get up there and impress us.’”

- San Marcos Daily Record

KB THE BOO BONIC
Flamingo Cantina, Thursday, Aug 5th
Around this time last year, Kara Bowers was featured in the Chronicle’s profile of female rappers. She punctuated her style by saying, “I’m a little Pimp C and a little Cyndi Lauper.” The Houston-bred Bowers, who goes by KB the Boo Bonic on stage, has since come into her own. She’s been the subject of a short documentary called “FeMC,” which has screened locally and nationally, and finally released her debut album, Scars Are Sexy, mixed by Rapid Ric.

“There was never really a blueprint, like, ‘I need to have a club joint and a love joint and a shit-talking joint.’” Bowers says. “I just recorded the tracks as I went through the past few years of my life. The way it progressed was an eclectic mix of sounds, subjects, emotions, and styles in the body of music.”

It is sort of a blueprint, though, subtly plotting a course through the male-dominated landscape of Texas rap. There’s a distinct femininity but also some muscle behind tracks like “Click Clack.” “Glitter Ain’t Gold” and the title track ride a smoother flow, while “I’m Pisst” inverts the typical rap diss, as she holds the mirror to herself: “I don’t need your criticism, I’m on my own shit list.”

“Scars Are Sexy is definitely a reflection of me,” she adds. “My friend was looking at it the other day and has heard all of my songs and made an attempt at describing my style. He said I was like a Southern belle badass mixed with 1980s Madonna and gangster rap.”
Add it to the list. – Audra Schroeder
- Austin Chronicle

"Confident, sassy southern swagger mixed with lyrics that will verbally bitch slap you while simultaneously making you laugh...and you might get a little turned on...." - MF Magazine

KB the Boo Bonic is a woman, a Texan, a writer, a college graduate and maybe the last person you would ever expect to be a rapper.She started rapping over 10 years ago amidst the mix of her friends on the turntables and blunts and beers. As she sharpened her chops as a freestyle rapper and gained recognition as a viable opponent at house parties and local events, she moved off to pursue a college degree at the University of Texas and later at Texas State in San Marcos.

KB returned to her roots as a writer and set out to pen and record her first studio album. Making the hour commute to F.A.M. studios in San Antonio multiple times a week while finishing her college education, the Boo Bonic worked with producer Bad Boy Ben to compile her first release, Scars Are Sexy. The femcee made sure to leave no doubts in listeners minds that she was Dirty South born and bred by enlisting the help of well-known Texas producer DJ Rapid Ric to mix the album.

It has that third coast sound, but with no holds barred lyrics that touch on everything from relationships to the music scene to politics. Her perspective is far from your average female artist who laments over love lost or frets over the challenges of being a woman. She gives an unapologetic perspective, intended to make the listener think and hopefully get a good laugh every once in a while.

Her resume spans from doing car shows in San Marcos, opening for Rob G and Trae, to her first South By Southwest showcase in 2009 opened for The Chicharones, Reef the Lost Cauze and GLC. She has played with legends like Cappadonna and Raekwon of the Wu Tang Clan and 7th 7ign of the Killa Beez. Other accolades include opening up for Bay lady rapper, Lil Debbie, Mike Jones, and Shwayze. She has also played with well-established Austin artists such as Zeale, Solillaquists of Sound, Phranchyze, and Riders Against the Storm. In addition to SXSW, she has been featured at music festivals across Texas such as the 35 Conferette in Denton and Rock the Republic. She is also ecstatic to be part of the first ever Weird City Hip Hop Festival in 2014, performing with the likes of Jean Grae, Dialated Peoples, Guilty Simpson, Jon Wayne and Pharoahe Monch.

KB was honored to be featured in the August 27th issue in the Austin Chronicle. The piece titled “The Wrecking Crew- This Time Just the Girls” focused on females in the Austin hip hop scene. After reading the article, UT film student Chelsea Hernandez was inspired to make her documentary, “FeMC”, about KB’s music and life. The film screened nationally at the Deadcenter Film Festival in Oklahoma, the Urban Mediamkers Festival in Atlanta and at South By Southwest in 2011.

Hernandez and KB teamed up once again in 2012 to create the first music video of the femcee’s career for the track “2 Playa”. The Boo wanted people to take away one main message from both the video and song: “Be yourself, and have a damn good time doing it.”

In 2014, KB was honored and extremely excited to join the limited number of hopeful artists who are featured on and win the All Out Show’s segment, Hate it or Love it, on Shade45 on Sirius XM. As hip hop fans from the world listened to and called to weigh in on her track, “Daddy Baby”, she was largely greeted with support, respect, and love for her original sound and real presentation. She walked away with a win and a much appreciated affirmation that people understand her as an artist and are looking to hear authenticity and thought, in addition to some real rhymes.

KB’s sophmore project, which features the winning track, “Daddy Baby”, is entitled Farrah Flossitt. The title track will be available for pre-sale on iTunes January 25th. The full album releases on February 15, 2015.

She does what she does for her love of hip hop culture, music, writing, and creating. She strongly feels hip hop fans, especially women in hip hop, deserve more than they are being given by the industry, and something needs to be done about it. She’ll be your Huckleberry. - Elite Muzik

K.B is a “Femcee”, she has been spitting for over 10yrs. K.B. stays active on the Austin, TX hip hop scene by doing shows and dropping consistent product. She has a new video for her song “U ain’t know” and it’s definitely worth a look and listen. - Quite Trill Worldwide