Hi Boooka and welcome to College Radio Charts! How has your 2025 been so far?
2025 for me has been what I imagined so far honestly, so far so good. I wanted to come in swinging, kicking down doors, and showing up for myself. I couldn’t be happier but overall, I’m excited to keep ball rolling, its so much I’m capable of.
Your new album IRL just dropped. The title alone suggests a deep connection to real-life experiences. What does “real life” mean to you in this moment?
It’s the genuine connection that you can only get from being face-to-face and side-by-side with people. When I was making “IRL”, it was from a moment where I felt like I had been struggling to show my true colors from behind a screen, so it was and still is important for me to show up for others not because of who they are artistic and creatively, but to care for someone else how I want to be cared for. We all need that in our lives.
“MEDSWASPOSE2HELP” is a raw and evocative title. What was the headspace you were in when writing that track?
Well, it actually started with my mom. She had recently been told that after years of receiving treatment for depression, that she had most likely had ADHD instead. So she began treatment for that and said that her life felt like it was doing a 180. Even though she was happy with this new discovery, I felt like she was robbed, and in turn we were all robbed of a version of her we spent years believing didn’t exist. I then started thinking about how currently I suffer from so many things that have been present since I was a kid that I still deal with. There are too many issues we don’t take seriously concerning our mental and emotional health, especially in the black community unless we are sick and dying. I want different for us.
There’s a recurring theme of introspection in your music, from TREE to I KNOW LOVE U WHEN. How do you balance personal vulnerability with creating something universally relatable?
I think the thing with our stories that we tell is that there will be times where we won’t connect or relate to those millions of others but to be able to even relate to just one other person gives that same feeling. A step above that, I love being able to articulate and put the words together for people that may not know what to call what they’re feeling. I carry a responsibility to be true to myself and the ones who feel me, even if a only few, matters the most.
“I am only as successful as those at the table with me.” That’s a powerful statement. Who’s at your table right now, and how do they shape your artistry?
I still have an aching desire to be one of the best lyricist and songwriters so I keep around a lot of people that I love but also inspire me to sharpen. With that, some of my best friends are artists that I have the upmost respect for who are here with me. Xavy Rusan, Fred E.T, Jasmine Games, who inspires me daily with her tireless work ethic. They all and others I can go on and on about just make me approach my craft carefully.
From Lawton, Oklahoma to Austin, Texas—two very different worlds. How has your environment influenced your sound and storytelling?
Aw man, honestly I moved around so much growing up that I never got blessed with that thing most artists have where you can tell where they’re from by the way their music sounds. I couldn’t ever really absorb the culture from a place to the point where it crept into my music. I will say though that Austin has kept me the most creatively moved. There is an appreciation for hip-hop here that you wouldn’t expect that makes you forget about the rules of more modernized hip-hop. You’ll walk into a place and hear some 90s boom bap and see the crowd going crazy, and for me its a reminder that I can make whatever I want and there will always be space for it.
Do you come from a musical family? What are some of your earliest musical memories?
Not at all. I have a cousin that did music, but I was younger and didn’t really get to see it or hear it often. I just always admired that his music was true to who he was. My earliest memories are more about what my dad played during those car rides to the barbershop or on road trips. Or the first time I heard “Kick Push” by Lupe Fiasco and that feeling it gave me. It just instantly made me love this shit. Then later hearing Lil Wayne and just getting the itch to try making my own music. The joy of just being a curious arrogant kid where everything I made to me sounded like it could rival Tupac’s greatest hits.
You worked with producers like Sachy and Ivcien on MEDSWASPOSE2HELP. What do you look for in a collaborator, and how do you know when the chemistry is right?
I’ve finally adopted the idea that I have to like those who I’m working with. I have to get along with them. We have to be friends. As I’ve entered a space where I’m a leader and having to build working teams, I understand now that the best results come from teams that care about each other. Where there isn’t fear of confrontation and nobody bites there tongue. Transparency and communication are a couple of pillars to success. So when when we can laugh, we can talk shit to each other, and we can critique each other without hard feelings being involved, I know we have the making of a good working relationship.
Your lyrics hit hard—no fluff, just truth. Do you write with a specific audience in mind, or is it more of a personal catharsis?
I like to say I don’t have writers block because I’m writing the truth. So I don’t write thinking of an audience, I let things come to me naturally so its easier for me to put the stories together. But I also force myself to write which I know for some artists is like, some sort violation. I used to wait for life to inspire me to write but then sometimes months or years would go by and I still wouldn’t have that moment I was waiting on. The writing is cathartic but also an exercise.
Your song titles alone (FUCKING MY THERAPIST, 4PLAY STARTS IN DA MORNIN’) hint at unfiltered honesty. How do you decide how far to push those boundaries?
I pride myself in exploring those unpopular admissions of truth in my music. I just like those moments where I can be vulnerable and open about something that we typically get shamed for and just owning it on wax for someone else to hear it and be like “Damn….I actually feel him though.” It makes me feel more human. I don’t know what the boundaries are or how far is too far, but it feels like I push them further with each song.
In hip-hop, authenticity is currency. Do you feel like the industry is becoming more open to raw, emotionally complex storytelling, or is there still pressure to fit a certain mold?
I’ve never been one to complain about the state of hip-hop and whatever pressures people may feel like there are because I’ve been a fan of so many different type of hip-hop for as long as I can remember. That being said, I’ve always known that whatever your thing is, there is an audience for it that you just have to find. So if you’re rapping about what the common person believes hip-hop solely is (Shoot’em up bang bang) there’s an audience for it. Or, if you rap about Pokemon and drinking water, there’s thousands of people waiting for you to drop that album. Hip-hop has always been very misogynistic but there is even a lane now to rap about loving and treating your wife right. I would just say the storytelling and raw emotions in music last longer in the test of time.
Your sound is uniquely yours, but if we had to put together a “Boooka Starter Pack” of influences—musical or otherwise—what would be in it?
Haha, add some battle rap mixed in with some poetry. Shades of Common and Kendrick Lamar. Man I don’t know, that’s a good question. I know I embody the things that I like heavily, so whoever were to pinpoint what’s in the starter pack would be spot on.
Hip-hop has always been a vehicle for change. Do you feel a responsibility to use your music as a tool for something bigger than yourself?
Of course. I don’t think everybody has to wear that hat, but I feel like I do. And I think that’s because of the artists I admired growing up, they all just had things of importance to say and spoke on what impacted black people on a daily basis. With writing the truth, you can’t really not feel like a voice for somebody else. I want to build a platform and then use it to create change no matter how small it may be.
Your music often touches on mental health, love, and self-awareness. If someone listens to IRL front to back, what do you hope they take away from it?
I think their takeaway would be that Boooka is a somewhat of a nutcase but also that Boooka is right. Not saying that I’m saying anything crazy or super deep, but I think because my concepts are a little odd in moments of the album, its easy to denounce me and label me weird. But there is truth to what to I’m saying and I hope to start fun conversations.
If you could sit down with any artist, past or present, and have a deep conversation over dinner, who would it be and why?
Hmmm, good question. Gimme Solange though. That’s a beautiful weird woman. The flowers she receives doesn’t match her talent. I would just love to hear more from her.
With IRL out now, what’s next? Are you already working on the next project, or are you letting this one breathe?
I’m working on dropping a collaboration project with my engineer and producer BlanketBoi. It’s gonna be a lot of fun, especially because I feel like I’m stepping into the best version of myself with an amazing artist of the other end. Other than that, I’m gonna leave the rest for a surprise.
Finish this sentence: “In five years, Boooka will be…”
Respected as the artist I’ve always been.
Thank you so much for spending some time with us today. Where can people go to find out more about you and your music?
Follow me on Instagram at majinboooka which is the best way to stay up-to-date at the moment until my website is created. Also, I’m 400+ sober from alcohol, so if you need some motivation or inspiration to get your journey started, watch and holla at me!
