BAM 640- AT THE TOP!

Ustyle: So lets get into the brand, BAM 640. Tell us a little bit about you.

BAM640: First of all I’m  from Uptown in DC, 640 Park Road. That’s  where I got the name 640 from. I’m just trying to do my thing in therap game. Trying to unite the city. When I first came to the city my mother would say, “you too old to be rapping boy you almost forty!”. I’ve been rapping since I was young.

Ustyle: How did you get your start?

BAM640: I started out with Big G of the Backyard Band. (shout out to him) He started me out by giving me the mic at Blackhole in NW and now I’m  here.

Ustyle: So how long has it been since you first started?

BAM640: My first time performing was on New Years Day in 1998. That was my first time ever being on the “big stage”.

Ustyle: Why did you pursue rap and not go-go considering the DMV is home to go-go?

BAM640: I’ve  done that too. I started off with go-go, but it’s a difference between go-go and rap. Go-Go is like a team sport, where when you rap it’s  solo. You have your own vision, where you decide where you want to go with everything. You decide how you want to represent yourself. When you are in a band there’s  twelve other people with ideas and someone may shoot your idea down, not to mention if you’re under management then you have to go with that and that’s  how that works.

Ustyle: Because you have been in the music industry for so long, how do you feel about the state of go-go in this area vs. rap. Do you think go-go is fading out?

BAM640: Go-Go will never fade out because there is always going to be a more packed go-go in the city than a rap show. Hopefully that will change with the big rappers like Fat Trel, Shy Glizzy and other big rappers that come to the city. Go-Go is our city culture. When I go out of town to perform by myself from Miami to North Carolina to South Carolina they say the same thing, “here comes BAM 640 , he’s about to bring some go-go.” All around the world people know us. Chuck Brown’s legacy will continue to live on. Big G just released his shoe this year and then Wale comes in there and his first tracks are go-go, so he really contributed to us coming up.

Ustyle: Tell us about your album release party March 15th. Is this your first?

BAM640: No, this is my last. (laughter ) No seriously this is my last CD. I have so many other artists that I’m working with under the Team640 Entertainment. I pulled the city together with this CD like Kenilworth Katrina, OG Prana and Bangman to name a few. I brought  so many talented artists in the city onto this one project, something that has never been done. In a city where there is so much violence and people hating and diss tracking each other, I wanted to get 15 to 20 of the greatest artists put them together and make awhole album, sort of a compilation album and I’m on every track.

Ustyle: When can we expect the album to be released?

BAM640: March 15th, same day as the Album Release Party.

Ustyle: You were named one of the DMV’s top Internet Radio Personalities. What’s up with that?

BAM640: Yeah that’s  what they say. I was nominated for the second year in a row at The Titan Awards, along side Eddie Kane, who is a legend from doing everything from Atlanta to New York even across seas. Me being in the same category with him for two years in a row was a great accomplishment for me. My first interview on a radio show was with Eddie Kane. For me to be that voice in radio that people like to hear is big. My show is a little ratchet and a little different  from most radio host. The way I talk.

Ustyle: Well obviously you’re doing something right because you have alot of dedicated followers and supporters.

BAM640: Well I talk about things most people don’t want to talk about like sex and relationship issues.

Ustyle: So your show is a talk show?

BAM640: Yes but we play music too. We interview  the best DMV artists. I actually started on the Go-Go side at WINDC Radio. I’ve had Backyard as my guests, Killa Cal and they were some great interviews. I can say the city has been behind me. Everybody won’t be behind you but most of the people behind me, was behind me.

Ustyle: Do you travel alot with your music and how have you been received?

BAM640: Actually the crazy thing is I’ve  gained more people that catch on to my music faster in other places than they did here. They love me in Atlanta, that’s  like my second  home. They like me in Richmond and in Miami. In fact I do Miami Takeover every year, this is actually going to be my third  year in row down there. It’s  been great!

Ustyle: So will you be performing in Miami at Miami Takeover?

BAM640: Yes I will be performing and hosting.

Ustyle: Tell us about the DMV Underground Award

BAM640: I won for the Best Host of the Year and it was like all my hard work finally paid off. It was like 30% votes, 30% of what you have done and like 30% fan base. It wasn’t one of those votes where people vote and you get out voted. The people did their research and looking to see what you have been doing and I’ve been blessed to host some great epic shows.

My city has embraced me from Buggs, who’s  been in the go-go business almost forty years to Big G of the Backyard Band to Wale and Shy Glizzy. It’s  been nothing but blessings and I don’t take any of it for granted.

Ustyle: So how difficult was it for you to showcase your talent and get yourself out there?

BAM640: Not difficult at all, as long as you have a plan. It’s like I heard 50cent say a long time ago, it’s not what you know it’s who you know and whoever you know that puts you on how long you stay there is determined by how great you’re going to be. I didn’t have the same problems that some indie artists have. I had Big G and everybody knows him and Backyard is one of the hottest bands in the DMV. When he pushed me on that stage he put me in front of 500 people and that wasmy first time on stage EVER! That push helped me to become known, then I started rocking with other people and bands and was pulling into their crowds. From there everybody started to know me.

Ustyle: What inspires your music?

BAM640: Life and everyday struggles that I go through. People be like you don’t have any worries, you getting paid for shows, this and that but they don’t know I’m still working a 9 to 5. The number one goal is to wake up and do this full-time. Like Donnie Simpson wakes up and there is nothing on his mind but radio and production meetings. I don’t want to go to work put in fourteen hours then have a show to work. It gets tiring.

Ustyle: How do you balance it all?

BAM640: I’m determined and it’s  God’s  plan, It’s not our plan. We may think we put our plan together but He sent it through. You take the plan to the door but He opened the door.

Ustyle: What national artists would love to work with?

BAM640: I would like to work with T.I. Shout out to my man, good dude. I mean alot of old school people that I like that I still talk to, but if I had my choice I would go get T.I, Chris Brown and Remy Ma.

Ustyle: Chris Brown?

BAM640: Yeah because I like his hooks. There is not a hook that he does not put down. I spoke with Fiend, formerly of No Limit Records and he gave me some good advice, he said,  “if I knew what I knew about indie music and putting your own music out along time ago I would have never signed a contract.”

Ustyle: What else  are you doing in the city?

BAM640: I am going to be doing my first mini-series. Actually the Boss2 Movie that will be coming out soon and then the Boss web series will be coming out after that and I will be making an appearance in that, so shout out to my man Mitch for reaching out to me for that. I don’t know how good I’ll  be at acting but I’m going to try to put it down.

Ustyle: Well you seem to be a character all by yourself so I’m sure you will do just fine.

BAM640: You think so? (laughter ) This is the first lady that had something nice to say to me all week.

Ustyle: Now wait a minute, I heard about this huge female fan base you have. The ladies love BAM640!

BAM640: I do and I appreciate all the ladies that support me no matter what. The support is real. I don’t judge and they know that.

Ustyle: What changes would you make in the music industry, if any?

BAM640: The realness. The realness has gotten rare. I just wish people would be real and rap about what’s real and not what they see the next person doing. My lyrics are 100% me. If i said it then I lived it and basically that’s what  G.M.F.U. is all about. I even did a slow song on this album and I don’t even like R&B songs.

Ustyle: So who do you have singing?

BAM640: I have Mika, who I actually picked up on the street as with alot of the artists. Nobody wanted to give them a chance and they said, “hey I sing, I rap” and I said, “alright come on let’s  go in the studio and put it down”.

Ustyle: Have you faced any major challenges throughout maintaining your career?

BAM640: Yes. I can’t keep a relationship to save my life. (laughter) I mean I’ve had major changes in my life. Relationships are hard especially when you are working full-time, doing shows, on the radio, doing production meetings, not to mention I have two bosses at the radio station that really keep me on my toes. All day I’m  running so being in a relationship they feel like I don’t have any time. Example one time I was in the studio until 4am and got accused of cheating. She couldn’t believe I was in the studio that long.

Ustyle: Well first of all what time did the session start?

BAM640: It was about 10pm

Ustyle: Ok 10 to 4am, yes I can see the atmosphere getting alittle tense.

BAM640: But we were in there banging out tracks. We working and the mindset is close the door, have what you going to eat, drink and have your slippers on cause we going to be in there even if we have to spend the night.

Ustyle: So again its developing that balance, right?

BAM640: First of all I have a strike going against me because when I talk to a female, the first thing she thinks is that I have alot of groupies. That’s  all they say. I just respect all of the ladies.

Ustyle: Do you have children?

BAM640: Yes and it’s  hard being away  from my son though. My oldest son Troy just turned 18, so he’s good. As a matter of fact I’m done financially, because he has a job. We do a father/son handshake, if he needs advice come hollar at me, but my 7 year old, Bam Jr loves everything  about me. He’s trying to be a rapper but I don’t want my son to rap.

Ustyle: So he wants to be in the music industry?

BAM640: Well I had Bam Jr on the stage with me so he thinks he can rap now. I want my kids to be better, so I’m trying to teach them that you don’t have to be a rapper or play sports to make it. You can be a Doctor and make just as much money. They can save the world. People that’s making up stupid stuff, no disrespect but like Facebook and Instagram and they made millions of dollars from just a simple idea. Any of us could have done that.

Ustyle: So what’s next for BAM640?

BAM640: Well March 15th I have my album release party and April 24th I’m out Texas. That will actually be my first time in Texas and I’m a Cowboys fan so I’m excited about that.

Ustyle: Will you be performing in Texas?

BAM640: Yes I am performing. I’ll be in Miami for Miami Takeover in July. We are also working on some Myrtle Beach events. I’m also continuing with the radio station WINDC Radio, each and every Thursday. We are really trying to stretch the internet radio stations, me and Boss Lady Pandora. There is a lot of good artists that’s being played on internet radio and we are trying to show that you don’t have to be on that main stage to get that spotlight.

Ustyle: Do you find yourself running into a lot of competition within the internet radio industry?

BAM640: Of course  but I listen to everybody and when you think I’m not listening to your show I am because I’m thinking of ways to better my show or myself. My show A Different Mind Radio Show is different. We interview anybody, strippers lifestyles, whatever we’ll interview you because you never know what the next person is destined to be.

Ustyle: How do you choose your guest for your show?

BAM640: A lot of them comes through social media. Social media will tell you a lot about a person and there is always a story on social media.

Ustyle: In closing what advice would you give any up and coming artists?

BAM640: Follow your grind and know your worth. Don’t let no one use you and you have to have a blue print to follow. You just can’t come in rapping. I was listening to this great rapper who was 18 years old but people were like all he talking about is dreads, drugs, money and sex. I was like what else is he suppose to rap about at 18, but it’s up to us older rappers to teach the younger rappers they can rap about something different like changing the world.