Her style may have been heavily influenced by the late singer Aaliyah when she was growing up, but Bia has created her own lane. The rapper’s star has been rising for quite some time, especially after she was signed to Pharrell Williams’s i am OTHER record label. However, her career came to a bit of a standstill in the years to follow after she was shelved. Now that she’s able to spread her wings, we’ve seen much more of the Massachusetts native. 

Russ added Bia to his single “Best on Earth,” a hit song that not only introduced Bia to a larger audience but also received a co-sign from Rihanna. “I would say that was one of the best days for me of my career,” the rapper told HipHopDX. “Because Rihanna, she is one of my favorite people in the world. And to have a co-sign like that from a peer, it already means a lot. But to have co-sign, like that from your favorite person. Like one of the people that you look to for inspiration or one of the people that you feel like set the bar. It was overwhelming for me. It just hit different.”

Bia calls herself a “real student of rap” who studies the styles and flows of those to be considered icons as well as her peers. “When it comes to rap and flow, I’ve always been heavy on rap. I’m a flow type of person,” Bia added. “I love Big Sean’s flow. I love Nicki Minaj. She influenced me a lot. I love Bankroll Fresh. Bankroll Fresh to this day is one of my favorite rappers of all time. People ask me, ‘Who was my biggest inspiration?’ They always think it was Big Sean and I always tell people it was Bankroll Fresh. I’m a real student of rap. I just love rap. I love music. I’m onto sh*t at least a year or two before it pops.” Check out Bia sharing a sexy clip of herself as she raps along to her latest single “Cover Girl”  and watch her interview with us on Between the Lines below.

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After a couple setbacks and delays, Bankroll Fresh’s long awaited posthumous album, In Bank We Trust, is finally ready to see the light of day. On Monday, the late ATL rapper’s mother and label announced that the posthumous album will be dropping in two days, Wednesday, March 4th, which is exactly four years to the day of his tragic death.

Comprised of songs the late rapper recorded between 2014 and 2016, the 12-track album will feature guest appearances from Boosie Badazz as well as Bankroll’s labelmates Quicktrip and Street Money Boochie. Meanwhile, production will be handled by the likes of Shawty Fresh, Drum Section, D. Rich, G Money and Jayell among others.

“I was very involved,” Bankroll’s mother, Terisa Price told XXL. “Studio sun up to sun down, putting songs in order for the album…listening to a lot of songs that he recorded before.”

Check out the project’s cover art & tracklisting (below).

Tracklist:

1. Mind Body and Soul
2. Extra
3. Quarter Million
4. Feel Me [ft. Countup JT]
5. Touch [ft. Persona]
6. Million Up [ft. Boosie Badazz]
7. Understand
8. Loyalty Is Real
9. See Me [ft. Street Money Boochie]
10. Playing Wit a Check
11. Right On [ft. Quicktrip]
12. Confession [ft. Ques]

Rapper Bankroll Fresh was shot and killed on March 4th, 2016, after an altercation involving one of his childhood friends, fellow rapper No Plug, occurred at Atlanta’s Street Execs Studios. Months after Fresh’s death, Plug admitted to his involvement in the murder, but claimed that it was self-defense and that Fresh actually fired the first shots. Neither he nor any of his entourage present were charged for the shooting.

Plug brought the whole incident to mind recently when he posted a photo on Sunday of himself standing in front of a car at a gas station with the caption, “Last N*gga Tried Me Made Da T.V.” The lyric comes from Plug’s “1st Day Out” track, which he dropped not too long after Fresh’s passing. It seems that Plug is alluding to murdering Fresh by bringing up this lyric that’s several years old, due to the notion that, after he “tried” Plug by shooting first, Fresh wound up on TV as news of his death spread. Some angry Fresh fans flooded the comments with their outrage at Plug’s audacity. One commented “Been Told You You Got Lucky,” another said, “REST UP BANKROLL FRESH IAN FORGET ABOUT YOU SHORTY??,” and yet another commenter asserted, “He was a way better rapper than u too u talentless goof.”