Artist Of The Week - BS

Don’t let the name fool you, there’s nothing BS about BS. A part of NYC’s next generation of up and coming emcees, BS has rocked the mic with a litany of former Artists Of The Week (aka B-Listers, for the uninitiated), including Chaz Kangas, Jesse Abraham, and Premonition. In fact, the first time I saw him perform it was with a group of artists I’d known for a while, so it was almost as though he’d arrived on the scene already co-signed. To BS’s credit, he’s never taken advantage of that feeling and continues to work his ass off to get heard. This week I caught up with BS to find out more about the man behind the initials, including what those initials stand for, where you’ll never find him, and why instead of sneaking into shows he now has to sneak out of them.

Adam Bernard: Before we even get to your background check, why do you go by the name BS? They’re not your initials, and BS doesn’t exactly have the best connotations to it.
BS: I chose the name BS because it's a fluid identity. Two letters can become anything that I want them to be. BS could be bull shit, yes, but BS could also be Basic Strategy, BS could be Better Sober, Buck Shot, Bitch Slapped Backstage By a Salty Biggie Smalls in Bed Stuy. It even encompasses my last name, Bradshaw. That's the beauty of the name, it's so malleable. At the same time, if I say something wack it's "just BS." It's the ultimate loophole. I’m "The Only BS You Can Trust." Also, I talk a lot.

Adam Bernard: OK, so now that we have that sorted out, hit me with the background check: where are you from and what brought you from being a baby BS to the BS who rocks Bondfire on a near monthly basis?
BS: As a kid I moved around a lot. I was born in Brewster, New York, moved to Alabama and then West Chester, PA. From there I ended up at NYU, where I met Nyle. He and my friend Shorty CC, who’s a graff writer, took me to Sin Sin around sophomore year of college. Up until that point I'd only done a random lunchroom battle in high school, which was really more of an "ooooh, look at what I can do" kind of thing. I loved hip-hop, but it never seemed like something that I'd engage in creating at the time. I didn't really start writing rhymes until after freshman year of college. I did the “closet writer” thing until I started going to Sin Sin regularly. From there I manned up, stopped being shy, and continued writing until it became constant. About a year ago I started taking rhyming more seriously. I made it a point to be everywhere I can - events, cyphers, open mics, shows. As Premonition put it to me once, "a night rocked is better than a night not rocked, any day of the week."  From Sin Sin I met Jesse Abraham who told me about Bondfire.

Adam Bernard: You recently dropped an internet-only release. First tell everyone about the album, and then let me know why you didn’t press up CDs for us old school heads who love the physical format. Will you eventually have something for us?
BS: I released That Jawn Vol. 1 a couple months ago. If it were an album I'd press it up, but it's really a collection. I was hoping the Vol. 1 label would distinguish it from an album. A couple of those joints are a couple years old. I'd been sitting on them for too long and had to get them out. You'll find work I've done with Kamikaze Picnic and his monthly Junk Island pulp-rap series in addition to some exclusives mixed with collaborations and features. It's the first in a series of mixtapes I want to put out showcasing our community; "here's my community, check out how dope my friends are and then listen to everything they do." But I digress, I don't think I'll be pressing any up. Truth Now and I have a mix-EP coming out around the beginning of June, The Truth About Bull Shit. It's a much more focused effort than TJv1. I'm really hyped on that. Also, Albert Rhymestein and I have been working our asses off on a full-length, BS+AR = BARS. That's due end of summer. That one we're going to get pressed up, as it will be all original production.

Adam Bernard: You mentioned Kamikaze Picnic, and I know you’ve done a lot of work with him. What about your styles do you feel meshes so well?
BS: KP and I have a very good basic understanding of each other's respective madness. From there, the method's just mesh. I like to think of us as the Pinky and Brain of hip-hop done in Ren and Stimpy animation. It's a lot of fun. We both like to be as creative and original as we can. We do conceptual, narrative-driven character rapping all taking place in the fictional sixth borough of NYC, Junk Island. The albums are concepts within concepts wrapped in a story with emcees rapping in character. I'm at his place every Saturday, at least, and usually end up on four to five joints an album, which drop monthly. They turn into ensemble projects with a gang of dope emcees. KP makes the beats, writes the stories and concepts, writes his verses, records and mixes everyone, and puts super ill scratches on top of it. He does this every month. On top of that, we do shows together. The man's work-ethic inspires me. He's the hardest working person I know, period.

Adam Bernard: Being part of the next generation of NYC emcees, what about the scene surprised you most when you first become a part of it?
BS: It's a scene, but at the same time it's really a community. There are so many dope people you see regularly at events. Everyone's cool, supportive, and always willing to share knowledge. From Sin Sin, to Bondfire, to the Hip-Hop Subway Series, to the entire open mic scene, to the Union Square Cypher regulars, everyone shows love to emcees who “do them.” Originality and creativity receive so much more praise than I would've previously expected. Everyone knows each other to the point where you know at least half of a packed event and when you need to leave on some "shit, I've got work at 7am tomorrow and it's 1am and I need to get to BK on the F," you can't  properly say bye to anyone because it'll be at least half an hour before you exit the building.

Adam Bernard: You’ve mentioned a few of your hangouts throughout this interview, but where are three places that a person will NEVER see BS?
BS: You'll never see BS on CBS. You'll never see BS asleep in bed. You'll never see BS on Junk Island... although, you may happen to see Butter Shots, Brodie Stroker, Buster Sanchez, Bowser Samoa, or Bradford Snarlsburg.

Adam Bernard: Finally, since this is the internet, and anything written on the internet is the truth, and because this could make Google searches REALLY interesting, get your tabloid on; BS, who was that we saw you leaving the club with at 3am and where were you two going?
BS: Truth Now, being a very good friend of mine and incredibly vocal about his strong political beliefs, held a political press conference/album release party denouncing Big Brother at the 40/40 club. In attendance were President Obama, Perez Hilton, John Cena, EPMD, a few zombies, and the ghost of Zorro. An Illuminati hit squad sequestered Truth and I, dragging us out of the club at 3am. We awoke from a chloroform nap in an abandoned slaughter house, tied back to back on bright red flamingo lawn chairs. The lone lightbulb swinging above our heads revealed a sleek, lingering silhouette darting across the room. After heroically escaping the clutches of Megan Fox and halting the NWO's viral-animal artificial insemination scheme, we grabbed dinner with Albert Rhymestein and the rest of fam!LL at Taco Bell.


Related Links

Reverbnation: reverbnation.com/theonlyBSyoucantrust
Facebook: facebook.com/trustBS
Twitter: twitter.com/trustBS
That Jawn Vol. 1: trustBS.bandcamp.com
Junk Island: kamikazepicnic.bandcamp.com