Although, Bay Bay The Ambassador's name may not seem too familiar at first glance however, you may have definitely chanted it with rapper Hurricane Chris in 2007. The MMG Artist, on-air personality for Dallas' K104 and sixth ranked DJ on 2014's Source Magazine's Power 30 list has proven to remain relevant throughout the years proving to be Dallas's own ambassador on the hip-hop scene.
Along with nearly 70,000 followers on Instagram, the God-fearing radio DJ, rap artist and the go-to-guy to break the next big artist down south has an amazing track "Right Now" featuring Kevin Gates, Kirko Bangz and Ant Bankz that he's promoting.
Beyond being associated with countless celebrities, Bay Bay opens up exclusively to Music Times, - in one interesting interview - where he talks about his impact as a southern DJ, his devotion to his religion and what he thinks about his label mate, Meek ill and Drake's rap beef.
Music Times: Bay Bay The Ambassador' is such an original name. Where did it come from and how did it stick?
Bay Bay the Ambassador: Bay Bay the Ambassador originated from the lifestyle that I live. What I've been doing the whole time throughout my music career. The A Bay Bay is, if you know how we pronounce it - it's the letter A then Bay Ba - so the 'A Bay Bay was the inspiration behind Hurricane Chris' hit single "A Bay Bay" from 2007. We adopted the A and the A comes from being ambassador to a lot of people's situations. A lot of artists' situations, because we're always working, always trying to fit the pieces of the puzzle in the right slots.
MT: How do you balance music, being name No. 6 on the Source Power DJ list, and other huge things?
BB: Well, I think we put everything in its right perspective. It's not a job it's pretty much what I do from waking up in the morning, checking the schedule, seeing what we need to do. Some days I feel like making music, some days I have a radio personality. It's really a lifestyle I think that's the best way to say to give you a clear understanding of how it is when you live your life. People talk about they want to be the hottest artist, the hottest feature, the hottest radio personality. But when you're living it, it's kind of hard to really explain how you balance it because you never balance it.
MT: What made you start pushing your own music? Since you have all these things under your belt?
BB: I guess the love of music and I have been there for so many people: the Hurricane Chrises, the Futures, you know all of those guys on their startup came through my hometown. Whether they was on promos those guys getting out of their own personal habitats and then making their way around the country. They stopped in Shreveport, Louisiana, and there was such a big force on networking when they came through my town they either directed or somehow ran into me and we helped them with their campaign. And then after "A Bay Bay" took off and I really saw firsthand that you really could get to the next level through music, that's when I began to take it real seriously and started pushing my own music and things that I wanted to bring to the table. So, I guess in 2007, once I saw how far and how we went to the next level with Hurricane Chris that's when I began to really take it serious and wanted to push some of my product.
MT: So let's into you teaming up now with Kevin Gates, Kirko Bangz and Ant Bankz. How and why did you get them on "Right Now?"
BB: I have been doing this since 1996. Recognizing the plug, recognizing the socket. Being able to connect the plug to the socket. So every artist that I've worked with, I have a personal relationship with them. They understand that, man you are a force to be reckoned with, you know a lot of people, lot of people understand you, believe in you, you have the ability to translate and network. Kevin Gates, Kirko Bangz, Ant Bankz it's no different. If you Google clips of me and Kevin Gates, I believed in Kevin Gates before he was Kevin Gates as you know him. Kirko Bangz we had the same connection, I believed in him before he grew bigger. And Ant Bankz is more of, he's on the rise. He's from my hometown and he's one of those artists that the city has endorsed as one of those local teens. So as I get bigger, and I recognize me being the ambassador, I have the power to put smaller brands and entities on the track that is bigger than them but also have the other guys that I've networked and saw and helped in their beginning stage to come back and we put together music that means so much, that doesn't have an expiration on it.
MT: You are accessible because you're on the radio and you have close to 70,000 followers on Instagram. Do you say it's easier to you to break out that way?
BB: Yeah, it's very easy but the key to my success is God. But the key after God is networking and being firm. Standing for something, always the same approach every time you meet them. You don't switch up. You don't switch up as a personality. Back in the day we used to listen to live bands, then live bands to whichever came first: 8-track, 45, real to real. We got the music from a live band but then we wanted it and we used cassette tapes. Cassette tapes to CDs, CDs to MP3s, and now it's digital. We still get music. So what I'm trying to say to you is the music didn't change, the method changed. Do you understand that translation? And that transfer. So you don't have to change as a person but the method and the way that you interact with people changes a little bit. But you still have to remain authentic to where you're still doing the same thing that got you to this point. And my thing that got me to this point was networking.
MT: You said that God played a major part in your success now? And I noticed on your profile you take religion seriously. Do you ever feel pressured? You know how church folks are...
BB: I used to feel so bad about that because [laughs]. Let me put it here: I do not smoke or drink. I do not partake in it. Not because it's bad but it's just not for me. So I don't condemn or condone those who do, I just see what it does. I know that it's not for me, I don't like feeling like that I have a natural high. So, I should feel bad coming from a club on a Saturday night, put your hands in the air and yada yada and then come into church on Sunday I [laughs] try to connect with the higher power. And I understand I struggle with that so I went to my bishop and I asked him, You know I don't feel comfortable because I know I have so much influence and kids look up to me... I'm influencing the club and then I come into church and you want me to come up and speak to youth and tell them how they need to be this, this, and that. I struggle with that.
And he was like, if you look at everybody that God used in the Bible, they weren't perfect people. You know we don't want to just switch and go all religious but Moses, Elijah, David, Solomon, none of those people were perfect people. He used those people to get a message out. They were instruments. He brought a brighter light to me, so I said wow. He's uplifting me to get a message out for him to get the glory. So everything I do, when people start giving me credit, I don't act, I don't go Hollywood, I don't go brand new. I just say that there's nothing around me that you can point to and say wow, that's the reason why he's successful. Other than God. Not the smartest, not the most articulate, not the most creative, it's just that whatever I do has been magnified and said wow, put this guy in this particular place.
MT: A lot of stuff is happening in hip-hop. I've noticed you're very close with Meek Mill, because you posted his album on there on Instagram. Do you ever give these artists advice on how to go about things? Also what's your take on ghostwriters?
BB: You know I love you for that, right? And I hope that whatever I say, gets published. Or hit the mainstream, because I love Donald Trump. I don't like some of his views, but I love him. The person that can say what he says because the world has become so PC - politically correct. Meek is my brother. Ghostwriters, or ghostwriting, at the end of the day what is it all about? It's about the music. It doesn't take, at the end of the day, your boss man tells you I don't care what it takes for you to get it done as long as you get it done. Right? When we were listen to a great body of work, Kendrick Lamar, Drake, Big Sean, Future, if it's a great body of work it's a great body of work. Some are fortunate to create a great body of work in its entirety, and some of those are great enough to bring other ideas from other people...
As long as you give people the credit, like I give God the credit God is my ghostwriter. But when I start saying that I did it, I did it, I did it, and take all the credit then that's not correct. But I get what Meek meant. I don't agree with it, because that was a form of snitching, and that's my brother. So if Meek can tell me that he's never had any help on creating a body of work, then he's one of the few that can create a body of work by himself. If Drake has ghostwriters, so what? By the time he put it out, the masses love it.
And the bigger problem I have with the Meek and Drake situation is, it's the people around him. I ain't even going to say yes men, I'm just going to say people who stand on certain principles. In this game of entertainment, things shift and move so fast that you don't start...you stand on real principles but when you're not around them, when you move to different atmospheres, then we kind of get...everybody wants to be No. 1. Everybody wants what they can't have. So it should have been a number of things, I shouldn't even speculate why all of a sudden it became an issue.
So, bottom line what I feel about the Meek and Drake thing is: I hate it because there's going to be a loser. And the fact that me and Meek - because me and Drake, we're cool. I met Drake, I've given Drake - that's why I love you. Because you said, when you're around these artists do I give them my personal [opinion]. Every artist. If and when they win the Bay Bay, it's on a plateau to their lives.
You're from the streets and you know the no snitching rule and that you don't pull the cover from up over. Because if you do it to somebody, somebody's going to do it to you. And we've got to stop that, we've got to stop being motivated to expose people so quickly. People feeding their families, people feeding themselves. So that's the only part of it I didn't like.
MT: Do you think it's like a popularity thing between them two?
BB: It's definitely become a popularity thing. You mean exposing people? Let me tell you something, Meek is really the winner. Although Drake didn't tweet the album out, look how much he gained. If he put out an album right now, people are going to do something to it. I don't care if they go buy it, bootleg it, stream it, Meek has the attention. Until now, Meek has everything that he had at first and he has a percentage of...he's winning that category. But at the end of the day, how many fight Floyd Mayweather just for the check? They don't fight to win, they fight for the check. Number two ain't all that bad.
