BABYJOY- Harmonious tightrope walk between rap and vocals

On 07.07. BABYJOY’s new single “Ab die Post” will be released and yes, our Passenger of the Month BABYJOY is on fire. But really. But from the beginning:

BABYJOY grew up as the youngest of four children in Berlin Schöneberg. She has been singing ever since she can remember and has played the piano since she was a child. BABYJOY really took off with her own music at the age of 18. But not just with pure singing. It’s the mixture that does it! Rap is her great passion and so it happens that BABYJOY has arrived in the rap game super fast. This may also be due to the fact that she effortlessly blends R’nB’, Trap and old-school Conscious Hip Hop. But not only that, BABYJOY not only mixes genres with ease, but also languages.

BABYJOY’s mother comes from Paris, her father from New York. Joy Grant, BABYJOY’s real name, speaks fluent German, French and English. And the talent runs in the family: Her brother Pablo is also known in the German rap scene under the stage name Dead Dawg as part of the rap group BHZ.

BABYJOY recorded her first song “Fancy You” in 2020 together with the Berlin producer KazOnDaBeat, who has also produced every other song of hers so far. So also their first EP “Troubadour”, from 2021, with seven songs including “Ensemble”, “viele Leute gucken” or “Vergessen”, and the following EP “Ophelia” from 2022. Subsequently, Babyjoy cooperated with Ahzumjot, Badchieff and – of course – again and again with BHZ. BABYJOY switches from weightless R’n’B sounds to trap, seamlessly transitions from rap to vocals and thus manages to stand out from the crowd with her style. This is also because she cannot be assigned to any genre. She has carved out her own niche, which couldn’t be more versatile.

By now, at the latest, everyone has realised that BABYJOY doesn’t fit into any pigeonhole, which is why we’re not surprised that she started studying jazz and then dropped out again, but still loves jazz dearly.

When writing songs, BABYJOY looks for a beat that best suits her mood. The rest then comes naturally, as the lyrics usually bubble out of her. In her opinion, writing has something therapeutic about it, as she can confide her feelings in the music like a diary and it triggers relief in her. However, her pleasant sound should in no way hide the heaviness of BABYJOY’s themes. In her songs, she deals with the early death of her father, among other things, as well as her experiences with racism and exclusion.

I don’t know to what extent I always want to make that an issue. But I am a black woman. That means it inevitably becomes an issue, because ignoring it doesn’t work either.

She wants to raise awareness of the disadvantages minorities face every day in a structurally racist system. Unpleasant experiences that have also shaken her own mental balance. In the end, however, it is not quite as melancholy as it sometimes sounds. After all, the name “Joy” is still in BABYJOY, and her motivation is the best you can imagine:

I make music because I enjoy it and because I can.