Bb Trickz, the Barcelona-born rapper recently co-signed by Charli xcx, is introducing herself
Born Belize Kazi, the musician caught up with PEOPLE about the work that inspired her new EP, 80’z, being the “brattiest brat I know” and the power in crafting short songs
“I’m just a girl that enjoys what she does and has a lot of fun doing it,” she says
Bb Trickz’s new project is 11 minutes long — fittingly, the exact amount of time it takes to watch a single segment of SpongeBob SquarePants, one of three drawing points for the EP.
The other two: Teletubbies and Spy Kids.
“I really love the colors they use in those shows, the color palette,” the 25-year-old Spanish rapper, born Belize Kazi, tells PEOPLE during a promotional trip in New York City. “How everything is just happiness, sunshine and smiles. How they don’t really take anything seriously. They’re just having fun.”
Kazi has a lot more in common with those sunshiny inspirations than just the running time of her new project, 80z. Having fun has become part of Bb Trickz’s brand since she arrived on the scene roughly two years ago. After the release of her debut single, “Missionsuicida,” in April 2023, Kazi’s playful drill anthems, one-liners and likable social media presence have helped her become not just a force in Spanish hip-hop, but someone already capturing the attention of the likes of Ice Spice, Clairo and Charli xcx — the latter who featured her on her star-studded Brat remix album, Brat and It’s Completely Different but Also Still Brat, in October.
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Bb Trickz
“I think I’m the brattiest bitch I know, brattiest brat I know. I’m very grateful that she thought of me and that she included me in this project. I think it’s such a culturally impactful project and I’m happy to be a part of it,” Kazi says in PEOPLE’s Manhattan office, days before gracing the stage at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center as a surprise guest on Charli’s Brat Tour, a moment she said inspired her to “work harder” and see “the power Charli holds over her fans.”
“[Working with Charli] taught me to try harder,” she adds. “She worked really hard on the project and you can tell even just from listening. If you even take her vocals out and you just listen to the instrumentals, you can tell she poured everything into it.”
Kazi, who carries Spain with her nearly 4,000 miles away from her home of Barcelona, can pinpoint the exact moment she first saw a future for herself: Sitting at the local basketball courts — or “canchas” — nearby the Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona. “Everyone there was doing nothing with their life,” she says of her teenage years. “People that don’t study and don’t work, just skate and smoke and do nothing. So that really made me want to do something.”
In late 2022, she picked up rapping in Spanish after trying to sing in English and realizing that there was “something missing” for her. At the time, her manager was starting to spend more time at home producing beats and tossed one her way. Kazi was hooked from there.
“We started writing it together and then I basically asked him, I got on my knees and was like, ‘Please, please, please record me.’ Because it’s the first time I’ve made music and I think I’m headed somewhere. And he was like, ‘Yeah, you should just rap in Spanish.’”
Since then, Kazi released two EPs in 2023 — Trickstar and Sadtrickz — before securing a string of viral hits on TikTok in the process, including the Law & Order-sampling “Missionsuicida” and the sticky “Bambi.” In April, she finally dropped her follow-up project 80’z, which certainly exudes the “happiness, sunshine and smiles” that she was going for.
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The eight-track EP, Kazi says, was recorded months back when she wasn’t in a “very happy place,” yet represents where she wanted to be. Each song, many of which Kazi has paired with equally chipper and consistently viral TikTok dances, clocks in under two-minutes long. Standouts like “Tipz & Trickz,” “Super” and “Not a Pretty Girl” — which spins a Clairo sample after Clairo’s team reached out to collaborate — last around a minute and 40 seconds. And all for good reason.
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Bb Trickz
“I think just as a society we have this short attention span, and I’m included in that,” Kazi says of her song lengths. “And the same way someone gets bored of a TikTok in five seconds, I get bored of making the songs in a minute. I feel like we’re at that point, and I always think songs are more addicting when they finish before you’ve had enough of it.”
“It’s like a show. You know when they make it too long and then they f— up the last episodes?”
As for her ever-growing fanbase — specifically on TikTok, where Kazi boasts 3 million followers — their attention is unwavering thanks to her consistency on the platform. Following her chat with PEOPLE, as she steps outside to record some social content, Kazi and her team ask to borrow a PEOPLE-branded microphone before she lip-syncs one of her tracks into it, on the spot, in front of a bed of flowers. Within seconds, it’s recorded and tucked away for (potentially) later.
“I can have a lot of fun using TikTok… I think it’s just a really good tool to promote my music,” Kazi says of social media. “I don’t have to pay billboards or placements anywhere. I can just use my phone to do it, which is pretty cool.”
“I guess it is a battle to try to show myself as authentically as I can,” she adds. “But it’s fun. It’s very direct and in the moment.”
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Bb Trickz
Kazi, adjusting to fame and all that comes with it, has plenty of trick(z) up her sleeve for the years to come. But her ultimate goal is simple enough: “Keep my authenticity and my values intact. Keep up what I represent.”
And what is it she represents? “I’m just a girl that enjoys what she does and has a lot of fun doing it. And I would advise you to not take life and opinions too seriously.”
80’z is out now via Sony Spain.
Read the original article on People
