Rapper BIA is having her moment right now. The 29-year-old recording artist has been bubbling for a minute and last week, she scored her latest major hit record with the “WHOLE LOTTA MONEY” remix featuring the one-and-only Nicki Minaj. The special part about this remix is that Nicki didn’t phone in her verse — she gave it her all and innovated on the track, going back-and-forth with BIA and bringing a real mixtape vibe to the record.
As the remix continues to be BIA’s top-performing song at the moment, she’s been attracting more attention than usual. Touted as the next artist to blow in the hip-hop world, fans cracked down on her personal life and found some photos that don’t paint her in the best light. When a viral tweet suggested that she’s “not Black,” the rapper felt as though she needed to clear up the confusion with her ethnicity before continuing to elevate.
“Very aware of my roots guys,” she started, replying to the tweet. “My grandparents were born in PR and migrated to NY. Puerto Rican’s come in many different colors and race is different from ethnicity OF COURSE we have tiano, African, and Latin blood. Very proud to be Afrolatina and Italian.”
BIA is making it clear that, while her family comes from all over the world, she identifies as Afro-Latina and Italian.
Watch BIA’s recent episode of In My Bag below.