Photos by Bryan Allen LambWaiting for BJ the Chicago Kid, one best remain patient. Sure, you could find frustration in that hour spent by your lonesome in a kitschy Jamaican-themed restaurant in downtown Chicagoâespecially knowing the R&B singer is meticulously dressing himself in a hotel room many floors above. Or you could instead sit tolerantly, biding your time until your moment arrives. After all, youâd only be following BJâs lead. âWhen you think youâve had enough,â BJ says minutes later upon arrival, sitting down over a plate of oxtails and assessing his decade-plus ascension to his current moment of mainstream music-industry recognition, âyou have three more hours of waiting.â He laughs and says it again for emphasis: âWhen you think the waiting is over you have to wait more!âBJ has waited long enough. Itâs why he sits here nowâhoodie, ripped jeans, orange New Balance shoes and a camouflage Leaders baseball hatâeager and open; he's a 31-year-old man who knows nothing in this life is handed out. Yes, BJ the Chicago Kid is a tender-voiced, shape-shifting vocalistâone who has written and recorded with Kendrick Lamar, Dr. Dre, Kanye West, Stevie Wonder, Jill Scott, and what seems like every major player in hip-hop, R&B, soul and gospelâbut heâs foremost a worker. A tireless servant to the craft who broke out with 2012âs lush, excellent independently released mixtape, Pineapple Now-Laters. A man who knows In My Mind, his equal parts slick, funky and soulful debut album released last week via Motown Records, could easily never have come to fruition.Artists gush about their experiences working with the humble BJ, whom friend and collaborator Joey Bada$$ calls âa real person.â In My Mind producer John âJ-Keysâ Groover Jr., one-half of production duo Mike & Keys, calls him âour generationâs version of a Marvin Gaye.â But the singer brushes off such praise. He knows nothing in the âreally seriousâ music industry is guaranteed.âI had real moments where I was contemplating leaving music,â says BJ, without instigation. âTimes it got so hard I didnât know if I wanted to hang in this. It takes a lot. But Iâve hung around.âWork ethic. Talk to enough people about BJ the Chicago Kid and that word will come up countless times. Dudeâs got it in spades. âDefinitely one of the hardest hustles in the game,â Soundscape Studios owner and Chicago hip-hop label Closed Sessions co-founder Mike Kolar says when asked to describe his frequent collaborator. Kolar has been working with BJ for years, but he recalls seeing him around the studio a great deal in particular when they were working with Chance the Rapper for the latterâs acclaimed Acid Rap mixtape. âHeâs the music game little engine that could,â Kolar adds. âHe just kept chugging and putting one foot in front of the other. He just overcame everything and kept working and grinding and not letting something set him back or stop him.âDetermination notwithstanding, BJâs innate sense of melody and creative spontaneity has afforded him a legion of loyal collaborators. Nico Segal, better known as Chance the Rapper collaborator and Social Experiment band member Donnie Trumpet, says of BJ: âHis parts come together in a matter of minutes because there is no barrier between his mind and his vocal technique.â Segal recruited BJ for his album Surf, specifically the track âWindows,â and Nico recalls, the singer started creating off-the-wall noises in the booth. âThere were moments we couldn't even tell it was him singing,â Segal says. âThose sounds and moments separate him from a lot of other vocalists. In those moments he is more of a producer, more of a musician than just a singer. His ear for what the song calls for extends beyond his own regular voice; he sees the big picture, the song. That type of musical sensibility is really what makes BJ special.âBy age seven, BJ knew his ear for music was a special one. Born Bryan James Sledge and raised in Chicagoâs rough Brainerd neighborhood on the cityâs South Side, one of three sons of two choir directors at Prayer Van Church, the young boy fell hard for music at a young age. It happened when cleaning his familyâs house as part of his weekly chores. âI felt feelings that I didnât think people my age were supposed to feel from music,â BJ says, smiling as he remembers moving the family radio into whatever room he was cleaning at the time so not to miss a moment of his favorite hip-hop, R&B or oldies song. âI understood it deeper. That idle time with music and my maturity helped me understand what I felt first from songs before I was even able to record.âWith preachers for parents, BJ began singing in church at a young age. Music, he says, kept him off the streets for the most part in his rough, violence-ridden neighborhood. âMusic saved my life,â he says matter-of-factly. While attending Percy L. Julian High School, BJ joined the school band. His teacher was amazed someone with BJâs talent could learn to play a song after hearing it once yet couldnât even read sheet music. BJ also got into songwriting while in high school; he even penned a song for Chicago jazz icon Ramsey Lewis with the help of local producer Kevin Randolph.After graduation, Randolph was hired as musical director for gospel duo Mary Mary, and BJ was hired in quick succession as a background vocalist. To that end, at age 19, he moved to Los Angeles. Word quickly spread of BJâs mammoth talent; he began catching the ear of A-list talent. (His current manager, Steven McDaniel, recalls sitting in a coffeeshop in New York City with Jill Scott five years ago, both gushing over an early recording of BJ). The then-20-year-old was soon singing background for Scott, Stevie Wonder, and Usher, even performing on the Grammy stage in 2005 with the last and James Brown.BJ is the first to admit his time in the background was a challenging if not crucial one. âIt was a serious time of waiting and having to understand certain things I wanted versus what I needed,â he says. âSome days youâll be the only one believing.âLinking up with rappers like Kendrick Lamar and his Top Dawg Entertainment crew offered BJ an opportunity to step out from the shadows. Joey Bada$$ first heard BJ's singing on his sweet hook on Kendrick Lamarâs 2011 mixtape cut "Faith." âEver since that Iâve been a fan of BJ and wanting to work with him,â says Joey, who now considers BJ a close friend and collaborator.âI never took it for granted,â BJ offers now of the opportunities that followed, including collaborating with Kanye West on the Mission: Impossible III cut âImpossible.â âHappy to work with some of those guys, always,â BJ says. âThatâs me understanding their caliber and them acknowledging my craft. Itâs a pat on my back. It reminds me that itâs a long way from Chicago.âOn 2012âs Pineapple Now-Laters, BJâs a crisp blend of vintage R&B, bedroom soul and conscious hip-hopâhighlighted by the Kendrick collaboration âHis PainââBJ fully showcased his capabilities as a solo artist. Not only did the project earn him a record deal with Motown, it also found him working thereafter with artists from Snoop Dogg to Jamie Foxx.Yet despite a slew of acclaimed features in the years that followed, on projects such as Chanceâs Acid Rap and Dr. Dreâs Compton, not to mention a Grammy nomination for his hook on Schoolboy Qâs 2014 track âStudio,â this time it was his new fans' turn to wait and wonder. But the result, In My Mind, is, as BJ acknowledges, his most accomplished work yet. From the groove-indebted âTurninâ Me Upâ (âThatâs offering music at a black churchâ) to the gospel-infected âJeremiah/World Needs More Love,â the Raphael Saadiq-sampling âThe New Cupid,â or the spiritual radio single âChurch,â on which BJ moans, âShe say she wanna drink, do drugs, and have sex tonight/but I got church in the morning,â thereâs a hard-won maturity to BJâs newest creation.âIâm recycling all of this emotion and this feeling,â BJ says of channeling his multi-year grind into contemporary creativity. âI sing from a different place.âBJ arrived to the studio last year with a clear vision for his album, says In My Mind producer Michael âMoney Mikeâ Cox Jr. âWith BJ we built the album before we got in the studio,â Cox explains. âWe hung out every single day and spent time together outside of music. So when we went in the studio it was actually really fun. No pressure. He knows what he wants off top.âThe singer is quick to note his music, while owing a clear debt to artists like Curtis Mayfield and DâAngelo, is affected by the varied artists he admires, from the Beatles to Dixie Chicks. âAll of this stuff adds to make this big monster vocally and creatively,â he says. âIâm always surprised by the results. Because every song starts from silence. Thatâs amazing to me.âMusic remains sacred to to BJ. He feels a need to protect it; in his mind, itâs a gift delivered to him from on high. In the Chicago restaurant heâll lean in close, as if to let you in on a secret, telling you how he believes music equals power. âItâs a feeling that makes people forget about the bills, the bad kids, the trippingâ baby mamas, the divorce, the loss of the job,â he says of his chosen artistic outlet that both pays the bills and keeps him sane. âJust for one second. One song. Three minutes. Whatever. Itâs power.âYou have to understand music is the relief of the shit that stops you from going crazy,â he continues. âWe all go through things in life. And we channel it through different things; some people do drinking, some people do drugs. Iâve learned to channel mine to music.âEven after all the hours logged, the work, the energy expended and now, at last, the debut-album payoff, BJ the Chicago Kid admits those slinky hooks he croons, those singsong verses he delivers with precisionâthey still elude him more often than not.âThatâs why Iâm still kissing this girl called music,â he says with a smile. âThatâs why Iâm still flirting with her.âBryan Allen Lamb is a photographer living in Chicago. Follow him on Instagram.Dan Hyman's got church in the morning. Follow him on Twitter.
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