Bia

Her assured, gritty rhymes blend with intricate beats to form ominous trap cuts that sometimes incorporate soulful refrains. Beginning her career independently, she joined Epic Records in early 2020, released the EP For Certain, and enlisted Nicki Minaj for a remix of its track “Whole Lotta Money.” Once the song climbed into the upper tiers of the Billboard chart, BIA issued a deluxe album-length edition of For Certain in 2021 and followed it with further output that included joint efforts alongside J. Cole and Snakehips as well as her own standalone singles. Really Her, another EP that was later expanded into a deluxe edition, appeared in 2023. She joined JID on the 2024 single “LIGHTS OUT.”

Born in Medford, Massachusetts, in 1991, BIA participated in Boston’s independent rap community early on before focusing on her own material and moving first to Miami and then to Los Angeles. In 2016 she contributed vocals to J Balvin’s single “Safari” and supported Ariana Grande on select dates while continuing to drop new singles. The 2018 EP Nice Girls Finish Last: Cuidado collected earlier tracks and introduced guest appearances by Kodak Black and Kali Uchis.

After signing with Epic, she issued the harder-edged 2020 tracks “Free BIA (First Day Out)” and the lurching, hypnotic “Cover Girl,” both of which later appeared on her second EP, For Certain, released that December. A video for the project’s “Whole Lotta Money” arrived the following April, and after the track gained viral traction a Nicki Minaj remix surfaced in July, reaching the Top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100 and earning a 2021 MTV VMA nomination for Best Breakthrough Song. BIA’s reworked version of “Skate” was also used in 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs tune-in promotions.

She collaborated with J. Cole on the 2022 single “London,” which reached number 62 on the Billboard charts. That same year she featured on cuts with Tommy Genesis and Snakehips, appeared on a remix of Minaj’s chart-topping “Super Freaky Girl” alongside Katie Got Bandz, Akbar V, and others, and guested on German rapper Luciano’s “Bamba,” which topped charts in multiple countries. March 2023 brought the solo single “Sixteen,” soon followed by “I’m That Bitch,” a Timbaland collaboration that landed on Really Her alongside appearances from Juicy J and Swizz Beatz. An expanded International Deluxe edition added further guests including Fivio Foreign, Giggs, Pa Salieu, and Luciano. In 2024 BIA appeared on tracks by DJ Bliss (“808”) and Lebra Jolie (“Yeah”) and joined JID for “LIGHTS OUT” on the Bad Boys 4 soundtrack.