Features : B. Alvee looks to begin breaking out into hip hop mainstream with “Real Money”

B. Alvee came to a career in hip hop kind of by accident, recording his first song just for something to do during the Covid down time.

But you wouldn’t know that by listening to his latest single, “Real Money.” It is highly skilled hip hop with a contemplative edge, easy to listen to, easy to follow. It flows out of a history as a first-generation Mexican-American born of immigrant parents, a life that went from poor to middle class in the space of a few years, and the kind of speculations about money produced by that kind of history.

Real Money, real cash I seen real fast
Hold some paper when it’s over you gone see who lasts
Made me question if I want it
It was getting bad

“‘Real Money’ is like an ode to the power of money,” he said, “the influence of money. And it was kind of inspired through my real life experiences, from like moments of betrayal to moments of triumph. The lyrics dive into a complex emotion, because you don’t know if money is good or bad, necessarily, but money is always real money.”

His musical experience begins in early childhood, age 3 or 4, in hip hop. His mother introduced him to Outkast’s “Hey Ya!,” which, for a period of time, was the music that woke him up. Sleeping, he dreamed of playing drums, but the family couldn’t afford them so he played his sets on pots and pans.

In second grade, a music teacher gave him the first compliment he remembers. They were singing Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land.”

“I hit a certain note in a certain way and I loved it, and I remember the teacher told me personally, one on one, that she sees something in my voice, and I had a potential future in it.”

In fourth grade, his family became affluent enough for his mother to move the family to the suburbs, Blue Springs, where music took a back seat to sports, friends, gaming and the like, but he still enjoyed singing in church with his mother and his aunts and in high school, where, he said, he started getting good.

In middle school, playing Xbox Live, somebody got online playing a beat in the background and then, in the game’s lobby, he started freestyling.

“And he’s really good,” said B. Alvee, “and I thought that was the coolest thing ever. So I started doing it, and I was terrible. I would do it all the time and all my friends would say how bad I was. My voice was still going through puberty, but I didn’t care. I loved it.”

Still, between then and now there was a hitch in the Army and school, with a focus on becoming a lawyer before that recording in Covid-time a couple years ago.

When he creates his songs, he begins with a melody, and then he goes into the recording booth and freestyles the words. Sometimes it makes sense and sometimes not, he says. Either way, he listens to what he has, figures out what it is he wants to say and eventually transforms the melody and lyrics into a song.

“Sometimes I’ll have a song that I can write in, like, 20 minutes, because it kind of wrote itself, and sometimes there’s a song that I have trouble with because I don’t know what I’m trying to say.”

But he enjoys the writing process and, he says, he challenges himself to get better day by day.

“My music comes out of my experience. I try to translate my own experiences into paper and music. A lot of my music I make because I want to just listen to it, and I want people to be able to listen to my music and feel a certain mood and resonate with that feeling.”

He brings all of himself into it: his upbringing; his military experience; his family heritage in a little village called Granada, northeast of Torreón in the state of Coahuila, Mexico, down in the continental heart of Mexico; his status as a first-generation native American; his hopes and dreams.

His plans include releasing more songs over the spring and summer, more videos, including several that are already completed and ready to go. He has performed live in one of Kansas City’s premier night clubs, Mosaic, and has been invited back. He has a performance scheduled also at the Lake of the Ozarks later in the summer.

“I feel like I have a message for the world,” he said. “I want to just shout out to everybody trying to make it in the United States that, regardless if you’re an immigrant or not, continue to chase and believe in your dreams. I'm confident that God has given me this ability for a reason. I trust it, and I just can't wait to grow.”

Stay connected to B. Alvee on all platforms for new music, videos, and social posts.

Website
Apple Music 
Spotify