Ebo

Who are you?

I'm Ebo. I'm from Memphis, Tennessee born and raised. I moved out here to Dallas in 2014 and ever since then, you know, this transition has been beautiful.

What was the moment you knew people were fucking with your music?

When I first performed. I had this song called swerve, it's still on my YouTube and people liked it. And then I performed another song. I released a mixtape on SoundCloud and, um, I'm not gonna lie. I literally forgot my mixtape on Soundcloud and people were fucking with it. I went to California with my sister once and we got family out there. I wanted to know what the California music scene was like, and I went down to an underground open mic. I performed my song there as well, and they was fucking with it. So I was like, this is lit, you go to a different place and people still like it. So it's like, you gotta have some type of talent or some type of connection with it. So that was the most exciting shit. Just seeing other people just fuck with it.

What is the story behind your name?

My name is Ebo because I grew up with that name. It was my nickname growing up, my granddad took the three first letters of my name and just called me that. So my whole family started calling me that growing up. I got to the point where I forgot my name was Ebony. Bohemian literally came to my head one day, I'm not gonna lie to you. I looked it up. I was like, what is Bohemian? I had heard the song Bohemian Rhapsody. So I was like, what is Bohemian? I looked it up and it basically means someone who doesn't stick to tradition. Someone who's basically not traditional, someone who’s in their own lane. So I was like, well, that's me. I was like, that's, that's that's me. So I was like, what if I put Ebo and Bohemian together? And I was like, yeah, that's dope. And it just stuck.

What do we have to look forward to for 2021? 

New music. Merch is coming with the new music, more videos, more visuals. A new me as well because I think I've changed mentally and physically like I went vegan last year, became more spiritual, became more connected with mother nature. My mindset has changed about a lot of stuff since I've released music. So even after this project comes out, there's going to be more music coming out as well with a different worldview, perspective. The pandemic definitely awakened me to a lot of shit. 2020 was a shitty year, as everybody would say, but it was preparing me for 2021. If anything. Like, I still think 2020 was a good year in my opinion, because I mean, it's another year we got stronger. I know I got stronger mentally, physically, for sure.

From a singing/rapping perspective or “sapping,” when did you come up with that genre or knew that was your sound? 

Growing up, I listened to Queen Latifa heavy. I was just rapping, just regular type shit, dropping a few bars, but then I noticed that I liked singing too, just like Queen Latifa. She likes singing too. So I was like, “Damn, I want to initiate some type of shit like that.” So I just did what felt comfortable with me with my voice, where I felt like I could do. And it just came out as sapping. I listened to a lot of Chance the Rapper growing up and Smino as well. I listened to Outkast. So that's basically who I am. It's like it's hip hop. It's alternative a little bit. Just organic. It just flows from all the artists that I like. Even Missy Elliott, she sang a little bit.

What are the things you think the city needs that could change the game?

Honestly, Dallas could really build their own empire. I feel like we can build our own shit. I feel like we don't need anyone to look at us because we’re already just there. You can blow up literally anywhere. L.A. isn’t even a mainstream city that people blow up from. People blow up everywhere, even out of the country. So. I just feel if we just keep doing what we're doing, it's gonna pay off soon. The recognition doesn't even matter sometimes because if we love music the way that we say we love music and it's touching people, in the city or even out of the city, I feel like we've done our job. So I feel like whenever it’s time for Dallas to get that recognition, it's going to happen organically. I feel like we’re in the right spot.