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When Afrobeat–trap–fusion artist Vazboy Vazzy released his first song at the age of 17, he had never even heard of platforms like YouTube––but a friend uploaded the track for him, and the song garnered 12,000 plays in its first week.
“It just kept going up, up, up right after that,” Vazzy recalls. “It was really exciting and at the same time I was caught off guard because as a kid coming from Africa to America in search of a better life, you’re not really expecting anything like that. Coming from where I come from, people don’t really show you as much love just because everybody is kind of struggling and going through things.”
Inspired by the viral reaction to his first recorded song, and an emerging fanbase, Vazzy dove head first into music. A decade later, he’s found acclaim on two different continents and has his sights set on something even bigger. But his story began with hardship.
Vazzy grew up in the West African country of Liberia, a place torn by years of civil war, and it was this conflict his family fled more than 20 years ago when they immigrated to the United States.
“I’m a guy that comes from war, a guy that lost everything and then I came to the U.S.,” Vazzy says. “Living here, I’ve been able to really connect with a lot of compassionate people from all backgrounds. They want to see me win, and I want people to know I’m really proud to be here and thankful for America giving me the opportunity to chase my dreams. I’m a refugee who lost a lot but came to America to overcome the situation and I still have a dream to chase.”
His introduction to music came in church choirs back home (his grandmother would take him to choir practice after school), and he learned more in school here. After recording that first song at age 17, he delivered a successful mixtape in 2018 aimed at the Liberian entertainment industry. He went by the stage name Slumstar then, a title given to him by his community “because I come from nothing at all; I come from the slum,” he says.
That EP was even sponsored by the president of Liberia, who personally called Vazzy to discuss the project.
“That was a really big––maybe the biggest––moment of my career,” he says. “It’s amazing because after leaving Liberia for so long, most of my fanbase still comes from Liberia and I get good coverage in the media there.”
The project featured the hit song “Baddest Boy,” which saw Vazzy team up with Liberian rapper Bucky Raw. He says the track, and the support he got from back home, was a turning point in his career, and now he’s turning it into a hit all over again by reworking the song and featuring another well-known Liberian artist in Demmie Vee.
“I’m a versatile artist,” Vazzy says. “‘Baddest Boy’ is two songs. The first one (with Bucky Raw) was in the Liberian sound, which is hipco and trapco and I’m pretty good at doing that. The new version is just a regular Afrobeat, which I’m pretty fluent in. I’ve done the song twice, but it’s not the same beat or song.”
Vazzy says his take on Afrobeat is unique, in part because one of his biggest influences musically was 50 Cent. Vazzy’s father was a foreign exchange student in Maryland, and he returned to Liberia with a CD player and music including Get Rich Or Die Tryin’. Vazzy also drew inspiration from the music of Wizkid and other Afrobeats artists.
“Rap has always been a part of my life and my own flow,” he says. “There really aren’t many artists doing Afrobeats music like I do because I can rap and sing at the same time. I’m very versatile with it. Most top Afrobeats artists are singers.”
That’s where his unique fusion of Afrobeats and trap comes into play. And he pairs his style with authentic storytelling.
“Everything I’m trying to get across is a story I’ve experienced,” he says. “I’m definitely more of a storyteller.”
Vazzy’s reworked version of “Baddest Boy” dropped on August 30, and he’s already working on a follow-up EP.
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