Artist Profile: Byemilo

Byemilo, the indie rap artist from Northern California, recently returned from a four-year hiatus in triumphant fashion with his tape PUROS TRANCAZOS, and, in doing so, has found a sound that is not only authentic to his creative intentions but also wholly encapsulating of his confidence behind the mic, seamlessly blending his lo-fi sensibilities with an overarching passion for hip-hop and its ephemera.

As a first generation Mexican-American, Byemilo was surrounded by the music of his parents almost every morning throughout his childhood. Yet, with two older siblings and a host of cousins invested in the burgeoning hip-hop scene of the early 2000s, he didn’t need to wait long to be exposed to the genre that ultimately captivated his attention.

His older brother, in addition to his punk and alternative tastes, had access to almost all of Lil Wayne’s mixtapes, and, when The Carter 3 dropped, he showed it to his younger brother right away. In addition, his cousin was a notorious comber of sites like Datpiff and Limewire, providing her family members with bootlegged copies of countless new releases.

It was through this influence that Byemilo first fell in love with rap, and, as he grew, these tastes expanded to include artists like Mac Miller, Tyler, the Creator, Frank Ocean, Brockhampton, and Injury Reserve. Yet, at the same time, indie groups like Hippo Campus and Third Eye Blind were formulating his sonic tastes.

His first album, Summer Thunder, leans heavily on these influences, stylizing itself under a certain blend of sounds that still maintains its strength today. Yet, as he continued to push himself further into the niche he had carved, he realized that he had wandered further and further from the sounds he felt to be authentic to himself.

“[The first songs] were getting a lot of attention, but it wasn't necessarily still what I felt like I really wanted to make. I was still searching for that sound, searching for what really felt authentic to like myself and how to tell my story… And, the last couple of years, I feel like I've really hit a stride with just feeling super, I don't know if comfortable is the word, but now I'm more proud of what I'm making right now because it feels like the most authentic version of myself.”

Therefore, while largely taking a break from releasing tracks over a span of multiple years, Byemilo focused on honing in his production skills, taking the intentions and formulating and molding them through instrumentals. As he worked on his technical skills, he also gradually became more comfortable in his lyrical abilities, learning to sharpen his pen no matter the subject matter.

During his hiatus, he also spent hours with his friend and collaborator Jah, listen to rap albums and mixtapes from the late 2000s and early 2010s, slowly regaining his love for the art form through these artists and the ongoing work of visionaries such as The Alchemist, Earl Sweatshirt, and MIKE.Now, the initial results of this period of his artistry have come to life in PUROS TRANCAZOS, a project that, while it more represents a collection of songs than a thoroughly-constructed narrative, showcases the original sound that Byemilo has carved out for himself. While it still, on songs such as “FLEE MARKET FITTEDS”, maintains some of the melodic sensibilities from his earlier output, the project as a whole operates on a plane of lyricism that feels simultaneously raw and incredibly skillful: a blending achieved through a careful balancing act of lo-fi and lyrical intention.

“Every song, the main goal is to be rapping my a** off. It doesn't necessarily have to be about one thing. I kind of went back to how I used to make music, where a lot of it can just be\ stream of consciousness… That's just really how I came back to music and came back for the love of hip-hop and just found that love for music again was [I stopped] worrying so much about what I thought I needed to do, or what I thought was going to get a lot of attention.”

Now, Byemilo sets his sight on a new era of creativity, carrying forth the authentic sound he has carved out through years of trial and error, countless deliberations, and, ultimately, an undeniable freedom of thought and delivery.