Bazanji
Coolheaded and lucid rapper Bazanji fills his verses with themes of reflection, self-determination, and triumph. The North Carolina-raised MC of Kurdish descent made his official debut in 2015 with "Right Now," a confident anthem of aspiration that served as a suitable introduction to a style he has continued to refine through projects such as Mixed Feelings (2017), Outlier (2020), and Far from Normal (2021), along with dozens of singles. Proudly independent, Bazanji also mixes, masters, and sometimes produces his work, and rarely incorporates guest verses.
Bazanji (Shad Albarazanji) was born in England, where his parents had moved from their native Kurdistan, and at the age of six relocated with his family to North Carolina. He fell for rap music during middle school when he heard Kanye West's Graduation. In high school, he started making his own music, and seriously pursued his outlet as a freshman studying dentistry at the University of North Carolina. "Right Now" was issued on New Year's Day 2015 as Bazanji's debut. A spate of additional self-released singles followed into 2017 and culminated that November with Mixed Feelings, a ten-track album consisting of previously released material amid a few new tracks. By then, Bazanji's singles were regularly streamed in the millions. A broader audience was reached throughout 2018, a year during which Bazanji released around a dozen commercial tracks, including "Runnin'," a particularly motivational single licensed for numerous sports telecasts and the fourth installment in the Forza Horizon video game series. The rapper's steady rate of output continued in 2019 with tracks such as "2019" and "Escape," two of his most popular songs.
Early in the following decade, Bazanji graduated from UNC with a dental degree, and opted to devote all his energy to music. His second album, Outlier, arrived in 2020 and was soon followed by Far from Normal the next year. Well over two dozen singles arrived in 2022 alone. Bazanji's activity in 2023 began with what had become a New Year's ritual for him -- a rallying track titled after the date -- and continued with additional singles such as "Top of the World" and "Winning Time."
© Andy Kellman /TiVo
