Detroit born, ATL situated rapper Boog Brown was recently hailed as being one of the top female emcees to look out for this year by The Source. Her style is raw, unapologetic and relatable. When she raps, it is obvious that her music emanates from the depths of her soul – and the release is relief.

Having recently dropped her Brown Study EP with Apollo Brown, the Mello Music Group signee is already working on several other hot projects so there will be some fresh, dope music coming our way. Brown maintains a balanced view of the attention and is focused on ensuring her success doesn’t get in the way of what matters most to her. In this interview, she reveals a lot about her motivation not only as a dope mc, but as a woman who can… and does.

With a calm, laid back vibe, much like 80% of the planet’s music industry Boog had just returned home from performing at this year’s SXSW festival in Austin, TX when we spoke. I don’t know what I expected prior, but Boog Brown was very gently spoken with an air of shyness.

“My best friend Camilla used to call me ‘Boog back’ in college,” she says of acquiring her stagename.

“From there I think in my senior year in college or when I’d graduated from college – this crew called Neva Empty Crew, my homeboy Dwayne Barnes was like “Yo. You should add a Brown to the end of your name. That would be dope!” and I was like “Aight. Cool!”. So, that’s how ‘Boog Brown’ was born. It was a gift.”

It would seem that every rapper would claim to have been doing this music thing forever, but Ms. Brown had spent many years earlier doubting her capabilities and an emcee. Eventually, she embraced her rightful position; “I didn’t really start rhyming seriously until about 2007 when I moved to Atlanta.”

Upon hearing the phrase “Dope Girl Magic” without truly understanding Boog Brown’s message, it could be easy to misinterpret it’s real meaning. It’s not a superficial mantra or an ‘anti men’ slogan. It’s an important message about the general lack of appreciation for the everyday woman and the command of mutual, universal respect.  It’s a message of hope and strength and of love.  

Boog explains, “‘Dope Girl Magic’ is everything about every woman that makes them get up in the morning and continue to do whatever it is they do. That Dope Girl Magic. It takes a lot for women to thrive and be focused and to be brilliant on a daily basis. We’ve always be kind of second class citizens. Second class to the black and white struggle, especially in America.

“Even a lot of black men can’t understand what the struggle is to be a black woman in America. There’s always focus on the struggle that black men go through in America when really the black woman is the backbone of society.

“When I say society I mean coming from the fact that black women have nursed white children and have had to against their will, nurse white children and nurse the children of their slave owners and things like that. We’ve really been the backbone  of this society. Cleaning. Cooking. Keeping our household intact. Holding it down on the home front. That’s Dope Girl Magic in its essence. It’s everything that any woman has to get up and do on a day to day basis.

“There are women that get up in the morning with ailments. I’m talking like, breast cancer, fibroids and thyroids. Even if it’s just that I get up in the morning and I’ve got six kids and I don’t know how to take care of them. Their Daddy is not around. I gotta get up and go to work these two jobs, go to school at night, come home and be a mother to my kids. Just small sh*t. Simple sh*t that people overlook.

“That’s Dope Girl Magic. That’s the thing that keeps a women going on a day to day basis. A lot of people look at that as secondary sh*t. That’s real. That’s what keeps the world turning. Nobody wants to give it its due and Dope Girl Magic is about giving women their due as opposed to just feeling like we’re supposed to do this stuff. Yeah, we are supposed to do certain things but there’s a flair about it.

“A lot of women you encounter, you never know that they are going through the things that they are going through because they have this “je ne sais quoi” about them that kind of just paints them in a picture that you’ll never know that they’re going through anything. The grace of a women.”

One thing that is clear from my interview with Boog, she is very sure of who she is. There is no waning. No deliberation when it comes to the things that define Boog as a woman and as a musician. She is not corny clichés and cringe-worthy gimmicks. Genuine skill and execution all the while, commanding respect.

It’s high time we championed genuine talent, music with real heart and less materialism.

“You will never see Boog Brown being mean or rude or fronting on people who have supported her from the beginning or people that support her, period,” she imparts. “Those are the people that matter the most. Those are the people that ride with you when no-one else is there.”

Be on the lookout for new music and cop the Brown Study Chocolate limited edition vinyl from Fatbeats.

Boog Brown online: Facebook / @BoogBrown / Bandcamp / MySpace