Get To Know: Br3nya

From as young as 8 years old, West London rapper, singer, and all-round good time girl Br3nya always knew she was destined to become a musician, “As soon as I discovered I had a voice, from there I would perform at my church, at home, at any family party you’d see me dancing in the middle and when it came to school plays I always managed to land the role as a lead singer”. Br3nya recently unveiled her debut 10-track EP ‘Innit Innit Girl’, a project that glides between the singer’s sultry vocals, slick rap lyrics and seamless infuses of her Ghanaian heritage while featuring Tay Iwar and rising Ghanaian singer Moily. The EP additionally includes lead singles 'Payday' and summer sizzler 'Outside'.

Br3nya is a born performer and with years of hard work, collaborating with the likes of P Montanna, Ms. Banks, Sneakbo, and Darkoo as well as releasing a plethora of unforgettable bops like ‘Double Dutch’, ‘Bzerk’ ft Ivorian Doll, ‘Plenty (Too Trendy)’ and so many more.

Despite dancing and singing at any given moment, Br3nya often toyed with the idea of becoming an athlete as she admired Serena Williams and loved to play sports at school, however the thought of becoming too muscly from playing Netball regularly meant that Br3nya’s ambitions were diverted straight back to becoming a star, “I had this thing in my head that if I continued to play Netball I’d start to look like one of the guys as Netball is a sport that requires a lot of arm movement and for me getting too toned was a big fear”. Heavy influenced by Nicki Minaj when she first stepped on the scene with her iconic Itty Bitty Piggy freestyle in 2009, Br3nya began rapping from there, “From around age 15 I started rapping for fun and I kind of knew from there that’s what I wanted to do, when it came to creating music, writing, and rapping became an outlet for me to express my emotions. Interesting fact, I wrote my first freestyle to ‘Itty Bitty Piggy’ ”. With a clear vision of her future and a natural talent for songwriting, Br3nya never became blinded by the idea of stardom, she was still an academic student who loved school and always put her education first, “You won’t find any videos of me online rapping or singing because I was always in my books, I finally took the leap of faith once I graduated from University and started going to studio sessions”.

In terms of her sound, it is evident Br3nya is a proud Ghanaian woman who consistently implements into her music, “I feel like it makes me stand out, I don’t think there’s anyone out here in the UK that proudly combines their heritage, I’m very proud to be Ghanaian, it’s everything that makes me who I am, it’s the way I talk, the way I look, the way I act, it’s just how I am, I feel like it also influences who I present my music”. It isn’t just her background that inspires her, Br3nya is often inspired by day-to-day conversations, God, her friends who constantly keep her fueled and whichever beat she’s working with in the studio she’ll pick inspiration from that.

Music and heritage aside, Br3nya makes it no secret how close she is with her Mum and sisters (including comedian Hemah K being one of them), they all play a huge part in her life too. “We’ve been through some tough times together, but no matter what we always stuck together, family is everything to me, my mum has always supported me and so have my sisters”.

When breaking down her debut EP ‘Innit Innit Girl’, Br3nya shared that it has been a long time coming as she’s been sitting on quite a few of these tracks for a while, “I’ve been working on this project for a long time, so I’ve been eager to share my music and I just hope it resonates with the right people. In regards to the production side of things, I would call myself a co-producer, I don’t know how to program anything but I direct the sound of the beats and instruments”. Selecting two stand-out tracks from the EP, Br3nya chose ‘Instrument’, where she exhibits her crisp penmanship, and ‘No Loving’ which sees the musician team up with fellow Ghanaian Moily who offers sweet-sounding vocals to Br3nya’s tough-talking and empowering lyrics, “When it comes to working with Moily, I first heard her when I was in Ghana, my boy played me some of her music, this was way before she release Sad Girlz Luv Money with Ammarae so I was intrigued by her sound, we started DMing each other on Insta and eventually set up a session when she came to London and connected on how we don’t have time for guys and how much we want to focus on ourselves”.

Smoothly melding R’n’B and Afrobeats is ‘Us’, which is another link-up that features Alté pioneer Tay Iwar, “I’ve been a fan of Tay ever since he featured on True Love with Wizkid, however, this collaboration wasn’t planned it happened very naturally in a studio session”.

Regardless of her heavy-hitting rap lyrics and Afrobeats sound, Br3nya also enjoys listening to all kinds of genres and artists including Ari Lennox, Summer Walker, Tiana Major 9, Jhene Aiko, Brent Fiayaz, “All of these artists do it for me every single time, along with Nia Sultana she’s one of my favourites, she’s someone I think everyone should know, If I could collaborate with anyone right now it would Wizkid, J Hus, Burna Boy, Nicki Minaj of course, Megan Thee Stallion and Ice Spice, I like her vibe she seems fun like me”.

For the future Br3nya sets her heart on a headline show, and even bigger collaborations, with such a natural progression into the scene, anything is possible for the talented musician.

‘Innit Innit Girl’ is an EP full of flair and vibrant sounds.