Brittany B aka Bee-B is coming Straight Outta Compton, minus the straps and gangsta rap. She’s confident as hell, but not in a vain sense. Before Brittany became the Grammy-nominated songbird we’ve come to know today, she was practicing, patiently waiting for her moment to shine. 

For Bee-B, her storied legacy started young. Since she could remember, there was never a moment of uncertainty where her attention was diverted towards anything else: she eats, sleeps and breathes music. So much so that she participated in local talent shows and radio contests to better prepare herself for the future. “I’ve been doing music since I was eight-years-old,” she avows in confidence over-the-phone.

Since then, Bee-B has broadened her sonic palette in route to becoming one of the music industry’s go-to contributors. With a lethal pen that cites co-writing credits for John Legend, Ty Dolla Sign, Summer Walker and more, it’s apparent that she has earned her stripes as a trusted collaborator. But she has no intention of resting on her laurels and basking in the limelight of being labeled just another writer, that’s not her legacy: Brittany wants more. “Everything is about building your legacy and that’s a big part of the reason why I started releasing music on my own as an artist.”

With ‘Stretch’, the Compton native’s ambiguous effort, Bee-B is setting the stage for what’s next, “more amazing videos” and what’s rumored to be an upcoming EP. Naturally, the track captures her bold, in-your-face energy while possessing a slight sense of mystique that leaves the mind to wonder.

Though this new record aligns with that Missy Elliott inspo briefly referenced during our conversation, Bee-B has her mind set on bringing fun back to music. No more overly-sexualized innuendos aimed towards degrading women, just good vibes and high-energy. 

As a formality, is it Brittany or Bee-b? How do you prefer to be addressed? 

I prefer to be addressed as Bee-b, but I kind of explain it like with Danny Glover, the Childish Gambino thing: when he acts on television he’s Danny Glover, but with the music he puts out, he’s Childish Gambino. My name is Brittany B, but I also go by Bee-b. 

Let’s start things here. Who came first, Brittany or Bee-b, or are they one in the same? 

I feel like as a songwriter, as a creative in the entertainment industry, I had to make a distinction between how many hats that I wear because I wear a lot of hats. Instead of being my full-blown self, really fitting into my artistry as an artist, being a rapper, I needed people to understand that was Bee-b. With making music, obviously you’re being credited, but they typically credit us by our government name. My government name is actually Brittany B. So yeah, it was strategic for me to conceptualize branding myself and renaming myself, giving my artistry its own lane.  

When did  you first decide to pursue a professional career in music? 

I’ve been doing music since I was eight-years-old. I actually haven’t wanted to do anything else. I wanted to be a singer, I wanted to be an artist. You know, when you’re a kid, people always ask, ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?” And so I knew the answer to that early on. That was the start of it, I’ve always had a knack and love for music. Even when I was 10, 11-years-old, I was doing talent shows, all the stuff that you would do locally in your city: radio contests, going to performances, everything you could imagine. When I was 18, 19, I was touring and singing background for different artists, singing hooks here and there. There’s a record I did with Problem and Ty Dolla Sign called ‘Love’, which is like a super-old record, before Ty became who he is now, a legend. After that, it was like okay, I need to take this seriously. 

What was life like before you embarked on your journey as an artist?

For me, growing up in Compton, I always tell people there’s this stereotypical idea of what life is like in Compton. The N.W.A Straight Outta Compton movie definitely helped put us on the map. It was very inspirational, but at the same time, there are other parts of Compton. I saw things that I didn’t wanna be like and I saw a lot of hope too. It’s very interesting that recently we just got a Foot Locker put in Compton. I’m the hometown hero, one of the brand ambassadors for that Foot Locker. And this just happened. It’s crazy to me that it took 20, 30, 40 years – or however long Foot Locker has been around – for them to put a store in one of the most culturally influential places in America. Everybody knows Compton, we bring that culture to it. You see the bamboo earrings, the Cortez, the snapbacks, that’s L.A. culture. For me, growing up was that: it was music, it was fashion, it was gang culture, street culture, house-party culture. You either played sports or you had a talent. You gangbanged or you sold drugs. I’ve always done music, so I knew, even back then, those things weren’t for me.

With your music being categorized as R&B/Soul, how have you managed to not become hardened by the streets or gang culture L.A. is so notoriously known for? 

I do speak to some of the things that have happened to me in my life through my music, but just because I’m from Compton doesn’t mean I have to rap about Compton, right? I definitely am a representation of a girl from the West Coast for sure. I’m a singer. I’m a rapper. I’m a lyricist, and I’m very soulful. I have family from the South and I feel like my music embodies all of that. I was influenced by R&B: I listened to Brandy, Monica, Lauryn Hill, Aretha Franklin, Mary J. Blidge, Missy Elliott. Those were the people that influenced me far as the sound and music I gravitated towards, not just my city. 

Is there an ongoing theme you try to convey with your music? 

No, not necessarily. I just try to convey greatness. Everyday life, experiences, things that are going on in my life, that’s what I write about, that’s what I talk about. I try to relate to girls like me. There’s a lack of representation for women like me, that’s why I want to fill that void. The women who aren’t out trickin’ and taking men money. I wasn’t strippin’. I went to college and I grew up in the hood with four brothers. My dad is gone. I’m here for the women who have mother issues; I’m here for the women who are ride-or-die for their men and their man doesn’t treat them good, I’m here for those women. I’m here for the brown-skin women that are curvy, those women, that’s who I’m speaking to. I don’t have this ongoing theme with my music but I’m definitely speaking to that type of girl. I want to be an inspiration to them. 

Who do you make music for? 

I make music for the underdog. I make music for the ones that get overlooked. I make music for women. I make music for men. I make music for people that wanna have a good time. I make music for the hustlers. Everything about me is about the hustle. I make music for people who have bossed up in their life. If you graduated with an AA degree and you go back and get your masters, you’ve bossed up, congratulations to you: that’s who I make music for, for people who are striving for greatness. 

How do you stay humble? 

[Laughs] How do I stay humble? I mean, I just do. I don’t let every accomplishment get to my head and I don’t let every setback get to my heart. That’s how I stay humble, I stay focused. Everything is about building your legacy and that’s a big part of the reason why I started releasing music on my own as an artist. I had to sit down and think about what legacy I want to leave for my children, for my family, for the people once I’m dead and gone. I felt that it was important to release my art. When they read your trilogy, what do you want them to say about you? 

By today’s standards, how do you identify a hit record? You have ample experience as both a trusted collaborator and artist, so I’m curious to know what matters to you, sonically speaking. 

Um, there’s a lot of different factors. A lot of different records have been hits for different reasons. What I can say is that you will know a hit record when you hear it. It’s something that is hard to explain. It can be the lyric, what it says. It could be a distinctive voice that’s singing it. It could be the replay value, can a person that’s 80-years-old get it? I firmly believe that once a hit, always a hit. Even when people remake records, you can’t help but know the record was a hit for a specific reason. 

What are you most excited about as the world is slowly starting to open back up and return to a sense of normalcy? 

I’m excited about getting outside and seeing these festivals, seeing people perform again. Hopefully I can hit some stages soon, but I’m really excited about that. Just getting out and touching people, that’s something that we need. Technology is cool but it doesn’t beat human interaction. I’m tryna go outside, to Germany, all around the world. 

Talk to me about ‘Stretch’. This seems like a summer bop, something fun and inviting. 

It’s definitely a high-energy record, it’s bold. I didn’t take it sexually. When me and Harmony Samuels got in the booth to do the record – and shoutout to Harmony, he produced the record and Executive Produced the project. When we came up with this particular concept, it was about having fun, getting people up and moving. We don’t have that anymore. We have very overly-sexualized records for women. Typically they’re telling someone to do something that is derogatory and very sexual: shake your ass, shake your tittes, do this and that. Which is okay, I don’t knock that, but for me, it was like let’s go back to the point where you got everybody dancing, everybody moving, how do we get back to that. Still keep those metaphors and innuendos that are clever, one person might think we’re talking about sex whereas another person might think we’re talking about stretching your body. I was just tryna make a fun record. 

What’s up with this project though. Can we expand on that a bit more or what’s next for you? 

What’s next is more amazing videos and hopefully you guys get a project. Maybe, we’ll see. Right now, the focus is making sure ‘Stretch’ gets heard and I can give y’all more fun, bold music.