Brown_Buddha brings a new sound to east coast Hip-Hop.
The raw, gritty, yet pleasing hip-hop, jazz, and funk sound takes you on a wave of instruments and tells a story. Brown_Buddha is a New York native, born and raised. He’s a musician with a story to tell, and is not afraid to be innovative with music in order to do that. With Buddha’s heavy musical influences being the West Coast sound, songwriter, producer Knxwledge, and American DJ and music producer Madlib, you can hear the influences in his music. His sound is different, innovative, and impressive.
His latest project RAP NPC perfectly captures his essence and vibe as an artist. RemixdMag had the chance to talk more with Brown_Buddha and learn more about his artistry.
“I’m passionate about music because it’s what makes me feel alive. Life inspires me and I really put my all into my craft when making it,” Brown_Buddha told RemixdMag. “Energy never dies, it just gets reshaped into different things. I feel that this gift I was given to be able to turn the energy in mind into something recognizable for the ear is incredible. It is what makes me want to keep doing it.”
Who is Brown_Buddha? Background
He’s NYC born and raised, but his sound takes you to the Bay. The artist says some would call him a producer, but he describes himself as a rapper and a producer. His real name Naqi, which is part of a longer name Kamiti, or ancient Egyptian. Raised in a home where Pan-Africanism was the foundation, Naqi found himself deep into his love for Anime, Manga, and East Asian culture. Naqi received the nickname “Lil Buddha” when he was a baby because he was so big. As he got older, Buddha decided to connect his Pan Africanism foundation with remnants of the ancient Chinese I-Ching system. “Later on, I saw it as a way to connect my Pan-African Descent with remnants of the aincent Chinese I-Ching system out of love and appreciation for it,” he said.
What is to come for Brown_Buddha the artist?
Moreover, the NYC artist is listening to a lot of House/Garage music which brings me into his recently release project RAP NPC. Buddha describes the project as a “hodgepodge of beats” from his hard drive that he put together in a nice sequential order. The purpose of the order was for it to be pleasing to the ear. What inspired the project was a mixture of events he faced in his life this year.
“I was basically at a point in my life where life I did not know where I wanted to take my musical direction. I floated around from R&B, drums, and bass earlier this year. And then I wanted to bring that into my Hip-Hop production, but I did not know how to. I think with this album I have kind of gained clarity as to how I want my sound shaped. Now thar I have honestly taken a lot of patience and resoluteness, like one track on the album is titled, “Can’t Rush Perfection”.
The project was released October 16th on Spotify. Buddha explains that the project is based on “non-playable characters” in a video game. In an NPC fighting game the character that is on the roster is greyed out. And the character is this way because you must go through different challenges and trials to get the character. He explains how similar that process is to real life. RAP NPC is about attaining that character through challenges and trials. The NYC producer can be found on Instagram at @Your_guy_buddha. Be sure to listen to his music on Spotify, or check it out below.
“Never give up, no matter how hard it is. Keep getting up and try again,” he says.
