ABC/Randy HolmesBJ the Chicago Kid was born Bryan James Sledge, and as his name suggests, he was born and raised in The Windy City. He says he loves the fact that he can carry on Chi-Town’s rich musical legacy through his work.
“I think Chicago, being a heavy music influence and creating city, has always been a part of who I am and shaped me,” he tells the Houston Chronicle.
“Whether I was at the bus stop, waiting for the bus after school and banging on the walls, making a beat while they’re rapping to it, or we in the locker room just messing around making songs because the reverb sounds good from the concrete walls,” BJ continues.
“The New Cupid” singer is very proud to be one of many successful recording artists who were born in Chicago.
The four-time Grammy nominee explains, “It goes to show that everybody from Curtis Mayfield to Chief Keef to BJ the Chicago Kid to Kanye West to Common to Jennifer Hudson — no matter where you look at it — I think we’ve all been bit by the real-city bug of the music.”
BJ is currently performing on his 1123 tour, which continues Wednesday in Orlando, FL, and wraps up, appropriately, in Chicago, on November 30.
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