The Break Presents – Kenzo B

When it comes to rapping, Kenzo B's sliders are always up. Bolded in tracks like “Bump it,” “DeadGame” and “Make It Lit,” she never lacks at an opportunity to show people what she's made of. Her killer instinct comes from being raised in The Bronx, where she’s been deemed by some fans as uptown’s Queen of Drill. Those tapped in are hip to her tagline “I’m top 2 and I’m not 2,” which is often punctuated by the expletive b****. It's a statement flushed with confidence, which based off of her skillset, is getting harder and harder to question the validity of.

Kenzo B’s career as an artist started in the crib as a child. Her eldest brother Hank was already rapping in the New York City scene. So he would come home and play the family his new music after studio sessions, eventually telling Kenzo that she should pick up the pen herself. She did that, finessing her first rhyme about cereal and family ties in elementary school. From that moment she started writing and recording with her siblings, though she wasn’t releasing any of the results. That is until “Bump It” came to life at the end of 2021. She teased the song on Triller and it went up immediately, credited to her bread and butter of spotless cadences and face-scrunching bars about putting the opposition behind a hashtag.

Growing rapidly in popularity she signed a deal with French Montana’s Coke Boy Records through Warner Records in early 2022 and kept applying pressure. Songs like “Make It Lit" and a Young Devyn-assisted iteration of “Bump It” called “The Facts” almost instantly turned Kenzo into one of the hottest names in The X’s male-dominated drill scene. Her label debut Top Dawg arrived by the end of the year. On it are fluorescent tracks like “Hood Love Story,” which interpolates Young Thug’s Punk cut “Love You More" and stamps her magnetic ability to be both vicious and vulnerable on wax.

2023 has been hitting the same in terms of elevation for the fierce lyricist. The year started with a venomous feature on the Coke Boys 6: Money Heist Edition standout "Gang Gang." She walked on “DeadGame,” gliding through the throbbing production with precision. She was recruited to represent New York City on Kali’s viral smash “Area Codes (718 Remix)” and graced Hot 97’s Summer Jam Stage to perform it with the Atlanta rapper and Ice Spice, who brought them out. She continued to catch bodies in the freestyle circuit, cutting through beats like Meek Mill’s “Dreams and Nightmares.” And then she untucked “BFFR,” a nod to litefeeters in her hometown. Those stepping stones built up hype around her next project Top 2, Not 2, which arrived today (June 23) without disappointment.

In the process of putting it together for her fans, Kenzo popped into The Break: Live to talk about her intentions for the effort, her breakthrough records, The Queen of Bronx drill title and much more. Check out the full interview below.

Follow Kenzo B on SoundCloud and Instagram.

Standouts:

"BFFR"

"Bump It"

"DeadGame"

"Make It Lit"

Kali's "Area Codes (718 Remix)"

Top 2 Not 2