Mission: #ButchertheBars. Player 1: BVNGS. Mission Results: Obliterated.

Rochester’s very own, rapper-singer BVNGS kicked off 2020 with some bars that should put her squarely in conversation with the likes of Tierra Whack, Young MA, Megan thee Stallion, and Rapsody. Her skills got her reposted onto both BET’s @hiphopawards Instagram and @hiphopsince1987’s Instagram. @hiphopsince1987, in collaboration with Hip-Hop legend Benny the Butcher (who is one-third of the Hip-Hop group Griselda), started this challenge with the winner being given the opportunity to open for Benny live in concert in Philadelphia on January 31. The comment sections under both posts make it clear that BVNGS did not come to play.

BVNGS’ freestyle going viral to start 2020 is just a testament to the successful 2019 she already has under her belt; the release of her third EP, ‘Brown Girls and Bubble Coats’, performances from venues in her hometown of Rochester to venues across the country, and the release of yet another music video, just to name a few. I actually came across BVNGS in October of 2019 during a hunt for new music specifically by female artists.

I watched the video for ‘B.U.M.’, the first track on ‘Brown Girls and Bubble Coats’, after finding it under the Instagram hashtag ‘Fader’, which she uses on all of her music-related posts. A quick Apple Music search and fifteen minutes later found me bopping my head to ‘Dear Summer,’ another single by BVNGS featuring KT and DJ M-80 which offers some witty commentary on “cuffing szn”. A personal favorite and highlight of ‘Brown Girls and Bubble Coats’ bolstered even further by a fantastic sample of Janet Jackson’s 1986 hit ‘Let’s Wait Awhile,’ ‘Dear Summer’ is the quintessential Summer versus winter relationship song. BVNGS and KT both lament bad exes while moving on for the better, vowing to try again next winter but enjoy the Summer for now. Listen to ‘Dear Summer’, ‘Brown Girls and Bubble Coats’, and BVNGS #ButchertheBars challenge below: