Hip-Hop Lives Here
Hip-Hop Lives Here
BTA (Before The Altar) is a hip-hop artist and producer who makes calming relationship centered music. His latest single “Lonely Lately” talks about loneliness in a relationship but still offers hope for the situation. The track’s atmospheric production captures these feelings sonically while his singing and rapping reflect vulnerable and relatable feelings.
BTA wanted to craft a track that reflected what he was going through but also looked at the situation from a realistic perspective. In the music world, there are multiple perspectives people discuss relationships from but BTA wanted to talk about them in the way that resonated most with him.
“I wanted to talk about the feeling of being lonely. Even if you have someone, they may be long distance. I wanted to express what I wanted from love in my life and connect with people who want the same thing in their life.” said BTA.
With BTA’s church background, he has experience not only in music but in how some things have to be done in a specific way with a specific purpose. He sang in the choir and was a junior deacon all between the ages of eight and 18 years old and also started ministering at age 12. His military experience in the Air Force magnified his understanding of order even more. However, the things he learned in church extended past practical lessons.
“Being in the church helped me learn to be in front of an audience. It also helped me see how music can affect people on an emotional level…It’s grounding and centering to have a structured format with things. Having variety is fun but having structure gives you a solid foundation.” he said.
BTA has been self producing for the majority of his career but has recently taken a break from it. Still, with any production he uses, he finds himself drawn to the melodies and tones within it. This is especially apparent when it comes to him playing the guitar or piano. Crafting these melodies whether he’s singing or rapping on them is something BTA enjoys every single time because of how amazing the process is to him.
With BTA growing up in the church and the way his household worked, he did not fully delve into rap music until the age of 16. Upon hearing it, he quickly noticed a connecting thread between the way rappers used creativity, cadence and wordplay and the way preachers preached. These aspects and the rhyming stuck out to him immediately and he started making Christian rap.
While BTA is no longer branding himself as a Christian rapper, his stage name, which stands for Before The Altar is still meant to reverence God and signify that his musical foundation will always be the church. His music is not centered around his faith fully but, the values and morals from that part of his life are still prevalent across it. He can still spread positive messages through his music because that still reigns true for his outlook on life.
“Religion comes with a lot of critiques. I don’t want people to see me as judgemental. I want to be relatable and bring good, positive and loving vibes.” he said.
“Lonely Lately” by BTA is available on streaming services now.
You can see more of BTA’s relationship centric music by keeping up with him on these platforms. Apple Music | Spotify | YouTube | Instagram | Twitter | TikTok | Facebook
The Starlight PR Team thanks BTA for taking the time to speak with us.
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