Unless you bear a striking similarity to “Patrick Star” from Spongebob Squarepants, and have been living in a pineapple under the sea, you’ve probably heard the extremely popular song “Muggle Like Me” by BahaMian Trae. He’s the 15-year-old Bahamian recording artist whose song has been dominating the airwaves. eLIFE242 recently caught up with the high school student where we sought to find out who this overnight sensation is and how he’s been able to take our Bahamian dialect and rock the local music scene.
His stage name is BahaMian Trae, but his govenrment name is Atreaeu Davis and was born in Abaco but moved to Nassau with his family when he was just one-year-old. “I started using the name ‘BahaMian Trae’ because I wanted to be known for delivering my verses in Bahamian dialect.” And that’s the secret! Rapping in his Bahamian dialect it is exactly the thing that has made Trae such a stand out. His unique delivery immediately grabs your attention because it’s so distinctly familiar and his humorous lyrics keep it light and relatable. Trae says his style is blunt but fun and comedic over different genres of music and adds that he started doing music for fun mostly and he didn’t even take it seriously until his manager Charlie Brown sat him down and told him how far they could really go.
“I can remember when Charlie Brown sent the finished track back (Muggle Like Me) from Texas to me and (DJ) Reality, we all knew it was something special and different,” he adds. “They both said it was gonna be BIG, but I had no clue it would be this big!”
And yes Muggle Like Me, (which is set to the old school reggae song Murder She Wrote) is BIG, playing in heavy rotation on the local airwaves, in clubs, at parties and your boy is even doing appearances at concerts and events around the country. He says the inspiration for the song was actually a true story! It was based on his adventures at a Halloween party in 2014, clearly proving to be one of those situations that are so outlandish it only could have actually happened. Truth is stranger than fiction you guys! However, he says that he had no idea the song would be as popular as it turned out to be.
Trae describes his sound as “scorch music,” a fusion of popular musics, including rake and scape, Junkanoo, Hip Hop, R&B etc…always in Bahamian dialect. When asked what to expect for his future, Trae says we should expect him to remain humble, but hungry. “With the guidance and support of Charlie Brown, Reality and the Exile team I plan to continue to make good fun music.”