- 6 months ago
WizTheMc stops by the studio for a talk with Bru about his massive hit, "Show Me Love," and his special brand of "borderless" Pop.
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00:00with the MC hello hi how you doing thanks so much for stopping by welcome to the studio so
00:08is your first time in LA and not my first time I've been here a couple times but first time doing
00:13radio oh my gosh I feel honored that we're part of that that journey and this time in LA what are
00:19you doing for fun we talked a little bit about it food wise is there like LA staple foods you
00:24love to have oh yeah I'm a burger guy so I love in and out actually haven't had it on this trip
00:28but I had Shake Shack last night um what else they have I feel like every cuisine has something
00:33special here like even if you get pepperoni pizza they just don't do it like that in Europe you know
00:38yeah oh for sure what about sushi sushi guy at all not not too deep but um but I've been to sugarfish
00:45here which is a really nice place yeah I love sugarfish we'll get in and out we gotta like
00:48get them they don't do doordash but you know yeah Cody go get some stuff just kidding um it's so fun
00:54to watch your journey dude congrats on all the success thank you so much so far in 2025 and
00:57obviously what you've been having for the last like what half decade how long you been making
01:01music making music 11 years releasing probably seven yeah yeah it's such an interesting like
01:07just map of where you've been from Cape Town to Germany and where are you based now in in Berlin
01:12in Germany okay yeah went all around the world just to be back home yeah that's so cool um such
01:17different you know vibes in different places where you you get to experience so many different
01:21things what kind of music did you discover early on so in the beginning it was rap for me yeah I came
01:27into like like hip-hop rap and R&B like kidding Tiger Lil Wayne like around 2013-14 was the stuff
01:38like how I got into it all and then like I spent like the first couple years just rapping before I
01:43even did any melodies oh wow yeah I mean that's a good roster to kind of pull from yeah is that are
01:48they popular in in like that um in Europe yeah absolutely I feel like I feel like it's funny now with
01:53um like when people talk about 2016 like I feel like the artists the music we listen to was almost
02:00like worldwide pretty similar you know so um I feel like I had the same youth as um some Americans had
02:08yeah yeah that's what's great about music yeah absolutely there's kids listening to you right now
02:12they're like he's my favorite artist and they have no idea so I'm so excited for them to get to know you
02:15and learn more about your life um would you say you spend most of your time out in Berlin still or
02:20I feel like now with all the traveling not anymore like I haven't had like two weeks back home in
02:26months now wow yeah what about where you were from Cape Town or born at least I go I go back every
02:32year I actually wanted to make it twice a year now starting this year but every every year I go around
02:37December January because that's when it snows in Germany and when it's peak summer in South Africa
02:42that's it gotta line it up exactly what's your biggest recommendations for someone who's never been
02:46uh you gotta go to I'm a piano club because it's just such a different vibe you know um I'm a piano
02:52you gotta do a real bride that's how we call barbecue out there a bride bride yeah yeah and um
02:59you know you can do it yourself you can google the things just go to the supermarket and you know do a
03:04bride at home at your Airbnb wherever and then go to the beach you know go to beach go mountain hiking
03:10it's funny because it's like Cape Town in some ways uh similar to LA to the activities you get to do
03:16yeah you have the beach you have the mountains uh you have the ocean all that type of stuff so
03:20that's amazing yeah okay add it to the list yes for travels going back to where you first launched
03:24your career um out in Toronto I'm curious like what what made you choose that place to kind of launch
03:29it there you know you won't believe me but around the time it was really just because I found a cheap
03:33flight so yeah so after high school I had meant to go somewhere um outside of Germany and I found a
03:39like a round trip for 450 bucks back in 2017 that's Canadian dollars or no that's that's
03:45that's euros no that would be for free if that's Canadian dollars yeah wow yeah so it's just like
03:50the the cheapest big city yeah the cheapest big city and then when I went there and I knew there
03:55was like somewhat of a music scene totally and um and so I plugged into that pretty quickly through
04:01like open mics so they have bunch of bars where you can literally sign up on a list throughout the
04:05day and then show up in the evening come with an mp3 or ipod or you know just your guitar and play
04:11two three songs and I did that for a good one two years going to any random bar with drunk Canadians
04:17like five to ten people but that's how I feel like I got my start in like uh my show like on stage and
04:24my stage presence kind of built that up you know I got to get some reps in I was just gonna ask that
04:28too like what's the um maybe fondest memory of those like small small beginnings like yeah I think it
04:33was really the very first open mic uh spot where I also met a good friend I'm uh I'm still friends
04:38with in Toronto um so I played there because my thing was I would rap at house parties in Germany
04:45right but people first of all are drunk and second of all they don't speak English like that so the
04:48feedback I got was not accurate so I couldn't really build off of that so I knew I had to go to a
04:53country where they speak it every day so that they can kind of decode and see if if my music works so
04:58playing my first open mic I remember like um just like after it was just like 10-15 people right
05:04but after playing that set I felt like oh Canada's behind me like Canada got me like but just the
05:11fact that I could play alongside five other local people there yeah and no one said anything oh your
05:16accent why are you doing it like this why are you doing like that I felt like I fit in and that was
05:20all I needed in the beginning just like all right let me do this wow it's so cool that you could like
05:24you know not fit in but also just like be something that they enjoyed exactly because like that was my
05:29main doubt I was like well my accent is too strong or this or that but like no one said anything and
05:33since then also my accent uh vanished took a couple years yeah I thought you're from LA yeah
05:38did you ever have any thoughts of a different stage name than Wiz the MC no you know like a lot
05:45of things in my life kind of just fell into place like when I was like 13 I made it up as a username
05:49yeah so I just stuck with it and um you know it's funny I thought about like when I when I came
05:55across um Kendrick Lamar um early in my career because like you know he went from KDOT to Kendrick Lamar you
06:01know but also I feel like the the stuff he's doing is is uh I don't know man it's it's very
06:08it's very deep in a way where you almost need your real name standing behind it yeah otherwise you
06:14don't believe it as much so I feel like it's fitting for him but I don't know I might name
06:18a project my real name because I also really like my real name um yeah yeah yeah no it's so funny
06:24because like it would be tough to be like it's such deep like vulnerable raps yeah I go by the game
06:29yeah yeah yeah yeah exactly that's so fun it's a screen name mine was kitty kitty 247 so I could
06:34never be a rapper it would no I would have been tanked for the first rap battle it would have been
06:39terrible um so what does your family think of all the success you're having right now
06:44it's um they're very supportive they um I always say that like you know I mainly grew up my mom in
06:50Germany um and my brother and there was never anything she stopped me from doing you know like
06:55it was first photography then filmmaking and then music and it was just like I could do whatever
06:59I wanted if I got myself the equipment right it's like the first camera is like well you got to make
07:04that money and so as long as I brought the equipment home myself I could do whatever I wanted to do
07:09so I think that has helped me a lot and it's just like a amazing support system that has I feel like
07:15still is supporting me mentally because I feel like um yeah I never had to push against anything
07:20it was always what I wanted to do I was able to do it my mom was like you know go get it so there
07:25was a point where she was like you sure you don't want to study have a backup plan but you know I had
07:29to try it yeah I had to tell her no working out no plan b working out great yeah I love that you know
07:35having to buy your own equipment it really does show you that you love it and you really want to
07:38pursue it um and going back to being like self-taught basically right producing all your own stuff
07:43um what would you tell yourself like knowing what you know now would you've done anything differently
07:47no no I would no not at all yeah worked out because I like I like where I'm at and I think
07:54if I change something this wouldn't be like this you know absolutely I think of even things like
07:58everything happens for a reason obviously and your path is unique to yourself but like I I think back
08:04to where like man it would have been easier if I would have known that going in I think I would
08:07have only the only thing I would tell myself maybe is but I don't even if it works like that but I
08:13would tell myself to stress less yeah to stress that like take like let time take care of of most
08:19of it you know yeah just just don't stress it works itself out exactly what about someone who's trying
08:24to do it now because obviously everything changes like I don't know so fast now like the methods are
08:28different what about someone that wanted to try to do what you did like in their bedroom or whatever
08:33what would you recommend them I think to be honest make it um don't show it to anyone for the first year
08:38or two because that's one way of finding out if you like it because if you're not showing and you
08:43don't get any validation for it is really like your baby and I find like if if you get through the first
08:47year of not showing anyone then once you really start liking your stuff because really no art is
08:53good in the first three or four years unless you're you know it definitely exists right but that's not
08:58where I come from and so um I think keep it a secret keep it to yourself and then when you feel like
09:03it's ready to present present it but also know that it's your thing and no one no one's going to
09:08believe in it I think that's why the first year is crucial to get your self-belief up to the point
09:13where because you're going to get rejected a thousand times before anyone says yo I have your
09:17stuff my playlist is the dopest stuff ever you know and so I think like mentally I feel for this
09:22generation because I also have friends who just started making music a couple months ago and they're
09:27already posting tiktoks which is normal in this day and age but at the same time the exposure of when
09:32you started to when people get to say something about your art is so short you know like I grew
09:38up on 10,000 hours you know like getting your 10 years of reps in because that's when you get good
09:42and I feel like I'm slowly starting to reap benefits of the 10 years I've put in and I'm a big believer in
09:48that so I think anyone should really give themselves like a good five to 10 years before anything good
09:53happens and I think nowadays with everything everything moving so fast you think you got to be
09:57you know you got to be rich by 17 or gotta have a hit by this and but it's like unrealistic like
10:03after 10 years you might get good yeah you might yeah it's such a big thing too where people feel
10:08like they're like in their 20s and they think they're running out of time and it's like when did
10:11Jay-Z start he was like 30 something yeah like really broke through and um you're so right with just
10:16the culture of how you never had that instant feedback yeah everything and you don't have the the
10:21grace to like try new things absolutely fail obviously that's such a big part of it so that's great
10:25advice for the next generation thanks for sharing that um so show me love has been on all our
10:30playlists uh we're playing on the radio it's so fun appreciate the support yeah congrats on that what
10:34was the moment like getting to collab with tylo on it i was that was insane you know i got i got the
10:39call from my manager and he was like um tylo wants to facetime in 20 minutes i was like all right
10:45let me close everything out you know every hour i'm free you know and um no it was so cool she was
10:52so sweet she showed me what she had worked on at that point and then like you know her final
10:56verse was was incredible like from the musicality to her background being from south africa like me
11:01i just felt like such a full circle moment you know and yeah it was such an honor to have on my
11:07on my song you know oh man it's so cool i mean i'm sure it's different for every case like that but
11:11is it normal for artists to like work on something in their own time like she like found the song
11:16yeah liked it enough to do a version of it yeah does that happen i mean have you done that uh
11:21what exactly like taking a song that you're a fan of maybe try to do a remix of it or have artists
11:26reach out and be like i just want to be a part of this yeah i mean i'm like look i'm new to have
11:31to facetime with people like tyler so i don't know how how this world works you know it was like
11:37you know there was a point where um you know me and the producers who did the song were thinking
11:42about a remix as the song was growing but even then even if you think you dream big none of us
11:48was dreaming like oh yeah obviously tyler's gonna hop on it you know so it's like it is crazy to to
11:53think that someone like tyler would listen to the song be like yeah i'll hop onto yeah that's just
11:59like i can't control that you know right and so it was just cool and meeting her at coachella playing
12:03the song live oh yeah it was crazy it was a crazy moment you know yeah what do you think the criteria
12:07will be moving forward for like someone who you want to collab with criteria i don't know
12:11like for me i'm very easy as long as like it aligns from personality sound what they stand for
12:18and it's like same way with criteria with friends it just got to be a certain frequency that yeah i feel
12:24good around and then it's like i'm not too picky in that sense but you know it's just got to feel
12:30good and be right you know yeah yeah for sure you've gotten to tour with so many fun people like
12:34like lola young upsell yeah dave east yeah dave east is crazy yeah no i must tell you like so i was
12:41with dave east in munich and that was a crazy i was scared before the show really you know why
12:46because it's like i think it was my second or third show with him and um and munich is is already
12:52if you're not familiar with germany it's already a very different part of germany it's like the south
12:56of germany they really it feels like a different country right okay and so you have all these like
13:01uh gangster rap fans right everyone's like cross arms and stuff and i sing even even back then i sang
13:07about love you know love relationships and i'm like in the green room and i was like how how the
13:11hell am i going to turn them around right yeah i just played the show and like bit by bit like first
13:16song one one person like nodded their head then like second and like throughout like halfway through
13:21the set half the room was moving but they were the toughest crowd ever because you got to mix the
13:25coldness of southern germany people plus gangster rap fans yeah and so you just get the most hardcore
13:31cold people you know and uh that was very interesting but you know that that's how you
13:36get your reps in and now i couldn't be scared of any crowd wow yeah you just show up at any
13:41anywhere anything i played i played a college show uh with uh walker flock of flame and kidding was
13:47and me yeah that was a lineup i was like all right let's do it i would buy a ticket to that
13:51it's a great lineup yeah but yeah you don't know how those crowds are going to react right but
13:55doesn't matter that's awesome what a good story though um do you learn anything from those
14:00different artists that are like so different from you yeah i feel like just like i always watch
14:05shows in uh um in a fashion where i always want to see what what what the thing is that the artist
14:11is doing i feel like it's been a while since i like fully enjoy the show as a like just as a
14:17listener or a viewer because i always analyze artists and what they do because i i always want
14:23to steal the best tricks i feel like artists are magicians you know whereas like some people do
14:28this on stage i'm like oh i should try that and it's like there's certain tricks you can do uh with
14:33people and crowds and i feel like i'm always just just learning you know yeah for sure well i'm sure
14:38some of this has to feel surreal like even with the millions of people and millions of streams and all
14:42that um have you had a moment that felt like i made it for you so far man i feel like i've made it
14:50for a couple years now like because for me making it especially as a musician is once you can pay your
14:57bills once you can pay your rent your fun stuff your vacation that's when you made it you know
15:03and sure there was a point in the past five six years where i ran out of money where i wouldn't
15:08wasn't living as as luxurious anymore but i still pay my bills on the check-to-check basis but the
15:13check-to-check was music yeah and so in those moments i reminded myself i was like oh but i'm still
15:18paying my rent off of music maybe you know i don't have much spare change but you know and so i think
15:24to me whatever you do if you get to pay your bills off of that you're good because all the stress i had
15:29in those years was me just wanting to improve my situation but i was already living in that reality
15:35that i wanted to live in you know so it's sure you could say there's layers to making it but for me
15:39making it starts by the time you can pay your bills off of the thing you love yeah that's such a good
15:43answer you know you always get to people where it's like i want a grammy or this yeah but like if you
15:47keep changing like you'll never you'll you can have seven bentleys you know 17 the eighth one is
15:53when you make it yeah the eighth one yeah exactly um this might be a harder question but i'm just
15:59curious like from from your style and what you've learned as an artist like what's one thing with
16:03your music that will be like you'll never compromise on that it's something that's like innately you
16:09yeah um does that make sense yeah absolutely i think i think just a um ability to to switch it up i feel
16:16like um over now of seven years of recorded music i've done four to five genres and i that was never
16:24planned it was just always from rap i then found out about melodies and then i found about guitars and
16:29what guitars does with the voice and all this type of stuff where like you know going to the present
16:34moment me exploring afro afro beats music and just a whole afro genre for the past like one or two
16:41years and it's like it's important to me to uh to switch it up every now and then because there is
16:46that there comes a point in the studio for me at least where i feel like i'm either imitating myself
16:51or i'm trying to do something that has worked or should work and so like um i think that's something
16:57i'll never compromise like there will always come a point where i'll um where i switch it up
17:03genre wise sound wise just to make it exciting for me yeah is there any sound that you haven't had a
17:09chance to experiment with that you're like looking forward to or be a fun challenge um there's there's
17:14there's there's a few there's a few but i'm not gonna spoil what what the next era is gonna hold
17:18okay i wanna yeah where's the emcee the cowboy coming to country that'd be crazy oh man well
17:23congrats on all the success it's so fun to learn more about you and um good luck with the the second
17:28half of 2025 it's crazy to say that what's what's next for you what are you looking forward to it is
17:32wild um what am i looking like i've really been enjoying the festivals i got to play in europe
17:38i'm gonna play um one in the uk i'm gonna play one in romania in august and then um some other
17:46side quests i'm i'm excited about the side quests that are not as obvious music and related to what's
17:52happening in my life like i like the things a little bit outside i went to fashion week for
17:56instance a couple weeks ago in paris that was a different world yeah that was interesting so i like
18:01to i like the the doors that are um opening outside of music i find those very interesting because
18:07i'm just a very interested person and things you know so i'm you know i'm excited for all the stuff
18:13that's not in the calendar yet let me put it like that i love that yeah enjoy it soak it up and um
18:18again good luck with everything and congrats on all the success so far thank you so much with the emcee
18:21thank you for the time and getting let us know what's going on with your life well thank you for
18:25having me appreciate it man
18:26you
18:36you
18:38you
18:42you
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