Just in time for Valentines Day rising North Carolina rapper Baby Cheef has released the video to his single “Oochie,” his debut single on Trained To Go (TTG) Entertainment and an ode to Nas’ classic freak anthem “Oochie Wally.”
Featuring fellow Carolina rapper Supa Chuli, the song is a braggadocious anthem in the same vein as Nas’s instant Hip-Hop classic that set the bar on production and lyrics for sexually amped anthems.
“The music I’m putting out now, I’m really into beats with a lot of energy. I can do anything and everything. I call it conscious trap music. I’m a street dude with a mind. I know how to go out and get my money, but I know how to make it home safe at night. My music is going to motivate you, it’s going to create memories for you, it’s also going to make you want to go out and get some money,” Baby Cheef explained.
Starting off in gospel choir Baby Cheef learned to develop an appreciation for all types of music, but as a youth his older brother was his true influence when it comes to his style and music.
“I started rapping at a young age around 8, really one of my main influences was my older brother who had all the latest retro jerseys, the J’s and he used to sell mixtapes, so I saw that you could make money off music and I wanted to do it too,” Baby Cheef explained. “He was my first influence as far as being a rapper because I wanted to be him. I wanted to be just like him, he was my hero.”
By age 11 Baby Cheef had jumped off the porch and was in the streets, “getting into a lil some’n of everything.”
“I got outside and started getting to it and was hustling on my own,” Baby Cheef said. “Anything you can possibly think of a teenager getting into, I did. I went down a messed up path in life. Fact check it, you can ask my momma, I had a strong mind like my dad, so I wanted to get to it and make some money, but I would never leave music alone.”
But life in the streets would show Baby Cheef another path as he always had a passion for music. According to Cheef, all the big homies and OGs in his neighborhood would make him battle grown men when he was only 13 or 14 years old.
“Back then it wasn’t battle rap like SmackUrl or anything like that. It was more like who had the best flow and the hottest verse. You may say a joke in there, a punchline or two but you know I started flipping that into songs.”
Eventually after releasing music on his own for years, a local record label in Charlotte named TTG picked up on Baby Cheef’s music and signed him to a deal. With their help Cheef’s music is playing in places far beyond his neighborhood and North Carolina.
“TTG did this for me. They thought enough to sign me and they changed my life, so that’s just what not giving up looks like. Anybody could tell you, they know me for this all through North Carolina. They know me for getting some money, being a good dad, looking fly and rapping mostly, but they know me. My whole city know that. My whole state know that.”