That Other Ish: Byrd

Friday, January 22, 2021

Byrd - Life

Southern rapper uses poetry to uplift others on new single ‘Life’

RIVERDALE, GA – Tamya Thompson – AKA Byrd – is a young artist from Anniston, Alabama who is using her natural gifts as a musician to inspire others and motivate them to live their best lives. Her new single “Life” is the perfect example of how she’s using Hip Hop to grab people’s attention and inspire them to create, uplift, and rise up into stronger versions of themselves.

“I’m just trying to make this world a better place with my music,” she said. “I want to be a positive influence on the world, not a negative. Everybody has something they have to bring to the world. God didn’t bring us to the world for nothing. All of us are superheroes for real. I’m just trying to do something different with Rap. I’m trying to save lives.”

“Life” is inspired from the old-school Hip Hop of the late 1980s and early 1990s – artists like Run DMC and Tupac, in particular. Byrd said it’s a song that uses small little fables and punchlines to tell situations from life that many people live through.

“We go through things in life and we’re tested to do the right thing or the wrong thing,” she said. “Life throws a curveball and it’s up to you to choose to do the right thing. That’s what this song is about. It’s got more of a chill vibe with piano through, and it’s what Rap was intended to be, which is poetry. I’m using it for a style to talk about basic life and offering up ways in which we can be better people for our communities and our children. That’s where Hip Hop came from – from the low points of life and striving to be the best we can be. I’m trying to bring that style back.”

Byrd said she came to music in a roundabout way. She was messing around with some freestyles with a friend one evening and her natural talent as a rapper impressed everyone around her. They encouraged her to continue pursuing music as a career, and she soon was learning all she could to hone her craft. She began writing and recording and soon booked some events throughout the South. Over the years, she has performed at Club 231, Club 256 and multiple Juneteenth Festivals in Gadsden, Alabama; Lincoln Park in Atlanta; and Club Centre in Alabama. She’s also recorded with the group Nerdgang.

Following up her success from “Life,” Byrd said she’s planning on dropping a couple of new singles in the coming months called “The Hustle” and Cold Case,” the latter of which touches on issues associated with police shootings.