BIA

US rapper BIA was born Bianca Landrau in 1991 in Medford, Massachusetts. She is of Puerto Rican origin and from a very young age had harboured dreams of becoming a rap star. After being discovered on social media by the rapper Nathaniel Johnson - better known as Fam-Lay - she subsequently appeared in the TV reality show Sisterhood of Hip Hop. Landrau was then introduced to the producer Pharrell Williams who invited her to appear on J. Balvin's 2016 single "Safari" which went on to be certified multi-platinum and helped launch her rap career. In 2019 she was featured on Russell Vitale's single "Best on Earth"; a track which featured a reference to the singer Rihanna. After hearing the track, Rihanna liked what she heard, posted a short video of herself on social media which featured the single playing in the background and stated "Best on Earth" was her new favourite song. The post was viewed 17 million times and considerably boosted Vitale and Landrau's popularity. In 2020, BIA signed with Epic Records, releasing "Free BIA (1st Day Out)" and "Cover Girl", followed by "Same Hands" (Featuring Lil Durk), which featured on her second EP For Certain. It was her 2021 single "Whole Lotta Money" however, that propelled her to stardom after the track went viral, seeing a remix featuring Nicki Minaj land at number 16 on the Billboard charts. After launching her own beauty line, BIA featured on several singles including Nicki Minaj's "Super Freaky Girl" and German rapper Luciano's single "Bamba". In 2023, BIA released "Sixteen", followed by a collaboration with Timbaland; "I'm That Bitch" and September single "Millions" which scraped into the Top 40 Radio Pop Songs chart, at number 39.