B.O.A Mook navigates emotional motivation with new single “It Is What It Is”

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B.O.A Mook is an artist, entrepreneur and visionary hailing from Memphis with much more than music to offer to the rap game. Whether it be his clothing line, his label or anything else, his motto remains the same: “Believe. Overcome. Achieve.” B.O.A is more than an abbreviation for him, it’s a community centric lifestyle that everyone who knows and respects him follows.

His newest single “It Is What It Is,” a melodic guitar laced rap track, chronicles the emotions he navigates as he goes through life meeting people who may not always have his best interest in mind. He wants people to feel motivated when they hear the song and know they can beat the odds just like he did.

His faith in God is what he credits for getting through these situations and life in general. In fact, God’s divine timing is what he credits for the birth of the song itself.

B.O.A Mook reached many people’s ears when he was featured on the song “CAN WE LIVE?” by NLE Choppa. Choppa flew him out to Los Angeles and Mook thought they were going to shoot a video but something completely different happened.

“I was out in Los Angeles for about three or four days. Choppa was shooting videos during the day and we were working on our song together in the studio at night. The producer Project X was there along with a few others and me and him formed a connection. He was recording other people and I wanted him to record me too. Things came up but finally on the last night I was there we were able to record and I did it in one take and he was very impressed by that. NLE Choppa explained to him that both of us came from a place where we truly had to make the most of our studio time and that a quick and efficient work ethic was something people like us naturally developed through the circumstances we were in.” he said.

B.O.A Mook’s new project titled Empath is slated to drop on November 12 and he says it will be his most personal project yet. Just like Mook wants to spread the B.O.A movement to everyone, he simultaneously understands the struggles and pains his community faces and wants to overcome. The project includes sentimentally uplifting tracks like “Looking at the World Different,” one of his favorites.

“This song is all about my life behind the scenes. I’m talking about how I’m trying to be a good example for my daughters, praying and raising them to be good young ladies.” he said.

Writing from such a personal place is not completely new territory for Mook but the track “Thank God” took him to a different level of vulnerability. His faith in God remains at the center of everything he does but he’s also aware of the decisions he’s made in life and had to reflect on them to write the song.

“I always pray before I make music but for this one I really wanted to make sure my mind was in the right place before I recorded the song. God knows us for who we are and sees all that we do. Despite what I may have done beforehand, I knew I wanted to center myself mentally and spiritually before recording this one because of how it was a song fully dedicated to Him.” he said.

Emotional resonance is a throughline through Mook’s lyricism and delivery but also his production. He tends to gravitate towards piano and guitar based production, whose melodic tones pair well with his melodic delivery and vulnerable songwriting. The sonic cohesion is all a part of his goal to bring raw and unfiltered soul to the rap game and give people a look at what he and the people from his environment have lived and continue to live through.

As aforementioned, B.O.A is not just an abbreviation for Mook but a lifestyle. Originally it only stood for “Best of All Time” but Mook has evolved past declaring this, it’s more of an internal belief. With it now also standing for “Believe. Overcome. Achieve.,” his message of encouraging others is at the forefront and it transcends all he does. Both the name of his label and clothing brand push the “B.O.A.” abbreviation and they both are centered around a mutual exchange of support and motivation.

Mook sees the label ownership as a mutual investment for himself and the artists he works with. He wants to start a legacy of generational wealth through it as well as his other business endeavors. Ensuring financial security for his three daughters is his motivating factor through it all but his pure love and dedication to them outweighs any financial amount he could accumulate.

“My number one fear is not having anything. And I also just don't want to focus on only one thing and let that stop me from doing other things. I’m going to continue doing music, building the podcast, acting and doing what I can to get my own equipment to do everything too. I don’t want my daughters to look at me and think I didn’t try. They’re my motivation.” he said.

Mook has plans to continue pursuing business ventures and use that money to fund his endeavors at the same time. He also plans to continue acting as he did in the Starz series BMF. Additionally, he has plans for visuals for the Empath album and plans for the top of 2026 too.

B.O.A Mook is a multifaceted artist with God at the center of his life and his motto of “Believe. Overcome. Achieve.” at the front of his mind.

“It Is What It Is” is available on streaming services now and Empath drops on November 12,2025.

You can tap in with B.O.A Mook’s Believe Overcome Achieve lifestyle by keeping up with him on these platforms.

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Spotify
YouTube
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Naitas Blue’s “Riding Smooth,” a Rap Memoir of a Life in Progress

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“I’ve been going through it for 12 years.”

For the California-based rapper Naitas Blue, music serves many purposes. One: a career path and possible way out of his current circumstances. Two: a path to meeting his soul mate. And three: a creative way to express his struggles over the past 12 years — and his dreams for the years to come.

The new single, “Riding Smooth,” is an example of his music-as-memoir approach. In an Auto-Tuned voice, part rapping and part singing, Blue mentions difficulties relating to imprisonment, fatherhood, and knowing there are “no second chances.”

And now I’m content
I know I f***ed up
There’s no second chances
Mamas now won’t even give me a hug
Can’t even have a seat at the top
Can’t even see my son
In and out of the system
Got me f***ed up
Growing on them since day one

Blue studied audio engineering at the Conservatory of Recording Arts & Sciences in Arizona, but these days his studio fits in his hand. He records directly into his phone, using AI apps to generate beats and process his vocals.

“I just sing into my phone,” he says, “and the AI puts it all together.”

The result is a fully self-produced sound that merges trap and R&B in equal measure. He describes this blend as “trap R&B.”

With this workflow, he has been very productive: 31 tracks released in 2025 and counting. Each track draws from lived experience, often touching on incarceration, fathering nine children, and resilience. “I’m the future, past, present now,” he says. “Everything I’m going through right now is in the song.”

Born and raised on California’s West Coast, Blue has been “in and out of the system” for over a decade but channels that pain into purpose. His music captures the tension between hope and hardship, searching for space, freedom, and connection.

“There’s no love out here,” he says of Fresno County. “I’m looking to meet my soul mate. And for more freedom.”

Now shooting an official music video for “Riding Smooth,” Blue continues to grow his YouTube and Spotify audiences, one listener at a time. “I’m outside everywhere, asking people to subscribe,” he says. “It’s building up slowly.”

There may not be second chances, but you can still move forward. Naitas Blue raps about a life in progress, and his music is a way to imagine a better future.

Stream “Riding Smooth” everywhere you listen to music.

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TikTok
YouTube
Spotify
Apple Music
Amazon Music

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