ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: BOOKA
Boooka is an Austin-based hip-hop artist and creative director blending Midwest soul with poetic grit. Known for designing his own visuals and directing his videos, he’s part Common, part Metro Boomin. His project MEDSWASPOSED2HELP hits hard—with raw bars, real stories, and a vibe that rallies people, not followers.
1. You’ve been shaped by a lot of cities—if your music was a mixtape of those places, what would each track sound like?
a) Hmmm...Well because I've lived in so many places it has always been hard to label my sound I feel, because there is no clear indicator of regional influence. But, even though I've spread years almost equally across all the places I've been, I've always taken a lot of my inspiration from midwest artists. So, my best bet is each song would sound like Common rapping over a Metro Boomin beat. Sounds interesting, right?
2. Austin’s your current base. What’s in the water there that’s feeding your creativity right now?
a) Poetry. Lots of poetry. Hearing how these artists tell their stories and even relive them on stage for all of us to witness. There's been so much beauty in being a part of both the hip-hop and poetry community and being able to take bits and pieces home of each and approach my music with different tools.
3. Hip-hop artist and creative director? How do you switch hats—or do you just wear ‘em both at the same time?
a) We're all wearing so many different hats at all times of the day in our professional lives and our creative journeys. Bless to those who've made both of those into one. One day I looked up and realized that for as long as I've been creating music, I've designed my own cover art, directed my own videos, and brought so many things to life that all started off as an idea. I've always had my creative freedom and no one to steer me away from it and into a different idea. I'm more creative director than I am solely a hip-hop artist, I just had to begin to give myself the credit.
4. OK, let’s talk MEDSWASPOSED2HELP—that title is bold. What was the “hold up…wait a minute” moment that sparked it all?
a) Haha, so the energy behind that song was a combination of things, but first it was from a conversation with my mom. She had told me that after 20 years of living with the diagnosis of depression and receiving treatment that it was actually ADHD. They started medicating her for that, and then poof, she felt like she was living a new life. Her and my emotions were different. She felt relieved and I felt robbed just imagining what life would have been for her if she was happy growing up. What baggage my sister and I may not have had to carry. It was a heavy reminder of how the American healthcare system is a scam.
5. Twenty years on the wrong meds is WILD. How do you even begin to process that in real life, let alone in a song?
a) Extremely. At the end of the day, I didn't want to wear my feelings towards it so much that she couldn't just enjoy how she felt about everything. If she has that happiness, why should I come and snatch that away from her as soon as she gets it? As far as the song, I wrote those lyrics immediately after having that conversation with her but didn't end up finally recording it until a year later. And after a year and thinking about the emotions I had on day one, it was still there.
6. If you could describe the American health care system in three emojis, what would they be?
a) How about a dollar sign emoji, a money bag emoji, and a casket?
7. There’s some heavy stuff in this project. How do you find light or levity when the subject matter is this real?
a) I refuse to take everything serious with every second spent. I feel like yes, the world offers us a lot of reasons to be concerned and fearful of its future, so it's really a choice to find the positive in our daily lives. With that first comes accepting the reality of the way things are, so when I rap about the fucked up health care system, or dealing with a history of alcoholism, or falling in love with a therapist, things become less heavy when you understand you're not alone with those feelings. Like a "misery loves company" deal almost, haha. It's fun.
8. What's one bar or line from the project that made you stop and go, “Damn, I really said that”?
a) "I can't even keep up an erection!" I think every man has gone through some sort of trouble in that area in the form of performance anxiety or the often less talked about - porn induced erectile dysfunction. It's embarrassing, but hopefully I made it even just a little less embarrassing by screaming it in a song.
9. You talk about disillusionment—was there ever a moment making this project where you wanted to throw the whole thing out the window? Be honest.
a) Hell yeah. Especially because I always fall victim to those things artists do where they go "One more song and it's done", or the "I don't like this one anymore, I'm gonna do something new". This time around I told myself that by a certain date I will no longer touch the project. Regardless of if I have the perfect rollout or I make enough videos, or I hear somewhere I could do better. I wasn't getting in my way again this time.
10. If MEDSWASPOSED2HELP was a person, what kind of vibe would they walk into the room with?
a) The type of person that would say what everybody was thinking, and in a way that would give the next person the courage to speak up. Somebody seen as dangerous to the public eye because people would want to rally behind that person.
11. You’re big on curating space for others—how do you build safe spaces in an industry that isn’t always so safe?
a) Honestly I don't know. There are so many things that I'm just learning as I go. The easiest thing you can do though is just be yourself so that whoever is around you you can ensure is genuinely around you for you. And then being a leader and curating spaces calls for you to be a blend of empathetic and fair. Those are a couple of things that go into creating a safe space, but it is also important that people navigate their own level of safety in any space.
12. If someone’s only got 5 minutes and one song to feel the whole project—what track are you playing them, and why?
a) I KNOW I LOVE U WHEN because that song to me checks all of the boxes of what type of an artist Boooka is. I make a lot of music around women/relationships, the concept is raw, and there are some lyrics in there that surprise you but are relatable once you digest them.
13. What’s one thing that snuck its way into this project that even surprised you?
a) The song UMBRELLAS was probably that. I wrote that song in 2021 and had recorded it but could never quite get the sound right and I started to give up on it. But then I met BlanketBoi, an engineer through a good friend of mine, Mag the Artist, and passed him the song like "Hey, let's see what you can do with this". Then he just sends it back damn near the way I had imagined it in my head. I was so happy to finally be able to share that with the world.
14. You've been redefining the standard—what's one “standard” in music or culture that needs to go, like, yesterday?
a) I think the way some people treat rapping as an afterthought needs to go. I'm tired of hearing artists rap their way into success and then suddenly feel like they're above rap and then switch genres as if rap isn't a genre that takes a lot of skill. How we just watch and accept people treat rap like a stepping stone into different genres. There needs to be more respect for this shit. That could also be how us as consumers don't demand for artists to be intentional about their music. So I'd say the part of the culture that needs to go is the part where anyone can just sit down at the table, eat, and then up and leave without helping clean the table, or doing the dishes, or putting the leftovers up...metaphorically.
15. Lastly, for someone who’s been let down by a system or a situation—what’s the loudest message you want them to hear in your music?
With love,
a) The loudest message I want to say at the top of my lungs is: You are not alone and those feelings you feel have been felt before by someone else. Don't feel ashamed or embarrassed.