Delaware’s Bri Steves stakes a claim as female MC
Wearing a black and red Temple University basketball jersey dress, bamboo earrings and faux dreads piled high, Brianna Stevenson and her friends cruise the streets of Philadelphia in cream-colored seats of a baby blue vintage convertible El Camino.
In the next scene of Stevenson’s video for “Summer’s Mine,” she sits with DJ HVNLee (pronounced heavenly) in lawn chairs in the back of a pickup truck.
“Ain’t nobody dope as me, I dress so fresh, so clean. All my girls look so damn good, them boys be checking for my team,” she sings in the heavily ‘90s influenced hip-hop jam that’s an anthem to the joys of summer.
It’s part of Stevenson’s campaign to break into the top ranks of music as the newest, fiercest female MC. A rising hip-hop star in Philadelphia, she lived in Delaware for eight years before becoming a Temple student in Philadelphia, where she is now known by her stage name Bri Steves.
The song also pays homage to 1991’s “Summertime” by Will Smith and DJ Jazzy Jeff, hip hop stars from Philly before Smith became a powerhouse Hollywood actor and Jazzy Jeff moved to Bear. She hoped they would notice, and Jazzy Jeff did.
When Stevenson was doing an event with Kicks USA in July right after her single came out, her publicist sent a video from DJ Jazzy Jeff praising her new jam. He called the song and video “really, really dope” via Twitter video and encouraged his followers to listen.
Bri Steves said that made her cry.
“I was just hype that Jazzy Jeff noticed me,” Stevenson said. “I felt so good, because this was after I saw Fader posted it, HipHopDX posted it and the other minor blogs picked it up too, but it was just really cool. The responses I was getting were just so awesome.”
In one year, the 21-year-old businesswoman has received feedback on her music from national outlets like RevoltTV, owned by P. Diddy, and The Fader magazine. A senior public relations and audio engineering student at Temple, she is using her audio engineering skills to produce her own content. She bought all her equipment herself and does her own mixes.
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“We’re building something that is not heard of,” BriSteves said. “There are a lot of components that go into [my music]. It’s like nobody can reproduce what me and my producer are doing.”
Dyshon Warren, a mentor to Stevenson, calls her music a hybrid version of hip hop. He’s helped Stevenson study the music business, navigate certain areas and make necessary sacrifices such as spending hundreds of dollars on equipment, all while she works on creating her own sound.
Warren says Stevenson has a certain level of “coachability” that sets her apart from the usual crowd of upcoming artists.
“Winning doesn’t require you to be the most talented,” Warren said. “You have to have fundamental talent, you have to have a good look as far as the potential of your look … Everybody has to get better. She has the patience and wherewithal to be coachable.”
Warren collaborated with BriSteves to develop “Summer’s Mine.”
Stevenson’s double life as a student and artist often overlap, blending together to create a realm and lane of her own.
“It starts by us knowing that we don’t want to be like everybody else,” she said about her creative process. “We do like 90s nostalgic. We shoot for a certain goal of sampling that we want to have and then [my producer, Jay the Great] kinda adds a twang to it, so it sounds different.”
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In the past few years, the only internationally recognized, platform-crossing female MC has been Nicki Minaj, but Bri Steves plans to change that.
Entering her second year since she took a calculated leap of faith into the music industry, she has already made her message very clear: female empowerment.
“I’m very vocal about women getting what they deserve in life, in their careers and not settling,” BriSteves said, being clear that she plans to speak to and for women and girls of all ages. “I want to stand for something bigger, in terms of good representation for how women should want to carry themselves, should want other men to treat them and should want a certain demand from life, period.”
“Summer’s Mine’s” message includes talking about women working hard to achieve their goals, and she says she works hard to keep her lyrics honest and authentic.
“Momma said, ‘Work hard, pay them boys no mind,’ so I’m doing what I want ‘cause I’m young and fly,” she raps.
Her childhood friend, Jessica Forrester-Charles, has seen her growth and been along for the ride. Stevenson and Forrester-Charles met in Claymont Elementary School and rekindled their friendship at Mount Pleasant High School, when they decided to run for president and vice president of their class. They were elected. Now, they refer to each other as “other halves.”
“The summer after we graduated from Mount she started messing around with music and I was like, ‘What?’ About a year and a half ago is when she was like ‘I'm going all in.’” Now Forrester-Charles said the transition seems natural. “I told her I'm down through it all.”
Forrester-Charles has tried to make as many shows as she can, even traveling to Texas for the South by Southwest music festival, where Bri Steves performed, because Forrester-Charles believes that real friends should always support each other.
“I'm always hype in the front row, always taking videos,” Forrester-Charles said. “I just do whatever she needs, honestly. Whether that be a boost of confidence, carrying stuff from show to show, or simply reminding her to breathe because everything will work out one way or another.”
Although female bosses may intimidate some, Bri Steves’ ambitious and assertive personality doesn’t overshadow her goofiness, Forrester-Charles said.
To set herself apart, BriSteves doesn’t want to be defined by industry labels and has deemed herself a “creative,” dabbling in modeling, producing, entertainment PR, brand management consulting, spoken word and making the “BriSteves” brand as dynamic as possible.
She’s performed at the most popular venues in Philadelphia including the Theatre of the Living Arts, World Cafe Live and Johnny Brenda’s. She has also been a part of shows in New York City.
Warren thought Bri Steves was talented from the moment he saw her on Instagram in 2015 after she was suggested for a showcase. Since then, Warren said, her sound has solidified and her willingness will make her great.
“A lot of artists are not willing to go beyond doing the part that they like to do,” Warren said. “Nobody is exactly who she is.”
Contact TyLisa C. Johnson at tjohnson@delawareonline.com or (302) 324-2832. Follow her on Twitter @tylisajohnson.
What’s next for BriSteves
• Her next project will release mid-August free on her website, www.BriSteves.com.
• Her next show is Sept. 1 at the Theatre of the Living Arts in Philadelphia/ Go to www.BriSteves.com for tickets.
• Follow her at www.BriSteves.com or @BriSteves on Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr and Facebook.