BIA Is Focused on Being Her 'Authentic Self' While Carving Out Her Own Legacy in Hip-Hop

BIA is continuing to write unforgettable rhymes and expanding her empire to include an inclusive beauty brand.

While juggling the pen, headlining The Really Her Tour and being a businesswoman, the rapper is able to remain humble as she accomplishes her goals.

Currently, the "London" singer is on tour, and it's a full-circle moment for the Boston native.

"It's literally like, it's really a dream come true," BIA exclusively tells OK!. "I know it sounds kind of cliche when people say it was a dream come true, but it really is."

"To go out on in the same venues that I've opened for people my whole career and to like, you know, check out some of these venues and see my fans and meet them," she reveals. "I hear them singing every single word, and it's just surreal. It's the best experience of my career so far."

Hip-hop heads enjoy the producer's confident approach to the mic, but many have also become enamored by her unique makeup looks. BIA's use of graphic liner and bold colors can easily be incorporated at home through her line, Beauty For Certain.

The concept of balancing a career as an MC and a cosmetics entrepreneur might seem out of the ordinary for some, but it's simply an extension of the essence of BIA.

"I'm just a big believer in following your passion. I love glam, I love beauty and I love music. I've just always followed the things that I love," the Sisterhood of Hip Hop alum exclaims. "It's always found me happiness and success."

"With beauty, I just always had to get glam on my own until I could bring makeup artists with me on tour," she reveals. "I had to do the glam myself. I'm obsessed with beauty, and I wanted to come out and make things easier for anyone to get glam."

Recently, Beauty for Certain announced an exclusive partnership with Urban Outfitters, and although specificities weren't on BIA's vision board, she had faith in her success.

"I can't say I foresaw everything, but I always knew that I would have a space in music," she states. "I'm just all about just doing the things that feed my spirit and make me happy."

With BIA being Puerto Rican and Italian, as well as being from the East Coast and a millennial, her work often serves as a cultural and generational bridge. The artist has worked with reggaetonero J. Balvin, Hip Hop innovator J. Cole and Bravolebrity Nene Leakes.

"There's a lot of intention behind it, I'm a very intentional person and everything that I do, it has to have a message or it just has to speak to my authentic self," BIA shares when discussing her recent project "Money."

"When I think of collaborations, I usually think about the people that I'm genuinely a fan of," she explains. "The Nene Leakes sample that was such an iconic phrase of hers, you know, 'bling, bling bling b-----s is mad,'" the trap star admits. "I just felt like that needed a space in music because it's part of the culture, music and culture. It's all one."

Leakes cemented herself into reality television history, and she is even included in the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture.

BIA was proud of her ability to give the Glee actress her flowers by using the memorable soundbite.

"I love doing things that are a little bit out of the norm of what people don't expect me to do," she shares. "That's how you grow and that's how you just be become great is to just do things that people don't expect you to do. So, I'm so grateful for Nene because she's just so iconic."

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Aside from her work, BIA represents Afro-Latinidad and biracial identity, and the professional is often asked by fans and commentators to defend her Blackness due to the ignorance surrounding Black Hispanic existence.

"We always battled things like that is— it's like race and ethnicity are two different things," the multihyphenate shares when reflecting on the ongoing curiosity surrounding her heritage. "We are one, and I think it's just important to remind people that we are one, we are all one."

"As long as you know where you come from and you rep it with pride, and you're open to learning about other cultures and about where your culture really comes from, then that's all you have to do," she notes.