Abbas Hamad (born May 27, 1987), better known by his stage name Bas, is an American rapper. He is signed to
J. Cole
Jermaine Lamarr Cole (born January 28, 1985) is an American rapper and record producer. Born on a military base in Germany and raised in Fayetteville, North Carolina, Cole initially gained recognition as a rapper following the release of his d ...
's
Dreamville Records
Dreamville Records is an American record label founded by American rapper J. Cole and his manager Ibrahim Hamad. The label is currently distributed through Interscope Records, a unit of Universal Music Group. The roster includes Bas (rapper), B ...
via
Interscope Records
Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture with Atlantic Records of Warner Mus ...
. His first studio album ''
Last Winter
''Last Winter'' is the debut studio album by American Rapping, rapper Bas (rapper), Bas. It was released on April 29, 2014, by Dreamville Records, and Interscope Records. The album debuted at No. 103 on Billboard 200, ''Billboard'' 200, selling 3 ...
'', was released on April 29, 2014, followed by his second studio album, ''
Too High to Riot
''Too High to Riot'' is the second studio album by Sudanese Rapping, rapper Bas (rapper), Bas. It was released on March 4, 2016, by Dreamville Records and Interscope Records. The album sold 8,065 copies in its first week, debuting at number 49 on ...
'', which was released on March 4, 2016. Bas' third album, ''
Milky Way
The Milky Way is the galaxy that includes our Solar System, with the name describing the galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars that cannot be individually distinguished by the naked eye ...
'', was released on August 24, 2018.
Bas was born in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
, France, in 1987, to
Sudan
Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...
ese parents. At the age of 8, his family moved to New York City. He attended
St. Francis Preparatory School in
Queens
Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...
, New York.
Musical career
2011–2013: Career beginnings and mixtapes
In 2011, Bas released his debut mixtape titled ''Quarter Water Raised Vol. 1''. In 2013, his second mixtape was released entitled, ''Quarter Water Raised Vol. 2''.
In 2013, Bas was featured on
J. Cole
Jermaine Lamarr Cole (born January 28, 1985) is an American rapper and record producer. Born on a military base in Germany and raised in Fayetteville, North Carolina, Cole initially gained recognition as a rapper following the release of his d ...
's "New York Times" along with
50 Cent
Curtis James Jackson III (born July 6, 1975), known professionally as 50 Cent, is an American rapper, actor, and businessman. Born in the South Jamaica neighborhood of Queens, Jackson began pursuing a musical career in 2000, when he produced ...
from Cole's album ''
Born Sinner
''Born Sinner'' is the second studio album by American rapper and record producer J. Cole. It was released on June 18, 2013, by ByStorm Entertainment, Columbia Records, Dreamville Records and Roc Nation. The album serves as the follow-up to his de ...
'', and then on
DJ Khaled
Khaled Mohammed Khaled (born November 26, 1975), known professionally as DJ Khaled, is an American DJ, record executive, record producer and rapper.
Khaled first gained recognition as a radio host in the 1990s on the radio station WEDR, 99 Ja ...
's "Hells Kitchen" from ''
Suffering from Success
''Suffering from Success'' is the seventh studio album by American disc jockey and producer DJ Khaled. It was released on October 22, 2013, by We the Best Music Group, Terror Squad Entertainment, Young Money Entertainment, Cash Money Records an ...
''.
He then appeared on the Dreamville compilation mixtape ''
Revenge of the Dreamers
''Revenge of the Dreamers'' is the first compilation album by American record label Dreamville Records and was released on January 28, 2014. The album includes contributions by Dreamville artists, J. Cole, Bas, Omen, K-Quick as well as Treasure ...
''. That mixtape was released in celebration of Dreamville's partnership with
Interscope Records
Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture with Atlantic Records of Warner Mus ...
, resulting in Bas being signed to Interscope. Two weeks prior to the release of his debut album ''Last Winter'', Bas released a free EP titled ''Two Weeks Notice''.
2014–2015: ''Last Winter''
![Bas2013](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b5/Bas2013.jpg)
''
Last Winter
''Last Winter'' is the debut studio album by American Rapping, rapper Bas (rapper), Bas. It was released on April 29, 2014, by Dreamville Records, and Interscope Records. The album debuted at No. 103 on Billboard 200, ''Billboard'' 200, selling 3 ...
'' was released on April 29, 2014, by Dreamville Records/
Interscope Records
Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture with Atlantic Records of Warner Mus ...
. The album was a conceptual project that touches on the cold days in New York City recording the album. The album was supported by the single "My Nigga Just Made Bail" produced by GP808 and featured guest appearances by
J. Cole
Jermaine Lamarr Cole (born January 28, 1985) is an American rapper and record producer. Born on a military base in Germany and raised in Fayetteville, North Carolina, Cole initially gained recognition as a rapper following the release of his d ...
. ''Last Winter'' would debut at 103 on the
''Billboard'' 200 with 3,601 copies sold in its first week.
Following its release, Bas went on a 10-city nationwide tour titled after the album.
Bas followed his own "
Last Winter
''Last Winter'' is the debut studio album by American Rapping, rapper Bas (rapper), Bas. It was released on April 29, 2014, by Dreamville Records, and Interscope Records. The album debuted at No. 103 on Billboard 200, ''Billboard'' 200, selling 3 ...
" tour by going on a 24-city nationwide and international tour with TDE rapper
Ab-Soul
Herbert Anthony Stevens IV (born February 23, 1987), better known by his stage name Ab-Soul, is an American rapper, singer and songwriter. Raised in Carson, California, he signed to indie record label Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE) in 2007, where ...
. In 2015, Bas supported J. Cole on '2014 Forest Hills Drive Tour' alongside Omen, Cozz, Jeremih, YG, and Big Sean.
2016–2017: ''Too High to Riot''
Bas released his second album, ''
Too High to Riot
''Too High to Riot'' is the second studio album by Sudanese Rapping, rapper Bas (rapper), Bas. It was released on March 4, 2016, by Dreamville Records and Interscope Records. The album sold 8,065 copies in its first week, debuting at number 49 on ...
'' on March 4, 2016. The album also includes guest appearances from his labelmates J. Cole and
Cozz
Cody Rashad Osagie, (born October 1, 1994), better known by his stage name Cozz, is an American rapper from Los Angeles, California. He is signed to J. Cole's label Dreamville Records and Interscope Records. His debut studio album ''Cozz & Effe ...
, as well as
the Hics
The Hics are an English Electronic band formed in London in 2012 by Sam Paul Evans and Jacob Welsh. Originally a two piece electronic indie band, the band was soon joined by Matt Knox on bass, Roxane Barker on vocals, Geordan Reid-Campbell on gu ...
. The album would debut at 49 on the
Billboard 200
The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine and is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of art ...
chart, selling 10,965 copies in its first week. He also later released a music video for each song on the album. Bas went on tour titled after the album in June 2016 with
Cozz
Cody Rashad Osagie, (born October 1, 1994), better known by his stage name Cozz, is an American rapper from Los Angeles, California. He is signed to J. Cole's label Dreamville Records and Interscope Records. His debut studio album ''Cozz & Effe ...
and
EarthGang
EarthGang (stylized EARTHGANG) is an American hip hop duo from Atlanta, Georgia, composed of Olu (aka Johnny Venus) and WowGr8 (aka Doctur Dot – born Eian Parker). They are co-founders of the musical collective Spillage Village, with JID, Ho ...
. It included 26 cities in North America and 10 cities in Europe. On January 29, 2017, the documentary highlighting the tour was released on Tidal.
2018–present: ''Milky Way''
On April 10, 2018, Bas released the one-off single "Pinball II", featuring Correy C. The first single for his third album "Boca Raton" was released on June 19, and featured
ASAP Ferg. On August 22, he released the second single "
Tribe
The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English language, English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in p ...
" featuring J. Cole. Bas released his third album, ''
Milky Way
The Milky Way is the galaxy that includes our Solar System, with the name describing the galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars that cannot be individually distinguished by the naked eye ...
'' on August 24, 2018. The album debuted at number 35 on the ''Billboard'' 200, selling 13,150 album-equivalent units in the first week. Bas announced a 43-city tour to support the album, which began in November 2018 and concluded in February 2019. In late 2018, Bas announced he was working on an album with frequent collaborators,
The Hics
The Hics are an English Electronic band formed in London in 2012 by Sam Paul Evans and Jacob Welsh. Originally a two piece electronic indie band, the band was soon joined by Matt Knox on bass, Roxane Barker on vocals, Geordan Reid-Campbell on gu ...
, the album is due out late 2021 to early 2022.
Discography
Studio albums
Extended plays
Compilation albums
Mixtapes
Singles
As lead artist
As featured artist
Other charted songs
Guest appearances
Awards and nominations
Notes
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bas
1987 births
Living people
American people of Sudanese descent
Dreamville Records artists
Interscope Records artists
Musicians from Queens, New York
Rappers from New York City
21st-century American rappers
African-American rappers
21st-century African-American musicians
20th-century African-American people