Tabi Bonney Has Master's Degrees in Biology & Education, But He Raps

DC rapper drops The Summer Years and talks about working with Dame Dash

People get excited when hip hop mogul Dame Dash and producer Ski work together because they know it was this collaboration that produced the artist who now has everyone watching the throne: Jay-Z. Today, they're working with D.C. rapper Tabi Bonney, who definitely is no young'n in the game.

Bonney first came out with "The Pocket" in 2008, a song that matched D.C. slang with an uber-cool style and flow. Bonney graduated from Florida A&M with master's degrees in biology and education. He taught high school for awhile before becoming his own brand complete with record label and clothing line. In September, he dropped his new album The Summer Years, a collaboration with the aforementioned Dash and Ski, which with it's lead video "Parachute," extended our summer a few extra months.

Loop 21 talked with Bonney about his new album, his experience working with Dame and Ski, and also about why rapping about hustling is just not cool.

Loop 21: So how were you able to connect with Dame Dash and Ski?

Tabi Bonney: I knew Ski because a good friend of mine Haziq Ali recorded with him while we were in college. Another producer who was a friend of mine, who was working with Dame Dash, hit me up on Facebook and was like, "Hey I’m up in New York working with Dame and he heard your music, and he’s a big fan and he wants to work with you." So I was like, "Cool, let me know when I can come up there, like I can be there literally tonight," because I was just so excited. They said just come up here the next day so that’s how it all happened. And when I came up, that’s when I saw Ski, Dame and Currensy and it was just an automatic connection.

Loop 21: There have been reports circulating that Dame is struggling financially. Did that make you nervous at all?

Bonney: Not at all, I mean what I learned working with Dame is that a lot of people on the outside will say or do things just to make headlines, and I don’t know what they mean by broke, cause the stuff I’m seeing -- right now I’m literally upstate in one of his estates in upstate New York (laughs) so it’s all about what you consider broke. But yeah, my thing was it was all about working with a mogul and someone I actually looked up to who had such a wealth of knowledge, so for me to be able to just pick up phone and call Dame and talk to him about anything industry-related or just period is just such a -- I can’t believe I’m in that situation.

Loop 21: So what was the growth process between you first album and The Summer Years?