J Bambii’s “Church Fan” Confirms She’s Next up

Poet, organizer, and activist-turned-rapper, Jasmine Barber, aka J Bambii gets it. 

After originally releasing visuals for her second single this year, “Church Fan,” the South Side native has made the powerful single available on all DSPs this past October, 4.  

From the cover art and the visuals for the single to the rollout strategy, there is no confusion as to why the city of Chicago has an appetite for the Young Chicago Authors alum: J Bambii is coming with intention, purpose, and professionalism as if she is already signed to a major. As a result, her efforts have been rewarded. 

“Church Fan,” which only received a video release, has, at the time of this being written, has accrewed 1.8K views in two weeks. This is without the song being on DSPs. And this largely has to do with the effort she puts into her craft. 

Much like the single, which is brilliantly recorded with layered choir vocals, lively instrumentals, and unorthodox song sequencing, the video oozes originality. It’s clear that Jasmine came up with a concept, hired actors and models, and decided to invest in her product – something many up-and-coming Chicago rappers fail to do. 

In addition, J Bambii is not in a rush and is allowing each single to build, again, treating her debut as if she is the number-one artist on a major label. Her last single, “Choas” was released last Halloween! That single, which also has a video of well over 3K views (which is an incredible edge over almost any other act in Chicago with as much time or more in the game) also has industry-grade album artwork and, despite it’s stellar praise, has been her only release since now dropping “Church Fan.” 

This not only allows Bambii to promote the single but also for her audience to get to know and familiarize themselves with the single before being moved along too fast. What’s amazing is that both are projected to be on Black American Beauty, the debut album from J Bambii and Band (Renzell, Akenya, J Bambii, Kurt Shelby, Elijah Bradford, and Joshua Jessen) is scheduled for release in early 2024.

The care, pace, and intention of the album release are genius as she not only has a buzz but an anticipation that will surely pay off once the full project is ready. Don’t be surprised if her debut catapults her into an entirely different stratosphere. 

While the community at large may already know who she is, given that she has her hand in almost every facet of the Chicago creative and organizing scene – from “The Brown Skin Lady Show”  to her must-attend South Side party “The Fifi,” which began in May 2022, her music separates her from millions of other Chicago organizers turned rappers – J Bambii actually gets it. 

Since formerly debuting her rap side at the Hideout in 2016 she has been on a methodical pace in transforming into a rapper. In 2018, she released Retrograde, an Afro-futuristic EP that tackled what it means to make peace with and restore one’s inner child and she even opened for bounce icon Big Freedia at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park, part of a “Femmergy.” 

Bambii not only has something to say a very creative and vivid way of saying it, but she seems to have studied the marketing side of being an up-and-coming artist that many Chicago upstarts do not get: treat every piece of content like it’s the big leagues. 

I am stoked to see what J Bambii has in store and all my chips are on her to be the next out of Chicago to break out.