Who is rapper Erica Banks?
ERICA Banks rose to fame when her first track Buss It went viral on TikTok.
She has since gained in popularity after she self-released her mixtapes Art of the Hustle, Pressure, and Cocky on Purpose in 2019.
Who is Erica Banks?
Erica Banks, whose legal name is Erica Breaux, is a 23-year-old rapper from DeSota, Texas.
She started performing her music while still in high school and continued to perform while she attended college as a nursing student at A& Commerce.
Banks performed at local nightclubs and worked to make contacts with DJs to get her music out there.
Speaking about working with DJs and self-promotion, Banks told the Grammy Awards: "It was a matter of me introducing myself. I had business cards made with my picture on it and my Instagram on it. I would say, 'I’m Erica Banks and I do music, I want to send you my songs.'
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"The DJs were always very nice and played my stuff, but sometimes they already knew who I was. I just had to be vocal."
She continued: "I realized over time being more social and more vocal about who I was, helped people get to know me. Who I was started to spread by word of mouth, just by talking to DJs."
While in her sophomore year in 2017, Banks dropped out of school to focus on her musical career.
She released her first single, Talk My Shit, on SoundCloud in 2018 before she moved on to release her three mixtapes.
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In 2020, Banks signed a contract with Warner Records and 1501 Certified, saying the company had the right "vibe" she was looking for.
She said she had been approached by other record companies, but none struck a chord with her so much as Warner.
Banks said she had noticed that the CEO of 1501, Carl Crawford, would provide feedback on artists' who posted their music on Instagram Live.
It was at that point that Banks said she decided to try the same tactic and played her song Buss It.
Banks said: "[Crawford] loved the song and ended up hitting me up a couple of days later asking me if I was signed. I wasn’t.
"So I let my parents know, and we met with him a couple of times and we felt like the vibe was right."
Crawford told AllHipHop: “My gift for recognizing talent put Erica Banks on my radar, and I knew I wanted her to be a part of what we’re building at 1501 Certified Entertainment."
What is Erica Banks known for?
Banks gained popularity when her song Buss It went viral on TikTok - something she said surprised her.
Speaking with Grammy Awards, Banks said she had not had much faith in the song, but when fans started clamoring for the song, she switched her mindset.
"When I saw how my fanbase responded, I loved it. It became my favorite song. I saw the effect it had on people and why people liked it," Banks told the outlet.
She continued: "At first, I was like, 'I can do better than this.' But, once my fans started to love it so much, I felt like I was thinking too hard. I’m not as hard on myself as much as I was."
After the song came out in 2020, fans responded with the Buss It Challenge incorporating Nelly's 2002 hit Hot in Herre.
The TikTok video shows a person in plain clothes as the Nelly song played, but when Banks' song takes over, the video shifts to a video of the individual in club clothes.
The challenge took off and now has 3.6million videos on the social media platform.
What other music has Erica Banks produced?
Since taking the spotlight, Banks has produced other hit singles including On They Neck, Desiigner, Booty Control, and Slim Waist.
She earned her first Billboard Top 100 status for her song Buss It, and Banks told DJ Booth she strives to be the best.
"I want to be known as one of the biggest female artists yet to come, and I want to be able to leave my mark on the world," she said.
"I want people to know that Erica Banks is this fun girl who can make me feel good when I turn the music on and makes me confident in myself.
"People tell me all the time my music makes them feel confident, and I want to keep that going."
Banks released her most recent album, Flow Queen, on June 17, 2022, and said she intended the album to reveal confidence in herself.
She acknowledged that she's received backlash for her level of confidence, and told AllHipHop: "I feel like people react the way they do because in 2022 the world is just sensitive, but I’m going to always be confident and always believe that I’m the best at what I do because that’s just how I feel."
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She said when trying to select the title for her album Flow Queen, she noticed fans would comment saying "their favorite thing is my flow.
"... So I was like what can I call myself including the word flow, and I was like “Flow Queen,” and it stuck."