On a humid Monday evening in late June, a line of more than 600 fans — most of whom don’t look older than 20 — snakes outside Atlanta’s The Loft at Center Stage. The reason? The chance for an IRL connection with BunnaB, a star who’s taking over social media timelines. One hit at a time.
Inside, the venue has the energy of an Atlanta kickback designed for a generation raised by TikTok. A boy, surrounded by friends filming him on their phones, gets a haircut in the back lounge. Near the stage, a fan grabs the mic to sing, at the top of her lungs, Drake and PartyNextDoor’s latest hit “Somebody Loves Me.” TikTok challenges, like the “5,6,7,8″ trend abound. Yung L.A. and Waka Flocka songs blare in the background.
All of this happens before BunnaB hits the stage for her sold-out concert — her first headlining gig. The message is clear. Summer’s just begun, and it belongs to Atlanta’s BunnaB.
Born Ereunna McCoy, the artist, whose moniker was inspired by a childhood nickname, has a viral hit on her hands with the April-released “Bunna Summa.” She shows no signs of slowing down, welcoming an exciting era of nostalgic Atlanta rap that still sounds like a novelty.
“The past few months have been going really fast, actually, faster than I thought,” BunnaB told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on the phone the day after the concert (while traveling to another show in Florida). “So that’s why I try to prepare, but it comes so fast. I just go with the flow and handle things as they come.”
Credit: abbey.cutrer@ajc.com
Credit: abbey.cutrer@ajc.com
The second oldest of 10 children, BunnaB was born in Edgewood and raised in Thomasville Heights in the Section 8 apartment homes formerly known as Four Seasons (later named Forest Cove before being demolished last year). BunnaB describes her upbringing in a low-income family, but she notes that her mom ensured all of her kids had what they needed.
“At school, I always looked like that popular girl,” she said. “I knew how to put on (clothes) right to make me look like the star everywhere I go.”
She attended Thomasville Heights Elementary School, Crawford W. Long Middle School and Maynard Holbrook Jackson High School, where she became friends with fellow Atlanta rapper YKNiece.
As a child, she had dreams of being a fashion designer, but music found her first. Inspired by rappers like Nicki Minaj, BunnaB started rapping for fun at 8. At 15, she mustered the confidence to share her talents with her family. Four years later, she began recording music, after her sister booked a studio session as a birthday gift. (BunnaB declined to share her current age. But when asked if she was in her early 20s, she said, “Yea, something like that,” before laughing).
Since then, the studio has become a second home. Her first single, “My Man,” dropped in 2023 and helped build her online presence. After getting shelved by Atlantic Records, she signed with the Los Angeles-based indie label Artist Partner Group in March. The following month, she released her first EP, “Ice Cream Summer.”
The project introduced new listeners to BunnaB’s colorful, nursery rhyme-esque bars that you can’t help but turn up to. “Awf Da Perky,” a breakout hit from the EP, has an infectious hook that’s catchy enough to distract you from its quirkiness.
The makings of a hit — and a new sound
Credit: abbey.cutrer@ajc.com
Credit: abbey.cutrer@ajc.com
Days later, “Bunna Summa” arrived, and took on a life of its own. An excerpt from the song quickly became the No. 2 trending sound on TikTok. The song has been used with nearly 1 million posts on the platform. On Spotify, it has roughly 19 million streams.
The track eventually reached Lizzo, who posted a remix of the song last month. In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Lizzo cited BunnaB as an inspiration for her new rap mixtape “My Face Hurts From Smiling.”
“She ate,” BunnaB said of the Lizzo nod. “She delivered. She is so funny.”
The success of “Bunna Summa” continues to stun BunnaB, who shared that the song wasn’t one she initially rushed to complete. Its original title was “Summer 25″ before she decided to go with the current name, which came from her over 1 million followers across social media.
“It was just a play off the word ‘summer.’ I made that just like I made any other song. I just heard the beat. Then I wrote a hook to it … I knew it was going to be something, but I didn’t know it was gonna go as far.”
Following the song’s success, she dropped a deluxe version of “Ice Cream Summer.” The project features “Bunna Summa” along with additional tracks like “Mad Again” and the YKNiece-assisted “Innit” — both of which are trending sounds on TikTok.
BunnaB joins several Atlanta female rappers who’ve recently gained popularity for a vibrant style of rap that hearkens back to the dance-centric nostalgia of early 2000s Atlanta hip-hop. Pluto and YKNiece’s “Whim Whamiee,” produced by Atlanta trap maestro Zaytoven, is inescapable on the radio. Bankroll Ni’s “I’m So ATL” samples Crime Mob’s 2007 track “Rock Yo Hips.”
Credit: abbey.cutrer@ajc.com
Credit: abbey.cutrer@ajc.com
But all the songs still sound original enough to not get trapped in the past.
“I’m just happy to see all of us coming up together,” BunnaB said of the next class of Atlanta rappers.
BunnaB, who writes all of her own music, is keen on bringing the fun to her songs, citing Rich Homie Quan, Young Thug and YFN Lucci as other influences.
“When you see me, you get happy and it cheers up your day,” she said of her self-proclaimed Ice Cream Girl persona. “(People) say (when) you see me, I can make you smile. (It reminds you of) a day you go out to get ice cream.”
Credit: abbey.cutrer@ajc.com
Credit: abbey.cutrer@ajc.com
Corey “C-Notes” Calder, the head of marketing and creative for Artist Partner Group, said he enjoyed her charisma even before listening to her music.
“She had this sort of quiet star power to her,” he said. “She has this fantastic smile, and it always seems like she’s in a great mood, even if she may not be. Then, when we started playing records, you could just hear it in her penmanship and her delivery that she was talented.”
Now, BunnaB is in the studio every two weeks and goes live on TikTok to test songs with her followers. She’s making new music and is experimenting with different genres.
For BunnaB, Atlanta summers typically include Six Flags trips, hanging by the pool or kickin’ it with her homegirls. But this year’s “Bunna Summa” is all about the hustle to sustain her newfound fame. She cites her hometown show as the moment that proved music could be her “number one thing.”
“This summer for BunnaB, y’all will see me working in the studio, performing.”
Heat Check is a monthly music column where AJC culture reporter DeAsia Paige explores the temperature of Georgia’s buzzing, expansive music scene. The column includes music news, trends and any Georgia-related music that DeAsia is listening to. If you’re a Georgia artist and have music you want to be considered for this column — or if you just want to talk music — feel free to send an email to deasia.paige@ajc.com. Below is a playlist for July.
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