“But it was so complicated at that time, as it always is. “At that time I was in a place where I was genuinely trying to have a relationship with my father,” she said. “When you conquer the world I just wanna be there/But no matter how successful baby girl/When you need someone to lean on I just wanna be your shoulder,” R.

It appears on his 2015 album, “The Buffet.” Under her former stage name Ariirayé, she collaborated with him on the song “Wanna Be There,” a plea to restore their broken relationship. Kelly' Filmmaker: How I Took Down the Incarcerated Singer (Guest Column)Ībi once thought she and her father would mend things. “That’s the one thing that will always keep us connected.” “He has made mistakes in his life and other things that he’s dealing with, but when it comes to that, I can’t take that away from him,” she said. When it comes to making music, she doesn’t deny that’s where she and her father connect: “There’s a lot about him as an artist that inspires me.” Her sister Jaah Kelly produced the album, which echoes SZA and other millennial artists in the alternative R&B world. In the last five years she’s been hard at work on her debut EP, “Don’t Call Me,” released this March. She settled on the stage name Buku Abi about three years ago after first going by the name Ariirayé.

Me making the art, it saved my life so there’s nothing really that would be able to stop me.”Ībi decided not to use the name her parents gave her in her career. “I’ve definitely come across turmoil … being judged for really no reason at all, just based off associations. “I definitely run across challenges - people wanting to work with me to spite him or people not wanting to work with me just because of who he is,” she said. She is no longer in touch with him and says being his daughter is like “a double-edged sword.” Entering the music business comes with a different challenge for Abi: She can’t escape the fact that R.

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