BBzão
Nike Air Force 1
Victor, also known as Bbzão, brought a lot of history when he came to São Paulo from Salvador. Born and raised, it was there where he first got in the world of music and discovered himself as a DJ and producer. It was also where he met his friend who he works with till this day (non-other then yours truly Baco Exu do Blues) and where he met the graffiti artist Core who did a very special customization on his @nike Air Force 1.
“My name is Victor and I’ve been a DJ since I was 18 years old – today I’m 23 almost 24. I was born and raised in Salvador Bahia, and it’s been a year now, I moved to São Paulo. after flirting around with the city we decided to move the band over here to São Paulo. I work as a DJ in the band all of a childhood friend, but I also have my solo thing going on. I came here because of Baco Exu do Blues, they are the guys that I have known since we were kids, they all came together to make music. We have everything we need here in Sao Paulo, Salvador what’s lacking the knowledge for anything we wanted to do.
And now I’m also studying advertising in college, but I don’t consider myself a designer or admen. I’m a producer and I make beats.”
When did you start your interest in music?
bbzãoPeople don’t believe you can live from art, especially in Salvador and you have the aesthetics and culture of another country in your life. I was always in the street with my boys making rhymes, and at the same time there were these rock and roll guys who were pushing the scene – Salvador Rock has some dope references. We dreamed about being rock stars, there was this thing about Rock t-shirts in super tight pants, young guys smoking cigarettes and etc. I thought their lifestyle was dope. Hip-hop was something that just happened at some point, someone needed a DJ and I was wearing a Notorious B.I.G. T-shirt, and everyone looked at me and said “this guy has to be the DJ because she knows how to play and he already has the visual Identity on” (laughs). My friends were from the electronic scene, so I would learn from them how it was done, how to play and I also learned how to produce.
“People don’t believe you can live from art, especially in Salvador and you have the aesthetics and culture of another country in your life. I was always in the street with my boys making rhymes”
Today you play for Baco, how did this start?
bbzãoI’ve known Diogo ever since we were kids, you were really good friends. She wanted to record an album, and I took him to a studio that belonged to the cousin of a friend of mine – were some friends of mine also recorded like Vandal and Hiran. we recorded there in the studio and I’ve been together with Exu since his first show.
What are your biggest references in the world of fashion and music?
bbzãoMy friends are my biggest references.and there’s no way you can say that Virgil is not a reference as well, I’m a very normcore guy, and if I could wear a hoodie, pants and an Air Force One every day, I would. That would be it. A$AP Nast is a strong reference for me, to me, he’s the best-dressed rapper up there. Tyler is also really dope. Now in music, I’ve been listening to a lot of grime these days, Beyonce is also a great reference, even because she’s making trap nowadays, she is just buying me off (laughs). Once it was Kanye West but today it’s not anymore.
When did you start liking sneakers?
bbzãoIt was when I started playing basketball, I wanted an And1 so bad, but I wasn’t able to get one so I went and bought an Adidas instead. I kept wearing basketball sneakers and today I really like the Air Jordan 1. The All-Star was that something that just came naturally for everyone, every kid had one, they were really cheap and they were produced here, I really liked them as well.
“Fashion is really important to me, it has a way of bringing back your self-esteem, and it helps you to find out who you are and how you can express yourself. That is a question that every artist asks: how do you express yourself? How do you do live up, ou be even better than who inspires you?”
Why out of all your sneakers, this Air Force 1 is the most special?
bbzãoAt first, when me and Core were talking about the costume, the idea was to do it on a Converse, but I had bought a black one and the paint wouldn’t stick and it didn’t work out. A while later I did can you fit at Koala with Nike and they gave me some stuff as well as this white Air Force 1. But the time night he was doing a lot of customs on Air Force Ones so I knew it was going to work out. So I went to Core and drove him nuts until he agreed to do it.
Fashion is really important to me, it has a way of bringing back your self-esteem, and it helps you to find out who you are and how you can express yourself. That is a question that every artist asks: how do you express yourself? How do you do live up, ou be even better than who inspires you? The costume sneaker is a reference to the contemporary, to Virgil, the guys from A$ap Mob. And in my opinion, Nike is very unlikely to do a customization as underground and real to the culture as this one.
The coolest thing is that the sneaker has two layers of Drawings.
bbzãoCore took a long time to figure out how he was going to apply the paint on the leather, material that does not absorb paint. For his first idea, he thought about using markers, cuz they don’t come off. And since he’s a graffiti artist and he handles a lot of paint, she painted like three different layers. Once dried spray paint tends to harden and Crackle, so the more you use it, the more worn out it gets, and that’s when the drawings he did with the markers start to appear. I don’t know if maybe one day I’ll get to see the entire drawing he did with the markers, but I hope so.
Would you do a custom on some other sneaker?
bbzãoOn a Converse Chuck Taylor for sure, they are just made for this.
Nike Air Force 1 por Core
Got in: 2018
Owner: Bbzão
Photos by: Vitoria Leona
