Compton’s Next Up: Buddy [@Buddy]

Compton’s Next Up: Buddy [@Buddy]

Everybody wants a Buddy.

Words by Sade Akinfe & Jide Adetunji
Photos by Ejatu Shaw
Video by Ibrahim Kamara
Styling by Jai Eleven

At only 24 years old Buddy aka Simmie Sims is a name that has A-List written all over it.

Prior to the interview, I was told that Buddy was a highly energetic and warm person so I wasn’t taken aback when he stumbled into the room all wide-eyed and excited.

Deriving from Compton, California Buddy has managed to work with the music industries finest artists and producers since his teens where he was signed to I am OTHER creative collective with Pharell Williams in the 00’s   from which propelled him into the world of music. This enabled him to work alongside The Neptunes. Kendrick Lamar, Freddie Gibbs, Robin Thicke and Kaytranada to name a few.

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His raw raps, bouncy beats and sing along tracks in an unconventional manner create a refreshing sound for the ear. Kickstarting his music career with his debut mixtape ‘Idle Times’ which included features from Kendrick Lamar and Miley Cyrus to the present day 2017, releasing two EP’s, Oceans and Montana produced by Kaytranada and Magnolia featuring the likes of Wiz Khalifa. Buddy is on a constant roll to deliver outstanding, eccentric and innovative music.

From the moment he walked in you could feel his positive vibes as he greeted and shook everyone’s hand in the room. Introductions were cut short as our stylists began showing him the looks he would be wearing in the shoot. His response to the outfits was simple, ‘these are FIRE’.

We all hopped into an Uber to the first location for the shoot. Once we arrived Buddy had no hesitation posing and climbing on literally everything in sight as our photographer tried to encapsulate the moment.

Once the shoot was over we went back to his publicist’s office and sat down for a casual discussion on his musical journey leading to this point.