Bas (rapper)

Abbas Hamad (born May 27, 1987), known professionally as Bas, is a French-born Sudanese-American rapper. He signed with J. Cole's Dreamville Records, an imprint of Interscope Records to release his debut studio album, Last Winter (2014). It was met with positive critical reception and entered the Billboard 200, along with his second and third albums, Too High to Riot (2016) and  Milky Way (2018). His fourth album, We Only Talk About Real Shit When We're Fucked Up (2023) was met with continued praise despite failing to chart.

Early life
Bas was born in Paris, France, in 1987, to Sudanese parents. He is a Muslim. At the age of 8, his family moved to New York City. He attended St. Francis Preparatory School in Queens, New York.

2011–2013: Career beginnings and mixtapes
In 2011, Bas released his debut mixtape titled Quarter Water Raised Vol. 1. In 2013, his second mixtape was released entitled, Quarter Water Raised Vol. 2.

In 2013, Bas was featured on J. Cole's "New York Times" along with 50 Cent from Cole's album Born Sinner, and then on DJ Khaled's "Hells Kitchen" from Suffering from Success. He then appeared on the Dreamville compilation mixtape Revenge of the Dreamers. That mixtape was released in celebration of Dreamville's partnership with Interscope Records, resulting in Bas being signed to Interscope. Two weeks prior to the release of his debut album Last Winter, Bas released a free EP titled Two Weeks Notice.

2014–2015: Last Winter
Last Winter was released on April 29, 2014, by Dreamville Records/Interscope Records. It featured guest appearances from J. Cole, Mack Wilds, KQuick, and Irvin Washington. The album was a conceptual project that touches on the cold days in New York City recording the album. The album was supported by the single "My Nigga Just Made Bail" produced by GP808 and featured guest appearances by J. Cole. Last Winter would debut at 103 on the Billboard 200 with 3,601 copies sold in its first week.

Following its release, Bas went on a 10-city nationwide tour titled after the album. Bas followed his own "Last Winter" tour by going on a 24-city nationwide and international tour with TDE rapper Ab-Soul. In 2015, Bas supported J. Cole on '2014 Forest Hills Drive Tour' alongside Omen, Cozz, Jeremih, YG, and Big Sean.

2016–2017: Too High to Riot
Bas released his second album, Too High to Riot on March 4, 2016. The album also includes guest appearances from his labelmates J. Cole and Cozz, as well as the Hics. The album would debut at 49 on the Billboard 200 chart, selling 10,965 copies in its first week. He also later released a music video for each song on the album. Bas went on tour titled after the album in June 2016 with Cozz and EarthGang. It included 26 cities in North America and 10 cities in Europe, including his hometown of Koewacht. On January 29, 2017, the documentary highlighting the tour was released on Tidal.

2018–2019: Milky Way
On April 10, 2018, Bas released the one-off single "Pinball II", featuring Correy C. The first single for his third album "Boca Raton" was released on June 19, and featured ASAP Ferg. On August 22, he released the second single "Tribe" featuring J. Cole. Bas released his third album, Milky Way on August 24, 2018. It featured guest appearances from J. Cole, Ari Lennox, ASAP Ferg, Lion Babe, Moe Moks, mOma+Guy, and Correy C. The album debuted at number 35 on the Billboard 200, selling 13,150 album-equivalent units in the first week. Bas announced a 43-city tour to support the album, which began in November 2018 and concluded in February 2019. In late 2018, Bas announced he was working on an album with frequent collaborators The Hics.

On August 9, 2019, Bas released the Spilled Milk 1 EP. The EP features guest appearances from EarthGang, JID, Falcons, B. Lewis, Ari Lennox, and Kiddominant. On November 5, 2019, Bas was featured on the FKJ single "Risk".

2020-present: We Only Talk About Real Shit When We're Fucked Up
In September 2020, Dua Saleh released the single "RE(a)D" featuring Bas. On April 15, 2022, Bas released the [BUMP] Pick Me Up EP. The EP features guest appearances from Galimatias, Gunna, Ari Lennox, J. Cole and Lil Tjay. On January 24, 2023, Bas released the single "Diamonds".

On July 15, 2023, Bas announced the title of his fourth studio album, We Only Talk About Real Shit When We're Fucked Up. On July 19, 2023, Bas released the single "Passport Bros" featuring J. Cole as the album's lead single. He released the single "Ho Chi Minh" on August 19, 2023, alongside the official music video. He released the single "Khartoum" featuring Adekunle Gold on October 24, 2023. The album's fourth and final single, "179 Deli" featuring UK rapper AJ Tracey was released on November 28, 2023. The album released on December 15, 2023. It features guest appearances from Adekunle Gold, AJ Tracey, Amaarae, A$AP Ferg, Blxckie, FKJ, J. Cole and Sha Sha.