Apple Music has announced South African rapper, singer-songwriter, model, and fashion enthusiast, Money Badoo (real name Jade Alves), as its latest Apple Music Up Next artist for South Africa.
“Thank you, Apple Music for choosing me for Up Next South Africa! I’m so excited for the world to get to hear this project. I put my heart and soul into what I call a time piece of my life,” she tells Apple Music.
Born and raised in Ennerdale, a small town in the south of Johannesburg, Money Badoo grew up with her friends calling her J Money, because according to them she always looked like “money”. It was only in 2017, when she decided to pursue a career in music, that Money Badoo was born, with “Badoo” paying homage to one of her biggest influences, Erykah Badu.
With her anthemic debut single “All My Friends” (2019) immediately propelling her onto the global stage, she secured a feature on Apple Music’s The Ebro Show. Money followed this up with a joint EP alongside new wave rapper Sauwy called Mk-Ultra (2020) that was praised for its melodic runs and biting flows.
The release of her tour de force debut album, PORN$TAR, available to stream on Apple Music in Spatial Audio, cements the rapper’s multi-dimensional creative outlook over ten tracks that are a solid sonic fusion of trap, R&B, and pop. Lyrically she traverses themes of aspiration, social commentary, self-confidence, and sexual liberation, all fuelled by her own experiences.
As the newest Up Next artist to be spotlighted in South Africa, Money Badoo will be featured across Apple Music’s South African Up Next playlist. The curated Up Next playlist features a dynamic class of new and emerging artists, thoughtfully hand-picked by Apple Music editors from around the world. The playlist is genre agnostic and represents a line-up of artists the Apple Music global editors are passionate about and eager to expose to a larger audience.
Money Badoo joins SunMan, ByLwansta, Halo Yagami, Filah Lah Lah, Lucasraps, Una Rams, Ciza, Hersch, Valley Sixteen, SiBi and Blxckie as Apple Music’s growing stable of Up Next Artists from South Africa.
The vast global Up Next roster of past talent includes Grammy-nominated and critically lauded talent like 6lack, Daniel Caesar, H.E.R., Greta Van Fleet, Khalid, Amy Shark, Billie Eilish, Sabrina Claudio, Sigrid, Mr Eazi, Stefflon Don, Bad Bunny, Juice WLRD, Bazzi, Jax Jones, NCT 127, Summer Walker, Tierra Whack, Dean Lewis, Pink Sweat$, Koffee, Megan Thee Stallion, Burna Boy, Clairo, Lunay, Jessie Reyez, Orville Peck, Victoria Monét, Ingrid Andress, Conan Gray, Don Toliver, Rema, BENEE, Holly Humberstone, Natanael Cano, Givēon, beabadoobee, Arlo Parks, Tate McRae, Fousheé and Tems.
