Brianna Burns

Burns was born on April 18, 2001, in Houston, Texas. She and her older sister, Adrianna, grew up in a very supportive household. Burns has harboured musical aspirations for a long while and she has the full support of her parents. She kept herself busy in school. Besides receiving a good education, she was part of the school’s basketball team and got together with a few of her friends and formed a band. Both basketball and this band would be quintessential parts of her life during her middle school years. She has been rapping since she was ten years old.

Lil’ Bri’s music reflects her upbringing and the struggles she faced and overcame. She was raised in a blue-collar family. Her mother, Maria, has congestive heart failure and it’s not possible for her to be as involved in Lil’ Bri’s life and career as she wishes to be.

Lil’ Bri has been attracted to music and performance since she was a child. She got her start as a rapper at ten and has always penned her own lyrics, produced her own music, and choreographed her own dance routines. She met her manager Reginald Hatter when she was 12 years old and became part of his Workshop Houston, a non-profit organization that aims to provide new talents of the community with creative, technical, and educational means to improve themselves. They have four resource studios, The Beat Shop (music production), The Dance Shop (dance/performing arts), The Scholar Shop (academic enrichment), and The Style Shop (fashion/graphic designing).

Lil’ Bri was shy and introverted before she joined Workshop Houston. The organization played an instrumental role in her development as an artist, helped her find her voice, and gave her the necessary tools with which she could express herself. In 2014, she and Hatter were invited to the White House, where Michelle Obama presented them with the National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award.

In 2017, Lil’ Bri, along with four other young rappers, was selected to participate in the season four of Lifetime’s ‘The Rap Game’. Hosted by rapper and record producer Jermaine Dupri, the music reality show puts the contestants against each other in order to find the next hip-hop star. The other rappers of the season four were Jordan Young, Brazil Barber (RapUnzel), Lyric Thomas (Ricci Bitti), and Jeremiah (Street Bud). Despite performing superlatively throughout the season, Lil’ Bri did not emerge as the eventual winner. That honour went to Street Bud of Atlanta, Georgia, the youngest participant of the group.

Lil Bri has been putting out songs since 2015. She released two tracks that year, ‘Pachino’ and ‘Footprints’. After a hiatus that lasted a year, she came back with ‘Right Here’ and ‘Be Alright’ in 2017. She has been very active since then and has already released five songs in 2018, ‘Quick to Talk’, ‘Pressure’, ‘Ice Cold’, ‘Boss Up’, and ‘Be Alone’. She is presently signed with the Houston based independent record label Dreamz Unfold Record Company.