With all of the craziness and emotional turmoil present in the world today, artists like Angelo Smith, known on stage as Ibru, present great ways of escaping reality with music. His lyrics show his down to earth and real nature, and his sing jay style is always punchy and gravitational, drawing listeners in to lock in for the exciting ride that he creates with every song he releases.
Ibru grew up in the Bahamas and began writing music in high school. He had to bring his newly found passion for music to a halt when he enlisted in the military and relied on music for an escape from his training and the rigor of being in the military. He fell more in love with music by the day, and wasted no time going all in on it once he left the military.
While it was rough in the early going with little progress made initially, he found it in himself to stay motivated and work for his big breakthrough. Nevertheless, his breakthrough came when he was cited as the “Bahamian artist ready to take on Jamaica” by Jamaica’s number one entertainment source, The Star. During his interview, Ibru showed great poise and confidence, and impressed both his interviewer and the audience tuning in from around the world.
From there, Ibru has been on a wild trajectory to fame. He released his EP “I’m So Focused” in December of 2019, and it has already gained the attention of reggae and dancehall fans internationally.
Ibru was inspired to get started in music by reggae artists he listened to growing up, as listening to their music was therapeutic to him as he related to their stories and struggles. He knew then that he wanted to inspire an audience of young listeners just as those artists had for him, and he has stopped at nothing to make that a reality since then.
He came to find out that the music industry doesn’t have a printed blueprint that you can easily pick up and follow to achieve stardom, but that didn’t faze Ibru. He’s been strong even during the hardest of times, and his team surrounding him has helped him to excel as an artist.
To any artist just starting out, Ibru has a simple piece of advice: Believe in yourself. Music is so competitive, and if you don’t believe in yourself and your abilities then no one else will. He’s always believed in himself, and without that unwavering faith no one knows if he would’ve been able to impact as many people as he has with his music.
