There’s a lot to unpack when it comes to the origin story of ZoeyBaby101’s unique artist name.
Not only does it reference his connection to the island of Haiti and its language, it is also named after his mother’s deep love for her son.
Ultimately, ZoeBaby101 pays tribute to the rapper and hip hop artist’s deep connection to his mother.
“That’s my Zoe [Zoe means ‘bone’ in Creole as in ‘something strong and hard to break’] and I’ll always be her ZoeBaby,” he grinned, referencing the characteristic of personal strength he and his mom have come to share.
For her part, the musician’s mother is thrilled that he has found somewhere to harness his energy and focus on a positive end game.
“She loves it,” he told the video podcast Off the Porch, one of Atlanta’s most intimate, relaxed interview formats. “As long as I’m not on the streets, she loves it. I’m doing something good, and she loves it.”
Music Almost Didn’t Happen for ZoeBaby101
ZoeBaby101 learned to find his strength during his time in both Fort Lauderdale and in Haiti, and he would come to need it when he started out talking about a serious music career.
It’s a milestone he might not have reached, given his family’s reluctance to support him as he started taking music seriously as a way to get off the streets and live a legitimate and fulfilling life.
“It makes you want to stop,” he told Off the Porch in 2021. “When you’re trying to get people to support you, especially your loved ones, it was hard at first.”
Apparently, he needed to prove himself after a few years of struggling to find his place in the world, but the wounds, reminders of missed football games, and other disappointments that led to his own bad moves remained raw.
Overlooking What He Can’t Control
While it has been difficult for ZoeBaby101 to totally accept why his most important allies were slow to consider the potential he has for a music career, especially since landing on the 2021 list of Broward County’s Top 15 Artists to Watch, he now feels assured enough to keep up the struggle.
He chooses to reject a hurtful experience that could prevent him from reaching his potential if he weren’t fighting back any feelings of self-doubt.
“When you see the people that you see every day not paying attention to your music, but are posting other people’s … you just have to move on. They say, ‘It’s the people you don’t know who are going to make you rich, the ones who are going to make you the money,’ so they [the family and friends who have not yet offered unconditional backing] are going to jump on board when the time comes,” he said.
While ZoeBaby101 is still independent, his songs – along with collaborations with other artists that expands audience base – are doing well, and the title “Florida Baby,” which fuses his American lifestyle with his island heritage, has had almost 12,000 hits on Spotify, making the joyful song about tropical temperatures, fast cars, loud music and hot girls, one of the rapper’s most popular songs.
It also is gaining enough traction that he should soon be connected with a label.
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