BIJI is on the rise

What is a legend? This is a question that BIJI — the experimental duo formed by Robin Nazari and Maceo Frost — have long deliberated, so much so that it forms the core, and title of their debut record. Formed in Stockholm 2019, Nazari and Frost have worked together to hone a unique brand of hip hop-rooted dance music that pulls in Afrobeat, Latin rhythms and Kurdish tradition. Through this medium, they find that the answer that they seek isn’t as simple as identifying a hero from a book.For BIJI, legendary status does not emerge from fame or myth. Rather, it’s the part that they play in holding a life, a family, or future together. To understand how they arrived at this idea, the pair take me to the start of their journey — one that began with a casual introduction through a mutual friend that would blossom into a shared, deeply intuitive creative understanding.Nazari and Frost recall the moment they were introduced by Paul Adamah, founder of the Swedish band Boko Yout. "I think he knew we would become great friends," Frost recalls. "We were just hanging out one day, I was playing piano, and Robin was like, 'Yo, what are you playing? That's really good, you should keep playing.' Ro...