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“Yo man wanna fuck wit me, told me to turn around and give um’ something to see / imma beast, imma eat nigga no remorse — imma need you niggas to cool off,” Bergo Husky declares on one of his signature trap freestyle songs, “Cool Off.” A triumphant and poetically gifted lyricist, Husky has been making Southern queer rap for two decades now, shaping a landmark sound that has made its way to the mainstream — a mainstream that, all too often, fails to honor its DIY totems, like Husky.
I first heard Bergo on the recommendation of my editor at FSG books, who was like, “Yo, have you heard this?”
Upon listening to the luscious single “HAVE A SEAT,” I promptly JUMPED OUT of mine. I lost all sense of decorum, like my 15-year-old Alabama-born Dirty South-self jumped the fuck out. I was dry humping my editor’s bedroom floor in the splits, screaming, “Girl, Who. The. Fuck. Is. Bergo?”
What we know: Originally from Fayetteville, North Carolina, the rapper has also spent time in Atlanta and Southern Alabama. He started gaining recognition in the early aughts as a part of a rap group called Bougie Rock. After returning from active duty in the army, he became known as TwiZz@ before the transmogrification into the celestial moniker, Bergo Husky. Also of note: his rap poetics sit alongside the fact that he’s studied in classic verse; Husky holds an English degree. And when I say she “holds” that degree, I mean, like, she hoooolds that motherfucker, i.e. Bergo’s pen is furious.
A few months ago, I called Bergo to see if he would rap on a house track I was working on, and a friendship was born. I’ve been artistically and spiritually smitten ever since by someone whom I can only call one of the nicest yet take-no-bullshit queens I’ve ever met.
I called the MC on a recent Monday afternoon to talk about everything from the confines of the “Chitlin Circuit” (both the gay one and the Black one), to the general adversity of being a brilliant Black queen who is both right on goddamn time as well as ahead of her time, and what it would look like if the industry finally gave her the flowers she’s been due for two decades.
Hey, baby. What’s your sign?
I’m a Scorpi-hoe. A Scorpio, excuse me.
How do you think being a Scorpio affects your art-making?
I’m driven, I’m emotional, and I’m very in tune with my emotions.
Let’s just go ahead and be messy. Why are you the only gay rapper that actually sound like a nigga?
I don’t think I sound like a nigga, I just sound like myself. You know? Like when I’m dating, everybody’s like, “Well, you butch.” I just think I’m every girl in the world. But I mean, it’s whatever. [Laughs]
What was the first rap song you fell in love with?
That’s a hard question. Probably the first was “Funkdafied” by Da Brat.
That’s a really good one. So, you have a long, impressive, and really crazy backstory. You’re a veteran, correct?
I’m actually an Operation Enduring Freedom veteran, so I spent a lot of time in Kuwait. I was actually an ammunition specialist.
Were you a musician before then?
Absolutely. I’ve been rapping my whole life. Most of the people I was with were artists. I was in a group called Boujie Rock.
Tell me more about Boujie Rock.
I met them in the military. I’ve always been out. I’ve been out basically a majority of my life, since preteens. And when I got into the group, basically we tried to hide it a little bit. The core of Boujie Rock is me and Devious, who is a producer and artist. There was also Stacia, who went by Cadence the Million Dollar Baby, who was a bona fide star. We lost her a couple years ago. And then G Cox — he just rap when he want to and is probably the biggest lyricist out the group.
How did you start as Bergo Husky?
Bergo Husky is like a rebrand. I’ve always been TwiZz@, so a lot of out artists know me as TwiZz@. I’ve been around for years. I made a lot of noise probably back in 2006, 2007, but I ran into similar problems. I think I was ahead of my time, and people didn’t really know how to take the dark skin. I didn’t have any abs. I was loud and confident. And I just retired because it was so difficult trying to do things back then, trying to get in a studio that wasn't homophobic, trying not to get shitted by engineers. I’m being shitted now by contractors, because I’m gay.
One night a few years ago, my niece Yummy heard me playing a song I have called “Get in My Belly,” and she was like, “They’re doing that now.” She just ran in the room and was like, “Uncle, why don’t you put any of this out?” I made that song in probably ’05, ’06. Then after I went through a breakup, I got tired of people treating me like I wasn’t the shit, not knowing my worth, so I was just like fuck it. I took some of the things I had, put them out, and now here we are.
In the last 10, 15 years, we’ve seen a new surge of queer southern rap. There’s Freedia, BbyMutha, and more. The internet has opened up a bunch of possibilities. Did you ever think that we would be at this point? How do you feel about where we are now?
Being an elder, you can feel slighted, because you feel like you’ve paved the way. A lot of these girls are doing stuff that I was doing 15, 20 years ago. I haven’t changed my style. I haven’t changed anything really except I’ve started doing visuals. So, sometimes you feel slighted, but then knowing that there’s opportunity for the future generation is wonderful. The one thing I really don’t like is the shade. Being that there’s more opportunity and stuff, there’s still people who are trying to shut doors on other people, and that’s the part that I don’t like. I don’t like gatekeeping.
For sure. Oh my gosh, what was I about to ask you? It’s so tied to this next question. Hold on, give me a second. I ain’t even going to lie, I smoked a little weed this morning. [Laughs]
It’s alright. I’m in here to chat. I’m about to fill up another cup. You know my enjoyment — I’m in here drinking some cabernet, so that shit is fucking with me.
You definitely made tributaries for the kids coming up as we all have to do. What would have to happen right now in your career to feel like the world has been fair to you, to feel like all of your work has not been in vain?
Well, the end game for me was the record deal. And I've been offered a few, but I’m too much of my grandma; I don’t like the business side. I want to talk and love on people, and learn people, when on the business side, it is cut and dry. Besides the deal, I would like to be able to just go into the studio and work. If I could just sit in the studio all day, Lord knows what the hell I should come up with, because not only do I write hip hop, I’m also an R&B head.
As a writer, let me just say I adore your motherfucking pen.
Well, thank you.
You have a full-ass English degree —
Yes, I have Bachelors of Science, with a concentration in English and music. I went back to school because when I was out a long time ago, doing the hip hop thing in ’07, it’s a lot of the same people still around. They used to [only think of me as] the hood queen, you know what I’m saying? They thought I was uneducated. Now, I am from the hood. I grew up in the hood. That’s the truth — everywhere you see that I’m shooting videos at, those are legit places that I grew up in. We’re from the hood, but we’re also from generations of people who fought their way out of poverty to get educated; I’m not a first-generation college grad. So, I really did it because I wanted to have more to stand on than just my mouth. I wanted to make sure that “the girls” knew that this is what I really do.
What would be the top five Bergo tracks you want the girls to check out?
Number one would probably be “HAVE A SEAT.” I don’t believe I’m done, but even if I’ve been hated on or whatever, I know that one’s going to stand the test of time. It’s like Toni Braxton’s “Un-break My Heart;” whenever you put it on, it’s going to do what it does. Number two would be “Holding Me Down,” which is visually and artistically just the total package. I think it doesn’t get as much shine because it talks about love, and I think there’s a real issue with promoting love nowadays. Number three would be “Straight Like That.” Number four would be our collaboration, “Blues of Every Night,” which let the girls know, “Hey, you can throw me anything and I’m going to give you something back. And it’s going to be dope.”
My favorite is “Cool Off.” When I heard that, I listened to it a 100 times in a row that day and I was like, You know what? This is the mood for the rest of the summer. Maybe the mood for the rest of my life.
I love “Cool Off,” too. I had to fight for that. All of that shit was done within an hour. We did that video in like 45 minutes on my way to Alabama.
Like a fucking king. I just want to say I love you very much.
I love you, too.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
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