TikTok may have landed LA-based rap duo Flyana Boss running all over your fyp (literally), but the pair have been hustling and creating music together long before going viral for their running performance videos.

Besties Bobbi and Folayan, who were raised in Detroit and Dallas respectively, joined forces back in 2019 to form Flyana Boss. The synergy between their sharp lyricism and crisp flow has seen them gaining fans in icons like Missy Elliott, who hopped on a remix of their track ‘You Wish’, the soundtrack to their sprinting escapades, or Janelle Monae who selected Flyana Boss to join her on her Age of Pleasure tour last year amidst stops at SXSW Sydney, an 18-date headline tour and more.

Their latest EP, This Ain’t the Album, showcases the duo’s range with its fiery anthems, blending sugar and spice in the duality between their vibrant personalities and their razor-sharp wit on the mic. After a recent Zoom interview with them, it’s clear their chemistry extends beyond music—they share thoughts seamlessly, often answering questions in unison and finishing one another’s sentences. With their energy perfectly synced, Flyana Boss are ready to take on the world.

I know you guys have been busy lately. You just did SXSW in Texas, your own headline show. I know you were even here in Sydney last year. How’s tour life?

Bobbi: Amazing.

Folayan: It was really fun. It was our first headline tour ever so it was fun to see our fans in real life. And they gave us so much joy. And we’re still buzzing from the whole experience.  

And did you guys enjoy Sydney? What was that like?

Bobbi: Oh my gosh, we love Sydney. We can’t wait to come back.

Folayan: We could go on and on about Sydney. [Laughs]

Bobbi: We love the ferries. We love the zoo.

Folayan: Yeah, the zoo. Just the whole ambience.

Bobbi: Yeah. Very chill vibe.  

You’ve just released your EP, This Ain’t The Album. What can you tell us about this project and how it came to life?

Folayan: Well, it’s not the album… But it’s a collection of songs that we’ve been working on over the past few months that we like, and we wanted to release and give the fans a treat. 

Does that mean the real album is on the way soon? 

Folayan: It’s in the ether.

Bobbi: Yeah, it’s in our brains. And maybe it’ll be in recording. And then maybe it’ll be released.  [laughs]

I cannot wait. One song on the project that really stood out to me is ‘Candyman’, with its shift towards a more lover-girl approach compared to tracks like ‘You Wish’. I feel like this one is more for the sweethearts. Can you tell me what inspired this change in perspective? 

Folayan: It was actually an old song that we wrote a while ago. We always have had this like; you know, “Girls stand up for yourselves. Don’t give a fuck about what these men talking about.” But we also have another side. It’s like a lover girl side. We love to give love. We love it when men are sweet and show a different side of themselves. 

Bobbi: Yes. We like romance and, you know, to be a little sweetheart sometimes. We’re equally sweet and aggressive. [Laughs]

Good balance. You guys have some really great one-liners on the project. There’s a line in ‘yeaaa’ that goes, “I make hoe’s sick influenza. You like my pic? Influencer.” What was it like in the studio when you came up with that line? Because when I heard it, I was immediately like, yeah, that’s the one. 

Bobbi: We were in a session with Jesse St. John, and that was our first time writing with him.  

Folayan: We love Nicki Minaj. Nicki Minaj does this a lot actually.

Bobbi: She’ll say the same thing, but it means different things. Or like the same sounding word and use it in a different way. 

Folayan: So, we were like, how can we do that? And then they kind of just came out. 

Bobbi: Yeah. It was like influenza, influencer, I flew in sir. It really ate. Yeah. 

I love the theatrical flair you bring to your shows, which song is your favourite to perform live?”

Folayan: Wow. I think for me it’s been ‘Yeaaa’ on the tour. Because we do a bit before where Bobbi falls out and it’s like she’s hurt herself and the lights go off or whatever. And then she goes, my neck, my neck, and my back. And then the song starts. I just think that whole bit with the song just really gets the crowd going. 

Bobbi: Yeah. I’m going to say we do a mashup of our songs, Hot Tea, and Fondue.  And I really love doing that. It also is a little bit, like they’re screaming for which song they want to hear. And then we give them both. 

When you search Flyana Boss on Google, I saw that there’s an emoji version of you running across the screen. Your running style videos have become very popular. What has been your favourite location to shoot one of these? Can we expect more?”

Folayan: We’ve transitioned out of running right now. But, you know, we’re always innovating. Our favourite running location when we were running was Disneyland. The Land of Hopes and Dreams. [Laughs]

Bobbi: We just love Disneyland. Honestly, we spent most of the day just riding the rides there, and then we shot three running videos. And they go by pretty quickly.

Have you had any near misses or incidents? 

Bobbi: We’ve had a couple incidents. Like in the Hollywood Boulevard video, you can see this car door open. And I didn’t even know this was happening, but I  could have hit it. I could have run right into it. 

Folayan: She barely misses it. Some guy was opening up his door. Like literally by a hair. 

Bobbi: Yeah, I didn’t notice it when we were running. And then after I watched, I was like, oh my gosh, that car door almost took me out. 

Folayan: Yeah. Then I fell for one of the takes, but we didn’t post it. I fell in front of a basketball prep team because they were helping us film the video.

Bobbi: Yeah, it was the New York Liberty basketball team. They let us run through their arena. And yeah, they brought out all their dancers to be in our running video and Folayan just fell flat on her face. It was hilarious. 

Folayan: I just fell, and the mascot helped me up. I was like, oh my God. But then we had to do another take. So, I had to get back up and do it.

Act like it didn’t happen.  

Folayan: Yeah. Everything’s fine. 

I want to take you back to your early days for a second. I know you both went to music school and Folayan was training as a jazz vocalist. What led you to experiment with rap and hip-hop as the foundation of your sound? 

Folayan: People like Lauryn Hill, who teetered on that edge of jazz and hip hop were the ones who early inspired me to get into hip hop. But also, my brothers were rappers too. So, I was always inspired by them as well. My brother even set up a studio in his room when I was really little, and I would just watch them create and make so much music. And I was like, oh my god, I want to do that too. [Laughs]

Bobbi: Yeah, I don’t know. I’ve always loved hip hop. But I think I started rapping because I had vocal injuries. I was like, oh my gosh, I cannot sing anymore. What am I going to do? So, then I just started rapping.

After releasing your first Flyana Boss track ‘Bossi’ back in 2019, what was going through your mind in terms of where it could potentially take your career? 

Bobbi: From the moment we started making music together we knew we were going to be big. Like we knew we had something special. So, when we released ‘Bossi’, we were like, this is going to be a hit. And then when we released our second thing, we were like, this is going to be a hit. Like every song we’re like, this is going to be the one. [laughs]

Folayan: But we were kind of unfortunate in the beginning because COVID had hit like right when we started moving the ball a little bit as Flyana Boss. And we had to pivot towards virality as another way to become somebody. 

Bobbi: Yeah, so we really focused on social media after that. 

If you had to name this current chapter in your careers and lives, what would you title it? 

Folayan: This Ain’t the Album is great for the era.  

Bobbi: Yeah, like we’re getting ready to get ready.  

Folayan: Exactly, yeah. Flyana Boss gets ready to get ready. So y’all get ready. 

Are there any common misconceptions that people have about you?  

Folayan: Well, our core fan base knows us, and loves us down. We love them. But I feel like a common misconception is that we’re just like TikTok artists or that we are influencers. We do influence. 

Bobbi: Yeah, and we have been. But we were doing music before TikTok. We started Flyana Boss before we made a TikTok for Flyana Boss. You know what I mean? So yeah, we’re much more than just on your cell phones. We want to be on your TV screens and on your radios.

Do you guys have similar tastes in music? Like what are some artists or projects that you’ve had in your rotation recently? 

Bobbi: Generally, we like the same things. Like if I never heard of something, but she plays it, I’m like, oh, this is good. Yeah, so generally we like the same things.

Folayan: Yeah, right now we’re both listening to Cowboy Carter. 

If you could each choose one artist or producer to feature on a Flyana  Boss track, who would it be?  

Bobbi: Right now, I’m going to say Wiz Khalifa.

Folayan: Oh, nice. Producer, let’s go with Pharrell.

Lastly, with This Ain’t The Album out in the world, where do you see your sound going next?

Folayan: I think our sound is already pretty worldly, but the more we expand, the more we’ll reach all areas of the world. I think our sound is just going to continue to get bigger and bigger and bigger. 

Bobbi: Yeah, and the more we grow and travel and experience things, then our sound will grow with that. 

Follow Flyana Boss here for more and stream the new EP This Ain’t The Album here.