B.Keyz (born Hakim Hardy; October 10, 1990), formerly known as Blaque Keyz, is an American rapper and songwriter from South Plainfield, New Jersey. He began as a producer before he started to rap in the second year of college. He released his debut mainstream mixtape, The Master Key Principles: A Featured Presentation, in 2015. He explained in an interview his stage name, "I looked to the black keys on a piano. There is no real significant meaning to it, I just thought it sounded cool so I decided to spell it kinda weird."^[1] He is a longtime collaborator of Jon Bellion and part of the collective, Beautiful Mind. Bellion was featured on the songs "OhVerYorHed," "SuperVillanThemeMuzik," and "Witness Protection."

In an interview, Bellion said, "He's my best friend. We became brothers in college. In fact, all of my bandmates are homies from college. They go by BTP. At the time, I said, 'If this takes off, will you be my band?' I would love to put them on. And all these things are going to come. I'm carrying the football right now, and I'm going to get it past the frontline. And once I get near the end zone, that's when the shuffle pass goes to someone else."^[2] Keyz appears on the tracks "My Soul Back" (Scattered Thoughts Vol. 1), "For the Dreamers]" and "Wutup Snow?" (Translations Through Speakers), "When the Lions Come" (The Separation), "Pre-Occupied" (The Definition), "Weight of the World" (The Human Condition), and "Let's Begin" (Glory Sound Prep).

When asked how he and Bellion met, Keyz said, "We went to the same college, where we had classes together, and eventually started making music together. The rest was history." He named his favorite solo Bellion song to be "Halloween," and "Pre-Occupied" as his favorite he was featured on, which he declared "Was the most fun session we've ever had."^[3] In an interview, he stated, "Man, Jon is my brother along with the rest of the guys. A lot of people may think that we all came together recently because we're just now doing shows and touring and such, but we've been riding along side each other for YEARS. Back when myself and Jon were in college, we would do shows with and even compete against the instrumentalists, which were known by the name of Beyond This Point. That band was headed by Travis. But we thought they were super dope and they thought the same of us, so after we all left school, it only made sense for us to come together and try to do it as one large unit."^[4]

Discography

• HeistBox (2016)
• To Whom I May Concern (2019)

References