Today we’re all the way the fuck back with a new installment of Behind the Tweets, this time with one of Twitter’s most seasoned trolls and music pundits. Ahmed a.k.a Big Business is a man of many monikers, and has been at the heart of some of my personal favorite moments on Twitter.

If you remember the rumor that there was a scene in All Eyez On Me in which Tupac had an iPhone, then you’ve probably heard of Biz. If you’ve recently seen tweets of praise towards Young MA’s pornographic directorial debut, then you’ve probably heard of Biz. He’s without a doubt one of the funniest people on Twitter, but also shares a lot of quality music. From championing new artists to reminding his audience of the classics his favorites have released over the year, there’s no shortage of entertainment when you’re following Big Business.

 

Who are you and what do you do?

My name is Ahmed and I’m from Toronto, been here all my life but I’ve been moving around a lot lately. I’m just as regular as you to be honest. I try to be a man of many hats and help people with music, tech and social media but I work by myself most of the time. I also try to help youth, specifically minority descent in trying to find their passion as much I can from activism to being an artist and etc. cause these beautiful insightful kids got the future in their hands and I hope I’ll be here to see it.

 

When did you first join Twitter, and did you ever think it’d snowball into you having such a big following? When’d you first start to gain serious traction?

I’ll be honest with you I only came on twitter to talk about Cam’ron and find a download link to My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. I joined Twitter in 2009 just to @ Cam’ron and say thank you for dropping Boss of All Bosses tape with Vado then I came back a year later in 2010 just to try to find a link to MBDTF. I never thought it would ever snowball to where I’m at right now, and til this day I still think it’s all by luck. I can’t pinpoint a specific tweet that made me get a big following because I think I was just tweeting constantly about music and just making jokes, but I think when Questlove reacted to my Chief Keef troll tweet I knew I was on to something.

Can you explain the story behind your Twitter avatar?

Shout out to my dog @cassodinero for making the avatar for me, he’s one of the best at doing artworks along with @suckafreetee and @HPJArt so follow them if you need artwork done. To answer your question I was honestly tired of finding a good, funny pic as my twitter avatar and I thought about a joke someone told me about how I always tweet about porn and Popeyes and it came to me that the Quagmire family guy scene was probably a good way in making fun of myself and also show my face so i don’t gotta keep changing avatars. It worked out for me because its apart of my whole shtick.

 

It seems like, on Twitter at least, you’re just as much known for your music opinions as you are for your antics, which came first? Were you involved with music at all before or did that come after gaining some popularity on Twitter?

I come from hip hop forums so I always been around trolling and music opinions, to be honest I was always like this with my Twitter and in general. When I gained traction I just stayed on the same wave when it comes my opinions and trolling. One thing I never do is try to force anything so I try to stay natural when it comes to tweets or even convos about music.

 

What have been some of your proudest moments of trolling?

I don’t really have a favorite but probably Troy Ave troll when his album dropped, exposing the fake dame dash twitter account and Tupac’s All Eyez On Me troll. The Troy Ave one was pretty incredible because it just showed the absolute delusion of grandeur of someone that the hip hop media tried to force on us. To be honest I think if you can troll something right you can expose the stupidity of the specific situation, I always say if you gonna troll at least try to sprinkle some facts around the outrageous take.

What do you think of the current state of hip-hop music?

Climate is beautiful right now, there’s a lane for practically anybody to take over. You wanna hear pure raw spitting or pure raw melodies there’s literally something for everybody. People that are saying hip hop sucks right now just ain’t doing their job searching for the music that they specifically like.

 

Who are some artists you fuck with? Personally or musically.

Personally? My favorite artists ever are Hov, Prodigy (RIP), Nas, Scarface,Devin The Dude, Roc Marciano, DJ Quik, Kanye, Cam’ron, Elzhi, Pharoahe Monch, Lupe, Redman & MF DOOM. That’s in no order its just artist I gotta listen at least once every day to inspire myself, but right now it’s a lot of shit that’s been incredible this year when it comes to hip hop

Rich Homie Quan dropped an amazing album, Mutant Academy (Fly Anakin & Koncept Jack$on) gonna be a problem soon, Inspectah Deck has one of the best rebrands in hip hop with Czarface and dropped a great project with MF DOOM. Sylvan Lacue and Phonte quite possibly dropped the best albums about self reflection and mental health. Weezy is actually in his most pure essence with D6 and Reloaded.

Arin Ray, Ravyn Lenae, Frank Ocean (Endless CDQ) and Kali Uchis just dropped some really soulful shit this year. Wale been making great music since he left Atlantic, think he’s finding his sound. Crimeapple I believe is coming out the gate with raw lyrics on Aguardiente project. Meechy Darko is also coming for the crown as best rapper alive on the new Flatbush Zombies album, Saba is good, Trouble and Mike Will album is fire.

Chuck Strangers is a sleeper, Jericho Jackson (Elzhi & Khrysis) album is incredible. Roc Marciano just proved he’s one of the best that ever did it with Rosebudd Revenge 2. Nipsey album was great and Payroll & Cardo’s Big Bossin Vol 2 my favorite album along with SOB X RBE this year.

I’m sorry for fucking babbling about projects but its just too much good music to say hip hop is in a bad place. Oh yeah, shoutout to Jay Critch and Fauni the god MC’s.

 

What are some of your goals for the rest of 2018 and beyond?

Right now, Im just trying to support any new artist or use my platform to curate the music, like:

PNTHN
Ziyaad Luceo
Kennedy Rd.
Ness Nite
Shaad Breaux
Lou Ridley
SKUNKZ
Davante Liv3

I feel like these people are incredibly talented, and I wanna use my platform to help them out in anyway.

 

Who are some other must-follows on Twitter?

@glock__lesnar
@haroldbingo
@babyxShad
@Brainfeeder_
@tylerIam
@chefwaites
@IAMKRIS24
@savion_walker
@peacocksfly
@finnereaux
@FilmManBran
@Rehab_
@brogawd_
@JazzUNGang
@Jsmallz67
@amazontrollop
@_kimchanel_
@naimaism
@Svntnh
@1993Parkave
@younglordsean

There’s a lot of ppl I talk to through twitter so this is off the top of my head, I know I’m missing way more great people but these guys tweets are all great.

 

Anything you’d like to say in closing?

Professional Dreamers and Strip Club Friends, look out for the name and the whole crew. You’ll know very soon. We coming thru like Kurt Angle did with the milk truck and sprayed it at Stone Cold Steve Austin and the Alliance on Raw.

Also wanna shout out Cardo and Tunji for always inspiring me. Red Cafe if you’re reading this I hope I made you proud SHAAKKKKKEEEEEE DOOOWWWNNN.