What’s Your Why? BTO Li Ja

 “I Beat the Odds”

BTO Li Ja represents Auburn, Alabama, but his story stretches far beyond city limits. Raised between Auburn and Tuskegee, Alabama, Li Ja grew up in housing authority projects surrounded by environments designed to break, not build. Pain, struggle, and instability were part of everyday life but so was resilience. Those early trials didn’t just shape his story; they shaped the man he would become.

“I’ve struggled just about all my life,” he says. “And I wouldn’t change anything I’ve been through, because that’s what made me who I am today.”

Music didn’t start as a dream; it started as survival.

At just nine years old, Li Ja wrote his first song. But it wasn’t until the loss of his grandmother that music became more than words on paper. It became therapy. In a moment where grief felt too heavy to explain and too personal to share, music became the place where he could release what his heart couldn’t say out loud.

“That moment showed me music was more than something I listened to,” he explains. “Writing and putting my pain into music felt more comfortable than talking to anybody.”

By 18, his approach shifted. Music was no longer casual, it was intentional. Purpose-driven. Real.

Influenced heavily by Rod Wave, BTO Li Ja creates Hip Hop and Rap rooted in lived experience. His lyrics are not imagined narratives; they are reflections of real life, his own and the lives of people around him. Every song paints a picture, offering perspective not just on his struggles, but on universal battles many faces daily.

“I speak on things I’ve been through, things I’ve seen, and problems we all deal with,” he says. “That’s how people connect.”

At the core of his music is one message: Beat the odds.

Consistency has been the hardest part of the journey, especially while navigating life’s ongoing challenges.

There were moments he thought about quitting. Many of them. But the voice that kept him grounded was his mother’s.

“She always taught me to never quit on nothing,” he says. “Where I come from, not many people make it out. I’ve got people depending on me and I’m depending on myself.”

That belief cost him sacrifices most never see. Time with family. Time with friends. Even college. But he never lost sight of the bigger picture.

When motivation fades, he remembers who he is and everything he’s already survived.

Music has taught him that his gift is not accidental. That his voice carries purpose. That quitting is not an option.

“I believe everything happens for a reason,” he says. “I’m called to spread a message and leave a mark through my lyrics that lives on forever.”

That calling comes with responsibility. To his listeners. To his community. To anyone who feels boxed in by circumstance.

“If I can beat the odds,” he says, “then anyone can.”

To BTO Li Ja, success isn’t defined by money or fame. It’s defined by impact. Taking care of family. Giving back. Changing lives. Standing for something meaningful.

When his story is told years from now, he hopes people remember where he came from and what he stood for.

“I come from nothing,” he says. “And if I can beat the odds, so can you.”

Final Reflection: “I make music because I beat the odds.”