City of Win is a series curated by Isiah “ThoughtPoet” Veney and written by Alejandro Hernandez that uses prose and photography to create portraits of Chicago musicians and cultural innovators working to create positive change in their communities.
The barbershop has long been a cornerstone institution for Black and Brown communities. It serves folks looking for fresh cuts, of course, but it’s ultimately a place where people gather and exchange information. This information can be as trivial as sports banter or as profound as the wisdom born of experience that older barbers give their young clients.
“I think being a barber is what made me a real man,” says Ano Bank$. “Yes, we have great conversation. Yes, we cut people’s hair and make them feel better. But in working in that space, I learned what it means to be a cornerstone as a person. In any business or any relationship, the number one thing is probably going to be availability. Are you available to service your people? Are you available to heal your people?”
Ano Bank$, real name Anthony Travis Jr., is a hip-hop artist, barber, youth football coach, and father based in Chicago’s Low End, but his story begins in his native Springfield, Illinois. When he was a kid, his mother was fighting addiction, and his two older brothers were removed from the family home and placed in foster care. Bank$ stayed, though, and spent a lot of time hanging out in a barbershop where an older cousin worked.
In high school, he was a standout football player, which earned him a scholarship to play at the University of St. Francis in Joliet. He enrolled there in 2008, around the time he says he began making music. He left school the following year, after his mother was diagnosed with cancer. She died six months later.
“After that, I started leaning on music a lot and made it something I was going to do, especially to replace football,” Bank$ explains. “The thing about creation is that you just don’t create art. You create a life. You find people that’s in the lane that you’re in, and [the music] kind of builds a life of its own. I think that’s been the most satisfying part. To know that I’ve been able to create something that just isn’t music but a life. It’s a beautiful fucking thing.”
For much of the early 2010s, Bank$ paused his music making, focusing instead on his children and family life. But since ending that hiatus, he’s continued experimenting with different styles: “Been pretty much every type of artist you could think of,” he says. One of his earliest supporters was close friend and Pivot Gang photographer Evan Brown. Brown connected him with producer Martin $ky, and their first collaborations were the 2018 singles “Give-n-Go” and “Trading Places.”
Bank$’s connection with $ky (now known as Septober) helped him begin refining his own sound, which incorporates elements of jazz, blues, “lover boy” music, and even gospel. He raps and sings, using a voice that owes something to his childhood years in a church choir led by his grandmother. His style reflects influences such as OutKast, D’Angelo, Smino, and Miles Davis, and he calls what he does a blend of alternative rap and experimental jazz.
“I’m a person who believes that no matter what you’re good at in life, you should lean into it,” Bank$ says. “You should always try to master multiple things, but if you’re good at something, master that first before moving on to the next thing. And now I’m coming to the point where I pretty much know what I want to do.”
Throughout 2023, Bank$ released a string of singles. The latest, “Gang 4 Yu.,” came out in September, and it’s a wholesome, jazzy love song that blends playful rapping with sweet melodies. Bank$’s nostalgic flow summons memories of Chicago’s mid-2010s blog-rap era, when rappers spit lyrical miracles over jazz-inspired instrumentals. He’ll release more new music on Saturday, April 20: four years to the day after the EP Blue Smoke, he’s dropping Blue Smoke 2. The new EP will include “Gang 4 Yu.,” and its tracks deliver strong themes of love, gratitude, and positivity—as well as evidence of Bank$’s prowess as a former battle rapper on the bar-heavy and braggadocious “LSD3.”
Despite making music for more than a decade, Bank$ still feels he’s just starting out. He wants to inspire the next generation to be greater, and in all his roles—barber, dad, coach, and veteran musician—he tries to steer other people in the right direction.
“There’s so much more to do. The only way I consider myself an OG is because I got a catalog. I really implore artists to make a back catalog. Making art is like catching lightning in a bottle, so if you got ideas, act on them,” Bank$ says. “It’s OK to try something and make a mistake.”
Photos by ThoughtPoet of Unsocial Aesthetics (UAES), a digital creative studio and resource collective designed to elevate community-driven storytelling and social activism in Chicago and beyond
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