For Promotional Use Only
The time has come to introduce you to your favorite new rapper that you’ve probably never heard of. There are very few true mystery performers in music, where their identities are actually unknown. Orville Peck was, until he wasn’t. Angine de Poitrines, but they’ve just been noticed. Myss Keta, who I’ll introduce you to later. But my favorite of all of them is Leikeli47. She didn’t even show her face until 2024, but still, no one knows who she is.
Her music takes inspiration from everything. From classic Motown to electro house to dub to disco to reggae to vogue. And that’s just on this most recent album!
Leikeli’s vocal control is unbelievable. Her abilities put her several strata above many of her peers. The only other rapper whose vocals are this impressive is She-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named. Obviously not the human dumpster who wrote those wizard books. And not Nicki Minaj either; I’m talking about Azealia Banks. But she is such a problematic chaos demon that it’s hard to be a huge fan (even though I genuinely love her music).
But Leikeli47 is a mysterious, extremely talented, Brooklyn-based rapper; she’s so up my alley. Her compositions and songwriting are so tight. She’s weird enough that she’ll probably never be really popular, even though she deserves to be far above many others who actually are. Her taste level is so impressive.
Her most recent album is called Lei Keli ft. 47 / For Promotional Use Only. It’s worth exploring all four of Leikeli’s studio albums because they’re all so fantastic. She is just so wonderfully creative!
But for this album, it’s such a joy to listen to because you never know what’s going to happen next. Every track feels totally different, and nevertheless thematically cohesive. If you don’t have time to listen to the whole album, I recommend the lead single “450,” a dub track with a complex beat, “Starlight,” which mixes the beats of Afrojack, a mens’ 1960s vocal group, and ethereal vocals, and “HNIC,” a Motown fever dream with a radio announcer setting the tone.