“Do you may have my black purse?” Sexyy Crimson asks one in all her staff members as she makes her method in entrance of the digicam. As her brazen monitor “Sexyy Crimson for President” blasts within the background, the breakout St. Louis rapper pulls out two large wads of money, fastidiously inserting one atop her trademark brilliant pink wig as if it have been a crown.
For all of the boisterous vitality of her high-octane hit singles, Sexyy Crimson is fairly quiet in individual. The clock’s approaching midnight on the day of her Billboard picture shoot — and he or she’s rapidly approaching the delivery of her second youngster — so her relative calm is comprehensible. Nonetheless, as every new track from the deluxe model of her Hood Hottest Princess mixtape booms via the room’s audio system, Sexyy rapidly shifts into boss mode, serving to direct her shoot. She’s undoubtedly a star — and he or she was one lengthy earlier than “Pound City,” her January collaboration with Tay Keith, modified her life.
As hip-hop celebrated its fiftieth anniversary in 2023, Sexyy Crimson turned a dominant power within the cultural dialog across the style and the place it’s headed subsequent. Go to a school get together blasting her “Hellcats SRTs,” or watch a membership explode when “Yonce Freestyle” drops, and the 25-year-old rapper’s affect is clear. From the tongue-in-cheek “Searching for the Hoes” to the Chief Keef-evoking “Shake Yo Dreads,” her music resonates with anybody keen to have interaction with and embrace their ratchet aspect.
Not like a lot of her feminine friends, Sexyy’s raps aren’t drenched in metaphors and punchlines; her lyrics sound as if she’s saying the very very first thing that pops into her head — which is strictly the case. When she spits, “B-tch, if it’s some beef, let me know, sh-t, what’s up?/All that talkin’ on the web, that’s gon’ get your head bust,” in “I’m the Sh-t,” Sexyy isn’t weaving subliminal photographs all through intricate wordplay — she’s plainly addressing her opps with equal elements humor, apathy and stone-cold seriousness.
In accordance with Luminate, Hood Hottest Princess has collected 447.6 million official on-demand U.S. streams, serving to it attain No. 13 on the Prime Rap Albums chart, in addition to making appearances on Prime R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (No. 21) and the Billboard 200 (No. 62). Sexyy has charted a pair of prime 10s on the Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay rating: “SkeeYee” (No. 6) and “Wealthy Child Daddy” (No. 2), with the previous additionally changing into the inaugural No. 1 hit on the newly launched TikTok Billboard Prime 50.
This digital cowl story is a part of Billboard’s Style Now package deal, highlighting the artists pushing their musical genres ahead — and even creating their very own new ones.
Sexyy dominated 2023 amid a notable lull for her style total within the market. Final yr, no hip-hop artist topped the Billboard 200 till mid-July, when Lil Uzi Vert’s Pink Tape turned the primary No. 1 hip-hop album since Metro Boomin’s Heroes & Villains the earlier December, marking the longest hole between No. 1 hip-hop albums since a 34-week drought in 1992-93. In September, Doja Cat’s “Paint the City Crimson” turned hip-hop’s first Billboard Scorching 100-topping single since Nicki Minaj’s “Tremendous Freaky Lady” in August 2022.
Each “Paint the City Crimson” and Pink Tape have been buoyed by the danceable, prime 40-friendly sounds of pop-rap and Jersey membership, respectively, signaling a shift from the 2010s, when dominant lure artists usually launched new singles and albums to the tops of Billboard’s marquee all-genre charts. Whereas Sexyy didn’t make fairly the industrial influence of “Paint the City Crimson” or Uzi’s “Simply Wanna Rock,” her outstanding string of 2023 hits suggests hip-hop might evolve in a brand new route: one by which much less crossover-aimed rap can nonetheless captivate the tradition, and by which a girl with Sexyy’s uncooked, raucous type can obtain mainstream dominance and not using a prime 40-friendly hit.
Born Janae Wherry, Sexyy grew up in St. Louis listening to the likes of Webbie, Boosie BadAzz and Trina — artists that embody the unapologetically hood vitality that now programs via each Sexyy Crimson track. As Sexyy factors out, they have been all revered for his or her fearlessness. However reaching that form of bravery herself took a while.
“After I was little, I all the time knew [I was a star] as a result of I used to be simply completely different,” Sexyy says. “I used to be fearful. I used to be quiet. However all people used to wish to be my buddy. I used to be fairly, my hair was actual lengthy, my mama knew the way to gown me. Everyone used to simply be flocking to me, however I used to be shy. I didn’t wish to speak to no one. I’ve all the time been that individual for actual.”
Michael Tyrone Delaney
That form of authenticity is now serving to her followers entry their very own — one two-and-a-half-minute monitor at a time. From the beginning, Sexyy’s profession has felt natural and, at first, low stakes. Rising up, she all the time had a artistic spirit: “I used to suppose I used to be going to be a painter. I used to design my Barbie dolls’ garments. I was doing hair. I simply was multitalented, so I knew I may do it, however I simply didn’t understand how,” she says.
When a former boyfriend broke her coronary heart in 2018, Sexyy reacted in essentially the most hip-hop method attainable: She recorded a dis monitor. The response amongst mates was so overwhelmingly optimistic that even the track’s topic inspired her to significantly pursue music. (“He’d have me rap the track to his mates,” Sexyy recollects.)
From that very first track, listeners clamored to listen to Sexyy’s particular voice, her cadence, her vitality, her off-the-cuff rambunctiousness tempered with sincerity. Performances at native golf equipment and events quickly adopted — “A free get together? And I get $50 simply to go up there and simply do one thing? Why not?” — as did a debut mixtape, 2021’s Ghetto Celebrity, and help on social media from R&B star Summer season Walker. Nevertheless it took a combination of old-school grind and new-school social media prowess — and a bit assist from the music business — for Sexyy to harness the zeitgeist.
In 2021, Insurgent Music, an unbiased Miami-based label and administration firm, signed Sexyy after coming throughout a few of her early tracks. “As soon as she bought off the aircraft and I heard her voice, I knew she was a star,” recollects Vladimir “Sunny” Laurent, Sexyy’s A&R government. “Like, her voice, it simply tells you who she is.” By mid-2023, Miami-based distributor Open Shift and gamma — Larry Jackson’s media firm that creates, distributes and markets content material with a particular concentrate on Black tradition — “reached out to [Rebel] and expressed curiosity not solely in Sexyy, however their broad platform [too],” in keeping with Dave Gross, who turned Sexyy’s supervisor across the similar time. (Sexyy stays signed to Insurgent Music, whereas gamma and Open Shift deal with distribution of her music.)
In January 2023, Sexyy Crimson dropped the monitor that might change the course of her profession. “Pound City” is emblematic of Sexyy’s ethos: Say what you’re feeling, and try this earlier than the rest. From “too many b-tches, the place the n—as at?” to “My c–chie pink, my bootyh–e brown,” her impulsive bars rapidly drew listeners in, inspiring a litany of memes throughout TikTok and X (previously Twitter).
The monitor additionally introduced “p—y rap” — which music journalist Robyn Mowatt describes as “a subgenre of rap the place girls embrace their sexual prowess” within the face of “the patriarchy and misogyny” frequent within the male-dominated rap world — to the fore of hip-hop discourse. As feminine MCs have seized the mainstream, p—y rap has dominated, with Sexyy as one in all its most distinguished purveyors — even when she disputes the classification.
“I don’t agree with that [classification], as a result of why is that the one factor you heard me speaking about?” she says. “That’s the one factor that you just bought out of the whole lot I simply mentioned? You simply heard me say ‘c–chie’? I hate after they say that. I simply rap about my every day life. Ladies that dwell like me, I simply rap about what we undergo. I don’t sit and discuss c–chie all day.”
She’s proper. What has made Sexyy such a contentious topic of hip-hop conversations is that she embodies an vitality and perspective many are comfy glamorizing with out respecting. In lyrics like “After I don’t hear from my n—a, I write him/He a nasty boy, I don’t care, that’s how I like ’em/Yeah, free my n—a ’til it’s backwards/F–ok the police, f–ok the pigs, they some bastards,” she’s not conjuring a scene to present the phantasm of a hood aesthetic — she’s actually pulling from her actual life.
“Authenticity is self-relative, and for Sexyy, it’s that she’s unbiased, fierce, sturdy, unafraid of the world’s opinions and unbowed by backlash,” Gross says. It’s not about whether or not she’s performing “hood” — it’s about expressing these qualities and aesthetics authentically in her music and efficiency. Sexyy is all the time being Sexyy, in the beginning.
“Pound City” peaked at No. 66 on the Billboard Scorching 100 following a remix with Nicki Minaj, marking Sexyy’s debut on the chart. “I particularly had the imaginative and prescient to make it possible for we bought that completed and out by Memorial Day weekend in order that we may simply personal the f–king summer season,” says gamma CEO Larry Jackson, who was instrumental in orchestrating the remix. “That, to me, was like throwing a lit match in dry shrubbery.”
As scores of streaming-era artists know effectively, it’s straightforward for a viral hit to overshadow the artist behind it. Sexyy Crimson and her staff sought to keep away from that, Jackson says, delivering a continuing stream of singles and remixes to help Hood Hottest Princess. The mission arrived alongside the official single launch of “SkeeYee,” a raucous get together anthem named after a cat-calling phrase continuously utilized in Sexyy’s hometown of St. Louis.
“SkeeYee” rapidly turned a staple on locker room playlists throughout the nation, the go-to celebration track for athletes from school soccer’s Ole Miss Rebels to MLB’s Baltimore Orioles. Its success shifted Sexyy into a distinct tier from her friends like Kaliii and Flo Milli. Most mainstream feminine rappers are ignored by straight male audiences save for a verse or two, however Sexyy had that demographic captivated for a complete calendar yr — from the numerous movies of ecstatic male followers at her competition appearances to Travis Scott’s giddy embrace of “SkeeYee” throughout his 2023 Wi-fi Pageant set.
“She’s the feminine Gucci [Mane]. She appears like Trina. Everyone thinks she’s like a p—y rap artist, however she’s probably not,” Laurent says. “She makes music for dudes who like quick automobiles. That’s why dudes join together with her so effectively. Everyone loves her, from the LGBT group to [straight] girls — it’s all walks of life.”
“Hellcats SRTs” (together with its Lil Durk remix) and “Shake Yo Dreads” added two extra hits to Sexyy’s résumé, and sensible options on NLE Choppa’s “Slut Me Out” and DaBaby’s “Shake Sumn” saved her momentum going. In 2023, ratchet get together rap reemerged in reputation, and Sexyy led the cost with music and vitality harking back to iconic voices like Waka Flocka Flame and Chief Keef. “I see Sexyy Crimson as a feminine me,” Waka says. “How persons are like, ‘Man, Waka’s music simply ratchet!’ It was information outselling me by thousands and thousands of copies, however they’ll by no means get performed contained in the membership.”
Neither “Pound City” nor “SkeeYee” was a significant Scorching 100 hit, reaching Nos. 66 and 62, respectively, however they nonetheless captured and outlined the yr for big swaths of customers; Sexyy landed six entries on the TikTok Billboard Prime 50. And after her hit linkup with Minaj, she spent the remainder of 2023 maximizing her industrial attain by collaborating with one other Younger Cash icon.
In accordance with Gross, Drake reached out to Sexyy through DM across the time the remainder of the business started to really take discover of her. So, between supporting Moneybagg Yo on his Bigger Than Life Tour and headlining her personal Hood Hottest Princess tour, Sexyy opened for Drake and 21 Savage’s blockbuster It’s All a Blur Tour. That cross-country trek set the stage for Sexyy’s highest-peaking Scorching 100 entry but, “Wealthy Child Daddy” (No. 11), a monitor from Drake’s For All of the Canines album that additionally options fellow St. Louis native SZA. “Wealthy Child Daddy” additionally turned her most beloved monitor but (by critics and followers alike), on an album that additionally featured heavy hitters from Dangerous Bunny to J. Cole — an indicator of how rapidly Sexyy had risen within the business.
Her stint on Drake and 21 Savage’s tour additionally laid the groundwork for her personal headlining tour, which her staff estimates bought 75,000 tickets throughout 28 reveals — a uncommon feat for a feminine rapper, particularly one so new to the sport, and a testomony to the energy of the Sexyy Crimson model in a yr that had quite a few cancellations of hip-hop excursions and festivals.
“Touring was worrying at first, as a result of no one knew I used to be pregnant,” Sexyy explains. “I’d be within the bed room making an attempt to suck my abdomen in or put on garments to point out I wasn’t. It damage to simply be onstage all day holding your abdomen. It’s onerous to cover it.” For an artist like Sexyy, deeply dedicated to presenting herself authentically, the choice to try this was deeply private, and tactical: She shot greater than 10 music movies, made a number of competition appearances, went on three excursions and carried out at awards reveals — and did most of that whereas carrying her second youngster.
“Being pregnant is worrying; it wears your physique down. I used to be drained, however I attempted to cover it as a lot as you probably may,” she says. “I wish to have a private life. I’m already well-known or no matter, so the whole lot be on the market. I be making an attempt to have one thing to myself that I may maintain. Simply go dwelling and be with my son and my household. That’s the explanation I used to be hiding.”
Michael Tyrone Delaney
Gross recollects one summer season stint by which Sexyy “hopped off the stage with Drake, hopped on a jet to make it to a Moneybagg Yo present, did an afterparty after the Moneybagg present, then at six or seven within the morning took one other jet to go the following metropolis the place the Drake tour was.” That form of work ethic is what drew him to Sexyy within the first place.
It’s the identical vitality Sexyy began the yr with after the daddy of her child bought locked up. “I don’t bought no extra distractions. I can work now,” she says. After each present, she went straight to her 2-year-old son, Chuckie — a testomony to how she manages to stability work together with her private life. “This yr was very distinctive and there was a particularly heightened sense of concern” across the influence of Sexyy’s promotional schedule on her thoughts and physique, Gross says. “Our recreation plan is all the time going to be to take our cue from the artist.”
As rapidly as she has turn into a pop cultural touchstone, Sexyy has stirred up loads of controversy. In October on the podcast This Previous Weekend With Theo Von, she mentioned, “Trump, we miss you” — arguing that “they help him within the hood” as a result of “he began getting Black folks out of jail and giving those that free cash.” One conspiracy principle accuses her of being a plant by the CIA to destroy the Black group, whereas some posts on X have known as for Jackson’s condemnation to hell due to his involvement in selling Sexyy.
For Sexyy, eager to be within the rap recreation for the lengthy haul has meant discovering a technique to exist amid all that noise. “It don’t actually faze me, as a result of I do know what’s occurring in actual life,” she says. “I simply do me. I be very nice.” And, in actual life, Sexyy is connecting with audiences as a result of she’s giving them the house to revel of their ratchetness. “For my part, she is the primary one post-pandemic who introduced us a scorching summer season,” Jackson says. “She dropped music that made us really feel good for the primary time in 4 years about being outdoors once more.”
“I feel she’s each girl’s spirit animal. That rambunctious lady that claims something she feels. She says issues persons are afraid to say,” provides Laurent. “She’s like a heroine in a method.”
In 2024, Sexyy Crimson has one purpose: “I’m displaying my ass. I’m going to simply be getting richer, greater, extra trendier. I’m going to be all over the place,” she says. “I’m going to be in it for the lengthy haul, [but] not even on objective, although. Even when I attempt to cease rapping, they’re going to take some sh-t, flip it into one thing, put me on the blogs, make it one thing it doesn’t even need to be, so Imma be right here for a minute.” Her supervisor is aiming for “three or 4 albums subsequent yr. That is perhaps bold,” he acknowledges. “However I need 2024 to be the yr of Sexyy Crimson like 2023 was.”
Michael Tyrone Delaney
In December, she dropped a deluxe version of Hood Hottest Princess that includes collaborations with Chief Keef and Summer season Walker, and he or she has additionally scored rising hits in “Bow Bow Bow (F My Child Dad)” and “Free My N—a.” The damaging response to the latter specifically — some critics contended that the track and music video contributed to the glorification of the incarceration of Black males — exemplified the vitriol that has moved some veteran feminine rappers to defend Sexyy.
“We don’t know what [Sexyy is] going to be speaking about on the third or fourth album, however proper now we’re speaking about the place we got here from,” Trina tells Billboard. “We’re speaking concerning the backside. The gutter, the trenches, the dust, the slime, the scum. All of that. Some folks have simply grown above it and so they’re not within the hood no extra, however all people has not bought to that place but. You may’t anticipate them to be speaking about essentially the most lavish issues in life and so they haven’t addressed the place they from and what they’ve seen and the way they seen it. Give them an opportunity to develop. Give them an opportunity to raise. Give them an opportunity to evolve. They’re nonetheless younger girls. They’re nonetheless below 30 years outdated. They nonetheless have time to do no matter they wish to do, however that is just the start.”
Sexyy’s imaginative and prescient and hope for hip-hop’s future is centered in the identical precept she has upheld since “Pound City” blew up: authenticity. For her, that’s the one technique to know “who actually f–king with you whenever you’re simply being your self and never making an attempt to fake.”
And for her heroes — like Boosie BadAzz, the one artist she requested to listen to throughout her Billboard picture shoot apart from herself — it’s the explanation her voice is so wanted in rap proper now. Sexyy is “a woman from the hood who lastly bought her likelihood to talk and it’s accepted,” Boosie says. “After I take heed to her music, it’s like the ladies from my mission speaking. You bought to respect it or watch different folks respect it. We bought a voice, too. The hood has a voice, too. Lots of people don’t respect it as a result of they don’t perceive it.”
Maybe that’s what the way forward for hip-hop appears like below a Sexyy Crimson dynasty: a scene the place a younger girl can captivate a nation together with her personal perspective and narrative whereas additionally giving a voice to the place among the tradition’s most missed movers and shakers come from — and the place none of that’s only a efficiency. As traditional, Sexyy places it greatest herself: “I’m simply doing me on this rap sh-t.”
