Inside the St. Louis Rapper’s Rise – Billboard

Sexyy Pink isn’t involved with chasing hits. “I’m not even making an attempt,” she tells Billboard over Zoom. “You simply gotta be your self after which they gonna f–okay with you.” 

She’s residing proof: the 25-year-old (born Janae Wherry) is at the moment having fun with a breakout 12 months due to her sexually specific, Tay Keith-produced “Pound City.” For the reason that lure single arrived in January, Sexyy Pink has shaped bonds with a few of R&B and hip-hop’s greatest names, befriending Travis Scott and Drake (the latter has posted an image along with her on Instagram, and Sexyy Pink has teased music collectively), and collaborating with Summer season Walker and Nicki Minaj.

Her “Pound City 2” remix with Minaj dropped in late Could and have become Sexyy Pink’s first entry on the Billboard Scorching 100 the next month, debuting at No. 66. Nonetheless, she stays blasé towards her A-list interactions. “I already know I’m a cool, f–k-witable particular person,” she says.

It’s not shocking that the St. Louis native has maintained her nonchalant perspective amid her rise. In any case, it’s what helped put her on the map: In response to co-manager Caprie Poe — who can be normal supervisor at Miami-based label Insurgent Music — Sexyy Pink first caught the eye of an A&R rep on the label in 2021 along with her 2018 single “Free Smoke.” “[She] was tremendous uncooked and genuine,” says Poe. “She all the time says what’s on her thoughts.” Living proof: the “Pound City” lyric that has taken the web by storm (“I’m out of city, thuggin’ with my rounds/My c–chie pink, my booty h–e brown”).

The rapper signed to Insurgent Music and launched her debut mission, Ghetto Celebrity, that December to native acclaim. However co-manager and Insurgent Music founder/CEO Javier “Jay” Sang says the workforce was devoted to rising her nationwide viewers: “We deal with Sexyy Pink as a 24-hour, seven-days-a-week enterprise.”

Their technique paid off final fall, once they inspired Sexyy Pink to observe up with Tay Keith (who she was acquainted with), main the Grammy-nominated producer to ship her the beat to what turned “Pound City.” Quickly after, she was freestyling a few sexcapade with an ex-boyfriend throughout a Miami studio session. She remembers laughing along with her mates all through — however her workforce was extra earnest. “They was like, ‘You enjoying on this man’s beat,’” she says. “I’m like, ‘Ain’t no one making an attempt to be critical on a regular basis.’ Lastly, they [said], ‘I perceive your imaginative and prescient.’” 

By February, she launched a music video impressed by the fact present Cheaters, adopted by a Miami spring break version of the clip in March. The observe has additionally discovered success on TikTok having been utilized in over 250,000 clips. There’s even a mashup of the track referred to as “Frontin’ x Pound City Simmy Combine,” the place Chicago native DJ Simmy overlaid Pink’s vocals on Pharrell and Jay-Z’s “Frontin’” beat. However the unique track wanted a remaining push to grow to be successful.

Across the identical time, business veteran Larry Jackson launched Gamma — a media firm specializing in distribution, inventive steerage, advertising and marketing and extra — and signed Sexyy Pink whereas constructing a roster that features Snoop Dogg and Usher. (Sexyy Pink additionally stays signed to Insurgent Music.) “She instantly turned a precedence,” says Sang. “I do know Larry for transferring mountains and he was like, ‘What do you concentrate on Nicki on the file?’ It was a no brainer.”

Because the track continues to develop, Sexyy Pink is aware of that it’ll “by no means get outdated,” however is prepared for individuals to begin specializing in her different music. “SkeeYee,” one other Tay Keith-produced observe — and well-liked greeting name in St. Louis — on her June mixtape Hood Hottest Princess, has been gaining momentum of late.

This summer season has additionally included a Rolling Loud efficiency, and shortly, just a few opening slots for Moneybagg Yo on tour. She’ll ultimately embark on her first headlining trek, with dates and areas but to be introduced, however for now, she’s letting her workforce deal with her enterprise affairs. “I’m simply the artist they usually do what they do to make it occur for me,” she admits. “They ain’t making an attempt to emphasize me out as a result of I don’t even wish to cope with no s–t like that.”

As an alternative, she’s specializing in what she does finest: releasing one salacious, unapologetic track at a time, she says. “Individuals suppose I’m loopy, however I really feel like I’m simply myself.”

A model of this story will seem within the Aug. 5, 2023, situation of Billboard.