Listen: Mykki Blanco — “Wavvy”

Photo Credit: terrysdiary.com

Mykki Blanco, the New York City based rapper, actor, author, poet, multi-gendered extraordinaire recently dropped her solid cut “Wavvy”.

“Wavvy” is produced by Wunderkind and Brenmar and provides quite the impressive flow. The track binds together Mykki Blanco’s gender binary perfectly (Blanco’s birth name is Michael David Quattlebaum Jr.) with confidence and spice. What makes the track more appealing is the story behind the artist.

In an article online on Interview Magazine, Blanco talks about her gender shift when she initially ran away to New York City as a teenager in 2003. “Things were very different – the artist exodus and yuppie-fication of things were definitely under way, but things were still way grittier… during that time was when I began to cross-dress. I started dressing like a girl during that period, and actually being mistaken for a girl because I was 16. That, I would say, would be the very beginning inklings of my ‘transgendered life’.”

Respect drops in when Blanco starts talking about her craft and her feelings of not compromising her work as a result of the mediocrity of mainstream pop culture and the wow-factors that flood consumer culture, “When people talk to me about a mainstream crossover, about gays in hip-hop, I address the issue, but it literally defines me the least compared to everything else… I’m not trying to be in the 40/40 Club popping bottles while rappers throw hundred-dollar bills on strippers. I’m just out to make my audience happy, fulfill my creative vision, and be successful on my own terms, which is doable.”

Blanco is humble, not boastful or arrogant. In June 2011, she published her first book of poems and a lot of her music came out of simply laying those poems over music tracks. The storm of media attention was quick to follow. Blanco explains that she was touring, performing and cross-dressing everyday, “exploring the lifestyle,” all while maintaining a genuine air.

“Wavvy” is set to appear on a forthcoming mix tape called Cosmic Angel. The tape will feature producers such as Adeptus, Physical Therapy, Teengirl Fantasty and more. Blanco is also set to drop an EP called Mykki Blanco & the Mutant Angels on May 15 through UNO and OH-WOW.

Listen to “Wavvy” below: