CHIKA

Blending introspective, socially conscious hip-hop with R&B, Alabama rapper CHIKA is following in the footsteps of female MCs like Lauryn Hill and Queen Latifah. • The Montgomery native was accepted to Boston’s prestigious Berklee College of Music, but she enrolled at the University of South Alabama and dropped out after a year to focus on music. • In November 2016, right after Donald Trump’s election victory, CHIKA went viral with a tongue-in-cheek video showing people of color how to apply white makeup. • In 2017, CHIKA released a Pride-themed remix of Ed Sheeran's “Shape of You” in celebration of her bisexuality. That same year, she self-released her debut EP, Full Bloom // A Poetry. • She notched another viral video in 2018, when she criticized Kanye West’s politics over the beat from Ye’s “Jesus Walks.” • In 2019, CHIKA signed with Warner Records and released the single “High Rises,” which she considers her “origin story.” Her major label debut EP, Industry Games, arrived the following year. • In 2020, the rapper received her first-ever Grammy nomination, for Best New Artist.