Genuwine Beauty

New York lesbian rapper Genuwine Beauty is one of the first openly trans hip-hop artists to begin to break into the fringes of the mainstream. Born Kenyatta Brown in Westwood, New Jersey in the late '80s and raised in Virginia Beach, Virginia from the age of 12, she became interested in music and at 15 started a rap group with her four brothers. Going by the name Reason Allah before transitioning, she later moved to Atlanta, becoming Genuwine Brown before adopting the name Genuwine Beauty. She was briefly part of the indie T.E.N. (Trans Entertainment Network) label before heading to New York City, where she formed the Lolipopguildgangent label to promote herself and other trans artists. With a raw, grimy trap-inspired production recorded at the $30-an-hour Swatts Studios and muffled, slurred vocals buried in the mix, her music was a distinctly underground proposition. With buzzy tracks like "Anita Baker" and the explicit "Eat Me Out," she found an audience in the LGBT community, but was also noticed by the mainstream hip-hop press, with a few tracks being featured on major outlets. In 2019 she released the EPs Trap Goddess and A Female Called Love Jones, and early in 2020, the single "Sin City." ~ John D. Buchanan