EX.809 Mykki Blanco

The US musician, poet and performance artist reflects on "queer rap,” the industry that boxed him into it and the reinvention he's built on the other side.

A consummate multi-hyphenate, Mykki Blanco (formerly she/her, now he/him) came up in a specific New York moment: the early '10s crossover between queer nightlife, noise and a rap underground that was just beginning to loosen its grip on who was allowed inside. Alongside artists like Le1f, Zebra Katz and Cakes da Killa, Blanco was lumped into a "queer rap" wave that acquired a cult following around the world, propped up MySpace and Tumblr.

The co-signs came fast and from unlikely places. Blanco opened shows for Björk, Diplo and Major Lazer, collaborated with Madonna and spent seven months working closely with Kanye West. But he stayed outside the mainstream—partly by design, and partly because the industry of that era wasn't willing to let a Black queer rapper be anything other than a Black queer rapper.

In this Exchange, Blanco reflects on the music industry's prejudices and limitations, and on how he's risen above them. After a few years off the touring circuit, he's back with a new album and a new sound. Café Paradiso, out in early September, is shaped less by the aggression that fuelled his early work, and more by solitude and mid-career reflection. He talks about his reinvention and more: the freedom that's come from leaving rap, the blueprint he laid for a whole generation of queer artists coming up behind him and what working with West actually looked like from the inside. Listen to the episode in full.

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