Lexa Gates is trustworthy as fuck.
She will’t assist it. Each time she hits the studio, she has no thought what to do however write stream-of-conscious lyrics about what’s truly happening in her life.
“I actually do not know what to write down about if not what’s taking place within the second and what I am pondering,” she explains. “It is loopy that individuals would simply provide you with issues.”
Lexa’s brutal honesty extends far past the studio. When she sits for an interview and will get requested about her viral Instagram Reels, for instance, she will be able to’t carry herself to lie and provide you with a PR-friendly story. So she tells the reality (her document label made her do it).
When you ask her about her day-to-day life, she received’t provide you with a
cliché reply to make herself sound cool. As an alternative, she’ll let you know about her less-than-glamorous each day actuality: she likes being alone and strolling aimlessly round her neighborhood.
Her blunt honesty is what makes the 23-year-old Queens rapper and singer’s music so compelling. On a tune like “Stacy’s Chips,” a standout from her new album Elite Vessel, she deadpans a particularly relatable opening line (“I hate all this shit”) earlier than rapping about a number of the mundane little issues in her life (her nails are skinny and chipped, her boots are ripped, and he or she’s bored with consuming the plain fucking bag of Stacy’s Chips that somebody retains shopping for and placing in entrance of her).
Lexa’s songs, which regularly revolve across the strange (however extraordinarily relatable) occasions of day-to-day life, really feel loads like diary entries. And her sound, which pairs laid-back raps with sneakily soulful hooks that she sings herself, has drawn comparisons to everybody from Mac Miller to Amy Winehouse.
And, hey, to her label’s credit score, the viral Instagram Reels are working, too. Celebrating the discharge of her new album Elite Vessel in October, she locked herself in a field in New York Metropolis for 10 straight hours and listened to the challenge on repeat as followers walked up and listened along with her. Clips of the stunt blew up on social media and introduced a brand new wave of consideration. What new listeners discovered was top-of-the-line under-the-radar rap albums of 2024.
Shortly after the discharge of Elite Vessel (and the field experiment), Lexa Gates got here by Complicated’s LA studio for a dialog about her childhood in Queens, making the album, the neatest factor she’s ever accomplished, and extra.
The interview, frivolously edited for readability, is beneath.
How’s life?
Life is a blessing. I am very pleased to be right here.
You had a meet-and-greet with followers yesterday. What was that like?
It was superior. Some woman had my tune tattooed on her arm, and I acquired bouquets from my followers.
What tune did she tattoo on herself?
“If I die, I die.” She advised me that I helped her give up weed and that she bettered her life and shit.
How would you describe your relationship along with your followers?
My followers are my child ladies. The boys, too. I like them. I really feel like a prophet or a priest, and so they can all the time come to me and cry and inform me something.
Whenever you aren’t making music, what do you love to do?
I am going on the StairMaster for like half-hour. And I eat fish. And I stroll. Once I go on walks, I will simply stroll for hours aimlessly, going round in circles on the block. I do not do loads once I’m not working.
What have you ever been listening to currently?
Molly Santana. And issues that I would pattern.
Whenever you search for samples, what do you hearken to? Older music?
Yeah, I hearken to older stuff. I have been listening to this one tune known as “A Girl Must Be Liked” [by Tyrone Davis.]
What else are you curious about? What’s your most up-to-date web deep dive?I like watching individuals eat cookies on TikTok. I am additionally into furnishings proper now, and areas and tones. Paulinpaulinpaulin follows me and he’s acquired these cool couches and stuff. I like wonderful artwork proper now.
On “Stacy’s Chips,” you begin the tune by rapping, “I hate all this shit,” which is a really relatable assertion. What’s one thing you hate proper now?
I hate that I had a five-hour delay on my flight to LA. I hadn’t slept in like 4 days and I assumed I used to be going to have the ability to fall asleep instantly on the flight. And it was proper after the fucking field, too.
The field! You locked your self in there for 10 hours, proper?
10 hours. It was gentle. I may very well be there proper now. Shit, it was the one free time I had that week. It was nice. It was additionally good to interact with everyone a little bit bit. I had a diaper on and I took some bladder management tablets and I did not pee or poop or drink any water or eat something, and I used to be chilling. I used to be pleased.
Are you able to clarify what the idea was, for individuals who did not see it?
Can we bleep stuff out? Nicely, I went to [redacted] constructing and I spoke to [redacted] and he advised me that I must make TikToks: “Reels are nice, however we’d like TikToks! TikToks. TikToks…” And I used to be like, “How about I lock myself in a fucking field for 10 hours?” After which we truly did it and it sort of labored out for the TikToks. So everyone’s pleased.
So followers may stroll up and hearken to your album, whilst you have been additionally listening to it contained in the field?
Sure, they heard what I heard. It was simply the album on a loop again and again and over for 10 hours.
What was it like listening to your individual voice for 10 hours straight?
That is what I do day-after-day anyway. I like it. I used to be pleased. Individuals have been like, “Oh, you are going to hate that album.” No. I like it.
OK, let’s return to the start… What sort of a child have been you, rising up in Queens?
I am an older sibling, so I used to be fairly domineering. My mother labored all of the fucking time, so she wasn’t actually house, and I did not actually go to highschool, so I used to be raised by wolves a little bit bit. I did no matter I needed.
Why wasn’t college for you?
I simply hated it. It made me really feel unimportant. I do not like being one particular person in a room with 3,000 or no matter. I hate that. I hate the cafeteria. All people was dressed unhealthy. That shit was simply not for me.
Do you assume it was the fitting determination to give up college, trying again on it? I imply, it looks like issues labored out for you…
Yeah, I believe it did. Relying on what your aim is in life, college generally is a type of thoughts management to coach individuals to be within the workforce. Additionally, I believe you may solely know a lot. Like, you are simply at school studying about rocks… [Laughs.] That is once I left, with my silly ass. Like, in case you’re at school, simply studying about fucking English and historical past, when are you going to consider the stuff that you simply like? When are you going to consider the particular person you’re? There is not any time for that. So I do not actually like that.
When did you begin making music?
I all the time performed piano and sang songs, however I did not begin recording music till I used to be 17.
Did you utilize to sing round the home?
Yeah, we used to all sing collectively. We’d dance collectively. We’d stand up on the counters and fake we have been doing a present. We’d do reveals, too, in little cafes and shit.
What sort of music do you keep in mind listening to again then?
My mother would all the time play home music, and he or she would play fucking Mobb Deep and Wu-Tang. She could be like, “Oh, there’s one thing on this music. It is evil. It offers you a headache.” However she would nonetheless play it. She appreciated it.
Did that make it appear cooler to you?
No, it made me not prefer it at first. I did not actually like rap, however then once I grew up a little bit bit extra, I noticed magnificence in it. And I suppose the reply to your query could be Likelihood [The Rapper] or Infantile Gambino or Mac Miller. However that would simply be as a result of individuals say that to me on a regular basis. I do not know.
Yeah, your YouTube feedback are full of individuals attempting to check you to different artists. Like, “Oh, that is Amy Winehouse meets Mac Miller meets Earl Sweatshirt meets MF Doom.” What do you assume while you see issues like that?
I prefer it when it is artists that I like. All of these sound nice. I do not actually thoughts it, however I’ll preserve working till they’re saying that about me to another person. I do not assume that I am like every of them. I believe I am in my very own lane.
I’ve seen individuals evaluate your rapping model to Odd Future, too. Did you get into Tyler and all these guys rising up?
In fact. I like Tyler. I used to write down “Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All” on toilet stalls once I was a little bit child. I believe I used to be 13 doing that. I appreciated the donut and the cat. I had that app the place you may put the cat on high of images. I actually love them. Tremendous impressed.
Who’re some artists you want that may shock individuals?
I hearken to Aphex Twin. I hearken to Wii Sports activities racing theme music. I hearken to film soundtracks with violin. I hearken to every thing.
How did you begin recording your individual music?
I made a diss observe about some dude. I simply felt this hearth in my coronary heart and I felt drawn to write down. I used to be speaking shit about this dude, and it got here out like rap. I used to be offended.
Did you educate your self easy methods to document the tune?
I used to be courting some child on the time and he taught me easy methods to document myself and easy methods to put it up. So I began doing it, and I used to be getting extra performs and listeners than he was. He was mad. Individuals appreciated it.
Did individuals on-line know who the diss tune was about?
No. All my exes simply disappear.
The best way you mentioned that sounds ominous.
Yeah, dude. It is ominous for me, too. I am truly involved.
When did you determine the sort of music you needed to make? When did you discover your voice?
Instantly. When you hearken to my outdated stuff, it is actually not that removed from how it’s now. I am simply extra refined.
Plenty of artists delete their outdated music, however I observed most of your outdated songs are nonetheless on-line.
Yeah, they’re on SoundCloud. I grew up in that SoundCloud age of individuals blowing up on there, and there is a tune concerning the man who taught me easy methods to make music known as “Deliver Me Down.” I can hear it in my head proper now. It had 100 thousand performs on it, and I used to be just a few 18-year-old woman that made that shit within the kitchen. That was very nice to see.
You’re an excellent singer and rapper. What made you wish to do each?
I simply love the juxtaposition of a deep voice after which a excessive voice. I like the woman and boy dynamic in a tune, and I simply needed to do each on my own, so I figured I’d simply do rapping within the verses and singing within the hooks.
Generally you produce your individual stuff, too. How’d you get into producing
Nicely, I used to be a pianist, and I simply taught myself easy methods to do every thing. I went on GarageBand on my mother’s laptop computer and I simply started working.
Which do you want higher: producing your individual music, or working with different individuals?
They each have their very own advantage. It is a little bit exhausting for me to work with different individuals, as a result of I am very used to being utterly remoted and dealing alone, however there are particular instances the place I really feel protected to open up.It is by no means actually the way in which it’s at house, although, as a result of at house I get loopy. I may simply throw myself on the ground. I may look horrible. I may fuckin’ throw up in a bowl and write proper subsequent to it. I can do regardless of the fuck I would like at house, however in entrance of different individuals, it isn’t like that.
How would you describe your individual music?
It is sort of attractive and scary and trustworthy. It is colourful, however on the identical time, it is purported to have this horror film vibe.
What are your favourite issues to write down songs about?
Love. Anger. The long run. Life.
How do you write songs? What is the course of?
It is like a stream state. I write every thing: the complete verses and the complete hooks. I have been writing on paper currently, and it is actually only a stream of consciousness. It is precisely what I believe. I write it after which I am going to the mic and I say it.
That is smart, as a result of you have got a really trustworthy, conversational model.
Yeah, I actually do not know what to write down about if not what’s taking place within the second and what I am pondering. It is loopy that individuals would simply provide you with issues.
What’s one in all your favourite lyrics you have written?
I used to be going to say, “If I die, I die,” simply because that woman had it tatted, however that is a robust one. Or “I would simply smoke this shit to make my man mad,” however that is simply in my head as a result of I’ve to make all these shortform content material movies the place that is taking part in, and it simply by no means leaves my head. So I suppose which means it is working.
You submit quite a lot of these movies the place you dance to your songs. When did you begin making these?
I am signed to a label and so they’re telling me, “Make content material, make TikToks, make Reels, make movies, do one thing.” And mainly this man known as me and sort of threatened me. He is like, “Oh, properly in case you do not wish to do TikToks, then you may all the time go get a 9-to-5 and determine issues out.”
So it was actually like a passive aggressive video of me on the park attempting to only hear, and that is how it began. I used to be simply saying, like, “Oh, my workforce is forcing me to do that.” I did not even know what I used to be doing. I used to be climbing up the scaffolding, giving an ice cream to a homeless man. I do not fucking know. I used to be similar to, “OK, if y’all want TikToks and my life is in jeopardy, then I will simply do it.”
In quite a lot of these movies, it seems such as you’re holding again a smile. Like you already know it is sort of a foolish or ridiculous factor to be doing…
I am truly not. I used to be not about to smile. In all of these, I am mad as fuck. I hate doing that. I imply, I prefer it. I just like the outcomes of it, however it may be very tedious and irritating and dystopian, too, to be like, “Hey, are you able to maintain your cellphone up and document movies of me in the midst of the fucking avenue?” After which I’ve to take a look at myself and it is similar to, “No, not like that.” I do not know, I simply need it to look excellent. That is the place I get these poses and every thing. I am simply, like, being… woman.
I really feel like they have labored in some methods. Like, SZA reposted one in all your movies, and other people have discovered your music by them. What was your response to SZA sharing your video? Have you ever spoken along with her?
I have never spoken along with her, however that was superior. I used to be pleased.
When was the primary second you realized individuals have been paying consideration and also you have been choosing up traction?
In all probability now. After the field, now individuals are paying consideration. Or perhaps it is the album. I simply all the time really feel like that. Like, “Oh, it is working.” All the things’s nice.
Why do you assume individuals are gravitating to your music?
I truthfully do not fucking know. I suppose it is simply the time put in. I actually give every thing that I’m to the music and the artwork and expression. Each single day once I get up, it is crucial factor. I really feel like while you’re an artist, you could be curated in each selection you make, day-after-day, on a regular basis. So I am continuously attempting to try this, in order that it will possibly assist any individual.
What’s completely different about your new album Elite Vessel, in comparison with the entire different initiatives you place out earlier than it?
That is my first label album, and it was completely different as a result of I had extra sources and I lastly acquired to have some fruition in spite of everything of these albums that you simply’re speaking about. And I actually felt like every thing would possibly work out.
Was there extra stress, too?
Yeah, there was extra stress, however I will eat that shit. I will take it to the face. I do not care.
How was your life completely different this time round?
I am on a schedule now. I dwell on a grid. Additionally, there’s all the time fucking cameras on me on a regular basis. It is fucking with my mind, however in a great way.
Certainly one of my favourite songs is “Stacy’s Chips.” When did you write that? The place did that come from?
I wrote that in LA, and me and my supervisor had simply began to get to know one another. So she needed to do the rider, and I used to be vegan, so she would simply put Stacy’s Chips and Sabra hummus. After working all day, I’d get again to the lodge and there would simply be fucking Stacy’s Chips, dry as hell. So I used to be within the studio and that is it: “I hate all this shit.” Like, oh my God, these things, man… [Slowly exhales.] What a blessing. What a blessing. [Laughs.]
One other favourite of mine is “Your self.” What is the story behind that tune?
The solar was setting within the studio and I used to be simply speaking about any individual that I used to be with. It is like a projection. I solely care about myself. I solely fucking take into consideration myself. And he solely thinks about himself. That is what everyone does. It is solely pure.
On the finish of the primary verse on that tune, you say, “I used to have a pair issues, however threw ’em within the trash. The time is up, your child acquired a mustache.” What does that imply?
All the things that you simply’re enthusiastic about and every thing you need, you get it. After which it turns into nothing. So there’s actually no level. That is simply what life is. It is simply garments and footwear after which it is nugatory. Even when it was one thing tremendous costly, what the fuck are you going to do with that? You realize what I imply?
After which “the time’s up, your child acquired a mustache”? Shit is simply passing quick. I just like the visible of a child, after which a mustache. Growth. That is a grown man. That is it. That is how briskly it occurs.
I additionally love “I Simply Cannot Be Alone” with Billy Lemos. How did that tune come collectively?
Once more, I used to be with any individual, however I used to be similar to… I simply cannot be alone! I am simply all lusty and sick of being cuffed. I imply, I broke up with that particular person and I have never accomplished something. I have never been with anyone. So I can be alone. I am alone.
You will have a signature look along with your eyeliner. When did you begin doing that?
Once I was like 10 or 11, I’d go on Omegle and placed on a bunch of eyeliner on, and other people could be like, “What the fuck? Are you emo, bitch?” [Laughs.] And I simply saved on placing it on. I’d go on there and I’d twerk for grown ass males.
Has the eyeliner modified since then?
It has gotten so significantly better. It was simply as exaggerated, simply all on the lid. However now it is branched out. It is truly purported to be like wings. They’re birds. It is two birds and so they’re flying and I paint them day-after-day. I really feel like a painter.
Is that this an on a regular basis factor? Or is it simply while you’re doing music stuff?
It is damn-near day-after-day. However yeah, on a break day, I seem like I am from Queens.
What’s your objective as an artist?
I am a prophet. It is simply to create the world inside my head. I don’t know. My objective as an artist? Shit. I do know my objective as an individual…
What’s that?
To get my household up. To be rid of generational curses. And I suppose with the artwork, too, it is simply to assist individuals. It is an act of service. Additionally, simply to make use of my life to the fullest. As a result of yeah, the newborn acquired a mustache. I’ll fucking die anyway. I would as properly do every thing I can, and I do not know easy methods to do the rest. So that is nice.
What’s one thing about your actual life that may shock individuals?
I am on my own on a regular basis. I am tremendous remoted. You’d assume, you already know, rapper, artist… Like what? I be on the membership or some shit? No. I do not do any medicine. I do not drink. I do not do something. I simply stroll.
What is the smartest factor you have ever accomplished?
Spend all my cash. Spend all my financial savings.
What is the dumbest factor you have ever accomplished?
I’ve by no means accomplished something dumb in my life.
What’s one factor you need individuals to learn about you proper now?
I am a virgin.
