I feel like I’ve written these words a lot over the past few months, but Flyana Boss is absolutely everywhere lately. They’ve run through the offices of Atlantic Records, Barclay Center, Complex, Google, and TikTok while performing their viral hit “You Wish.” So you know they had to stop by Uproxx Studios. While they didn’t do their traditional run through, they did jump in front of the famous graffiti wall for an UPROXX Sessions performance of “You Wish” that shows off their undeniable chemistry and charm.
The performance has a timely debut, too, as the dynamic duo just shared their new remix of “You Wish” featuring Atlanta it-girl Kaliii and the pioneer left-field rap queen, Missy Elliott. With brand-new verses from both Folayan and Bobbi, it’s worth checking out — make it a double feature with their UPROXX Sessions performance above.
In Uproxx’s recent interview with Flyana Boss, the quirky duo talked about their unique visual flair, which includes brightly colored hair, bleached eyebrows, and Folayan’s elf ears. “We just feel like we have a lot of quirks,” she said. “We don’t necessarily fit the archetype that’s being painted in mainstream media of what Black girls are or who Black girls are.” Bobbi echoed that sentiment, saying, “Blackness in general is not a monolith at all. We come in all different shapes and sizes just like any other group. But it does seem like sometimes, especially for Black women, it’s an even narrower viewpoint that you get. So we want to represent everything outside of that narrow box.”
Flyana Boss is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
At one point Missy Elliottwas defending Flyana Boss and their repetitive style to their music videos. Now, it is a full circle moment for the rap duo heralding from Detroit and Dallas. The exciting and energetic pairing grabbed arguably the best female rapper of all time along with the up-and-coming Kaliii for a remix to a popular cut. Flyana Boss‘s viral track “You Wish” sees them redo an already fun listen and adds more entertaining voices to the mix.
The heavy piano keys and trap-like beat are provided by Puda Beats and Marky Style. It is a fast-paced instrumental that matches the quick flows from the original version. However, the new edition starts with Kaliii’s verse, not the duo’s. But the new feature verse from the BarbieThe Album artist is more than a welcome addition.
Listen To “You Wish (Remix)” From Flyana Boss, Missy Elliott, And Kaliii
Then, Missy dominates the beat as well. Some of her fun and witty bars can be found below. What is also nice is that Flyana Boss decided to record new lyrics for their remix. Now, it all comes down to if fans think the new verses were worth plugging into the already fan-favorite single.
What are your initial thoughts on this brand new track, “You Wish (Remix),” from Flyana Boss, Missy Elliott, and Kaliii? Who has the best performance on this single? Do you prefer this remake or the original better? We want to hear what you have to say about all of this. With all of that in mind, be sure to leave all of your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below. Additionally, always keep it locked in with HNHH for all of the hottest song releases, as well as all of the latest breaking news around the music world.
Quotable Lyrics:
Hit the box, still rock on any block When you see my car parked, all eyes on me like Tupac On the charts, I just hopscotch, I got many bops Who wanna do versus with me? Thought not
For months, Flyana Boss‘ breakout hit “You Wish” has dominated social media feeds while showing off all the brand deals that they’ve been swimming in. But just when it seemed like the hit had run its course — literally — the self-proclaimed “weird Black girl” duo finds their second wind, taking a victory lap with a remix featuring both a peer in fellow Atlanta hitmaker Kaliii and the original weird Black girl, Missy Elliott.
All four women hit their stride early on the new track, with Kaliii sneering at accusations of one-hit-wonderism, Folayan wondering “what we runnin’ from?” and Bobbi comparing herself to Erykah Badu because she keeps a bag (a reference to Badu’s single “Bag Lady”) and it’s “on and on” (a reference to… well… “On & On”). But then Missy takes the baton to run anchor and reminds the world why she’s in the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame.
Flyana Boss’ breakout moment clearly still has legs — and those legs have all the potential to carry the Dallas-and-Detroit duo to the top. You can catch them live on Janelle Monáe’s The Age Of Pleasure Tour> and check out the remix of “You Wish” above.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Janelle Monáe’s The Age Of Pleasure Tour kicks off later this month, and today, the non-binary icon revealed the tour’s openers. In addition to Monáe’s longtime collaborator Jidenna, the tour will also receive support from viral breakouts Flyana Boss, Chicago singer-songwriter Dreamer Isioma, and rapper/producer Nana Kwabena. Anticipation for the tour is high thanks to the hedonistic, NSFW rollout for The Age Of Pleasure, so each of these acts will certainly benefit from the extra exposure.
Monáe embraced a different kind of exposure as they prepared to release their well-received candidate album of the summer, showing off plenty of skin the videos for songs like “Lipstick Lover” and “Water Slide.” They attributed their newfound tendency to get their kit off to being “much happier when my titties are out,” which certainly ruffled feathers in certain corners of the internet. However, Janelle received support from fellow musicians like Cardi B, who posted an NSFW tweet of her own in response, SZA, who offered a message of approval, and Jason Isbell, who registered his confusion that there’d be any backlash in the first place. In any case, none of the criticism has slowed the singer, who lived up to her promise that you cannot police her by flashing the audience at Essence Fest.
Check out the dates for The Age Of Pleasure Tour below.
08/30 – Seattle, WA @ WAMU Theater
08/31 – Vancouver, BC @ UBC – Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre
09/02 – Portland, OR @ RV Inn Style Resorts Amphitheater
09/06 – Salt Lake City, UT @ The Complex
09/07 – Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre
09/09 – Kansas City, MO @ The Midland Theatre
09/11 – Minneapolis, MN @ Armory
09/13 – St. Louis, MO @ Stifel Theatre
09/14 – Chicago, IL @ Byline Bank Aragon Ballroom
09/17 – Boston, MA @ MGM Music Hall at Fenway
09/18 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Met
09/20 – Montreal, QB @ Mtelus
09/21 – Toronto, ON @ Massey Hall
09/24 – Washington, DC @ The Anthem*
09/26 – New York City, NY @ Radio City Music Hall
09/28 – Brooklyn, NY @ Kings Theatre
10/02 – Charlotte, NC @ Skyla Credit Union Amphitheatre
10/03 – Nashville, TN @ Ryman Auditorium
10/04 – Birmingham, AL @ Avondale Brewing Company
10/06 – Atlanta, GA @ Fox Theatre Atlanta
10/09 – Dallas, TX @ The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory
10/10 – Houston, TX @ Bayou Music Center
10/11 – Austin, TX @ Moody Amphitheater
10/15 – Phoenix, AZ @ Arizona Financial Theatre
10/17 – San Francisco, CA @ Bill Graham Civic Auditorium
10/18 – Inglewood, CA @ YouTube Theater
While a lot of the ongoing celebrations of the 50th anniversary of hip-hop have focused on where hip-hop has been, it doesn’t make much sense to focus only on the past. No Hip-Hop 50 celebration should be considered complete without taking a look at where hip-hop is going.
As The Notorious B.I.G. once pointed out, no one could have seen where rap music and hip-hop culture would have ended up at the outset, but in the same vein, even he couldn’t have seen how things would turn out 30 years after he recorded “Juicy.”
That makes it a fun and unique challenge – it’s impossible to predict where hip-hop could be in another five years, let alone fifty. Still, if these young rising stars have anything to say about it, the genre should be in great hands.
Here are 10 rising rappers who have the potential to dictate what hip-hop could look like in the future.
Cash Cobain
Rap fans have often been ambivalent about embracing the avant garde. For every Young Thug who blows up, there are a dozen rappers with squeaky or slurred voices who never gain traction among hip-hop heads, who can be as fickle as they are loyal. But when they do decide that they love a new artist with an original ken, they can be as devoted as they once were skeptical.
Cash Cobain is one of those artists who has a chance to go either way. The self-declared “sample God” of New York drill, the Queens native has a flow that is slippery in ways we haven’t heard from trap rappers who have earned the same descriptor. His unabashed pillaging of millennial R&B hits certainly makes him more likely to earn fans than foes, and even if he never hits it big in the traditional sense, his style is guaranteed to influence someone who does.
Central Cee
As much as stateside rap heads have held the UK’s grime and drill artists at an arm’s length in the past, that reticence to embrace hip-hop’s extended family from across the pond has slowly eroded in recent years. Part of this may be due to the clever backdoor those cousins have utilized; drill production, which originated in London’s underground rave scene, is now a familiar fixture on the streets of New York.
Be that as it may, Central Cee doesn’t water down or hide his Shepherd’s Bush, London origins or influences. And while he hasn’t crossed over to US radio, those in the know have accepted him as the future of the British rap regime. It helps that he’s closely associated with a prior favorite in Dave, with whom he collaborated on an EP, Split Decision, earlier this year. It was well received, with its single “Sprinter” peaking at No. 1 on the UK charts. And just in case there was any doubt about his viability with a Yankee audience, he’s got that coveted Drake co-sign via his “On The Radar” featuring The Boy himself.
Chris Patrick
An indie rapper who doesn’t sound like an indie rapper, East Orange, New Jersey’s Chris Patrick has gained a small but extremely vocal following blending the sort of cerebral rhymes commonly associated with artists on the independent scene with thumping, anthemic beats that wouldn’t sound out-of-place in a crowded club or blasting out of car stereos on a sweltering summer day.
Patrick’s 2022 album X-Files is much like its namesake; it started out a cult favorite, but now, a wider audience is curious to see what all the fuss is about. Patrick’s next project will undoubtedly have a larger impact, proving that there are more directions that independent rappers can still go.
Flyana Boss
In Uproxx’s profile of the viral sensation rap duo, group member Bobbi LaNea asserted that they are “paying tribute to what hip-hop truly is.” Their clever use of nursery rhymes in their lyrics harkens back to Run-DMC’s use of the old “Peter Piper” tongue twister, and Flyana’s back-and-forth flow recalls the intricate routines employed by classic pioneers like the Furious Five and Beastie Boys.
Though Flyana Boss burst onto our timelines with the splashy social smash “Miss Me,” they are no one-hit wonders. They have a solid discography that proves that the well of ideas runs deep – but past that, their lasting legacy will be kicking open the door for future “weird Black girls” to express themselves through hip-hop in unconventional ways. Whether that’s wearing elf ears, name-checking Kanekalon, or just being willing to cause a commotion in the local convenience store, there’s value in what they’ve already done.
Kenny Mason
Rap and rock go hand-in-hand. From “Walk This Way” to Collision Course, the shared rebellious spirit of the two in-your-face genres has made magic throughout the past five decades. And sure, there have been some missteps – nu-metal, anyone? – but in recent years, the covalent bond between rap and rock has generated some truly compelling combinations courtesy of acts like Rico Nasty and Trippie Redd.
Kenny Mason’s music, on the surface, seems to stem from that tradition, but shot through with an undercurrent of indie sleaze – the sort of shoegaze-y, fuzzed-out rock that took over pop culture throughout the late aughts. Mason is equally comfortable collaborating with festival rap faves like Denzel Curry and JID as he is imbuing his output with the alt-rock vibes of My Bloody Valentine and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
LaRussell
There’s been a lot of talk lately about how crowded and repetitive festival lineups have gotten. With so many events in the space and only so many rappers around with the sorts of followings that justify their placement, it stands to reason that a lot of the same names have been popping up on many different rosters.
LaRussell, who hails from Vallejo (just like fellow indie rap pioneer E-40), could easily be a standout of one of those lineups. Instead, he’s more likely to pull up in your neighbor’s backyard to play a show for a few dozen folks at a time. His backyard tour concept is just one of the innovative spins he’s putting on the independent rap hustle. He’s kept up a steady stream of self-released projects and singles, punctuated by semi-regular appearances on your favorite radio freestyle shows. He’s perking up a lot of eyes and ears, proving that there are alternatives to same-old-same.
Lady London
If you’ve ever found yourself complaining about the prevalence of so-called “pussy rap” among today’s flourishing cadre of female rappers… Well, first of all, stick a sock in it. That complaint’s old, dusty, dried-up, and overdone, in addition to being terminally untrue. Today’s buffet of talents offers such a wide range of voices and styles that whining about a bare handful of modern rap artists – especially when they’re nothing compared to some of the genre’s pioneers – is a waste of your own time, in addition to being pretty annoying to everybody else.
But, it also makes it obvious that you haven’t been looking for alternatives like Lady London, who has recently received co-signs from the likes of Ciara, who tapped her for the remix of “Da Girls” with Lola Brooke. She’s exactly the sort of lyrics-focused MC that critics of female rappers say they want, and she’s only getting more popular by the day. She’s the proof that there are plenty of bars-first women in rap, and she’s kicking open the door for more to follow.
Luh Tyler
He’s been called the coolest teen in hip-hop, but Tyler’s success portends something larger. For years, hip-hop was all about cool; rappers exaggerated their fashion sensibilities, material possessions, and successes with the opposite sex first and foremost. Somewhere along the way, it became more important to have a good story; “keeping it real” was paramount, but only so long as “keeping it real” meant “keeping it gangsta” or baring some gut-wrenching trauma.
Luh Tyler is too busy talking to girls and telling you about his income for all that. And while that’s not exactly new, the way he does it, with laid-back panache and subtly clever lyricism, is refreshing. He doesn’t try to impress you, so he does. With that as his calling card, he’s helping swing the pendulum back the other way. Think of him as a Larry June for the zoomer set.
Ray Vaughn
For a decade, Top Dawg Entertainment felt like the premier hip-hop label thanks to its core artists, which included Ab-Soul, Jay Rock, Schoolboy Q, and of course, Kendrick Lamar. But lately, that core has been less visible than ever as it feels a little bit like Jay and Q have lost interest in music and Kendrick has moved on from the label. Sure, the remaining members are still working on new music, but it’s been a long time coming, and the label could use some fresh blood to energize the buzz around itself.
Enter Long Beach’s Ray Vaughn, who brings a level of passion and hunger to the same sort of street-centric, philosophical music the original TDE roster was known for. But while they were enamored of lo-fi, moody production that highlighted the heady material, Vaughn emphasizes energetic street bangers – exactly the sort of sounds needed to revitalize and anchor TDE as it enters its new era with a fresh cast including Doechii, Zacari, and Reason.
Yes, “FreakyT,” the breakout single from North Carolina rapper TiaCorine, is representative of the Winston-Salem native’s talents. But that’s not all she has to offer. Thanks to a colorful presentation – like a lot of today’s young talents, she counts anime as foundational to her artistic identity – she’s got an eye-catching style that makes her impossible to overlook. But past that, she’s got a wide variety of approaches, as demonstrated on her 2022 mixtape I Can’t Wait.
The diversity of style she embraces is very emblematic of her generation. From the video game-glitch-hop to pop rock to dreamy pop, she’s willing to try anything – and she sounds great doing it. There will soon be more artists like TiaCorine than not, as hip-hop kids continue to embrace the breadth of popular culture and weird internet movements, incorporating them into rap standards and transforming both sides of the equation.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
If you’re out in public and notice a pair of colorfully-clad Black girls just take off running while rapping about synonyms, Kanekalon, and cinnamon, don’t panic. That’s probably just Flyana Boss, the rising new rap duo currently taking over timelines with an endless supply of video clips promoting their ultra-viral June single, “You Wish.”
When I say “taking over,” I mean it. The group’s videos, in which they run toward the camera while rapping their cheeky lyrics, are bound to appear on nearly every social media platform’s endless scroll with enough swiping. And, given every platform has adopted some version of TikTok’s signature move, that’s a lot of engagement for the quirky duo. The places they’ve taken over include a grocery store, the Happiest Place on Earth, and even the headquarters of Google and TikTok.
Now, they’re facing down the bog standard accusations of being “industry plants” — they’ve been signed since 2019, but are only just now gaining traction despite what they call some “baby viral” moments. Obviously, it takes a while to catch on, and once you do, the haters are bound to come calling.
But what struck me about the duo — which consists of two best friends, Folayan Kunerede of Dallas (she’s the one with bleached eyebrows usually wearing elf ears) and Bobbi LaNea (swimmin’ in deals like Michael Phelps) from Detroit — is just how keyed-in they appear to be with not only the youth zeitgeist, but also the true spirit of old-school hip-hop.
During a Zoom interview with Flyana Boss, I mention how their creative incorporation of nursery rhymes harkens back to a simpler time, echoing the back-and-forth rhymes of groups like Run-DMC or Beastie Boys. They note in return that it’s all intentional. With the 50th anniversary of hip-hop coming up, their sudden glow-up appears to be very much right on time.
Throughout our interview, it’s clear that their friendship is no gimmick or label-forged connection. These two genuinely enjoy each other, bouncing off each other’s energy for a fun, kinetic conversation that covers everything from viral fame to anime. For a pair of self-declared “weird Black girls” who insist they’re introverts, they prove as captivating in conversation as their viral videos.
How do people react when you just take off running in these public places?
Folayan: So we’re in the mode, so we don’t really pay attention.
Bobbi: We’re laser vision.
Folayan: But we notice that people usually move out of our way. That’s one. Smile or…
Bobbi: And every now and then it’s like, “Stop running.”
Has anyone recognized you before you started running and been like, “It’s those girls, it’s those girls?”
Bobbi: Yes, absolutely.
Folayan: So every time we run, we at least get three people come up to us either before or after, during, whatever, just to say, “Oh my God, I love you guys.”
Bobbi: Or “Y’all about to run? Are y’all about to run?” And we’re like, “Yeah.”
Folayan: You’ll be like, “You want to be in the video?”
The thing that really caught my attention when I started seeing you guys over and over again was the look. I think that people are attracted to the look of the group, particularly the elf ears. You look like you escaped from Anime Expo and you’re trying to get away as hard as you can. What inspires the look behind you guys’ elf ears, bleached eyebrows?
Folayan: Yeah, exactly. I love anime.
Bobbi: She’s an anime queen.
Folayan: We also just love the beauty supply.
Bobbi: Beauty supply stores, seeing new packs of hair, seeing new accessories. So it’s just whatever we’re feeling at that time.
Folayan: But we’ve always decorated ourselves throughout our whole entire lives.
Bobbi: And it’s an important expression for both of us.
Folayan: Especially being from African descent, decorating yourself, it’s been a part of our culture for centuries. We just add colors in it and stuff.
Bobbi: We just modernize.
I actually asked this cousin of mine who I love dearly with all my heart, what questions she would ask you guys. Because she thinks you guys are the best. She wants to know what kind of nerdy stuff you guys are into, and if you are, what fictional world would you want to run through for “You Wish?”
Bobbi: That’s a good question. She is really more traditionally nerdy than I am. I nerd out over Motown documentaries and stuff like that.
Folayan: But she’s a pop history nerd.
Bobbi: I nerd out on music stats and facts.
Folayan: And how people developed their careers. And she can tell you stories about Marilyn Monroe.
Bobbi: Everyone. So that’s what I nerd out. But she is like a traditional… You have traditional nerd things like anime.
Folayan: Or video games. So I think I would want to run through, there’s a video game called League of Legends. So I would want to run through the League of Legends Rift, the world.
Bobbi: I would want to run through Oz, but The Wiz Oz.
After watching both Arcane and The Wiz, both of those are a “no” for me. Flyana Boss is such a cool name. I’m always a big fan of rap names that are puns of real people’s names. Are you allowed to reveal which of you came up with Flyana Boss, and what were some of the rejected names?
Folayan: So Bobbi came up with Flyana Boss. She had a dream, and she woke up and there’s this poster of Diana Ross in her room. And so she was like, “Flyana Boss.” But the other contenders were Double Dare.
Bobbi: Double D, because we’re both from D cities.
Folayan: Halle Berry.
Bobbi: Just Halle Berry. Right out, no pun.
That just would have been confusing!
Bobbi: Do you remember? I think I wrote down Flower Power or something like that too. Wow. I had this notebook when I was by myself writing out these names and seeing how they looked.
Folayan: You probably still have it.
Bobbi: I probably have it somewhere. But I woke up from this slumber after we were brainstorming all day, and then I was like, “Diana Ross. Flyana Boss.” And it just came to me. And I texted her right away. I was like, “What do you think of Flyana Boss?”
Folayan: I was like, “Love it.” She actually said Cryana Boss or Flyana Boss, because we’re emotional beings. But we were like, “Let’s go on the positive side and let’s go Flyana Boss.”
So while “You Wish” is the one that’s getting a lot of attention, I did go back and scan through the discography proper. There’s this one called “Miss Me” that I thought was really, really fun. Can you tell me a little bit more about that one?
Bobbi: We wrote it during Covid.
Folayan: My brother produced it alongside with our executive producer, Marky Style. And it’s just a silly fun song. I love Shrek. So there’s a part in Shrek where they’re like, “They’ll grind his bones to make your bread.”
Bobbi: No, there’s so many good lines in there.
Folayan: So we were just like, “Let’s go fairytale. Let’s go just bad bitch fairytale.”
Bobbi: This is one of the songs, this is our voice memo days. So she pulled the beat up that her brother sent, got on her phone, and rapped, “Fee fi fo fum.” And then she sent it to me. I’m like, “This shit is hard. I need to write another verse right now.” So then that’s how that went.
Folayan: And so this was our first little bubbly moment on social media.
Bobbi: We call it baby viral. That’s when we went baby viral.
It reminded me a lot of the olden days of hip-hop. So you guys probably think I’m old, but I remember when I thought Run-DMC was back in the day. And they used to just rap nursery rhyme stuff. There’s this wholesome back-to-basics approach that you guys are almost supplying.
Folayan: There’s a Run-DMC song, it’s like, “Peter Piper picked a pepper, but Run rapped rhymes…” We love studying the old stuff that’s also very quirky and cool.
Bobbi: And we like paying tribute to what hip-hop truly is. Also, we like making puns too, in references to all these fairytales. We love that because it’s something familiar to the ear.
That’s what I like to hear. I like it when there’s an exchange between the generations rather than, “You kids need to grow up,” and “Well, you old people need to let us live.”
Bobbi: We don’t feel that way about any. We love the old school. We love what people are doing now. I’m sure when we’re old, we’re going to love what the kids are doing. We’re not judgy like that. It’s expression. It’s music. Wow, it’s such a great opportunity to be able to create music in itself. So, anybody who does that, my hat goes off to you.
Folayan: And the hip-hop world is so eclectic and beautiful and silly and fun.
Bobbi: It’s not just one thing.
Folayan: It’s not just serious all the time. It’s a whole world. So we’re happy we can be even a little bit part of it.
So what makes y’all “weird Black girls?”
Folayan: We just feel like we have a lot of quirks. We don’t necessarily fit the archetype that’s being painted in mainstream media of what Black girls are or who Black girls are.
Bobbi: Exactly. Blackness in general is not a monolith at all. We come in all different shapes and sizes just like any other group. But it does seem like sometimes, especially for Black women, it’s an even narrower viewpoint that you get. So we want to represent everything outside of that narrow box.
Folayan: And there’s so many of us everywhere, and I think that’s why it’s taking off right now because there’s so many of us.
Bobbi: Which is what we wanted. We always knew there was an audience out there for us, even though we don’t do stripper rap or gangster rap. We knew there was an audience out there. So every time we see people make a video —
Folayan: It’s so cool.
Bobbi: It’s so exciting because they look like us. They’re weird like us.
If you have spent any time over the past month wondering just WTF Kanekalon is, odds are, you have been exposed to Flyana Boss’s inescapable viral single “You Wish.” At this point, it’d be kind of difficult to be online and not have been; the song, which the self-declared “weird girl” rap duo released two weeks ago, has been going crazy on just about every social media platform courtesy of their distinctive marketing strategy.
To date, Flyana Boss — consisting of best friends Bobbi Lanea of Detroit and Folayan Kunerede of Dallas — has released at least nine lyrics videos for the song in which they are seen running through seemingly random locations such as a grocery store, a local fair, McDonald’s, and, perhaps most infamously, Disney World. The fisheye lens, perfectly-timed long shot, and dynamic angle all make for a striking visual that not only gets the viewer’s attention but also invites them to try it out themselves.
It helps that Flyana Boss is a visually striking duo — pink hair, bleached eyebrows, and elf ears are all parts of the Gen Z, born-online aesthetic, and are not just recognizable but relatable to anyone who delved deeply into Tumblr or other internet subcultures in the past decade or so — and that their lyrics are flippant, fun, and deceptively clever. Think double Doja Cats or Rico Nasty in full sugar trap mode.
Take that reference to Kanekalon. A synthetic fiber developed by the Kaneka corporation, it’s been used to create dreadlock extensions of the variety sported by the rappers of Flyana Boss, connoting an inside joke that would only be caught by folks who come from one of the handful of subcultures that identify with their wear.
Meanwhile, the besties’ sense of fun is palpable through the camera — everything feels organic because you get the sense that they’re just being themselves. Spend an hour on TikTok and you’re likely to see dozens of young people like them: avid fans of Disney, anime, fantasy, and the artifacts of hyper-online pop culture like Vaporwave and the VSCO aesthetic. Their vibe is like a perfect distillation of the chaotic energy younger millennials and Zoomers embrace as par for the course.
They’re showing no signs of slowing down, either. With more “You Wish” videos going viral seemingly by the day, and scores of new fans passionately praising their cheeky, DIY approach, Flyana Boss is going places — including the Happiest Place On Earth.
Flyana Boss is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
If you’ve been scrolling through TikTok, you’ll see that a new duo, Flyana Boss, has been taking over the platform. The 2020 pandemic shifted TikTok’s vision, as it went from a kids’ dancing app to a full-blown global sensation. People use the online outlet to share political views, spark social change, beef with strangers worldwide, join viral trends, and promote their creative endeavors.
Flyana Boss is among the millions of artists hoping to be the next big thing in Hip Hop. Judging from the responses to their releases, they may be on their way. The pair is made up of Detroit’s Bobbi Lanea and Dallas’s Folayan Kunerede, a pair of best friends who are bringing a bright, distinctive flavor to Rap. There was a time in the culture when music groups dominated the charts. Yet, we don’t often see Rap groups standing out in modern times. However, Flyana Boss redefines music’s boundaries, fusing lyricism paired with a catchy Pop twist.
The ladies have been recently promoting their latest release, “You Wish,” with several viral videos on TikTok. It has become a common practice for them as their visibility rapidly increases from one release to the next. Folayan and Bobbi make it seem effortless, but anyone connected to the music industry will attest that organically earning over 550k followers on any social media platform isn’t easy.
Flyana Boss: Different Music Backgrounds
The pair’s introduction to music vastly differed. Folayan comes from a highly musical family that would perform together, especially the siblings. She says she’s been involved with music in one way or another “pretty much my whole life.” Meanwhile, while Bobbi’s family was entrenched in the music they loved, they weren’t performers themselves. Bobbi explains she “had to figure it out all on my own,” and things took a turn when she moved to California to attend music school. It was there that she first met Folayan.
“We were acquaintances, like cool, close acquaintances. We hung out in the same friend groups,” said Bobbi. “It was always good vibes, and we always admired each other, but we’re both very introverted. Because of that, it would be rare where we would ask each other to meet up, even though we loved hanging out and got along so well.” Folayan added, “Every time we would hang out, it’d be so much fun. We’d talk the whole time. It was always so natural and easy, and nothing was ever weird.”
It wasn’t until Folayan packed up and moved to Van Nuys, California, did the ladies reconnect. They were too far from one another, and their growing friendship was taking an artistic turn. Bobbi began playing her music for Folayan, who was impressed with the production. An idea to join forces was expressed, and as they say, the rest is history…in the making.
The two rising stars aren’t just best friends and collaborators but fans of one another. “I’ve always admired Folayan’s music and her vibe,” said Bobbi. “Ever since we first met, I thought, ‘Whoa, this girl’s amazing!’ She was always ahead of her time to me. I always used to do music alone. I used to write, produce, and record all by myself because I felt very nervous about being creative around other people. Folayan alleviated all of that because she believed in me, and she always encouraged me.”
The Power Of Collaboration
Flyana Boss stays committed to crafting music that resonates with listeners profoundly. Their vibrant and unforgettable performances establish them as an act worth watching in Hip Hop. Women have been dominating Rap culture recently, with many amassing success after viral fame. Cardi B was an online star before adding her name to Love & Hip Hop: New York. She proves that social media visibility can result in superstardom if an artist is willing to do the work. Flyana Boss is on their way to trek a similar journey, albeit with their own complementary signature flows.
In a world often tethered by norms and expectations, Flyana Boss dances to their own rhythm. Their goal? To etch their legacy in the hearts and minds of music lovers around the globe. As their journey unfolds, one thing is certain: Flyana Boss is a name you’ll remember, a beat you’ll dance to, and a story you’ll want to follow. As Bobbi asserts, “Yeah, we’re like two chemicals in the periodic table that combust in a good way and belong together. We’re making music together all the time. It’s our lifeline. Flyana Boss is our whole life.”
“You Wish” was released on June 16 and marked Flyana Boss’s most successful release to date. Can their viral visibility translate into a successful music career outside of social media spaces? Only time will tell, but Folayan and Bobbi are on their way up. “It felt heaven sent how everything happened,” Folayan adds. “We’ve been working really hard towards this. It feels like it’s finally happening and we love that!”
