Leikeli47

Leikeli47 Turns A Man Into Her Latest Accessory In Her Blinged-Out ‘LL Cool J’ Video

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Leikeli47 has always played it mysterious and her new video, “LL Cool J,” offers no exceptions to her cryptic demeanor. In fact, the masked rapper doesn’t even appear in the greyscale video, opting to cede the spotlight to a variety of models decked out in glimmering ensembles reflecting the song’s theme: Ladies Love Cool Jewelry. Of course, she could very well be in the video and we’d be unlikely to know — that’s her whole deal, after all.

Lyrically, the song finds Leikeli pursuing a man before turning him into her latest accessory. “And to you silly hoes out here still tryna linger / You can’t find him, ’cause I got him wrapped around my finger,” she boasts. The effect is something like that of a gritty appreciation song, similar to MC Lyte’s 1993 hit single “Ruffneck.” It’s a departure from the sort of independent woman or gold digger anthems that have proliferated over the last couple of years, and it’s pretty refreshing, representing a more accessible sound from the usually dance-centric Leikeli47.

The new track is set to appear on LK47’s upcoming album, Shape Up, from which she previously shared the singles “BITM” and “Chitty Bang.” It’ll be her first new album since 2018’s Acrylic, and is due on April 15 via Hardcover and RCA.

Watch Leikeli47’s “LL Cool J” video above.

Leikeli47 Announces Her New Album ‘Shape Up’ And Releases The Assertive Single ‘BITM’

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Masked Brooklyn-native rapper Leikeli47 is showing off her love for New York in the video for her new single “BITM,” which comes from her just-announced album Shape Up out this spring. It’s her third LP overall but will serve as the finale to her trilogy, following 2017’s Wash Set and 2018’s Acrylic.

The song has a daunting, pulsating beat and assertive, whisper-like vocals as she repeats the confident hook, “B*tch, I’m the man.” The eerie atmosphere is full of echoes and reverberations, and the bridge features a kind of chant about rent being due. It’s idiosyncratic and hypnotic, like her previous single “Chitty Bang,” which was released earlier this year after being on the Madden ’22 soundtrack and then mysteriously disappearing late last year. It has been confirmed as a track on this new album. Earlier in the pandemic, she also unleashed the aptly-titled “Zoom,” whose creative video borrowed its aesthetic from the 16-bit video games of yesteryear, featuring an animated version of Leikeli.

Watch the video for “BITM” above, which features footage from a recent performance of hers at a sold-out show at Elsewhere. Find the album artwork for Shape Up below.

Leikeli47 Shape Up
Leikeli47

Shape Up is out 4/14 via Hardcover/RCA Records.

Leikeli47 Goes HAM On ‘Chitty Bang,’ Her First New Song In A Year And A Half

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Back in August, the subject of a Reddit thread read “Does anyone know where I can find the Leikeli47 song from the Madden 22 soundtrack online?” The mysterious banger from the Madden ’22 soundtrack indeed was nowhere to be found. “I believe it’s called ‘Chitty Bang’…..Song f*cking slaps but I can’t find it anywhere…Anyone knows whats up???” another user commented. Today, we finally have an answer for these patient hip-hop loving gamers.

For the first time in a year and a half, the masked Brooklyn rapper has officially released new music, in the form of the stone cold banger, “Chitty Bang.” Leikeli47 has always flashed a dynamic style, whether it’d be on the big horns of “Tic Boom,” the swing and bounce of “2nd Fiddle” or the dancehall charm of the uplifting “Hoyt & Schermerhorn.” But much like on 2020’s “Zoom,” Leikeli just comes to getcha on “Chitty Bang.” She attacks the hook over a totally massive bass line and spits heat on a verse with a fierce cadence akin to Cardi B:

“I see them hoes keep trying
Professional imitators
Ref, where’s the flag?
Now you’re making me mad
When 47 get that
B*tch you betta get back”

No word yet on whether “Chitty Bang” will end up on the follow-up album to 2018’s excellent Acryclic, but a press release for the new jam advised us to “stay tuned for more new music from Leikeli47.”