Sexxy Red

Every so often, a new artist breaks through the noise of mainstream rap by the sheer undeniable strength of their persona. Sexxy Red is one of those rappers. Stepping into a tradition of unapologetically raunchy rappers like Trina, Jacki-O, City Girls, and Sukihana, Sexxy Red’s videos for “Born By The River” featuring Sukihana and “Pound Town” have become viral favorites due to their over-the-top sexuality and bizarrely relatable down-to-earth nature.

The St. Louis rapper is the definition of a round-the-way girl; her videos are shot at gas stations and on Ocean Drive at South Beach. Like GloRilla and Ice Spice before her, Sexxy Red fills her videos with her friends, presents as almost aggressively regular, and flouts the conventions of big-budget productions. Whereas the rappers of the past embraced a “fake-it-til-you-make-it” ethos, piling on the polish, Sexxy Red just puts on the PSD Hooters set and twerks with her friends in a parking lot. It’s a lot of fun, even if it will probably make your mom cover your eyes in horror.

While this might not seem like a recipe for success — her radio-unfriendly rhymes include tongue-in-cheek lines about the color of one of her orifices — she’s certainly captured Rap Twitter’s attention. Hip-hop heads have been debating her music and image just about every other day, with “Pound Town” trending at various points in the past month, thanks in large part to fellow facial tattoo enthusiast Summer Walker covering the song on her own social media. Other peers like GloRilla have also expressed their appreciation for the song, so it’s probably only a matter of time before it’s a new “song of the summer” — just like Glo’s own “Let’s Go (FNF).” It’s already climbing the charts and the Hot 100 isn’t out of reach.

If Sexxy Red seems like too much, just you wait… if her momentum keeps up, she could end up building an insatiable fanbase for whom her current success is just not enough.