CHIKA

Episode notes

Photo by Leeor Wild / Courtesy of Warner Records

Next up on Rap Month is viral rap star CHIKA. 

If you’re on the internet, you’ve probably seen CHIKA on your feed. 

CHIKA was about 19 when she went viral for the first time. She shot a video shortly after the 2016 election where she does “whiteface” makeup. The reason? She wanted to comment on the country’s changing political landscape. 

A couple years later, she did a freestyle diss track – the target? Kanye and his support of Donald Trump. The beat? Kanye’s own “Jesus Walks.”

CHIKA is never afraid to keep it real. Her viral videos show that. But viral videos are – maybe not disposable, but definitely ephemeral. And CHIKA is an MC at heart. 

She grew up in Alabama to Nigerian parents who played a lot of music from their home country during her childhood. But as a teen, she’d put on a lot of Outkast, a lot of Wale, and a whole lot of Avril Lavigne.

CHIKA dreamed of being an MC and eventually became one. 

She’s signed to a major label. She’s got a handful of EPs under her belt. And she got a shoutout from Obama. Earlier this summer, she dropped her debut LP: Samson: The Album. 

On Bullseye, CHIKA stops by to chat about her latest project and her journey to making music. Plus, her transition from a social media sensation to MC in the midst of a global pandemic.