Mykki Blanco helped make rap a more exciting place with their debut 10 years ago — everything about them, from style to sound to presence forced hip-hop fans to reconfigure what truly rebellious art looked like, and whether or not they could handle it. It's been five years since Mykki's self-titled project, and 2020 saw the release of one song "You Will Find It" featuring FaltyDL and Devendra Banhart.
This year is the start of Mykki season in earnest: we can expect two full-length projects released on Mykki's new label Transgressive Records, and one of the new songs "Free Ride" drops today with a video directed by Hannah Rosselin. The gospel-tinged bop of the track, co-produced by FaltyDL and Hudson Mohawke, gets a corresponding video depicting some kind of baby-focussed celebration (christening? Baptism? Who knows, but the reception looks like a lot of fun)
Blanco discussed the inspirations behind the song in a press statement: "Some of the most intimate moments and conversations I have ever shared were with my mother on long drives in the Southern countryside when I was a teenager. The music that soundtracked these memories on our daily journeys was the stuff of my mother’s generation. I would find myself daydreaming, reflecting, and envisioning the kind of life I would like to create for myself. These memories and the music of Luther Vandross were the first inspirations behind the creation of my new song “Free Ride”.
