- GOV’T NAME: Layia Watkins
- AGE: 20
- REPPIN’: Philadelphia
- X: @bankerrz
- INSTAGRAM: @laybankz
- TIKTOK: @thelaybankz
- NOTABLE RELEASES: Songs: “Na Na Na,” “Ick,” “Sloppy Seconds (Ick Pt. 2),” “Inform Ur Girlfriend”; EP: Now You See Me ; Undertaking: After 7 ; Visitor Appearances: Ciara’s “Da Women (Dance Combine),” Kyle’s “Woah,” Bandmanrill’s “Piano”
- LABEL: Artist Accomplice Group
- CURRENTLY WORKING ON: Untitled undertaking dropping later this 12 months.
- WHO ELSE SHOULD BE PART OF THIS YEAR’S CLASS: “Karrahbooo. Anycia. I feel each of them are actually gifted. They be on some cool sh*t, and I’ve actually been on that chill music vibe, just lately. The Detroit chill vibe. So, yeah, I feel they need to have made it. I feel they might have killed sh*t.”
- INFLUENCED BY: “Lauryn Hill, if we’re speaking about hip-hop music. Lauryn Hill is simply wonderful. Like, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. I’ve been listening to it for, like, two months straight now, back-to-back. Missy Elliott is simply dope all throughout the board. Her music could be very artsy, and I really feel like I’ve an artsy fashion of music. And, yeah, simply the loopy ad-libs and the loopy sounds after they come on, it’s simply very charming.
Beyoncé ’trigger she’s simply a tremendous performer. She’s a tremendous artist. Simply the event of her profession. I’ve been a Beyoncé fan because the starting of my life. Aaliyah. I feel her fashion and simply how candy of a lady she was, simply very inspirational.”
- AS A FRESHMAN IN HIGH SCHOOL: “I used to be the cool child. I used to be humorous. I used to be quirky. I cherished anime. I nonetheless do love anime. I skateboarded. I used to be in musical theater, and I’ve been a singer. The artsy, enjoyable woman. I used to be simply having enjoyable, experimenting, attempting sh*t and simply being myself.”
TRUTH ON BEING AN XXL FRESHMAN: “I seen me on the pretend checklist and I used to be like, No, no, no. If I made a pretend checklist, I gotta be on an actual checklist. I referred to as my staff and I’m like, ‘Yo, did y’all see this?’ I stated to the group chat and like, ‘Is that this actual?’ They usually’re like, ‘Nicely, no, the checklist is pretend, however you probably did make it this 12 months.’ I’m like, ‘Yo, that’s f**king loopy.’
I began [paying attention to the Freshman Class] in all probability after I was like 12 or 13. Round that point, Lil Uzi Vert and PnB Rock got here out. That class was what actually opened me up. 5 years in the past, I began making music and I began desirous to be a Freshman. In case you’re not a Freshman, what are you doing?
It’s time for me to be in individuals’s faces and present them who I’m together with the music. I feel that everyone has their very own sense of individuality, however mine stands out in my very own method due to what I do. I dance, I sing, I rap, I write. And I’m simply unique with doing it. I freestyle within the sales space, I produce.
[When the cover is released, I’ll] in all probability flip up with my ladies, my household. I gotta flip up with my staff, too, as a result of I wouldn’t be this far with out them. I feel [my fans are] gonna be hyped. You include a glance, you’re taking the image for the duvet, then you definitely do the freestyle. And the freestyle is de facto the build-up second. However I feel the cypher is like, that is how I’m coming. I really feel like that is gonna open the door for the hip-hop world for me. I really feel just like the hip-hop world is aware of me, however after this, they’re gonna actually know me.”—As advised to Bianca Torres
Watch Lay Bankz’s 2024 XXL Freshman Freestyle
Lay Bankz 2024 XXL Freshman freestyle
Lay Bankz is a playful amalgam of what hip-hop appears to be like like in 2024. A assured rapper who sings, dances, and has the type of zeal that results in superstardom. She’s a bit spicy, too; do not sleep on her clap-back sport. And she or he does all of it with that Cheshire Cat-like smile that lights up a room. Whereas TikTok can get a nasty rap for making artists well-liked that do not essentially deserve the acclaim, the 20-year-old Philadelphia native has used the platform to her benefit by showcasing her persona in myriad methods. The songs that obtained her seen—”Left Cheek (Doo Doo Blick),” “Na Na Na” and “Inform Ur Girlfriend”—are filled with the vigorous lyrics and upbeat power that complement her spirit. However she does issues a little bit in a different way for her 2024 XXL Freshman freestyle by bringing her critical facet to gentle.
“These days, it has been rather a lot on my thoughts,” Lay expresses within the video under. “Combating battles inner inside/There be some days I can not discuss to my mother/’Trigger I am coping with so many emotions and actually I am feeling like I ought to unwind/And simply converse on the ideas that I bury, like if I do not make it at the least I used to be attempting.”
The rising rhymer, whose signed to Artist Accomplice Group, places her struggles out within the open. From burying family members to pulling again on unfulfilled goals, Lay retains it actual on what she’s going by means of. “I can not give in, I can not give out/And when the stress caving in, I make some diamonds out of filth/Ghetto angels defending me from sin, however I buried some our bodies and it harm/Have you ever ever been f**ked up, that is the worst/All of the sh*t I am accomplishin’ my first/I used to be doin’ essentially the most to get near my goals and abandonin’ hope ’trigger it do not work.”
She even switches up her movement, giving extra life to her bars: “Dangerous grades now they on to me, metropolis hated me now they all happy with me/And the music stored a smile on me/However the business pretend, they lied to me.”
Lay Bankz takes a web page from considered one of her inspirations with these rhymes. “Lauryn Hill, if we’re speaking about hip-hop music,” she shares of artists she’s influenced by. “Lauryn Hill is simply wonderful. Like, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. I’ve been listening to it for, like, two months straight now, back-to-back. Missy Elliott is simply dope all throughout the board. Her music could be very artsy, and I really feel like I’ve an artsy fashion of music. And, yeah, simply the loopy ad-libs and the loopy sounds after they come on, it’s simply very charming.”
Singers additionally play a component in Lay’s artistry. “Beyoncé ’trigger she’s simply a tremendous performer,” Lay says. “She’s a tremendous artist. Simply the event of her profession. I’ve been a Beyoncé fan because the starting of my life. Aaliyah. I feel her fashion and simply how candy of a lady she was, simply very inspirational.”
However do not get it twisted; she’s doing all of it in her personal method. “It is time for me to be in individuals’s faces and present them who I’m together with the music,” she maintains. “I feel that everyone has their very own sense of individuality, however mine stands out in my very own method due to what I do. I dance, I sing, I rap, I write. And I am simply unique with doing it. I freestyle within the sales space, I produce.”
Lay’s movement is simple. After tracks like “Na Na Na” and “Ick” introduced her additional recognition in 2023, the work she had been placing in ever since she first began rapping at 10 years previous was paying off. Hundreds of thousands of streams, viral dances, the Now You See Me EP and After 7 undertaking have led as much as this second.
See Lay Bankz make diamonds out of filth in her 2024 XXL Freshman freestyle.—Georgette Cline
Watch Lay Bankz’s 2024 XXL Freshman Freestyle
Watch Lay Bankz’s 2024 XXL Freshman ABCs
Watch the 2024 XXL Freshman Class Revealed
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