It was less than a year ago that a young rapper who grew up in St. Louis dropped her first single and saw her entire life change. The catchy rap track "Bing Bong" went viral on TikTok and, in a short period of time, labels were circling, rising star rapper Sexyy Red was collaborating with her on a remix and the artist — who calls herself BlakeIANA, a variation on her real first name, Blake — was performing in arenas.
BlakeIANA released the track in March 2023 and it quickly blew up on TikTok, earning millions of views. However, it wasn't until September, when fellow St. Louis native Sexyy Red collaborated on a remix of the track, that Blake-IANA's career rocketed to the next level almost overnight.
"The remix brought another crowd and exposure to the song," BlakeIANA recalls. "Having Sexyy Red on the song and the fact that we are both from St. Louis is attracting more people. They know Sexyy Red is from St. Louis, and now there's another girl called BlakeIANA!"
BlakeIANA grew up near Union and Lotus avenues ("westside babyy," she jokes over email). Her answer to the high school question is McCluer North, and before "Bing Bong," she worked at Foxworth Hair Works off Natural Bridge and Goodfellow, a hair salon owned by her godmother.
While the 23-year-old was certain she'd become famous, she thought it would be through modeling.
"I never thought I would do music, but I was so in love with music," she says. "I knew I was going to be big and be some type of entertainer, but rapping? I never thought that!"
It all changed when BlakeIANA went to Atlanta for a friend's birthday and decided to visit the Trap Music Museum. The museum had a recording studio, and she and her cousin were invited to freestyle and record a track. The rest is history.
"It made me feel that I wanted to be a rapper," she says. "I liked the process of making a song and expressing feelings." She adds, "I was always just around people that did music so it grew on me to be involved in the music industry."
A huge milestone in the young rapper's career came in November when multi-Grammy Award-winning producer Murda Beatz announced BlakeIANA as his first signing in partnership with 300 Entertainment. The Canadian producer has worked with some of the biggest names in the industry from Drake to Travis Scott to Nicki Minaj. He saw something special in the St. Louis rapper.
He says, "From the moment I saw her on TikTok, I knew she was a star and had star presence."
BlakeIANA recently dropped her first Murda Beatz-produced single, "Gahdamn," and she describes the recording process as an exciting challenge as she had to step out of her comfort zone.
"I was a free spirit [in the studio] and I came up with the song by just being open. 'Bing Bong' was a certain sound, but I'm so used to that now, so I wanted to step out of my comfort zone and try something new and make it easy and fun," she says.
BlakeIANA says she tries not to think too much about her recent success.
"I try to allow myself to live in the moment," she says. "[Sometimes] I think, 'Damn, this is really happening to me,' but I try to live in the moment so I can enjoy it more. I don't want to think about it too much because I can get nervous or it can throw me out. It's crazy how everything is starting to unravel so fast with only doing music for a year!"
One of the highlights of BlakeIANA's breakout year was getting the opportunity to perform in front of her hometown crowd at the Chaifetz Arena not once, but twice — first during Moneybagg Yo's show in August and then with Sexyy Red in October.
She's recently performed in various cities across the country with Sexyy Red. She admits that she was "nervous" leading up to these shows. However, she says performing in St. Louis brought a "different type of comfort" unlike anywhere else.
"My city knows our song and they were singing it and there was real crowd engagement," BlakeIANA says. "I had so much fun, and I appreciate Sexyy Red for bringing me out. That was needed for our city and the city wanted to see it too."
St. Louis is enjoying a hot streak with rappers breaking through, with the likes of Big Boss Vette, Sexyy Red and Smino hailing from the city. BlakeIANA looks to be the next big name, and she hopes to use her fame to shine a spotlight on the city and its culture.
"This [success] draws people into wanting to know more about St. Louis," BlakeIANA says. "That's where I'm at in my career, I want to expose people to what my city is like because people don't really know! The last big act was Nelly, then it was Sexyy Red and now it's me and Big Boss Vette.
"I get the chance to show my version of my city and how I grew up. It's always interesting to know where somebody comes from or why they talk the way they do or why they dress and act in a certain way. Even though we are small, we got stuff going on in St. Louis."
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