Katie Got Bandz, née Kiara Johnson, an 18-year-old rapper from Bronzeville, a neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago. "I Need a Hitta," which dropped last October, has been Katie's biggest hit so far and captures the lo-fi energy and indelible catchiness of the best of Chicago drill.
She says her favorite rapper is Waka Flocka Flame ("He can rap about anything and everybody's gonna rock with it in the club"), which makes sense given Chicago's Waka Flocka-influenced sound. Katie has been recently dropping mixtape worthy freestyles on the MyMixtapez app.
Katie Got Bandz
Taliyah Smith a.k.a. Lee Mazin started making waves with her Lovelee mixtape, which she followed up with last year’s In My Own Lane. Her efforts behind the mic garnered her back-to-back wins for “Female Artist of the Year” at the Philadelphia Hip-Hop Awards (2011 and 2012). She’s OPENED for some of the biggest names in rap, including Talib Kweli, DMX and Young Jeezy, and now has become the first female rapper signed to Meek Mill’s Dream Chasers Records.
Lee Mazin