Biography
New York lesbian rapper Genuwine Beauty ranks among the earliest openly transgender figures in hip-hop to edge toward wider recognition. Born Kenyatta Brown in Westwood, New Jersey during the late 1980s, she relocated at age twelve to Virginia Beach, Virginia. There she developed an early passion for music and, by fifteen, assembled a rap group alongside her four brothers. Prior to transitioning she performed under the name Reason Allah; after moving to Atlanta she briefly recorded as Genuwine Brown, then settled on Genuwine Beauty. A short stint with the independent T.E.N. (Trans Entertainment Network) label preceded her arrival in New York City, where she established Lolipopguildgangent to support her own work and that of fellow trans artists. Her recordings feature raw, grimy trap beats captured at Swatts Studios for thirty dollars an hour, with muffled, slurred vocals submerged in the mix, marking them as firmly underground. Tracks such as the buzzy “Anita Baker” and the explicit “Eat Me Out” drew listeners within the LGBT community while also attracting attention from mainstream hip-hop outlets that spotlighted several songs. The 2019 EPs Trap Goddess and A Female Called Love Jones preceded the early-2020 single “Sin City.”
Albums
