Melii

Assertive as a rapper, singer, and songwriter, Melii first gained notable commercial traction through a bilingual reworking of Cardi B’s “Bodak Yellow” in 2017, yet she quickly signaled her intent to deliver more than inventive reinterpretations of existing material. After issuing the album PhAses in 2019 along with a string of singles, she stepped away from the industry for a period before resurfacing in 2022 via the Medusa EP.

Growing up amid Dominican and Latin fusion sounds inside her Harlem home, Melii experienced a decisive shift at age nine when a cousin introduced her to J. Cole’s “College Boy,” an encounter that steered her toward rap as an expressive path extending past her earlier writing. Her first official release arrived in August 2017 with the measured yet confident “No Simple Chick,” followed two months afterward by “Bodak Yellow,” and she closed the year with the harder-edged “Balling.” Early 2018 brought the atmospheric “Bk Woe” and the petulant yet self-assured “Icey” while she readied her debut project; further tracks such as “Sh*t Talk,” “La Envidia Mata,” and “Como Si Na” appeared throughout the year. PhAses reached listeners in 2019 and included guest spots from Tory Lanez, Odalys, and A Boogie wit da Hoodie. A series of singles spanning 2020 and 2021 featured the 6LACK collaboration “You Ain’t Worth It,” after which Melii announced on Twitter her decision to stop releasing music because of her lack of trust in the business. That withdrawal proved temporary, and she re-emerged midway through 2022 with the new EP Medusa.