Emerging first in 2010 through a character in a video art project, the Mykki Blanco persona soon expanded into an expansive creative force without limits. Alongside poetry, performance art, social commentary, and activism, Blanco has built a reputation for rapping and releasing playful, bold tracks that draw from Yoko Ono, Bikini Kill, and mainstream pop in equal measure. Steady streams of EPs, singles, and mixtapes across the early 2010s paved the way for the more introspective studio albums Mykki (2016), Broken Hearts and Beauty Sleep (2021), and Stay Close to Music (2022).
Identifying as transfeminine, Blanco spent a peripatetic childhood between San Mateo, California and Raleigh, North Carolina before relocating to New York City at age 16. Following time at the Art Institute of Chicago, they returned to N.Y.C. to focus on writing, releasing the poetry collection From the Silence of Duchamp to the Noise of Boys in 2011. Seeking to bridge avant-garde ideas with broader audiences, Blanco launched crushing industrial rock performances as No Fear while simultaneously developing glamorous riot grrrl rap under the Mykki Blanco name.
Mykki delivered a striking debut in 2012 via the Mykki Blanco & the Mutant Angels EP, which included tracks such as "Join My Militia (Nas Gave Me a Perm)" and "Gay Dog." After Elle magazine's blog crowned the artist "Hip-Hop's New Queen," Blanco toured with Death Grips, serving as opener for the avant-hip-hop outfit across its late 2012 U.S. dates. The mixtape Cosmic Angel: The Illuminati Prince/ss closed out the year, followed in 2013 by the EP Betty Rubble: The Initiation.
Blanco launched the DOGFOOD Music Group label in partnership with !K7 in January 2015. The label's first output, Mykki Blanco Presents C-Ore, appeared that September. A Woodkid-produced single, "High School Never Ends," surfaced in May 2016 ahead of the full-length debut Mykki that September. After signing with Transgressive Records, Blanco prepared a second album; Broken Hearts and Beauty Sleep emerged in 2021, featuring production from FaltyDL plus guest spots by Blood Orange, Big Freedia, and Kari Faux. Working again with FaltyDL, Blanco followed swiftly in 2022 with Stay Close to Music, an album boasting an eye-catching array of collaborators that included Michael Stipe, Saul Williams, ANOHNI, and Kelsey Lu.
