The Rapsody

Rising from self-reliant beginnings, multi-faceted rapper Rapsody steadily matured across projects while linking up with major figures in hip-hop. Psychedelically soulful beats supplied by legendary producer 9th Wonder shaped her initial mixtapes, and by the late 2010s she was exchanging verses with Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole, Anderson .Paak, and other leading artists. Expanding the reach of her lyricism and the sheen of its production, her second album Laila's Wisdom (2017) earned several Grammy nominations. With her third proper album Eve (2019) she underscored the lasting impact of Black women throughout political and creative fields. After lending her voice to cuts alongside Robert Glasper, John Legend, and Remy Ma, she issued 2024's Please Don't Cry, whose single "Asteroids" featured Hit-Boy.

Born Marlanna Evans in 1983, Rapsody spent her childhood in Snow Hill, North Carolina, where her parents' record collections sparked an early passion for music. The video for MC Lyte's "Poor Georgie" and Fugees' The Score convinced Evans to chase a career in rap. She spent a short time with the hip-hop outfit Kooley High before launching her solo path in 2008. Late 2010 brought the Return of the B-Girl mixtape, crafted with DJ Premier and boasting appearances by Big Daddy Kane, Rah Digga, and Mac Miller, which she quickly followed with the 2011 releases Thank H.E.R. Now and For Everything. That year she also opened for Miller on his Incredibly Dope tour and later joined Phoebe and 9th Wonder on the road.

Her first EP, The Black Mamba, appeared ahead of the 2012 debut full-length The Idea of Beautiful. While 9th Wonder had dominated the mixtape sound, the album drew on the Soul Council, the production collective that includes 9th Wonder, Khrysis, and Ka$h Don't Make Beats. The She Got Game mixtape surfaced in 2013, and in 2015 she earned a featured spot on Kendrick Lamar's Grammy-winning To Pimp a Butterfly track "Complexion (A Zulu Love)". She dropped her second EP, Crown, in 2016 and simultaneously signed with Jay-Z's Roc Nation. Laila's Wisdom, her first project for the label, arrived in 2017 and included guest spots from Lamar and Busta Rhymes; it garnered a Grammy nomination for Best Rap Album, while "Sassy" was nominated for Best Rap Song. In 2018 she appeared in the Mass Appeal documentary series Rapture and contributed multiple tracks to the 9th Wonder-produced Jamla Is the Squad II compilation, among them the bouncy throwback "Sojourner" with J. Cole and the horn-driven "REDBLUE" that also featured JID.

Rapsody's third proper studio album, Eve, reached listeners in 2019 with Queen Latifah, GZA, JID, and J. Cole among its guests. The set entered the Billboard 200 at number 76, nearly 50 positions above her prior LP. Into 2020 she added high-profile guest appearances on tracks by Robert Glasper, John Legend, and TeaMarr, among others, and released a remix of the Eve track "Afeni" featuring D Smoke. "Afeni [Remix]" and other Eve material formed the core of five themed EPs carrying titles such as Wisdom and Soul Sistah.

She linked with Remy Ma and DJ Premier for the 2022 song "Remy Rap" and supplied the title track while co-executive-producing the soundtrack to actress Sanaa Lathan's directorial debut On the Come Up that same year. Returning to solo material in 2023, she released "Asteroids" featuring Hit-Boy, one of the earliest tracks previewing her fourth album. Arriving in May 2024, Please Don't Cry included guest performances from Erykah Badu, Lil Wayne, Baby Tate, Alex Isley, Keznamdi, and others, and spotlighted both "Asteroids" and "Stand Tall."