You might know the beautiful Niykee Heaton already from her unique, soulful covers of rap songs on YouTube, but the Chicago-bred 18-year-old has just released her first original track, “Bad Intentions” and it’s worth a listen…or two or three.
Triple threat Niykee – a singer, songwriter, and self-taught musician, got the world’s attention when her cover of Chief Keef’s “Love Sosa” skyrocketed to almost 13 million views on YouTube last December.
While still in high school, she gained fame literally overnight and the internet kind of became obsessed with her. Her soulful sound is edgy and perfectly unexpected. If she hasn’t hooked you with her covers already, this South African-rooted girl from the suburbs of Chicago will soon be your new favorite artist.
When talking to Complex last year, she told them:
“I was raised with siblings who loved folk rock and bluegrass, so I was the odd one out with Lil Jon blasting out of my boombox.”
Putting folk rock and bluegrass to the side and taking on a love of hip-hop is the best thing to ever happen to Niykee. Her covers of Drake, Rico Love, and Chief Keef, of course, are all worth checking out.
Being the enigma has definitely paid off for her.
Her first original release, “Bad Intentions” was produced by Arthur McArthur for Canadian Jew Music and Geoffro Cause. Check out the lyric video below…
To hear more Niykee Heaton, check out her SoundCloud | Follow Niykee on twitter/instagram @NiykeeHeaton
