Atlanta rapper Bktherula is just 21 years old, yet it feels like she's been around forever. It's been five years since she broke out with the "Left Right" track in 2019 when, by our math, she would have been just 16. She started making music long before that, when she was nine. By the age of 13, she was uploading to Soundcloud.
All of which means that, despite the fact that she can only now legally drink, she has bags of experience behind her. This year's LVL5 P2 album is her fifth, which is basically insane.
At the Echoplex, Los Angeles on Wednesday, June 19, a respectably-sized crowd gave Bktherula all of the love in their collective locker, as the rapper blasted through a short, sweet set. "Bkbkbk," she repeatedly told us, resulting in mass whoops and cheers.
The setlist was perfect, as one banger after another snapped out: "Tan," the aforementioned "Left Right," "Pssyonft," and a riotous "Shakin It."
By the end, crowd members had been invited on stage to literally shake it ("21 and up"), and Bk was promising to "sign titties" at the merch table. A triumph.
Earlier, British non-binary rapper and singer Skaiwater saw an energetic set inspire the sort of circle pits and stage diving you'd normally see at a punk show. The Lil Nas X-approved artist jumps genres and blurs every line that there is to blur. We'll be looking out for more.
