Australian music sensation Tkay Maidza released her self-titled debut album ’Tkay’ on 28 October. The 14-track album ‘Tkay’ is unsurprisingly exceptional from front to back, featuring polished production from the likes of Salva (E-40, DJ Shadow, Problem) and Dre Skull (Pusha T, Snoop Dogg, Beenie Man) amongst others. The highlight and lead single off the forthcoming album ‘Carry On’ is a natural standout and features the honed emceeing talents of Killer Mike of Run The Jewels (signed to Nas’ Mass Appeal Records). This single has been received well in Australia, charting in the ARIA’s and is accompanied by one of the most polished film clips produced by any Australian artist in recent memory. The energetic and bouncy second single ‘Tennies’ has also just been released to glowing reviews from music critics and fans alike.
Tkay recently explained “when the time came to the nearing of the completion of the lead single Carry On, I thought it’d be really cool for Killer Mike to feature on that song. He understood what the song was about and had his own take on it, and recorded two separate verses for it which proved to be difficult in deciding which one to choose in the end to use. He acted like a big brother for the song, really sweet, and I was really happy with how it came out. The song and the fact that Killer Mike chose to work with me is really special as it gives me further exposure to develop, his talents and time that me took on the record for me is pretty cool for him to do that.”
The electric Tkay Maidza was born in Zimbabwe before moving to Australia with her family when she was 5-years- old. Living throughout Western Australian and South Australia before settling in Adelaide, she graduated from high school two years early at 16 and like a young Ice Cube, studied architecture at university before concentrating full-time on music.
Tkay Maidza story is an intriguing one and one that demonstrates just how much she has achieved already and most certainly has a very bright future ahead of her. She recently scored a BET Awards nomination for Best New International Act, catapulting the 20-year-old further onto the world stage and capping off an impressive and rapid rise over the last couple of years. Tkay was the second Australian to be nominated for a BET award after Iggy Azalea, and received a hearty glowing endorsement from a then stranger in Killer Mike last year during a lecture at MIT in America, in reference to Tkay being the female rapper that Americans should know about instead of Iggy.
Tkay Maidza has played the music festival circuit throughout Australia and her own national tours, as well as recently performing throughout the UK and continental Europe on their festival circuits. She debuted on American Radio as part of SKRILLEX’s OWSLA Radio second episode in February 2016 and has also recently performed in LA. She has also been branching beyond her hip hop roots collaborating with various dance and pop producers in Australia and internationally, charting well across Europe and has just returned to Australia following a whirlwind string of performances across America.
