By Zain Morrison
Turning stigma into stardom, Lachi isn’t here to fit into the music industry. She’s here to blow the doors off, rhinestone the hinges, and make the whole building more accessible on her way out.
The Manhattan-based recording artist, author, and CEO grew up a self-described “quirky little outcast” who found her voice by literally writing it into existence. “I turned to writing songs and tinkering on the keys as my creative outlet at a super young age,” she says. “My mom played classics in the car and on Saturday mornings, like the Beatles, Dolly Parton, and the pop-rock bands that took over the late ’90s and early 2000s.”
As a blind kid who learned piano by ear, Lachi’s talents didn’t go unnoticed—but the commentary around her wasn’t always flattering. “People passed me Beethoven, Chopin, Mozart and the like, and I heard their whispers of ‘she might be some kind of savant,’” she says. “That influenced the way I saw myself. I didn’t have any blind female role models, so I settled for the few Black female heavyweights that came up during that era—Alicia Keys, Lauryn Hill, and Missy Elliot.”
Now, she’s become the role model. And she’s not just shaking up the charts—she’s reprogramming the whole damn system.
“My ultimate goal is to infiltrate pop culture with ‘Different,’” she says. Her sound is fluid and fearless, fusing genres with zero apologies. “From elements of dance instrumentation and jazzy vocals to folk storytelling with the lyrical wit of hip hop, I connect them all with a message of radical self-love, empowerment, and f***-’em-energy that does what it can not to take itself too seriously.”
In other words? “I’m awesome as I am. You’re also awesome as you are. Haters can kick rocks.”
Lachi’s process is equally boundary-less. Songs start in the backseat of a car, in the shower, in front of a piano, or in a songwriting camp with Alicia Keys. (Yes, that happened.) “It’s a truly organic experience,” she says. “My art is informed by the lives I and my ancestors have lived, gunning for first place in a society that was not built for our victory.”
She’s created from pain, from joy, from resistance—and from an unshakable drive to be real. “Where I am now, my lyrics and melodies are a one-to-one discussion of me, my specific lived experience, and sharing lessons learned through my very unique perspective.”
That perspective includes navigating the world with ADHD, OCD, PTSD, general anxiety, maladaptive daydreaming, and Blindness—conditions that some would call challenges, but Lachi reframes as superpowers. And she’s got receipts.
“My ADHD offers me endless energy and the capacity I need for all my one million bright ideas. OCD gives me the electric jolt to carry them out. Anxiety brings excitement, analysis, and critical thinking. PTSD brings humanity and empathy to build my crew and community. Maladaptive daydreaming brought about my novels. And Blindness has brought me focus, drive, hyper-problem-solving skills, and a dope-ass Glam Cane.”
Mic. Drop.
“You may be thinking ‘wow, you overcame your disabilities, now you can see them as positive!’ Nope. I didn’t overcome my disabilities. I still have ’em. I overcame inaccessibility. I overcame stigma. I overcame giving a f***. I’m not spitting positives—I’m just spitting facts.”
This mindset is core to her mission, and it powers everything she touches—including RAMPD (Recording Artists and Music Professionals with Disabilities), the global platform she founded to amplify disability culture in music. When Lachi Googled “Music” and “Disability” and saw nothing substantial pop up, she created something new. Now? RAMPD is the top result.
“We equip the industry with the resources and programming it needs to support music creators and artists with disabilities, neurodivergence, and other chronic and mental health conditions,” she says. “We’ve worked with the Recording Academy, Netflix, Live Nation and more. Best of all? We’re building community from a place of power, not pity.”
Her dream collab list? A disability culture dream team: “Stevie Wonder, Halsey, Selena Gomez, Justin Timberlake, and Billie Eilish. I’d love for them to collaborate with us at RAMPD and help smash stigma by elevating Disability Culture into mainstream pop culture conversations.”
And what about the Internet? For Lachi, it’s been a game-changer. “I’ve been able to find and build community in online spaces,” she says. “It’s decentralized the music hubs, allowed for cross-time-zone collaboration, and made it easier for creators to learn, connect, and take control of their own futures.”
RAMPD’s upcoming virtual songwriting camp already has participants from Sweden, L.A., New York, and Australia. “For folks who face barriers—whether immune deficiencies, parenthood, or finances—the Internet opens doors. It’s not perfect, but it’s powerful.”
And Lachi isn’t stopping any time soon. She’s got new music dropping monthly, including the recent “Diseducation (Dance Mix)” with Apl.de.ap of the Black Eyed Peas. Her debut memoir I Identify as Blind will be released next year via Penguin Random House. She’s crafting a children’s album with Grammy winners, hosting keynotes around the globe, running Glam Canes, appearing in national campaigns for Google, Meta, and Mastercard, and oh yeah—did we mention she’s also published several sci-fi novels?
As for advice, Lachi keeps it real. “The best advice I ever took was embracing my whole, authentic self—including the parts society expected me to view as wrong or limiting. I used to hide my disability to avoid losing a gig. But as I got into better rooms, I found hiding that key part of myself was holding me back. Embracing it helped me perform better, build stronger relationships, and show up whole. It helped me grab the industry by the balls.”
So what’s next?
“SO many exciting things are on the horizon,” she says. “Follow me @LachiMusic on socials, check LachiMusic.com, and keep an eye out—we’re infiltrating pop culture with Different.”
Believe it.