In her 21 years, Rye Rye has lived more than most. Pulling herself up and out of the Baltimore projects by her own determination, wiling away hours in the city’s all-ages club scene not to waste her time but to make something of her time. Seminal shows on station 92Q with DJs like late, legendary K-Swift opened up new worlds, dance nights morphing into impromptu competitions, feeding her ambition. All of this sound, vision, bombastic and beautiful boasting have coalesced to inform her singular persona and performance.

Studying the music, making music, sharing music, and making mentors along the way—DJ Blaqstarr helped Rye Rye build a bridge to M.I.A. who quickly signed her to her own N.E.E.T. label, took her on the road, and collaborated on lead single “Sunshine.” It sounds easy on paper—work hard, get discovered, conquer the world. But Blaqstarr and M.I.A. are once-in-a-lifetime mentors who heard once-in-a-lifetime music and that music is unmistakably Rye Rye’s.

“Pop is a big genre. Hip-hop is a big genre. But I also want to stay in my lane and get the feeling of where I’m coming from and be able to share that,” she says, finding her own sound hard to classify even for herself. “If I do a hip-hop song, it doesn’t sound like a regular hip-hop track; it sounds fresher. I am doing my own thing."