All that was only the start; it appears summer season 2022 is poised to actually be Santana’s season. June 10, the rapper launched a brand new single, “Booty,” that boasts a function from buzzy rapper and former tourmate, Latto — as of publication, the music is tagged in over 342,000 Tiktoks and counting. Mix that together with his tens of millions of streams on Spotify and a 16-track mission, Preserve It Playa, on the horizon, it is clear Santana is the second — and the way forward for hip-hop.
Early Influences
Earlier than all that, the Tallahassee, Florida-raised artist was residing what some may contemplate an idyllic American way of life. “I feel lots of people anticipate rappers to at all times have a narrative of rising up in poverty,” Santana explains. “I did not. I grew up with a silver spoon. My dad was a star bodyguard, my mother was at all times the final supervisor of her job. I grew up in an enormous two-story home on 5 acres of land. I did not have the rap story of getting to share garments with my brothers and sisters or the lights getting turned off.” He was a very good pupil. He wished for nothing… besides possibly, a little bit pleasure.
The glamorization of road life which permeated the music he loved obtained the suburbanite desirous about getting acquainted with it first-hand. “I wished to expertise the streets. I used to get in hassle for [sneaking off] to the initiatives — my mama was not having it,” Santana recollects. These excursions related him with a buddy group of bon vivants who have been regulars at teen events within the space, the place they might relish within the sounds of Florida artists like Trina, Khia, Trick Daddy, Iceberg, Piccolo, and Animal.
This time was essential for Santana — it was with this squad that he was capable of discover his private model aesthetic, which mixes each historically masculine and female sensibilities. “Ladies have been my fundamental [style and beauty] inspiration rising up. My lady cousin, Deirdre, and I grew up like brother and sister.” Santana recollects a gaggle he shaped alongside her and three different ladies, “Ken and the Dolls.” He, “Ken,” after all, was everybody’s stylist, hairdresser, and make-up artist. Nicki Minaj was the reference he used to create lots of the group’s seems to be. “Deirdre was my private Nicki. I’d make her get the Chinese language bang [ed note: those very blunt, straight-across bangs popular in the 2010s] with the black hair that had pink streaks,” he says. “She needed to get her nails painted pink and black, too. She would put on six-inch Jeffrey Campbell heels.”
Florida Woman Glam
The influence Nicki and the Florida “Dolls” he spent a lot time with had on his model is evident in the present day: Santana’s look, as he describes it, could be very a lot a product of his upbringing. “Florida ladies are materials ladies,” he explains. “We’re going to have the longest weave, the freshest lace — we get ratchet-classy. May need on Chanel, however we will have some little coochie cutters too.” The vibe, merely put, is “a little bit bit stripper, a little bit bit elegant, a bit hoochie, and a bit bougie.” It is succinct, it is easy, it’s totally clearly the recipe the rapper sticks to when he is placing himself collectively.
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