Coi Leray and YouTube released a short film detailing her come-up in the game.

“All my family loves music,” she said. “My mom’s just like me. My mom liked trap music from the day I was born, but my mom also loved Caribbean music and Jamaican music. One of the New York stations played Caribbean music on, I think, Sundays. My mom used to go in the car just to listen. What I admire is she’s strong, she’s confident, she don’t let nobody tell her nothing. She’s dominant, she’s an alpha female, so that’s why I’m an alpha female. I’m dominant, I’m confident.”

Coi opens up about her experience of being a Black woman in a music industry dominated by men.

“As a young female, a Black female artist in this industry, it’s tough,” she said. “You know, it’s a male-dominant industry and a lot of guys will make you feel like, ‘Uh, girl, you gon’ listen to me.’ No, you gon’ listen to me. When I get up in the morning, I put my phone up. I do what I do. So you not gonna tell me who I am. But sometimes, your enthusiasm and your pushiness will be mistaken as, ‘Uh, she’s got an attitude’ or ‘She’s hard to handle.’ At the end of the day, I know what I’m capable of. Making this album, it’s my No. 1, it’s my baby, it’s my debut, so to be able to be here still standing here throughout the trials and tribulations, throughout the stuff that I go through, takes a lot.”

Her Trendsetter album featured Polo G, Pooh Shiesty, Lil Durk, H.E.R., Lil Tecca, Mustard, NAV, and Fivio Foreign.

Papa Keith