Nikki Jean performing at the Stubb's Waller Creek Amphitheater in Austin, Texas on January 31, 2020.
A born drifter, through decades of musical influences, the half dozen states she’s called home, and the disparate events that have created an enigma of an artist. While those in her cohort dug through crates of music from bygone eras for their sample value, she was reading their sheet music like novels, while writing a novel of her own and it reads like a love song to hip hop.Nikki Jean shared the stage with Atmosphere, The Lioness, and DJ Keezy at the Stubb's Waller Creek Amphitheater. The band continues across the United States and Canada with the last stop at the Palace Theatre in Saint Paul, Minnesota on February 28, 2020.
Returning home in more ways than one, Nikki began the work of melding what she’d learned, with who she is. In 2014, her self-released EP, “Champagne Water,” found her collaborating with Ab Soul, Like, and The Social Experiment giving us our first glimpse at the direction her wanderlust would take us.
She’s also returned to Rhymesayers, this time not as a kid in search of a mixtape, but as an artist in her own right. In this most recent release, she’s brought the first fruits of her labor, the sweetness that is synonymous with her voice, and a poignancy that can only be gained through experience to infuse the spirit of hip hop in the jéroboam bottle of her music.
Nikki Jean
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Photos by Ralph Arvesen
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