Alaya High

Better known to her millions of fans and followers as That Girl Lay Lay, is a teenage rapper who recently became the youngest female rapper ever to sign a record deal. A freestyle rapper since the age of five, she has already released several songs and been featured on the LEGO Movie 2 soundtrack performing ‘Catchy Song’. Her second album, Lil Big Dripper, was preceded in early 2021 with the hit single ‘TikTok’, and she also began starring in her own television vehicle, That Girl Lay Lay, which is being shown on Nickelodeon.

High was born in Houston, Texas, in 2007. She still calls the city her hometown but refers to her current residence, Atlanta, Georgia, as her “arena”. Her father is a rapper named Acie High, and it was on her many trips to the studio with him as a small child that High first began to practise the noble art of freestyle rapping. Soon, she discovered that she preferred to pre-write her own raps and began uploading them to her Instagram account when she was 10. Although her talent has never been in doubt, the speed at which her reputation blew up took everyone by surprise. In 2018, she began uploading videos to YouTube, and these quickly began racking up astronomical viewing figures, with the likes of ‘Go Lay Lay Go’ (22 million views), ‘Mama’ (45 million views), and ‘Stop Playin’’ (38 million views) proving her biggest hits to date. She signed her historic record deal with Empire Records in 2018 and a deal with Nickelodeon in 2020.

With her career still very much in its infancy, High is still to decide whether she wants to focus on music, acting, or entrepreneurship. Whatever path she follows, her success at such a young age suggests that she’ll be a huge success.