Toronto-based, Ekelle rhymes about what she knows best: her real-life experience! Money, sex, drama, and identity stir together to create a style she calls Hood Pop – Popular music with a street edge. Hood Pop combines elements of hip hop, pop, and R&B. In creating her own genre Ekelle doesn’t limit herself to rigid categories, allowing for a dynamic experience where some songs are different from each other, but still represent and distinguish her from others. As a self-taught, independent artist she is guided by her instincts and a passion for music, pop culture and fashion.
Ekelle has performed at large-scale events like Afrofest and the Durham Caribbean Festival. Her earlier music was popular with blogs like the Come Up Show and Toronto Rappers, but it wasn’t until her debut solo EP, Dark Skin and Tattoos (2019) that larger blogs like EARMILK, OK Nigeria, and Flavourmag UK started to take notice. Singles off her Hood Pop EP (2020) started to make rounds on blogs like Exclaim, The Hype Magazine, and FOMO.
In 2020 Ekelle performed for GTA Pride, Nuit Blanche, Radio Humber, and a special collaboration show between RISE and ArtStarts. In 2021 she was a featured artist at Indie 101, part of Ryerson University’s DMMI program, and participated in the Songwriters Association of Canada’s Inclusive Pro Songwriting Camp. In 2022 Ekelle was a performer for the Northern Touch Music Festival dropped her first album ‘Let’s Get It’ and was signed to Cymba Music Publishing. Songs from the album were featured in Nintendo’s Boogie, a Zara campaign on an episode of Hudson and Rex and played at the Stanley Cup Finals. Currently, Ekelle is an artist in the RBC Launchpad Music Entrepreneurship Program and working on new music.
