New York rapper Lexa Gates puts the ‘work’ in working artist

Born Ivanna Alexandra Martinez, singer and rapper Lexa Gates was raised in Puerto Rico and in Queens, New York, where she struggled in high school and dropped out at age 15. She’d felt overlooked and diminished by the public education system, and she spent next couple years aimless, doing a lot of partying with friends. In her late teens, though, a breakup inspired Gates to return to a childhood interest in music, which grew into a passion. She started uploading her DIY tracks to Soundcloud in 2019, attracting attention with eclectic fusions of hip-hop, R&B, and jazz, which she accompanies with straightforward lyrics that mix dry wit, real talk, and self-owns. On “Thinking of You,” from last year’s Elite Vessel , Gates raps about a toxic roller-coaster of attraction, ambivalence, and fea