Elle Teresa is one of my favorite new artists. She's an adorable, impeccably dressed rapper from Japan, making chest-pounding music that sounds like it could very well be straight out of any major studio in Atlanta.
Today she's dropping the two-in-one video for "Kira Kira" and "No Cap," directed by Amarachi Nwosu in collaboration with new indie label YAOYA. Each song is a hard-hitter in its own right, but "Kira Kira" features one of my favorite lyrics in a while: "I'm a sassy bitch, yeah you're jealous," Elle raps, in Japanese. The video begins with textured vignettes of Elle and a lil' posse, hanging out and riding 'round through after-dark Tokyo, before moving indoors and switching into a fast-moving, Technicolor journey through her personal style.
“'Kira Kira' translates to 'twinkling' or 'shining' in English and this song represents me striving to be at the highest level. A lot of artists, especially girls, in Tokyo are scared to say that they’re the best, but I wanted to show people that you can believe in yourself and it’s OK," says Elle Teresa. "I believe I’m the hardest rapper so everybody is looking at me like I’m a shining star. That’s what the song means to me. At the same time, because I’m a star I’m waaaay too high up to hear or even notice all the haters or noise.The best I can do is keep doing me.”
Thumbnail image by Lena Egorova