“A few years ago, I would've specifically set out to make this queer, feminist, grunge hip-hop song,” Mykki Blanco tells Apple Music. “But now I more operate in an organic way, because I did so much of that.” The multidisciplinary artist, rapper, songwriter, poet and singer, who has worked with everyone from Madonna and Kanye to Blood Orange and most recently Michael Stipe, doesn’t just push boundaries, they rewrite them. Repeatedly and with intent, sometimes to shock, sometimes to exemplify—but most of all, because that’s simply who they are. The rapper's first mixtape was released in 2012. It was wholly one of a kind—their vocals would flip from coarse and aggressive to soft and gentle and back again; their verses were at once provocative, poetic, and deeply queer; and their gender-fluid appearance was unlike anything else happening in hip-hop at the time. In the years since, their sound has expanded through experiments, broadened instrumentation, and far-flung collaborations. Whether an intentional correlation or just how Blanco approaches important aspects of their life, their joyful approach to gender mirrors their similarly shifting, ever-evolving artistic output. There’s no one genre or category within which you can fit Mykki Blanco—the person or the artist. “It’s important for people to see people who look like them in the media,” they say. While it's true that trans visibility is no longer enough (“We don't just need to be visible. We need legislation. We need laws that protect trans kids,” they add), it's a crucial step for representation—particularly for someone like Blanco, who provides a very different trans narrative to the one most commonly portrayed in film and TV. Below, read on to learn about a few highlights from Mykki Blanco's musical career. “Family Ties” (feat. Michael Stipe) “It’s a pretty song, but it's a sad song. ‘Family Ties’ was written about my ex-boyfriend and his relationship with his mentally ill father. When you’re in a close relationship, their family becomes yours to an extent. And in a situation like this, you want to fix it, but you usually can't. I remember learning years ago that Michael Stipe was supportive of Mykki Blanco. We were sat right next to each other at a fashion show in 2018, and I ended up with his email. Then it was like, ‘Am I ever going to use it?’ R.E.M. is literally one of the most iconic bands in music history. I eventually sent him this song. About two weeks passed, then I got a message that basically said, ‘I support you, but I'm working on a lot of projects right now.’ Then about a week later, I got another email that just said, ‘Mykki, the song is excellent. I would love to be the feature.’ This was one of those moments where I felt like God was saying, ‘You're worthy of being on a song with someone of this caliber. You're good enough.’“ “Summer Fling” (feat. Kari Faux) “So Kari came out with her own release called Lowkey Superstar. When I heard it, I was like, ‘I need to collaborate with this person before they become a mega, mega artist and I can't reach them and there's all this red tape.’ I knew that I wanted to not just have her feature, but to really collaborate. I was like, ‘Babe, I would love to completely turn this song over to you to transform.’ And boy, did she ever transform it. It reminds me of old-school Mykki. The way that I rap on that song, even when I talk about ‘hepty-doo, he my little trippy-do, feeds me coconut ice cream and Cali shrooms, in my room, shirtless, all in my bed, phone in his hand trying to send a pic to his friend. He told me J. Cole saved rap, well, how 'bout that?’ That song was really fun because there are so many autobiographical moments. I love when I can make a song that really reflects me and my homegirls.” “It's Not My Choice” (feat. Blood Orange) “I've known Dev [Hynes] for a very long time; he actually makes a cameo in one of my earliest music videos, for ‘Kingpinning.’ The whole vibe of ‘It's Not My Choice’ was so inspired by Anita Baker, Michael McDonald, Hall & Oates—this very early-'80s soft R&B vibe. And it had a Blood Orange vibe. And when I sent him the stems, he ended up adding cello to it, too. The original vocalist that sings Dev's part sounded way more soulful, almost a gospel vibe; the song would've really taken on a whole different character. I don't want to make music that sounds like it's in a time capsule, but what I do like about a song like this—and I hope I don't sound arrogant by saying this—is that it has this timeless quality, and we did that on purpose.” “Loner” “I consider ‘Loner’ my first pop song. It was produced with Jeremiah Meece. It was one of those moments where you get two creative people in the room, and I'll have a few references—I might play The Beach Boys and Carlos Santana and then maybe some Timbaland deep cut and I'll be like, ‘Okay, let's do something that’s all of these things, but not.’ And then I’ll say something like, ‘Imagine a haunted house on a beach. What would that even look like or sound like?’ And from there we just start creating vibes. I had done a lot of noise, grungy stuff and more typical hip-hop stuff, but I had never written in a pop song structure. It's really easy to make an experimental song; it's very difficult to write a catchy pop-formula song. But we got to a place where I think we pulled it off.” “You Will Find It” (feat. Devendra Banhart) “What Devendra didn't know was that I was—still am—a massive, massive Devendra Banhart fan. Devendra had no idea he was my teen heartthrob. He was on my wall with Josh Hartnett, I’d been to his concerts when I was 16. When I first emailed Devendra, I think his idea of me probably as an artist was probably not at all what he got in his inbox that day. I’d never, ever made a song that sounded anything like ‘You Will Find It.’ It started out as this very lush flute-driven interlude, but then he added all these chimes. I was hesitant about releasing it, but I did, in the middle of the beginning of the pandemic, because it feels like a meditation. I toyed around with these serious self-discovery lyrics, but it was like, I'm Mykki Blanco, not Sarah McLachlan. It just felt so sappy and so cheesy. So I had fun with it, and I think that juxtaposition works. ‘I lit that sage, I lit that sage, I lit that palo santo, Lady Gaga on my radio, it's “Alejandro.”’ It’s like this sonic meditation with Devendra Banhart cooing and swooning all over it, but still with my sassy Mykki lyrics and references to my queer community.”