Chilling at a New York diner with the magician behind “Fairy” and talking about her dreams of being a mortician, dancer origins, and her new tape Pixie Dust.
A few months shy of her 20th birthday, Myaap showed up with a quiet, unassuming air. She had no crew by her side, just two Roc Nation label reps and her girlfriend, fellow Milwaukee native 414JungleBaby, all sitting in the far corner booth at Waverly Diner a few blocks off Washington Square Park. A few coffees were ordered, but Myaap refrained. It quickly became obvious that she had been waiting for this moment, and all that it entailed, for quite some time.
Milwaukee rap has never been any one thing; brazen individuality is a core tenet of the scene. The “414 sound,” generally categorized by its infectiously raucous energy — skull-rattling handclaps, muddy basslines, audacious punchlines — is defined as much by experimental auteurs as more palatable acts. For every minor crossover hit, like the choir-trained J.P.’s “Bad Bitty,” you have local mad scientists like BabyK Turnt, AyooLii, and Certified Trapper, all cooking up insular, avant-garde freak-anthems in their bedroom, or longstanding hustlers-turned-bards, like the rap duos of MarijuanaXO and Joe Pablo, and Funny $Money and BTE Big C, transmuting pain into power. The throughline is an innate unfussiness to the whole process, a desire to strip down rap music, and music in general, to its foundational purpose: bops. The gleefully irreverent Myaap embodies this diversity of sound, pulling freely from her upbringing as a dancer, her lifelong appreciation of lowend music, and her fixation with clever bars.
Talent has never been an issue for the Milwaukee scene; access and resources remain the primary hurdle. Though she’s been a local staple since her first song and viral hit at 17, Myaap is acutely aware of the opportunity presented by her most recent hit, last summer’s self-love anthem “Fairy.” Back in March, on what felt like the first real day of spring, we spoke about how she plans to answer this call with her (just released) new mixtape, the ethereal Pixie Dust. Catchy and occasionally haunting, it’s a showcase of Myaap’s newfound fairy powers.
The interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
You’re coming off tour, getting ready to get back on the road, running around doing press — what do you do to take care of your health?
Myaap: I exercise, get some peace of mind, write music, go to the studio. Do the same things everyday. I used to smoke, but I don’t anymore. It’s almost been two months.
Cigarettes or weed?
Weed. [Sighs]
Quitting weed is tough.
Yeah. It was at first.
When I’m on it I’m smoking 24/7, I even feel like it helps me focus.
Right, it does. But now that I’ve put the weed down, I feel so much better. I feel like now that I’ve put the weed down, I can breathe. And when I perform, I perform well.
I ask about physical and mental health because everywhere I look, I see stuff like “Myaap is the FACE of Milwaukee rap” and “Myaap is putting on for women.” Is that a lot of pressure?
No.
No? It’s what you wanted?
Mhm. I wouldn’t really say the “face of Milwaukee,” but I like being in the mix, you know?
Were you always involved in the local scene?
Not just Milwaukee trap music, but I like a lot of lowend music, from underground artists. That’s literally what I grew up on. I like the claps, how people be dancin’ and making challenges off of it. Because me? I grew up dancing.
How much does dancing influence the music you make?
I feel like it really influences what I make because that’s where I came from! Since I was a very young age. And I was always performing in front of big crowds. And I know what type of music people like, and I know what makes them move, what makes them dance. My own music makes me wanna dance sometimes! That’s why I make the music I make.
I saw you mention in an interview you wanted to freestyle more this year? Does that mean you used to write down all your lyrics? Have you stopped doing that?
Yeah I used to write everything! I like to put my music together. I go with the hook first, then a verse. I focus on hooks more because I like catchiness. I like when people say, “Oh your music is so catchy!”
How did this album come together?
The concept for this album really came from the song “Fairy.” It was so catchy. The tape is gonna be called Pixie Dust. I want people to know I’m still a fairy, with the catchy music. I didn’t know that song was going to do what it did. I was in the car with my girlfriend and I played the beat, and she was like, “This beat sounds so familiar!” She showed me a TikTok sound where it was like, “She was a fairy,” and after I heard that I was like, I got an idea… “She was a faaaairrry, with a faaattttyyyy, on my doddy!” I just thought of that on my way to the studio in the car.
I’m late, but “on my daddy” is the catchiest ad-lib I’ve heard in a minute. I’m a grown man walking around hearing that in my head 24/7…
[Laughs] I say that because a lot of people be like, “On my mama,” and I just had to be different and be like, “On my daddy!”
Dads gotta get more shine! I read another interview where you said you wanted to be a mortician?!
Yeah, I did.
Can we break that down a bit?
I don’t know! I was watching a lot of movies. A lot of mortician movies that involved that type of stuff, and I was like, “Oh, this looks really interesting!” [Laughs] It was weird, but it looked interesting to me.
Question: Have you seen Six Feet Under? The show?
Yeah! I always wanted to own a funeral home too.
Do you like taking care of people?
Yeah!
Do you feel like you’re doing that through your music?
I do feel like I do that through my music, because I talk about a lot of stuff a lot of people can relate to.
Yo — this tape has no features?
Nah.
Was that on purpose?
Umm… yeah, it was on purpose! Because I wanted to show people my versatility, and I wanted to show them that, like, I don’t need a feature! I don’t need features. It’s just me.
People aren’t confident enough to let their voice carry a full project. “Outside” is one of my favorites on the tape.
That’s one of my favorites too!
With Pixie Dust, are you trying to showcase your hit writing ability? How do you think about lyrics and verses?
I think about lyrics for the hooks, for real. I go with the hook, then I go in for the details of the song after. I want to talk about one topic, maybe two. I freestyled the “Beep Beep” song—I ran out of lyrics! That’s why it’s so catchy. I just like my songs to be put together, if that makes sense.
How important is originality to you? And how do you stand out in a scene like Milwaukee?
I feel like it’s really important! You don’t want to run out of options or ideas — that’s why I write! With me, I would say, it’s different because I just have fun with my music.
Rap has always been competitive, but I feel like women get pitted against each other even more for some reason. Like, who’s the “Queen,” who’s “top 3”… Are you gunning for—
Yeah. [Laughs] I always say I’m top 3… “I’m top tier,” It’s a lot of females in Milwaukee that I mess with. I mess with Jungle. I mess with Lakeyah. I feel like we all have a spot!
Who else are you listening to right now?
I mess with a majority of Milwaukee rappers, but I don’t really listen to them, besides the people I just mentioned. I listen to J.P. too! I mess with his music heavy.
How do you approach producers and choosing beats?
I don’t really have a preference for beats. If I like it, and it catch on to me, I just write to it.
You’re just like, “feed me anything” and I’ll see if I can make something catchy out of it.
Yeah.
That’s awesome. But it does seem like there is a desire to make sure the lowend stuff is still in there. Like, just because you’re in Atlanta now, you’re not about to…
Yeah, I don’t want them to think I’m changing my sound. I want to keep this sound for a little bit, then eventually change it.
You would sound crazy over a Zaytoven beat though. Your songs already got that twinkly, piano vibe.
Yeah! Definitely.
Back to the mortician thing — I’m so curious about that. What did your parents do for a living? Did that influence you at all?
My mom was in healthcare. She takes care of people, so that’s what really inspired me. She was a nurse.
And your dad?
He do the same thing. He take care of people.
For an outsider, how would you define what Milwaukee is right now?
I feel like Milwaukee is creative, sort of something like Detroit, but in our own way. Lowend, trap music — it’s all creative.
Are you familiar with Lelo and his “New Detroit” movement? He’s around your age, I believe, and he’s all about the younger generation taking a regional movement to the mainstream.
No… But I feel like us youngins? We’re gonna take over.
What do you think about the streaming game? You seem a little shy — do you really want to be making all these press stops, hopping on 24 hour streams and whatnot?
Yeah, yeah. I have been on stream before, they’re pretty cool. I would get into the streaming bag, just to show my personality more. I don’t feel like my fans get to see my personality. They do think I’m a little shy, but I’m just chill! I just be chillin’!
When you say you came up with the single, “Fairy,” and then, after seeing it take off, came up with the Pixie Dust concept for the tape, would you say this is the first time you’ve done that for a full project?
Nah, I would say… I made my first song [“Party Crackin”] on my phone! I was in the car with my mom, she just kept talking over me in the background, so I’m like, “Mom, can you please just — I got a hit! Can you please, just like, be quiet real quick?” She got out the car — she was in the library for like 30 minutes! And I finished the song in 30 minutes!
Is this Bandlab? Or before Bandlab?
Yeah, Bandlab! I finished the song in 30 minutes, I got out, screen-recorded it, did a TikTok to it, and it blew up the same day! And it just made me want to keep going. I feel like my hooks do it for me, every time. Because that’s what I focus on the most. That’s where most of my creativity comes from. All you need is a hook. That’s all you need. 50 seconds. Put it on TikTok, and it’s gone.
What’s next for Mayaap?
I have a few features I want to come out… I did a feature with Rio [da Yung OG], I did a song with Cash Cobain… I just got a lot of fire!
Were there collabs, or songs in general, on here you cut?
I did another song similar to “Fairy” called “Keisha,” I previewed it a couple times, but I don’t think I could put that on the tape just yet, because it’s not cleared.
Is there a big sample or something?
“We R Who We R” by Ke$ha.
Does being seen as a leader of this younger generation put pressure on you?
I always wanted to be a leader. I don’t really like following what other people do. I just really focus on myself and my creativity. I don’t wanna be like nobody. I want to have my own name and my own face. I don’t wanna hear, “Oh, you’re tryna sound like this person!” I want to have my own sound… That’s all that really matter to me: my words, my wordplay, my catchiness, my hooks.
Any message you wanna leave your fans with?
Don’t change up for nobody. That’s what I’m not doing. Just keep going and stick to the creativity. And that’s what Imma do! Stick to my creativity.