You may recognize her from her viral song “Not My Problem.”
Youtube/OnTheRadar screenshot; Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images
Viral sensation and rising singer Laila! confirmed a certain rumor regarding her lineage during a recent sit-down with Complex.
The “Like That” vocalist addressed whispers that her father is Hip-Hop royalty and legendary MC, Yasiin Bey, formerly known as Mos Def.
“Yes, he is my dad, y’all. The rumors are true; no, I’m kidding. But yes, he’s my dad. He’s my dad,” the 18-year-old revealed. She also took to her Instagram Story mentioning her dad with, “lmaooooooo dad the rumors are true @yasiinbey.”
When asked what the “Not My Problem” artist took from her famous father, Laila recalled having “jam sessions” with him where he would acknowledge her for doing her “own thing.”
“I don’t know, I guess, like, I kind of just always been my own, like, artist in a way,” she explained. “And like, that’s the cool thing, because I feel like as a kid, like whenever we would just jam sesh and like vibe out, me and him — I don’t know, I always had my own style — I always had my own thing going on. And he’s always just been like, ‘Okay kid, I see you.’”
See the clip above.
Laila! also visited Way Up With Angela Yee, where she further spoke on her budding music career and the support of both of her parents — as her mom is her “momager.”
“I’m so blessed because I’ve had parents and family and a support system, but especially my parents, they’ve always been so supportive of everything that I’ve wanted to do,” she said. “They never question what I want to do. My mom, my dad, you guys have always just been like, ‘Okay, that’s what she’s gonna do. That’s Laila!’”
She went on, “And I feel like that’s always made me feel like I can take on the world, or I can show the world who I am because I’ve always had that in my life. … I’ve always just felt so incredibly supported.”
In her sit-down, she also revealed that her first full-length project will be dropping in September and spoke about her first-song-ever, “Like That,” which was a love song that she wrote at 16 years old.
“I was just posting it,” she said. “It just kind of caught fire. I was like, ‘I’m on to something. People really like this.’”