Latashá

Latashá
Also known asL.A.
Born
Latasha Alcindor

1988 (age 37–38)
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
GenresHip hop
Occupations
  • Rapper
  • singer
  • songwriter
  • record producer
Years active2011–present
Websitecallmelatasha.com

Latashá (born Latasha Alcindor, 1988),[1] also credited as LATASHA and known early in her career as L.A., is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer from Brooklyn, New York. Active in New York's independent hip hop scene since the early 2010s, she became known as an early adopter of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in music, serving as head of community programming at the NFT platform Zora and founding the educational event series Zoratopia.[2][3]

Early life

Alcindor is Afro-Latina, of Panamanian, Jamaican, Puerto Rican, and Haitian descent, and grew up in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York.[4] She began performing in her early twenties while working day jobs, developing her live act at New York performance spaces including National Sawdust and The Shed.[3][5]

Career

Early releases (2011–2020)

Alcindor came to hip hop by way of performance art, and began releasing music in 2011 under the name L.A., derived from her initials, with the mixtapes The Presentation and The L.A. Riots: Mental Fatality.[6][7] Performing as Latasha Alcindor, she went on to release the EP Spark (2014), Loosies & Blunts (2015), B(LA)K, and the 2017 mixtape Teen Nite at Empire, a concept record named after Brooklyn's Empire Roller Skating Center.[7][8][4] She performed at festivals including South by Southwest and the Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival, opened for artists including Big Sean, Princess Nokia, Ghostface Killah, and Q-Tip, and presented the performance piece All A Dream: Intro to LATASHA at the Brooklyn Museum.[9][8] In 2018, Brooklyn Magazine named her in its "30 Under 30" list.[10]

After relocating to Los Angeles, she released the singles "Who I Am" and "GoGo Wyne" in 2020.[11][9] "Who I Am" was featured in the Netflix miniseries Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C.J. Walker, whose soundtrack of Black women artists also included Janelle Monáe, Queen Latifah, and Little Simz; she credited the placement to her publishing work with the music licensing company Sugaroo!.[12][13]

Web3 and Zora (2021–2023)

In February 2021, Latashá minted her first NFT, a music video for her 2017 song "Ilikedat..", on the platform Zora.[3][5] NFT sales of her videos for "GoGo Wyne" and "Glo Up" generated nearly $100,000,[14][15] and she was subsequently hired as Zora's head of community programming, founding Zoratopia, an educational event series held in cities across the United States and at gatherings such as NFT.NYC and Art Basel Miami.[2][16]

Her advocacy for artist ownership through NFTs drew coverage from outlets including Time, Vice, BET, and Forbes,[17][18][19][20] and nft now named her to its NFT100 list of influential figures in the space in 2023.[16] She appeared in Minted, a documentary about the NFT market broadcast on PBS's Independent Lens.[21] A trailer for her audiovisual project START HERE. was included in "My Body, My Business", a 2023 Sotheby's benefit auction curated by Pussy Riot founder Nadya Tolokonnikova,[1] and in 2025 she held an artist residency at the Ace Hotel & Swim Club in Palm Springs, presenting the exhibition muva_nature during Coachella weekend.[14][15]

Collaborations and Out Here (2022–present)

Latashá was featured on Pussy Riot's 2022 single "Laugh It Off" alongside VÉRITÉ,[22] Honey Dijon's "Don't Be Afraid",[23] and New Zealand duo SACHI's "405" (2024), a collaboration arranged by Nick Littlemore of Empire of the Sun.[24]

In 2026, she released the singles "WAVE" and "PPNE" ahead of her next album; "WAVE" begins in the boom bap style of her earlier New York work before opening into more psychedelic production.[25][26]

Awards

Year Award Category Result
2025 Hollywood Independent Music Awards Producer/ProductionWon[27]

Discography

Projects

  • The Presentation (2011)
  • The L.A. Riots: Mental Fatality (2011)
  • Spark (2014)
  • Loosies & Blunts (2015)
  • B(LA)K
  • Teen Nite at Empire (2017)

Selected singles

  • "Ol' BK Soul" (featuring Radamiz, 2017)
  • "Who I Am" (2020)
  • "GoGo Wyne" (2020)
  • "Laugh It Off" (Pussy Riot featuring VÉRITÉ and Latashá, 2022)
  • "Don't Be Afraid" (Honey Dijon featuring Latashá, 2022)
  • "405" (SACHI featuring Latashá, 2024)
  • "WAVE" (2026)
  • "PPNE" (2026)

References

  1. 1 2 ""START HERE." (the trailer) — My Body, My Business". Sotheby's. 2023. Retrieved July 6, 2026.
  2. 1 2 Ramaswamy, Anita (June 26, 2022). "Web3 artist Latashá on educating creators about crypto's ebbs and flows". TechCrunch. Retrieved July 6, 2026.
  3. 1 2 3 "Rapper Latashá Is Creating A Space In Crypto For Indie Artists". HuffPost. 2022. Retrieved July 6, 2026.
  4. 1 2 "Meet Latasha Alcindor, the Afro-Latina Rapper on a Mission to Defend Brooklyn". Remezcla. 2017. Retrieved July 6, 2026.
  5. 1 2 "Rapper Latashá on NFTs and Inclusivity in Tech". CoinDesk. December 13, 2021. Retrieved July 6, 2026.
  6. ↑ Beckerman, Andy. "Episode 330: Latasha Alcindor". Beginnings. Retrieved July 9, 2026.
  7. 1 2 "These female rappers don't want to be defined by industry sexism. They're setting their own rules". Mic. November 17, 2018. Retrieved July 9, 2026.
  8. 1 2 "LATASHA Re-Emerges, Redefines, & Defies With Song 'Sumpn' [Premiere]". Okayplayer. 2018. Retrieved July 6, 2026.
  9. 1 2 "Latashá Premieres Her Empowering New Music Video For "GoGo Wyne"". Wonderland. August 21, 2020. Retrieved July 6, 2026.
  10. ↑ "30 Under 30: Latasha Alcindor". Brooklyn Magazine. February 3, 2018. Retrieved July 6, 2026.
  11. ↑ "Latashá's 'WHO I AM' Is Her Redemption Song [Premiere]". Okayplayer. 2020. Retrieved July 6, 2026.
  12. ↑ "How Netflix's 'Self Made' Tells First Female Millionaire's Tale With Eclectic Soundtrack". Variety. March 26, 2020. Retrieved July 9, 2026.
  13. ↑ "We Talk To LATASHÁ About Her Caribbean Roots, Music Process, Appreciation For Feminine Energy And More". Snobette. June 16, 2020. Retrieved July 9, 2026.
  14. 1 2 "Ace Hotel & Swim Club Palm Springs Hosts Latashá Exhibition During Coachella 2025 in Partnership with Superchief Gallery and FWB". PR Newswire. April 1, 2025. Retrieved July 6, 2026.
  15. 1 2 "muva_nature". Coachella Magazine. May 19, 2025. Retrieved July 9, 2026.
  16. 1 2 "NFT100 Spotlight: Latashá on Championing Web3 Music". nft now. May 15, 2023. Retrieved July 6, 2026.
  17. ↑ Chow, Andrew R. (December 2, 2021). "Musicians Are Making Big Money From NFTs. Can They Challenge the Music Industry?". Time. Retrieved July 9, 2026.
  18. ↑ Schwartz, Drew (March 19, 2021). "NFTs Won't Save Small, Independent Musicians—But the Blockchain Could". Vice. Retrieved July 9, 2026.
  19. ↑ "Call Her Latashá: Meet Your Guide to Creative Liberation Through NFTs". BET. 2022. Retrieved July 6, 2026.
  20. ↑ "8 NFT Artists Building Their Own Crypto Communities". Forbes. September 20, 2023. Retrieved July 6, 2026.
  21. ↑ "Minted". PBS. 2025. Retrieved July 9, 2026.
  22. ↑ "Pussy Riot, VÉRITÉ, and LATASHÁ Have Nothing to Prove on "Laugh It Off"". Flood. March 8, 2022. Retrieved July 6, 2026.
  23. ↑ "Honey Dijon shares video for single, 'Don't Be Afraid' featuring LATASHÁ: Watch". DJ Mag. June 2, 2023. Retrieved July 6, 2026.
  24. ↑ "SACHI & Latashá Put the Pedal to the Metal on '405'". Rolling Stone Australia. May 24, 2024. Retrieved July 6, 2026.
  25. ↑ "LATASHÁ – WAVE". Stereofox. May 19, 2026. Retrieved July 9, 2026.
  26. ↑ "LATASHÁ, surfer sur le chaos de l'existence avec "WAVE"". Iggy Magazine (in French). May 19, 2026. Retrieved July 9, 2026.
  27. ↑ "2025 Winners and Nominees". Hollywood Independent Music Awards. 2025. Retrieved July 9, 2026.
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