Masked microphone menace Leikeli47 is back with a new single and video for “Zoom,” a casually threatening banger that serves as a warning to anyone who wants to test the Virginia-by-way-of-Brooklyn native. The video borrows its aesthetic from the 16-bit video games of yesteryear, featuring an animated Leikeli cruising down a highway populated by hater robots she shoots out of her way as she raps, “I don’t have no ammo but my gunna got rocket.” An actual rocket launcher (laser cannon?) pops up from her convertible to erase the obstructions, allowing her to continue pursuing power-ups based on her previous works.
Those works include the 2017 album Wash & Set and its 2018 follow-up Acrylic, on which she flexes her lyrical muscles and traverses a wide variety of styles from straight-up boom-bap battle rap to dancehall to electro-hop, all while keeping her face safely disguised behind her collection of homemade bandana masks. Her eclectic output earned her recognition in forums such as Adult Swim Festival, where she was undercard headliner, in Rapody’s “Oprah” video from the critically-acclaimed album Eve, on NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts, where she added a jazzy twist to her usual EDM-influenced flair, and on Freeform’s Grown-ish as the “secret genius” behind a new music video for “Tic Boom” which also debuted on the show. The new song suggests that another new album is on the way, raising her profile further and proving that she’s destined for stardom.
Watch the animated lyric video for Leikeli47’s “Zoom” above.