Coi Leray is in the midst of a stunning resurgence. While rap fans undoubtedly slept on her versatile debut album despite standout singles like “Blick Blick” and “Anxiety,” she bounced back late last year with the Grandmaster Flash-sampling “Players.”
Today, in a new interview with Billboard, she discusses the ups and downs of her career so far and explains why “it’s no competition” among her fellow female rappers as they storm the charts in a way that hasn’t been seen in hip-hop in nearly 20 years.
“I don’t compete with them, because you just can’t,” she says. “The best thing about this industry [is], there’s room for everybody. That’s why it’s no competition. I could be here and you could be here right with me. At the end of the day, even if we at the top of the mountain, I’ma be Coi and you gonna be you, and we could trade places or I could become someone else. I’m gonna determine my greatness, my destiny, and my future. What’s for you is for you, while we’re at the top together. Steel sharpens steel.”
She also listed some of her favorite peers in the rap game, naming GloRilla, Ice Spice, Cardi B, Nicki Minaj, Megan Thee Stallion, Doja Cat, Flo Milli, and rising star Lola Brooke, as well as name-checking Latto, who was recently embroiled in a ghostwriting controversy over leaked reference tracks for Coi’s “Blick Blick” and BIA’s “Whole Lotta Money.”