Arts & Culture MUSIC
With a platinum track under her belt, Rancho Bernardo rapper Ktlyn is riding TikTok to the top Social Status
BY NICOLLE MONICO
S
an Diego-native rapper Ktlyn performed in front of her first live audience at the Peppermint Club in LA, which holds a modest 250 people. The second time she took the stage, 9,000 fans sang every
word of her verse back to her in Atlanta. “I didn’t even think I was capable of that,” she says. “I just kind of channeled what I’ve seen my favorites do.” Last February, multi-platinum hip-hop artist Russ held an open verse challenge on TikTok for “Handsomer,” his song about a gold-digging woman. Ktlyn took the challenge, rapping her rebuttal in an Off-White tee against a blue-lit background. “I won’t lie that extra coin don’t hurt / but I gets money baby, I’d just rather spend yours first / I know for sure this pu**y worth more than a Hermes purse / I got the best on earth so that di** better come with some perks,” she riffed. Views of the video quickly soared into the millions. Russ released a remix with her verse on it. Her video has now amassed over 26 million views and 33,000 comments and garnered her more than two million followers. She’s got a record deal and a platinum single (awarded to songs with 150 million streams). Fans can hear her music on tour stops—and in TV commercials. Before all this, Ktlyn was just another aspiring artist trying to crack the algorithm to her own success. Growing up in Rancho Bernardo, the now 26-year-old Katelyn Bonner lived with her mom in a one-bedroom apartment where she had to find ways to entertain herself each day. “I was, like, 10 or 11 when I saw [ You Got Served ], and I thought it had the coolest soundtrack ever. I basically watched it every single day,” she says. “That was probably the turning point of diving into hip-hop music and becoming obsessed with it.” She names Eminem, Jay-Z, Nicki Minaj, and Lil Wayne as early influences. “I was looking up the lyrics, practicing their cadences,” Ktlyn says. “I would not stop playing the song over and over until I did it perfectly. If it was an intense Eminem song, I would replay it out loud until I felt like I was Eminem.” While attending Rancho Bernardo High, Ktlyn often freestyled for her basketball teammates or at parties— anywhere anyone would listen. While in college at UCLA, she started pursuing music professionally. “It was years of networking, just being in the studio with anybody I could
possibly get in with,” she recalls. Iconic Oakland rapper and producer Too $hort eventually gave Ktlyn her first shot, but her music still wasn’t taking off. “I was pushing my music on Instagram,” she says. “Either the algorithm was working against me, or my music just wasn’t good enough yet.” Or her audience was waiting for her on TikTok. She shot her first clip for the platform on July 16, 2020. Walking down a suburban street, she wore a simple beige cropped top, ripped jean shorts, and white sneakers, her long blonde hair hanging down past her chest. She freestyled on top of Jack Harlow’s “Whats Poppin.” It only got a few likes. When I came across Ktlyn in 2021, the unassuming 20-something was trying out her own verse over Cardi B’s “WAP.” It was good. You could tell she had that something , even if it wasn’t fully developed yet. I watched A San Diego native, Ktlyn jumpstarted her career back in 2022 when she took on rapper Russ’ open verse TikTok challenge for his hit, “Handsomer.” Since then, her video has amassed some 26 million views and 33K comments and nabbed her more than two million followers.
JUNE 2023 46
Made with FlippingBook Digital Proposal Creator