For BET’s 45th anniversary, we’re honoring our legacy of discovering and uplifting talent with “The Future of Black Culture” series. From Kendrick Lamar’s first televised performance to spotlighting legends like Beyoncé in her early career, BET has always been a platform for rising stars. This year-long series will kick off with five profiles, followed by a new feature each month, showcasing the next generation of trailblazers across entertainment, music, sports, art, tech, and activism.

Why We Co-Sign: Laila! is the voice of a new generation—effortlessly blending R&B, rap, and self-produced beats into music that feels intimate, relatable, and fresh. Her DIY approach, viral success, and ability to connect deeply with fans signal a future where artists take full control of their narrative, shaping culture in real-time.
Breakout Moment: With her breakout hit “Like That!” gaining millions of views on YouTube and TikTok, Laila! proved she wasn’t just another internet sensation—she was an artist with staying power. Her follow-up single, “Not My Problem,” took things even further, earning co-signs from major artists and turning her into one of NYC’s most exciting new talents
What’s Next: After the release of her debut album Gap Year!, Laila! is focused on expanding her artistry, with plans to incorporate more of her Dominican heritage into her sound. With a growing fanbase, packed live shows, and a fearless creative vision, she’s poised to make an even bigger impact in 2025.

If you listen to the music by singer Laila!, you’d never think that she battled issues of self confidence. Her viral hits “Like That!” and “Not My Problem” both ooze with breezy self-assurance, as she sings and raps over self-produced beats that have fellow Gen Zers vibing to the tune of millions of YouTube views and selling out her first headlining show. But the Brooklyn native says that she battled crippling nervousness before releasing her first song.

“I had to overcome a lot of self doubt and fear and feeling like I'm not good enough. … Then I got to a point where I was like, ‘if I'm gonna do this, I have to do this now. I can't wait forever,’” she recalled in a sit down with BET.

“[The success of “Like That”] really changed my whole perspective on everything, because I realized if I really believe in myself enough, maybe other people will like it,” she continued. “...It felt good to just let go of the fear and anxiety of embarrassing myself and people not liking it, or people thinking something’s wrong.”

Laila says that music “predates [her] earliest memory.” The daughter of conscious rap icon Yasiin Bey (formerly known as Mos Def) says she emulated Michael and Janet Jackson music videos as a child before later looking up to singers like Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston. She started creating similar to many Gen Zers: she used Apple’s GarageBand software to cover ‘90s R&B gems and post them on Soundcloud, and shared her beats on TikTok. Her first original song was “Like That,” which steeps swaggy, in-the-pocket raps and a harmonious chorus in a lush, synthy soundbed. After releasing the song in 2023 during her sophomore year in high school, she continued to create, releasing her first EP In CTRL! in February 2024. 

From there, she built momentum and never let up. “Like That” gained traction on TikTok Trends, with users making memes to the song without knowing who she was. She then gave vibrant performances on YouTube platforms From The Block and On The Radar, and caught fire again with “Not My Problem,” a song where she melodically shit-talks verses (“now I got the juice, passion fruit and guava juice,” she coos) and delivers an irresistibly infectious chorus. The song impressed fellow NYC wunderkind Cash Cobain, who sampled it for a loaded drill posse cut “problem” that featured over a dozen artists, including Big Sean, Fabolous, 6lack, Flo Milli, and more. She also released music videos for “Like That” and “Not My Problem,” which have garnered 1.8 million and 10 million YouTube views, respectively. She says she’s constantly seeking balance between maintaining her social media presence without becoming too attached to her phone, but that she’s grateful for how much it’s helped her success.

“I really couldn't have imagined how many people it would reach that quickly. Because I was like, ‘I'm just gonna keep posting stuff and I don't care who sees it. If it's just me and my friends, it'll just be me and my friends,’” she said. “It's intriguing to me because we are experiencing this renaissance in the way that people are consuming music and new artists are being developed. We've never had anything like this before, and I feel like a lot of my biggest influences came out in a time that was so drastically different in the way that people were consuming media. I don't want to be on my screens all the time, but this is also how I connect with the people that listen to me and support me.”

After building her digital presence with singles and videos, Laila! put her skills on full display with Gap Year!, her debut album that she dropped in September 2024. The title is fitting, since she forwent college after graduating high school and decided to focus on her music. The LP is a coming-of-age journey that finds her singing and rapping teenage love, dreams of being asked to prom, and seesawing emotions of loneliness and euphoria. Songs like “Sani (Homework Freestyle)” are blissfully unpolished, while songs like “R U Down?” showcase impressive vocal runs and layered harmonies. She writes with both certainty and uncertainty (“I'm just a girl and I don’t know what I'm feeling,” she admits on “R U Down?”) with equal palpability, embracing her youth instead of pushing to speed beyond it. She cites Brandy and Aaliyah as her biggest influences and that’s clear here, as the album shines with the jovial glow of their early works.

Going viral is one thing, but connecting with fans live is a different level of accomplishment. Weeks after the release of Gap Year!, she had her first live show at Baby’s All Right in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, reportedly packing the venue from wall to wall with fans who were excited to see her in person. “I just couldn't believe that they were all there to see me, specifically,” she told Teen Vogue, recalling memories of signing t-shirts and posters for fans. “They were so excited. It was just so many people and I couldn't believe it. It's something that I'm going to remember for the rest of my life, because that was just so lit and so fun.”

Whether it’s writing and producing her music or building her social media audience, Laila! is all about the DIY energy that drives Gen Z creators. It wasn’t until August 2024 that she confirmed rumors about her dad. The two musicians bare uncanny visual resemblance, and she told Complex that she fondly remembers childhood jam sessions with her father. “I kind of just always been my own artist in a way, and that’s a cool thing,” she says. “Because I feel like as a kid whenever we would jam sesh and vibe out, me and him, 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!’”

But Laila! is just as grateful for other members of her family as well. She told BET that she plans to integrate more Dominican elements into her music in the future, a nod to her mother’s side of the family. She says that her family has always been supportive of her music (her mother works as her manager), and that her grandmother being proud of her is one of her career highlights. 

“For a long time, I felt like life was just happening to me and I was just in school, and I had no control over what was going on. It's really cool to feel like I'm in control of what I'm doing, and I can do these amazing things that I love by just making music, which I've always loved,” she said. “So for my family to be able to see me go from a small kid, being in high school, having all these issues and not having fun at all in high school to being able to accomplish so many things and just do what I really love, is really the most important thing to me. I feel like it's the biggest accomplishment.”

If Laila! continues down the path she’s on, it’ll be the first of many.