The title of his third studio album, Black Sheep (2024), is both a tribute to New York’s club life and a reflection of Rashard Bradshaw’s own experience. The record draws inspiration from Manhattan and Brooklyn spaces where, in the early 2010s, a queer explosion reshaped the dialogue between hip hop and electronic music. It also mirrors his personal journey: he has never felt fully comfortable inside strictly defined genre scenes. Perhaps that’s why his production moves effortlessly between hard-hitting rap, house, rave, jazz and club electronics. With his eclecticism, intensity and relentless drive, he could easily become the festival’s dark horse.
Originally from New Jersey but long based in New York, Cakes da Killa was part of the early wave of explosive queer rap that rewrote the rules of the game in the 2010s. He has collaborated with artists such as LSDXOXO, clipping., Peaches, Mykki Blanco, Injury Reserve and Dawn Richard. Across three studio albums and his live shows, he switches genres at the snap of a finger without ever losing his narrative focus or the machine-gun precision of his flow. Black Sheep stands as a high point in his career: while parts of the industry remained preoccupied with his identity rather than his craft, he delivered a dense and self-assured vision – an explosive blend of genres that not only demands movement on the dancefloor, but also offers new paths of escape. Not into comfort, but toward healing and continued resistance. Black sheep? Dark horse. Still da bitch.