Meet Lay Bankz, the Eritrean Artist Climbing the Billboard Charts

When Bankz was in daycare, her mother drove them outside of Philly where she worked, playing music on the car stereo. Bankz recalled to Billboard what she heard: Beyoncé, Keyshia Cole, Sevyn Streeter, “a lot of what was popping in the early 2000s,” she said. “I’ve always known this is what I wanted to do since I was a baby, and everybody around me can vouch for that. I’ve been doing this my whole life. This is nothing new. I played the violin, I played piano, I was in orchestra, I was in [vocal] lessons, I did musical theater, I took poem classes and I learned how to write poems and write raps. I couldn’t see myself doing anything else.”

Certainly, that dedication comes across in the music. Especially through her versatility, tapping readily from hip-hop and R&B, Bankz reflects an all-or-nothing mentality. “Ick” was criticized at the time of its release, but in its online-friendly one minute-plus runtime and bouncy New Jersey-evoking production, there’s an underlying cohesion that makes the song stick. Bankz’s enunciation level is standard, and the bubbly personality that shines through reminds listeners that here, after all, is a promising woman still in her teens.

“Ick” features in Now You See Me, Bankz’s seven-track project which was released in August 2023. It also features “IDFWY” and “Na Na Na,” whose acceptance was the launchpad for the records that would come later. A note shared on the EP’s YouTube page reads like a mission statement: “I named my project Now You See Me for numerous reasons, but the most important reason is that my whole life I never felt like anyone ever saw me. This project is a statement to everyone who didn’t know, now you have no option but to see me. I’m right in your face and I will forever be authentically myself, unapologetically.”

Bankz has artistry and attitude, that much is clear, but she also has a third strength that’s been crucial to her rise from the ranks of online virality to real-time musical stardom — she has a team that understands business and how best to merge that with her peculiarities as an artist. Among her several fast-approaching accolades, the artist was named Billboard’s R&B/Hip-Hop Rookie of the Month for May.

Like Tyla and Ayra Starr, Bankz represents the global sensibilities inherent in the new generation of African women musicians; rooted in the concept of home and bringing the world to themselves, rather than seeking it out. Bankz hasn’t reflected a lot of Africanness in her records so far, but she carries the story of Eritrea quite dutifully. In the Billboard interview, she spoke about how it’s “super important” that her family back in the East African country and others that “don’t have half the things that I have…[know] that they can do this too.”

As in that instance, and elsewhere, Bankz showcases a knack for insightful responses. Speaking with Uproxx, she was once asked which she would choose, five years into the future or five years into the past. “The past,” she replied, “just to visit moments and feelings I feel like I didn’t get to feel entirely because of how fast they happened. I experience so much every day and my life moves so fast that it’s easy to not entirely take what’s happening to me.”

“I wouldn’t want to see the future because I’m gonna always get there,” she said. “Why rush to see what’s already written?”