Marmoset artist, KayelaJ on the cover of her album D.Y.K.E (Don’t Yield, Keep Enduring)
KayelaJ isn’t stepping into the limelight, she’s already been there. Joining Marmoset’s record label Infinite Companion, the artist embraces new opportunities while refusing to veer from her personal truth.
Performing at an Umbrellaslang event under Marmoset’s roof, KayelaJ performed her usual set. It was a night of making strong first impressions that would lead to an unexpected creative partnership. In January, she became the newest artist on the Infinite Companion roster.
But the decision didn’t come easy for KayelaJ. Armed with the natural charisma and talents of a musical performer, she’s always thinking on her feet with a keen eye for seizing opportunities—just not without running through the scenario top to bottom. Wrapping up a collaboration with fellow rap artist Wynne, who’s touring with EARTHGANG—a group signed to J. Cole’s Dreamville Records—KayelaJ arrived at a fork in the road.
“I knew she [Wynne] had a really good team behind her, so I knew it [the song] was going to be very well promoted,” KayelaJ says. “I knew it was probably going to be my most heard verse of today. So I was thinking, well, there might be opportunities that could come from that, so maybe I should wait. Maybe I should hold out and wait.”
No matter the next step, there was one thing KayelaJ knew she needed to be sure of—wherever she would go next, her team would need to accept her work wholeheartedly, embrace who she was without the intention of altering her message.
“It’s about finding people who won’t try to censor you,” KayelaJ says. “Finding people that aren’t going to try to tone you down.”
Lyrics radiating first-perspective accounts from her own personal experiences, KayelaJ incorporates everything from struggling with mental health to past sexual abuse in her music. But everything is rooted in truth—these are the moments that made her who she is, moments that made her a stronger person and enduring artist.
In her partnership with Infinite Companion, KayelaJ ventures into new territory, setting her sights on creating an complete work that shifts toward a different horizon.
“Sometimes you feel really high, sometimes you feel really low,” KayelaJ says. “Focusing on this next project, I want to focus on love and higher vibrations. Just something to make me feel love, feel happiness, something to make me focus on all those things.”
You can listen to and license KayelaJ’s album, D.Y.K.E (Don’t Yield, Keep Enduring) on Marmoset’s roster here. Stay tuned for more of her new work to be released in partnership with Infinite Companion.