CHIKA

Jane Chika Oranika (born on March 9, 1997 in Montgomery, Alabama), known professionally as Chika (often stylized CHIKA), extols the virtues of doing it for yourself. Born to Nigerian parents and raised in the South, the socially conscious rapper, poet and songwriter turned down a place at America's prestigious Berklee College of Music in order to carve her own path in the music industry. She started uploading covers of hits like Ed Sheeran's "The A Team" to YouTube and SoundCloud and for Pride Month in 2017, championed her queer identity with "Proud"; an empowering remake of Ed Sheeran's "Shape of You." Oranika harnessed the power of social media as a platform to make herself heard. In 2018, her rap freestyle (addressed to Kanye West and criticizing his support of Donald Trump) went viral, thrusting her into the spotlight. The singer and model – who has starred in a campaign for Calvin Klein – dropped her debut single, "No Squares," the following year. In April 2019, Oranika was invited to perform her song "Richey v. Alabama," which dealt with Alabama's 2019 abortion bill, on Jimmy Kimmel Live! She secured a deal with Warner Records that summer and in March 2020 released her major label debut, the statement-making Industry Games EP.