Ashnikko

London-based, American-born rapper and singer Ashnikko makes genre-bending hip-hop and electronic pop, marked by her hyper-stylized, anime- and video game-influenced persona. Following two initial EPs, she gained widespread viral buzz with her song "Stupid," featuring Yung Baby Tate, off 2019's Hi It's Me.

Born Ashton Nicole Casey in 1996 in Oak Ridge, North Carolina, Ashnikko grew up in Greensboro. She discovered rap around age 11, listening to M.I.A. in her teens she lived in both Estonia and Latvia, where her father was working. It was during this period that she began making her own music, influenced by artists like Nicki Minaj, Bjork, and other artists. In 2017, she released a digital EP, the Raf Riley-produced Sass Pancakes, which included the track "Krokodil." A second EP, Unlikeable, followed in 2018 and included the song "No Brainer." In 2019, Ashnikko returned with the five-track EP Hi It's Me, which featured the song "Stupid" with Yung Baby Tate. The track and video went viral on several platforms, helping it reach number one on both the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart and Bubbling Under R&B/Hip-Hop chart. That same year, she toured with Danny Brown. "Cry," a collaboration with Grimes, arrived in June 2020.