Tommy Genesis Knows Exactly Who She Is
We speak to the artist about her decade-long career and upcoming new album.
Ten years into her career, Tommy Genesis knows exactly who she is. The rapper who coined the term “fetish rap” and built a cult following from unapologetically explicit lyricism has nothing left to prove and everything left to enjoy.
Since self-releasing her first tracks back in 2015, today’s Tommy Genesis definitely still holds her former self in mind; still explicit, still fearless, but in 2026, she’s sharper and more deliberate about her craft.
Tommy’s witnessed her own evolution from the scrappy, instinct-driven underdog to someone far more boundaried. “I feel very empowered in myself. I feel like a woman, and I feel very grown. I’ve learned boundaries over those 10 years, and it makes me feel very happy and healthy,” she tells Hypebae.
Despite a decade under her belt, it’s not an easy feat to stay true to yourself as an artist. “I wasn’t making music for anyone to hear,” Tommy tells us of her earlier days in music. “I think I went through kind of the cycle of making mainstream music just to try it out, then going back and making really obscure sh-t just for myself,” she adds.
Still, it’s making obscure sh-t that led to someone like Lana Del Rey sampling one of Tommy’s tracks, a poignant moment that still feels a little out of the ordinary. “Some of the metaphors in World Vision, I was like, what was I even saying?” she says, somewhat perplexed by her younger self.
“When Lana sampled ‘Angelina,’ I thought, that is such a weird song, I love it, but it’s so weird,” admitting that she definitely didn’t see it coming. “The feature shocked even me. It just dropped; I didn’t even know she listened to my music. Obviously I grew up on Lana; I’m a hardcore, cult follower. So that was amazing.”
That full-circle moment says a lot about how Tommy sees the industry more broadly: rarely a straight line and more like a loop. No stranger to the ebbs and flows and our cyclical love of nostalgia, she’s noticed that “It all comes back around — I hear music now that sounds like the sh-t we were making ten years ago, and then people are on new waves now.”
For a lot of artists, the idea of things coming back around might not sound so enticing, but for Tommy, it’s a reminder that the industry has space for everyone. “I think that’s what’s really cool about music — the originality of thought, and someone’s soul and spirit — you can just start making music today and be unique as well. It’s almost like time doesn’t really matter because we’re here in the present, and it’s cool to look back,” the artist explains.
In terms of her own influences and her creative process, it’s clear that for Tommy, it’s the emotion that underpins everything. That belief in originality is what defines her creative process.
Ask Tommy what shapes her sound, and she won’t point you in the direction of other artists. “I don’t listen to music to be influenced. My biggest influences are my own life experiences,” the artist reveals, and even then, it’s rarely literal.
“The feeling itself, I will pull from real personal experiences, but it’s not necessarily the experience itself. If someone pisses me off, I’ll pull that anger — it might not be the experience that happened to me, but I will pull from that anger. That’s how I write. It’s actually so therapeutic,” she adds.
It’s that same level of emotional directness and confidence that made “fetish rap” a genre before it had a name, well ahead of artists like Doechii, BKtherula and Princess Nokia, who have since carried the torch.
“The confidence has always been there. I think that’s one thing I’ve never had to question,” Tommy tells us, seeing her confidence as less of an achievement, and more of a default setting. “I obviously have a lot of things I work on, but caring about what other people think isn’t one of them — and maybe that’s just a Leo thing, or maybe that’s just the way I came into this world.”
Still, even the most confident of artists recognize that no one is invincible and, as a result, having the right people around you is crucial. “I’ve definitely really appreciated having certain friendships and people who have protected me and helped me, and made me realize that I can do this. I have a really good management team, and really good best friends and family and I’m always like, if something happens, I won’t just bleed out; I have people who would patch me up.”
That security and grounding is exactly what’s allowed her to enter her next chapter without hesitation. Tommy’s new album, out later this year, is a record born from a defiant, single chapter in her life and built in a rapid-fire studio sprint with longtime collaborator Charlie Heat.
“This album is for the girls, it’s for the gays, it’s for myself, and like, absolutely no one else. I just think it empowers me, so I’m hoping it resonates with my day ones,” Tommy tells us, citing her “single and just pissed” headspace as the catalyst for the writing process. “I didn’t have any rules for myself,” she confirms.
But the album is only part of what lies ahead. Tommy’s also stepping into her first lead film role, featuring her own music, pushing her acting career further than she’s ever taken it before. And after it all, what she covets most is simple: to be back on the road, touring, seeing her fans and meeting new people. Welcome to decade two.
