By Katie Kelly
Lifeâs Luckii and I are sitting at a table in Crosstown one afternoon. In the middle of our conversation a man approaches us. âExcuse me, Iâm sorry to interrupt, but are you a rapper?â he asks Luckii. She nods. âDo you go by Lifeâs Luckii?â he continues. She laughs and nods again. âWow, this is so cool. Iâm also a musician and I got some things Iâd love for you to hear when youâre done,â he says. The two make plans to link up later and Luckii and I resume talking. âDonât worry, that doesnât happen often,â she says laughing.
Lifeâs Luckii might be joking but after spending time with her, I donât believe in the rarity of that occurrence. Thereâs something about the Memphis artist that is instantly infectious. Her energy is electric. Her spirit is contagious. The phrase âshe lights up a roomâ is corny and overplayed, but for Luckii, itâs true â she makes any space she enters brighter and more exciting.Â
âI was always that person people came to when they were going through shitty days,â she tells me. âI just really realized thereâs nothing good in coming off miserable. I smile even through there are those painful days.â Itâs an inspirational mentality forged from overcoming past hardships. âIâve always had asthma really badly. Then my brother passed when he was 17 from an actual, like, asthma attack. After that, it kind of like forced me to see everything differently. It forced me to not live in those shitty moments so much.â
When you meet Luckii in real life, this positivity is palpable, but when you listen to her music, it becomes transformative. Over any style beat (seriously, any style â thereâs not a beat she canât conquer), Lifeâs Luckii delivers her motivational message with a fierceness that commands your attention. Her flow is relentless, her delivery is impactful, and her technique is undeniable. She can make some of the most complex bars look effortless.
âI feel like Iâm walking in my purpose,â Luckii tells me about her music. Which makes sense considering how important art has been to her throughout her life. During school, Lifeâs Luckii wrote poetry before she moved into songwriting. âI always read when I was young. I did poetry, like, heavy when I was young. Even when I first started rapping, I went by Lifeâs Poet,â she recalls. Despite freestyling at the lunch table, it wasnât until her Dadâs friend recorded her poems over beats that she formally switched gears to rapping and making music.Â
When Luckii details her background to me, she makes one thing very clear: she raps, but sheâs not only a rapper. âI donât fit into a box,â she tells me adamantly. And I agree. Luckii has the unique ability to seamlessly shift between R&B, hip-hop, pop, soul, or blues. âI don’t really feel like I’m in one category. I’m telling you, I pretty much can catch anything, any beat, any vibe. As long as itâs something I can feel, I can do it.â
The confidence she has in her innate talent isnât just clear to her listeners, itâs also clear to other artists. This past year, Lifeâs Luckii teamed up with fellow Memphis musician Glockianna for the explosive single âStar.â âI actually did something with A.R. The Mermaid too. Hopefully thatâll be out this summer,â she adds.Â
In addition to these collaborations, Luckiiâs working on her own material. âI have a LOT of songs that Iâve written that are just waiting in the bank. I donât know if Iâm going to do an album or just an EP yet, but I have enough for a full album. We definitely working, we got some hits,â she tells me, and when she lists off some of the producers sheâs working with, Iâm sure she does. âI was just in the studio with C Major. I got some songs with Red On The Beat too,â she reveals. Damn. Sounds like some big moves coming in 2024.
Lifeâs Luckiiâs special not only because of what sheâs already created, but also because of her unbridled potential. Sheâs got all the makings for success and you can sense it when youâre around her. âYou know, every time I am allowed to step on a stage or the moment I step in a space, people see me. Iâm seen and heard. Iâm blessed for that. People are always just kind of like, ‘dang, this girl is dope! Sheâs a real diamond in the rough.’â Lifeâs Luckii likens herself to a diamond in the rough, but thatâs not necessarily what Iâd call her. To me, she encapsulates the rarity and promise of finding sayâŚoh I donât knowâŚa four leaf clover?