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ashard Bradshaw, better known by his stage name Cakes Da Killa, is a Brooklyn-based rapper and writer.

Cakes is a leading figure of the queer hip-hop explosion in New York that took place in 2011. His witty flow and unapologetic delivery helped push him to the forefront of discussion as the media’s interest in LGBTQ+ visibility and themes in hip-hop heightened.

His presence in music and media championed the acceptance of openly gay artists in hip-hop but Cakes’ journey in music began as a fluke. While being enrolled in Montclair State University Cakes would record videos of himself rapping just for fun. The idea of an openly gay artist in rap was still a farfetched concept at the time. His love of rhyming and wordplay was first discovered in High School when he would participate in rap battles in the cafeteria but a career in music never crossed his mind.

It wasn’t until he was asked to appear on the 2011 Downtown Mayhem Vol. 1 compilation mixtape that he realized his hobby for lyrics could be an easy way to a couple drink tickets and free entry at his favorite bar and clubs in the city. Fast forward to 2013 and Mishka NYC’s website releases Cakes’ first official mixtape The Eulogy to overwhelming popularity when it was reviewed positively by Pitchfork and Anthony Fantano of the Needledrop. Miles Raymer of Pitchfork compared his raunchy style to Lil’ Kim and praised the production of the mixtape. According to an interview in PAPER magazine the mixtape’s title originally referred to Cakes’ plan to end his musical career after its release to focus on journalism, but he’s since changed his mind.

He remains a staple for alternative voices in music, promoting black excellence as well as LGBTQ+ visibility garnering the MC praise from the likes of Red Bull, Afropunk and The Fader. Mixing 90’s grit with high energy club beats Cakes’ unique persona quickly cemented him as one of the most dynamic lyricists to hit airwaves fusing hip-hop, electronic and dance. A string of singles, collaborations with respected producers such as LSDXOXO, Honey Dijon and DJ Shiftee, mixtapes Hunger Pangs (2014) and #IMF (2015), television appearances on VH1’s LHH: Out in Hip Hop Special (2015) VICE’s Gaycation (2016), sponsorships, syncs and tours around the world finally prompted the release of his much anticipated debut album Hedonism in the fall of 2016.

In 2019 Cakes appeared as a contestant on Netflix’s original series Rhythm + Flow where he continued the dialogue about representation in hip-hop. A new EP was released by Classic Music Company/Defected in November 2020 and is entitled MUVALAND featuring lead single »Don Dada.« Follow up EP MUVALAND Vol. 2 was released in July 2021 by London’s HE.SHE.THEY. collective.

»These pair of Muvaland EPs started as quarantine projects, but within the canon of rap music, queer or otherwise, they will be remembered as the shift in Cakes da Killa’s career when it all came together—when both his persona and his talent went supernova.«

Originally formed in New York City and recently relocated to Pittsburgh, Machine Girl is a solo turned two piece digital hardcore outfit consisting of vocalist / producer Matt Stephenson and drummer Sean Kelly.

Cutting their teeth on the DIY circuit across North America, Machine Girl have quickly become known for their unpredictable and cathartic live shows, amassing a rabid following of club kids, punks and metal heads reveling in the bands amorphous blur between grindcore mosh pit and underground gabber rave.

Alongside fellow New York artists Bonnie Baxter, Prison Religion and Deli Girls, Machine Girl spearhead a recent wave of DIY music culture existing on the borders between punk, noise, techno, and rap, with few, if any, belonging squarely to any one tradition. Sonically collapsing the borders between these genres, Machine Girl’s music reflects the sensual overload of an omnipresent media in which public truth has become a prism of intersubjective realities and global tribalism no longer bound to a common fabric of facts or local cultural truths. It represents a postmodern world in which cultural points of reference have become universal, readily available to anyone at any time to be consumed, disconnected from their original meaning to be rearranged, culturally recharged and globally reconnected in ad lib fashion.

In the duos music and live performances this unstable reality is not only being reflected but celebrated and thus pushed to its inevitable conclusion: horror, violence, surrealism, anxiety and chaos – all hyperactivated, peaking in the ego’s death to thus clear the way for personal transcendence. To cleanse yourself, hit the reset button and ask: How to become a decent human being? What are the responsibilities that come with this kind of freedom? Are we victims or perpetrators? What can be done?