Tkay Maidza is a girl who is seriously going places. Rising swiftly in the local hip-hop and electronic scene, she’s now an in-demand collaborator for international artists and has scored major props from the likes of Killer Mike.
The international endorsements may have been what got the young Adelaide native noticed by the judges of the BET Awards, one of the most prestigious awards given to African Americans and other minorities in music and entertainment.
At least, that’s one theory. Honestly, Tkay herself isn’t even sure. As she recently relayed to News Corp, she found out about the nomination thanks to Instagram after waking up one morning.
Now set to walk the red carpet with the likes of Drake, Rihanna, and Beyonce, the 20-year-old emcee and vocalist woke up on Wednesday to find her social media accounts blowing up with news that she’d scored a Best New International Act nod.
“I have no idea how this happened; I woke up and saw it on Instagram,” she said. “Apparently they messaged my manager, asking for my photo and bio and he never told me about it. It was good he answered that email.”
As the only female artist in the category, Tkay is up against the likes of South African rapper Emtee, Parisian rapper MHD, English rap group Section Boyz, West London collective WSTRN, and Nigerian rapper FALZ.
[include_post id=”458830″]
The ceremony for the BET Awards will be held at the Microsoft Theatre in Los Angeles on 26th June and if Tkay does end up attending, it will be her second ever awards ceremony, having previously attended the South Australian Music Awards.
“Yeah, this will be my first big mainstream awards and I imagine Rihanna will be there and The Roots are doing a Prince tribute so it would be fun to see all those celebrities,” she told News Corp.
“I would be sad if I didn’t go. But I have no idea what to wear; I’m not a frock person and even open-toed shoes are really weird to me.” No doubt she’ll have plenty of mates and former collaborators waiting for her on the red carpet.
