Melisa Rincón (born ) known professionally as Bunny Michael, is an American interdisciplinary visual artist, musician, and rapper.

Early life and education

Bunny Michael was raised in Dallas, Texas. They are the middle of three children born to a second-generation

Mexican American Mexican Americans ( es, mexicano-estadounidenses, , or ) are Americans of full or partial Mexican heritage. In 2019, Mexican Americans comprised 11.3% of the US population and 61.5% of all Hispanic and Latino Americans. In 2019, 71% of Mexica ...

father and a Samoan mother. They were raised in an affluent suburb. Michael attended

Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (BTWHSPVA) is a state school, public secondary school located in the Arts District, Dallas, Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas, United States. Booker T. Washington HSPVA en ...

. They realized they were queer at the age of fifteen and stated that

coming out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...

to their family was a difficult process. Michael briefly moved in with their first girlfriend's family. They have since reconciled with their family. Michael graduated from Marymount Manhattan College.

Career

Michael is a visual artist, musician, and rapper whose work often examines the relationship between the masculine and feminine, the body and the soul, and the self and higher self. After graduating from college, they shared their music through Myspace. Michael was the vocalist performing by the name Bunny Rabbit with producer Black Cracker. It is described by '' HuffPost'' as an "eponymous experimental rap collaboration." Bunny Rabbit toured with CocoRosie and gained praise from New Yorker critic Sasha Frere-Jones who stated in 2007, "I am fond of the deeply odd, occasionally obscene art rap of Bunny Rabbit." Michael garnered a large fan base through Myspace which allowed them to book their own U.S. tour. Michael was working as a waiter in 2017. In 2018, Michael went on tour in Europe with

Fever Ray Karin Elisabeth Dreijer (born 7 April 1975) is a Swedish singer-songwriter and record producer. Dreijer was one half of the electronic music duo the Knife, formed with their brother Olof Dreijer. Dreijer released their debut solo album under ...

. They are known for their "Me and My Higher Self"

meme A meme ( ) is an idea, behavior, or style that spreads by means of imitation from person to person within a culture and often carries symbolic meaning representing a particular phenomenon or theme. A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural i ...

s on Instagram which started when Michael was undergoing a major spiritual transformation of their own. This project is aimed at increasing

self-love Self-love, defined as "love of self" or "regard for one's own happiness or advantage", has been conceptualized both as a basic human necessity and as a moral flaw, akin to vanity and selfishness, synonymous with amour-propre, conceitedness, eg ...

, and much like Michael's music and visual art, also explores the multiplicities within the self. '' Remezcla'' reports that Michael is a "queer multimedia artist... houtilizes music, art videos, and memes as their mediums to explore themes of self love and acceptance, spirituality, and sexuality in a time when our 'deepest truths are being revealed'." Michael is the host of “Broadly Hotline,” a web series on Broadly. Michael is currently working on starting a podcast centered around self-care, personal growth, and other millennial-related topics. Michael appeared in two seasons of the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

series

High Maintenance ''High Maintenance'' is an American Anthology series, anthology comedy-drama television show, television and web series, web series created by ex-husband and wife team Ben Sinclair (actor), Ben Sinclair and Katja Blichfeld. The show follows The ...

Influences

Two years into their music career, Michael was influenced by the book '' A New Earth''. They are a student of ''

A Course in Miracles ''A Course in Miracles'' (also referred to as ''ACIM'' or the ''Course'') is a 1976 book by Helen Schucman. The underlying premise is that the greatest "miracle" is the act of simply gaining a full "awareness of love's presence" in a person's ...

.''

Personal life

Michael moved to New York City one week before the September 11 attacks in 2001. Michael is non-binary and now lives in

The Hudson Valley ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in ...

with spouse, Khara Gilvey and a cat named Pepper.

References

External links