Alexis Alijai Lynch (February 19, 1998 – January 1, 2020), better known by her

stage name A stage name is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. Such professional aliases are adopted for a wide variety of reasons and they may be similar, or nearly identical, to an individu ...

Lexii Alijai, was an American rapper, singer, and songwriter.

Early life

Lexii Alijai was born and raised in Saint Paul, Minnesota. She was the granddaughter of musician Roger Troutman, founder of

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

band Zapp. Her father, Roger Lynch, the son of Roger Troutman, was also a musician. She attended

Como Park Senior High School Como Park Senior High School (CPSHS or commonly known as CPHS) is a public high school located in the Lake Como area of Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States, serving grades nine through twelve. Along with nine other public high schools, Como Park ...

in Saint Paul, following an interest in basketball, but then focused on music instead and transferred to Creative Arts Secondary School, before then enrolling in an online school. Alijai ultimately dropped out to pursue a full-time music career and began rapping over the beats of popular songs by artists such as Dej Loaf,

2Pac Tupac Amaru Shakur ( ; born Lesane Parish Crooks, June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), also known as 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper. He is widely considered one of the most influential rappers of all time. Shakur is among the b ...

and Drake.

Career

Alijai released her first mixtape, ''Super Sweet 16s'', in 2014 on her sixteenth birthday. She then collaborated with Rocky Diamonds on an extended play, titled ''3 Days''. A second mixtape, ''In the Meantime'', was released a few months later, then her third, ''Feel∙Less'', in October that same year. The following year, she and rapper Shaun Sloan collaborated on a mixtape titled ''Same Struggle. Different Story''. Alijai became close friends with Kehlani the summer before the release of Kehlani's debut commercial mixtape, '' You Should Be Here'' (2015), which peaked at No. 36 on the ''Billboard'' 200. Her appearance on the track "Jealous" granted Alijai media attention due to her lyricism and flow presented on the track. Her next full-length project, ''Joseph's Coat'', was released late 2015 and featured contributions from Elle Varner. In 2016, she performed at

Soundset Music Festival Soundset Music Festival was a hip-hop music festival held yearly in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul area over Memorial Day, Memorial Day weekend. Since Soundset began in the Metrodome parking lot in 2008, attendance has grown from 12,000 to over 30,000 c ...

and had opened up for Playboi Carti, Lil Uzi Vert and

Rich the Kid Dimitri Leslie Roger (born July 13, 1992), professionally known as Rich the Kid, is an American rapper. He released his debut studio album, '' The World Is Yours'', on March 30, 2018. His second studio album, '' The World Is Yours 2'', was relea ...

. She released a remix of "Exchange" by Bryson Tiller and "Cold Hearted" by Meek Mill along with a music video for her remix of "Cold Hearted." In 2017, she released a remix of "Redbone" by

Childish Gambino Donald McKinley Glover Jr. (; born September 25, 1983), also known by his stage name Childish Gambino (), is an American entertainer, writer, director, and producer. After working in Derrick Comedy while studying at New York University, Glove ...

and " Me, Myself and I" by

Beyoncé Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( ; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Beyoncé's boundary-pushing artistry and vocals have made her the most influential female musician of the 21st century, according to ...

. On September 8, Alijai released her first full-length debut studio album, ''Growing Pains'', in which she covered topics such as dropping out of school and maintaining a relationship with her ex-boyfriend's mother.

Death

Alijai died at the Loews Minneapolis Hotel on January 1, 2020, at the age of 21. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner ruled that the manner of death was an accidental

drug overdose A drug overdose (overdose or OD) is the ingestion or application of a drug or other substance in quantities much greater than are recommended.

. A toxicology report revealed the cause as mixed toxicity from fentanyl and ethanol.

Discography

Studio albums * ''Growing Pains'' (2017) Mixtapes * ''Super Sweet 16s'' (2014) * ''In the Meantime'' (2014) * ''Feel∙Less'' (2014) * ''Joseph's Coat'' (2015) Guest appearances * Kehlani – "Jealous" from '' You Should Be Here'' (2015) * Kehlani – “Lexii’s Outro” from '' It Was Good Until It Wasn’t (Album)'' (2020) EP'S * ''Come Back Soon'' (2021)

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Alijai, Lexii 1998 births 2020 deaths 21st-century American rappers 21st-century African-American women singers African-American women rappers Alcohol-related deaths in Minnesota Rappers from Saint Paul Drug-related deaths in Minnesota 21st-century women rappers