Sara Elizabeth Mitchell (born July 28, 1988), better known by her stage name Sirah , is an American rapper and singer from Los Angeles. She collaborated with

Skrillex Sonny John Moore (born January 15, 1988), known professionally as Skrillex, is an American DJ and music producer. Growing up in Northeast Los Angeles and Northern California, he joined the post-hardcore band From First to Last as the lead sing ...

, on " WEEKENDS!!!", "

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...

" and the hit single "

Bangarang "Bangarang" is a song by American electronic music producer Skrillex. It was released as a single from his EP of the same name. It features guest rap vocals from American hip hop recording artist Sirah. "Bangarang" intersperses Sirah's rap vo ...

Background

Mitchell was born on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

, New York,Article on Sirah, from Thesource.com
/ref> to a bluesman and an artist. Her youth included poverty, homelessness and alcoholism. She was repeatedly caught creating graffiti; she stopped after being arrested for it. She moved to

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

with her father at age six, but after he died of an overdose, she ended up returning to New York. There, she was arrested several times and eventually absconded to Los Angeles rather than be placed in foster care at age fifteen. For a while, she considered

Union Station A union station (also known as a union terminal, a joint station in Europe, and a joint-use station in Japan) is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway companies, allowing passengers to ...

her home before purchasing a

Jeep Cherokee The Jeep Cherokee is a line of SUVs manufactured and marketed by Jeep over five generations. Originally marketed as a variant of the Jeep Wagoneer, the Cherokee has evolved from a full-size SUV to one of the first compact SUVs and into its curr ...

and living in it in a garage in East Los Angeles; in an interview, she stated that she lived out of her car and felt safe in doing so.

Career

Mitchell moved from singing to rapping after her mother gave a negative review of her voice, and mentioned that the turning point for her was when she heard

Big Pun Christopher Lee Rios (November 10, 1971 – February 7, 2000), better known by his stage name Big Pun (short for Big Punisher), was an American rapper. Emerging from the underground hip hop scene in the Bronx borough of New York City in the ea ...

's ''

Capital Punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

''. After moving to Los Angeles, she booked her own tours in such countries as Germany and Romania, sleeping on floors and collecting money from fans. Her first EP, ''Clean Windows Dirty Floors'', was produced by

DJ Hoppa Lee Gresh, known professionally as DJ Hoppa (born, April 28, 1983) is an American DJ and producer from Panorama City, Los Angeles. He was signed to rapper Hopsin's now defunct record label Funk Volume, and CEO of the San Fernando Valley indepen ...

. Her first LP, ''Smile You Have Teeth'', was never released. Prior to its intended release, Mitchell's manager sent her a contract demanding $30,000 from the LP's proceeds. She subsequently decided to abandon the album and start anew. Mitchell met

after she was contacted by him on MySpace, commending her work and requesting that they work together. The first track, WEEKENDS!!! was the result of Skrillex asking her to rap into his laptop the lyrics she was working on. Their second collaboration, "

", happened after he called her while he was on tour and asked her to record 16 bars about the Lost Boys. She forgot to close the window before recording it, and thus birds are audible in the recording. Mitchell has also released a mixtape, ''C.U.L.T.: Too Young to Die''. After that she released another EP, Inhale.

Achievements

At the

55th Annual Grammy Awards The 55th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 10, 2013, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles honoring the best in music for the recording year beginning October 1, 2011 through September 30, 2012. The show was broadcast on CBS at 8 p.m. E ...

, Mitchell and

won the award for

Best Dance Recording The Grammy Award for Best Dance/Electronic Recording (formerly known as Best Dance Recording) is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists f ...

for their collaboration

. It is Mitchell's first

Grammy The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...

win.

Influences

Mitchell is influenced by

Joni Mitchell Roberta Joan "Joni" Mitchell ( Anderson; born November 7, 1943) is a Canadian-American musician, producer, and painter. Among the most influential singer-songwriters to emerge from the 1960s folk music circuit, Mitchell became known for her sta ...

, WHY?,

Qwel Adam Vincent Schreiber (born June 6, 1980), better known by his stage name Qwel, is an underground rapper and author, originally from Chicago, Illinois. Qwel is co-founder of the underground rap crew Typical Cats, with fellow MCs Denizen Kane and ...

Black Thought Tariq Luqmaan Trotter (born October 3, 1973), better known as Black Thought, is an American rapper, actor and the lead MC of the Philadelphia-based hip hop group the Roots, which he co-founded with drummer Questlove (Ahmir Thompson). Regarded ...

Erykah Badu Erica Abi Wright (born February 26, 1971), known professionally as Erykah Badu (), is an American singer-songwriter, record producer and actress. Influenced by rhythm and blues, R&B, Soul music, soul, and hip hop, Badu rose to prominence in the ...

Lauryn Hill Lauryn Noelle Hill (born May 26, 1975) is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, and record producer. She is often regarded as one of the greatest rappers of all time, as well as being one of the most influential musicians of her generation. ...

, Jewel, and

Cat Stevens Yusuf Islam (born Steven Demetre Georgiou; ), commonly known by his stage names Cat Stevens, Yusuf, and Yusuf / Cat Stevens, is a British singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. His musical style consists of folk, pop, rock, and, later in ...

Discography

Albums

Mixtapes

EPs

Singles

Other appearances

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sirah Living people Rappers from New York City Rappers from Los Angeles American women rappers 1988 births Grammy Award winners for dance and electronic music 21st-century American rappers 21st-century American women musicians Atlantic Records artists 21st-century women rappers