Le1f.
Photo: Getty
Last night, in the greenroom of Webster Hall, New York City born-and-bred rapper Le1f suggests we go off into a corner, to what appears to be a closet, to do our interview. The dirty concrete room has a long bench upholstered in a dirty plaid and a thick armchair that looks like it would emit a cartoon puff of grime if you sat in it. Le1f sits on the bench and gestures to the chair in his sweet, raised-right way, "you take the nice chair," he says, but I opt for the bench beside him, fearing bedbugs and that the noise from the room beside us, where rapper Killer Mike is preparing to open MTV Hive's CMJ showcase, will impede my recording. Le1f is tall and handsome in a pair of maroon harem pants and navy bomber jacket, and he speaks in such a way that seems giggly and bashful, but in that somehow pointedly self-assured. After his breakout video, "Wut" made him an overnight sensation, both in the music press and in the fashion world, Le1f has been all over the place, playing shows, performing at New York Fashion Week (MTV Style caught up with him when he performed for Asher Levine), and appearing in media from Pitchfork to Gawker to Artinfo, who labeled him one of the new poster boys for so-called "gay rap." Le1f is certainly not afraid to make his sexual orientation known, although the label can be reductive as far as the actual music is concerned, so needless to say he's on the rise. We sat down with Le1f to discuss everything from his influences—musical and sartorial—and the possibility of a fashion collaboration between himself and Greedhead label founder and Das Racist member Himanshu Suri, something that we're crossing our fingers will actually happen (please, please). Read the q & a below, and prepare to fall in love.
