Rae Khalil

Rhythm & Flow began as a hate-watch for me, but quickly grew into a show I looked forward to every week, and Rae Khalil was my early favorite to win. She started off quietly, no flashy style or big forced personality that would normally make someone jump out on a reality show. What made her standout to me was she could actually rap. I noticed a lot of other contestants making rookie mistakes, or using bars that were just unexplainably bad to the untrained ear, but Rae's verses were all flawless (no Real Talk). I thought she'd easily end up in the finals and was very publicly rooting for her amongst my friends that were as invested in the show as me. When she was (spoiler) eliminated in the battle round I felt short changed and ripped off. She's a good sport about the show, and seemed to know from the start that D-Smoke would end up taking it all the way, but nonetheless, when KN restarted she was one of the first artists I reached out to. I needed to know if she was as talented as she seemed in the short time she was on the show (she is), and I wanted to know how such a talent was flying under the radar in LA before the show (she was in the South Bay bubble). The Covid crisis, of course, put our initial interview plans on pause, but the timing now couldn't be better as she just released her record, FORTHEWORLD, in June and hints at more new music coming before the year is out during our conversation. Make sure you check out her performance on our YT page, it's unbelievable. There are going to be a lot of "this is lip synching" comments, but i promise we watched with jaws drops as she nailed the song in one-take. Hear us talk about her stint on Rhythm & Flow, getting into and deciding not to attend American Musical and Dramatic Academy, and keeping a positive mindset as she navigates through the world.  -Lee