Rae Khalil

The single most defining relationship in Rae Khalil's career. .Paak signed her to his Apeshit/Def Jam label after she co-wrote his Grammy-winning 'Lockdown' (Best Melodic Rap Performance, 63rd Grammys, 2021). He executive-produced her debut album CRYBABY and served as her creative mentor. In her own words: 'I think it was great for me to have someone like Anderson on this album to run off my ideas and him say, How can you take these to greater heights?' She also appeared on NxWorries' 'WalkOnBy' alongside Earl Sweatshirt on their Stones Throw album Why Lawd? — Stereogum called her '.Paak's protege' and noted everyone sounded 'graceful and effortless.'

Billboard ↗

Erykah Badu is Rae Khalil's most cited direct sonic and spiritual influence. PCH Arts' official Khalil bio leads with her name: 'Heavily inspired by Stevie Wonder & Erykah Badu.' Badu's neo-soul mysticism, her refusal to be commercially confined, her layered vocal phrasing and her unapologetic Black womanhood all flow directly into Khalil's artistic DNA. AllMusic also lists Erykah Badu as a key related artist in Khalil's profile.

PCH Arts ↗

Nina Simone sits at the very foundation of Rae Khalil's artistic worldview. YouKnowIGotSoul's profile of Khalil lists her among the earliest influences, alongside Ella Fitzgerald, placing Khalil in a lineage of Black women who weaponised song as both beauty and resistance. Simone's piano-anchored emotional intensity, her refusal to separate art from politics, and her wild genre fluidity — jazz, soul, blues, classical — resonate in how Khalil approaches CRYBABY's boundary-crossing.

YouKnowIGotSoul ↗

Alongside Erykah Badu, Stevie Wonder is the other name that appears most prominently in Rae Khalil's origin story. His fingerprints are all over her melodic approach — the way she treats harmony as a living, breathing thing; her refusal to let production upstage song; her blend of joy and depth. Stevie's ability to make profoundly political music that still sounds like a celebration is something Khalil directly channels in her own stated goal of bringing 'joy' to her listeners.

PCH Arts ↗

Kendrick Lamar is among Rae Khalil's stated contemporary hip-hop influences and, given that both are California artists, his shadow is long. Khalil's lyrical density, her West Coast cadences, and her ability to ride the space between rapping and singing — without fully choosing either — all echo Kendrick's approach. His praise of her work has also been documented.

YouKnowIGotSoul ↗

NxWorries — the duo of Anderson .Paak and producer Knxwledge — is the constellation Rae Khalil orbits most closely. Her verse on 'WalkOnBy' from their Stones Throw LP Why Lawd? placed her in a Pitchfork-reviewed context with Earl Sweatshirt. Stereogum's coverage called Khalil a '.Paak protege' and noted the track had 'a sunny, funky lope' where 'everyone sounds graceful and effortless.' The NxWorries aesthetic — raw soul, hip-hop drums, conversational rap-singing — is effectively the blueprint for Khalil's own sound.

Stereogum ↗

A 'faithful encounter' with Chance the Rapper's music was the tipping point that moved Rae Khalil toward hip-hop as a creative practice. His acid-tab gospel-rap hybrid on Acid Rap and Coloring Book — joyful, God-fearing, emotionally wide open — mapped out a version of hip-hop that didn't require hardness. That permission is audible in Khalil's own cheerful, spiritually-inflected rap-singing. Chance later gave Khalil public praise.

Stereofox ↗

Whitney Houston is a cornerstone of Rae Khalil's vocal inheritance. Her technical power, emotional nakedness, and mastery of pop-R&B architecture sit at the root of how Khalil approaches a hook. Where Erykah Badu gives Khalil her avant-garde permission and Nina Simone gives her the protest, Whitney gives her the belief that a great R&B voice is an instrument of pure emotional devastation.

YouKnowIGotSoul ↗

Wu-Tang Clan entered Rae Khalil's musical world alongside Chance the Rapper as the twin gateway into hip-hop. Their philosophical density, collective warrior ethos, and raw street poetry informed the tougher edges of Khalil's lyrical approach — the part of her that can rap with muscle, not just melody. RZA's production school of hard drums and chamber samples sits beneath the harder moments in her work.

Stereofox ↗

Freddie Gibbs appeared on Rae Khalil's 2025 music video single 'Carpinteria,' marking a notable cross-genre collaboration that placed Khalil alongside one of rap's most respected technical MCs. The pairing — Gibbs' cold-blooded midwestern rap precision meeting Khalil's West Coast warmth — is a testament to how seriously her peers in hip-hop regard her.

East Portland Blog ↗

Rae Khalil appeared as a featured vocalist on TOKiMONSTA's 2025 album Eternal Reverie, placing her in a critical spotlight alongside Anderson .Paak. The Guardian's review singled out Khalil's collaboration as one of the album's most immediately grabby moments, cementing her status as a go-to featured voice for prestige electronic and neo-soul crossover projects.

The Guardian ↗

Ella Fitzgerald completes Rae Khalil's jazz-vocal triptych alongside Nina Simone and Stevie Wonder. Fitzgerald's peerless melodic phrasing, her effortless swing across tempos, and her ability to make technically demanding vocal performance feel entirely natural are all qualities that show up in Khalil's smoother, jazz-inflected delivery moments — particularly on her earlier work.

YouKnowIGotSoul ↗