Kotic Couture, the self-proclaimed “Queen of the Underground” in Baltimore, delivers an upbeat and exhilarating performance in “Late To The Party,” their new release in 2022 from Babe City Records. A dynamic rapper, songwriter and fixture on the club scene in Baltimore, Kotic brings to their latest work a mix of high-energy hip hop, street-smart lyrics and beautifully crafted stories set to an insistent beat. Written and recorded during the pandemic lockdown, “Late To The Party” continues the artist’s musical journey of gender non-conforming self-expression. Raised in Maryland’s Eastern Shore, Kotic Couture (pronounced kāˈädik ko͞oˈto͝or) came of age in Baltimore’s club scene and produced their first album, the introspective “Diary of a Dreamer,” in 2018. The new release will sound familiar to longtime fans, yet is sonically tighter and more refined. Kotic largely attributes their musical progression to a newfound confidence from finding a community of like-minded Black and queer-identifying artists who pushed them to “create my own lane and really pave it. ‘Late To The Party’ reflects the arrival of a new, bolder, freer and more confident me,” continues Kotic. “I am who I am. And if the majority doesn’t like that, I’ll stick with the minority.”