There's a pop-focused core to the music of this provocative East London rapper, singer, and songwriter of Ghanaian descent, pulling in such wide-ranging sounds as experimental trap and noodling guitar rock. She issued her debut mixtape, 2000AND4EVA, in 2020. A pair of singles, "Pressure" and "Somebody Like You," appeared in 2022. Born Brenda Wireko Mensah in Hackney in 1992, Bree Runway's moniker was inspired by a cousin's nickname and came to figuratively represent repeated attempts to take off and aim higher in her career. Early inspiration came from Michelle Obama, who provided words of encouragement after hearing Mensah sing as a teenager. Additionally, a 2010 trip to visit her extended family in Accra, Ghana, acted as a creative stimulus. In late 2015, she self-released her debut EP, RNWY 01, a lyrically candid set produced mainly by Nastylgia, who also worked on Bree Runway's next EP, Bouji, which appeared a year later. Following a couple of stand-alone singles -- 2016's "Butterfly" and 2017's pure pop "What Do I Tell My Friends?" -- she made an appearance on the electronic duo Metroplane's "Word of Mouth." May 2019 brought Runway's first solo material released on Virgin EMI in the form of "2ON," a single that ultimately appeared on her breakthrough third EP, Be Runway. Following an early-2020 guest spot on a remix of Rina Sawayama's "XS," her debut mixtape, 2000AND4EVA, was issued in November, featuring contributions from Missy Elliott, Yung Baby Tate, and Maliibu Miitch. In 2021 she won Best New International Act at the BET Awards and later released the single "Space Ghost Coast to Coast" with Glass Animals. Runway kicked off 2022 with the singles "Pressure" and "Somebody Like You." ~ James Wilkinson