Loading details…
Artist
thekeenone
12+ albums
hip hop
about
Amy Yanick, a.k.a. thekeenone (the-keen-one), is a Los Angeles-based MC from Northeast Pennsylvania and Philadelphia whose lyrical ability and raw honesty are matched only by the fire she brings to her live performances. Thekeenone, or Keen as is she also known, skillfully blends an eclectic array of musical influences to bring a wholly original sound to hip hop. A seasoned battle MC who gained a reputation in Philadelphia’s underground scene for going head-to-head with her male peers and leaving them to rethink what a female MC can really bring to the game, Keen has proven herself a force and a voice to be reckoned with. Born in Allentown, PA to a white mom whose conservative family did not approve of her having a bi-racial child, Keen was put up for adoption and raised by her white adoptive family in Northeast Pennsylvania as one of the only people of color in a rural coal mining town. She began writing poetry and stories at a young age and listening to hip hop as a way to experience a cultural connection that was absent from her upbringing. She soon realized forging a union between the two would not only provide the creative outlet she needed in the face of numerous tragedies including the deaths of teenage friends and immediate family members, but could also serve as a way to get her message out to as many people as possible. Keen’s message? The universal struggles of life, love, loss, injustice, pain, perseverance, and how we not only cope, but how we survive a
