Angel Haze

Raykeea Raeen-Roes Wilson (born July 10, 1991), known professionally as ROES (formerly known as Angel Haze), is an American rapper and singer. In 2012, Wilson released the mixtape Reservation and later signed a record deal with Universal Republic Records before moving to Republic Records. On December 31, 2013, Wilson released their debut album Dirty Gold, which featured the singles "Echelon (It's My Way)" and "Battle Cry". Wilson has released a number of mixtapes, the most recent being Back to the Woods in 2015.

Early life Wilson was born in Detroit, Michigan, to a military family. Their father, who died from a gunshot wound before their birth, was African American and their mother is of Cherokee descent. They have said they have Blackfoot and Creole ancestry, but that their mother did not raise them "to be anything—not black, not native, not Creole, not anything...we didn’t have any regard for any of that shit". They said that Black and Native children at school regarded them as not "black enough" and not "native enough". As a child, they were sexually abused by a man close to the family.

After a pastor threatened Wilson's mother, the family left the church, moving to Brooklyn, New York, when they were 15 years old. The pastor told Haze's family that God was going to kill them, and they lived in fear for years afterward. At one point the family was living in a shelter and Wilson was teased at school for it. They were also mocked for their clothes and had difficulties making friends and connections due to moving around. They switched between homeschool and public school for many years and finished high school a year early. Their first poem was published at the age of 13 after winning a school competition. Wilson began distributing music on the Internet through sites such as Tumblr, where a fan base began to form. The title Reservation is an homage to their Cherokee heritage. Wilson was nominated for BBC the Sound of 2013 poll.

In 2012, Wilson recounted their experience of being sexually assaulted as a child in "Cleaning Out My Closet," a song from the mixtape Classick that uses segments from Eminem's song of the same name. The album release date was advanced, and it appeared through Island Records and Republic Records on December 30, 2013, to positive reviews. It had low first-week sales of just over 500 copies. On September 14, 2015, Wilson released the mixtape Back to the Woods announcing that the project was just "something to share before a sophomore". In March 2017 Wilson released "Resurrection".

Artistry

Influences After Wilson moved to New York and began listening to secular music, they became inspired by artists such as Eminem, Kanye West, Nicki Minaj, Drake and Lil Wayne. in their music and in interviews and social media.

Wilson sees their goal as an artist to reach out to people who are similar to them or going through difficult experiences.

In a 2014 Vice column, Wilson discussed cultural appropriation and white artists making hip hop, saying "There seems to be this hypocrisy because people want to appropriate black culture but only when it's cool or beneficial to them … And that's the reason that people don't have a right, to some extent, to use black music to their own gains."

Personal life Wilson is pansexual and agender. They have said: "People talking about me, like, 'I'm glad there's an actual woman of color representing queerness and pansexuality, someone who is like me in the spotlight.'" In 2015, Wilson noted that in an interview with BuzzFeed that they identify as neither male nor female and explained, "I feel like my agenderness and my gender identity have evolved". Wilson has since begun using they/them pronouns.

In an interview with The Guardian, Wilson stated that, "Love is boundary-less. If you can make me feel, if you can make me laugh—and that's hard to do—then I can be with you." The two broke up a year later.

Wilson recorded a cover of Macklemore's "Same Love," which chronicled their own personal experiences. They opened up about their struggles with family over sexuality and growing up LGBTQ. In a 2017 Billboard interview they stated, "When I was young … I didn't understand what was going on. I didn't understand that I could be attracted to men and women at the same time." Co-host Season 4 – Episode 3

Awards and nominations