In a world that rarely hands power to women, especially women in rap, Gigi LaMayne took the mic, the message, and the moment, and built her own empire. Not content with riding the industry wave, she dove headfirst into its undercurrents and came back up with a universe entirely her own. That universe is Gigiverse, a self-forged space where she calls the shots, builds the culture, and carves out digital room for others who dare to dream just as loud.
“I got tired of waiting for seats at tables I knew I could build myself,” she says. That sentence alone captures the core of who she is, unapologetic, self-aware, and completely unafraid to start from scratch if it means owning her narrative. Gigiverse isn’t just a brand. It’s her manifesto. A rallying cry. A space where music meets movement and technology gets dressed in Gigi’s sparkle.
But long before the “universe” came the hustle, and that hustle paid off early when Gigi bagged her wins at the SA Hip Hop Awards. For many, it might have been the summit. For her, it was the spark. “It made me hungrier, but also wiser. Awards are amazing, but they’re snapshots, not finish lines,” she reflects. “Winning reminded me that people are watching, and I’ve got a responsibility to bring my A-game.” The hunger for impact didn’t just sit with bars and beats, it filtered into her activism, too.
Who else could drop a politically charged anthem like “Fees Will Fall” on the same day as their graduation and still make it feel like a flex? “That was a full-circle moment,” she says. “I wanted to remind the world that education and activism can co-exist with art. Dropping it on graduation day was my mic-drop moment to say, ‘We’re not just here to pass, we’re here to dismantle systems.” And dismantle she did, gracefully, in heels, with rhymes that cut deep and loud applause from her generation.
Still, Gigi doesn’t sit still for long. From purebred hip hop to South Africa’s homegrown amapiano wave, she keeps evolving without losing her edge. “It’s like pap and chakalaka, you don’t expect it, but it slaps every time,” she grins. “I’m hip hop at the core, but I love experimenting. Amapiano lets me flex a different muscle, connect with a wider crowd, and show the girls that versatility isn’t optional, it’s necessary.” In her world, genres don’t compete, they collaborate. And that’s exactly what makes her catalog so infectious. Every track is an experiment, every rhythm a risk, every drop a declaration.
When it comes to brand collaborations, Gigi approaches it like an executive, one with a beat in her chest and a balance sheet in her bag. “Three things: values, vision, and vibes,” she explains. “If the brand understands culture, empowers women, and doesn’t ask me to compromise who I am, I’m in. I’m not just selling products; I’m co-signing movements.” There’s strategy in her style. Whether she’s endorsing a product or producing a track, the endgame is the same: elevate the message and leave a mark.
Her brief pause from hip hop wasn’t about slowing down, it was about recalibration. “That silence teaches,” she shares. “Stepping away helped me fall in love with the craft again, not the noise, not the ego, just the raw truth.” The world still talked about her, speculated, whispered, proof that her name held power even in absence. “Even when I’m quiet, the world still talks about me. Must be the aura.”
Then came Love & Hip Hop SA, a bold new lens into her life. “Whew! Reality TV is not for the faint-hearted, hey,” she laughs. “It taught me the power of storytelling, your version or someone else’s.” Vulnerability became her superpower, and she wielded it with unexpected elegance. “I learned how perception is shaped, and more importantly, that being vulnerable in public is a superpower, not a weakness. Also, cameras don’t lie, but they definitely edit.”
If one song represents her soul, it’s “Bleed Mama.” It’s haunting, beautiful, necessary. “That song is a tribute to every woman who’s ever carried pain in silence,” she says, voice softening. “It’s deeply personal, inspired by stories of abuse, resilience, and healing.” Featuring Emtee and Nathan Blur, the track doesn’t just tug at the heartstrings, it rips them. “I wanted women to feel seen, and for men to listen.”
But Gigi doesn’t just want people to listen to her music. She wants them to understand her moves, and those moves are smart. Very smart. Armed with an MBA, she plays in boardrooms as comfortably as she does on stage. “Let’s just say I can flip a freestyle and a financial forecast in the same breath,” she smiles. “The MBA sharpened my strategy. I don’t just sign contracts, I negotiate ownership. The boardroom is my second stage now.” This is where art meets enterprise, and Gigi sits dead center, business-savvy, battle-tested, beautifully balanced.
Ask her what she wants her legacy to be, and she doesn’t flinch. “That you don’t have to shrink to fit. That being bold, intellectual, sexy, spiritual, political, or all of the above, isn’t a contradiction.” It’s not about fitting into a mold; it’s about melting it down and forging your own crown. “I want girls to know they can own their craft, their image, and their empire. And that being a female rapper doesn’t mean fighting for space, it means building kingdoms.”
Kingdoms like Gigiverse. A world sculpted with verses, visuals, and vision. A space where young creators, especially Black women, are told they don’t need permission. They just need the courage to start. “The universe clearly needed a little Gigi sparkle,” she says with a wink, and that sparkle has grown into a constellation of careers, conversations, and cultural shifts.
Whether she’s rapping over amapiano beats, writing campaigns for brands, or advocating for education reform, Gigi LaMayne is not content to play by the rules. She’s rewriting them. With every track, post, campaign, and course, she is giving women in music, and across creative spaces, a blueprint for artistic freedom and ownership. Hers is not just a career; it’s a case study in fearless reinvention.
So what’s next for the queen of duality? More music, more mogul moves, and perhaps a few more awards to hang next to that Grade 3 spelling bee trophy. But more than anything, Gigi LaMayne is building a universe, and inviting the world to orbit around her fire.
