St. Louis-born and Los Angeles-based singer-rapper MILES brings hip-hop grit to pop with deft wordplay and dusty soundscapes. Named after Miles Davis, he possessed a predisposition for music fueled by listening to everything from dad’s jazz records, Kirk Franklin, and Bill Withers to Lauryn Hill, Wiz Khalifa, and Travis Scott. He honed his vocals through constantly singing before beginning to freestyle in high school. At the same time, he excelled on the football field, earning a scholarship to Dartmouth College as a defensive tackle. In between a grueling Ivy league schedule of practice and class, he still managed to maintain a prolific output of independent music online.

Picking up steam, he left school, moved to L.A. and crashed at YouTuber Justin Escalona’s pad. On a weekly basis, he appeared in vlogs and released music at a rapid pace, logging millions of streams and quickly building a fanbase, including over 385K followers on TikTok alone in just 3 months. In 2020, he ignited the viral “WHAT IN TARNATION,” attracting 2,700 Tik Tok videos and drumming up 6.3 million streams. On the heels of its success, he inked a deal with Elektra Records and rustled up his formal debut for the label “Desperados” with much more to come.