Gyre

Gyre is a South African queer rapper who is destined to change the landscape of the hip-hop community. His work
challenges archaic portrayals of black queer bodies through “fun word play, raw emotion and
unbridled self-expression”. The Huffington Post has described him as ushering a “new dawn of
conscious Queer Rap” and has been listed as one of five South African musicians to look out for by
Global Citizen.

Inkosi Yenkonkoni (The Queer King) was born in Empangeni and raised in Esikhawini till the age of six when his family relocated to
Johannesburg. S’bonakaliso ‘Gyre’ Nene self- actualized into a formidable black queer
artist. His debut album Queernomics is episodic in nature as it tells a tale of a nuanced
queer body with sultry trap anthems like 'Eat My Ass' to poignant R&B influenced ballads
like 'Quarantine'.

He has toured Switzerland as part of the Shap Shap Tour in February 2019 alongside
Moonchild Sanelly and Angel-Ho. He performed at the inaugural Feathers Festival 2019,
Afropunk Joburg 2019 as a part of the Queer Mafia and on SABC 1’s Xpressions to name
a few. In January 2020 he was the only featured artist in Desire Marea’s debut solo
project- Desire on the track 'Studies in Black Trauma' and was featured by long time collaborator J Word Audio on Back Row.

Gyre’s latest single is Resurrect (prod. J Word Audio) is available.

@gyre_sa (IG) (Twitter)
@GyreQueerRap (Facebook)