Rashard Bradshaw, better known by his stage name Cakes Da Killa, is a Brooklyn-based rapper and writer.

Cakes is a leading figure of the queer hip-hop explosion in New York that took place in 2011. His witty flow and unapologetic delivery helped push him to the forefront of discussion as the media’s interest in LGBTQ+ visibility and themes in hip-hop heightened. 

His presence in music and media championed the acceptance of openly gay artists in hip-hop but Cakes’ journey in music began as a fluke. While being enrolled in Montclair State University Cakes would record videos of himself rapping just for fun. The idea of an openly gay artist in rap was still a farfetched concept at the time. His love of rhyming and wordplay was first discovered in High School when he would participate in rap battles in the cafeteria but a career in music never crossed his mind. 

In 2022 Cakes Da Killa released his long-awaited second album ‘Svengali’, available via the TOKiMONSTA-owned label Young Art Records. The New Jersey hip-hop/house innovator has brought his hardbody raps together with ecstatic dance beats for over a decade all while bringing the untouchable nightlife culture of New York City to the rest of the world. With ‘Svengali’, he adds another landmark to his catalog, ushering the long-running relationship between hip-hop and house music into a new chapter.

‘Svengali’ is a cinematic experience, charting a love affair from hookup to breakup, with all of the highs and lows of romance and attraction in between. Always a brutally (and hilariously) unfiltered voice, the album sees Cakes bringing a new layer of vulnerability and depth to his writing, charting the vicissitudes of love in and out of the club.