~~July 20, 2014~~

I think I like this young woman!

Kellee Maize (born January 18, 1985) is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. Her first album, Age of Feminine, was released in 2007. Since then, she has released four more albums: Aligned Archetype (2010), Integration (2011), Owl Time (2012) and The 5th Element (2014). Maize has been involved in the music business just over a decade and has recorded and released four full albums leading to a handful of singles.

As of 2011, her YouTube videos had combined for over 4 million views, and she had over 180,000 Twitter and Facebook fans. Her albums had been downloaded over 400,000 times, and she has been mentioned in various media outlets over 200 times. According to a news report in 2011, a Google search for “female rapper” displayed her website as the number 1 search result.

Kellee Maize

Background information
Birth name	Kellee Maize
Origin	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Genres	Hip hop, dubstep, Baltimore club, reggaeton
Occupations	Rapper, songwriter,entrepreneur
Years active	2000–present
Labels	Independent Artist
Website	www.kelleemaize.com

Early life

Maize was born in Reading, Pennsylvania and adopted by a family that lived in New Berlin, a small town in Central Pennsylvania. At the age of nine she started her first rap group, Thunder and Lightning. In her teens she moved to Pittsburgh and in the year 2000 she began rapping and singing on stage. She graduated from college at the University of Pittsburgh, but financial instability led her to the workforce.

Maize worked at the Pittsburgh City Paper company and began promoting various events around the city. During her time there, she helped launch multiple programs supporting and promoting local musicians and spoken word artists, as well as a local fashion show. She was soon promoted to the position of Events and Promotions Director. After experiencing her mother going through a near death bout with cancer and the sudden passing of her father, Maize again turned to music as a way to cope.

Early career

Maize released her first album, Age of Feminine, independently in June 2007. The album features traditional Hip Hop beats. The eleven-song album received positive reviews with over two million listens and over one hundred thousand downloads. Her second album, Aligned Archetype, was released nationally in January 2010. The album features the sounds of Dubstep, Hip Hop, and Baltimore Club.

The album received critical success online and became the featured album for Frostwire, where she became the Most Downloaded Artist on Frostwire Ever, with over 135,000 full album downloads in 1 month. The album features one of her most popular songs and music videos to date, “Third Eye.”