| Ezinma | |
| Birth Name: | Meredith Ezinma Ramsay[1] |
| Birth Place: | Lincoln, Nebraska |
| Birth Date: | 11 January 1991[2] |
| Genre: | hip hop, classical |
| Instrument: | Violin |
| Years Active: | 2016–present |
Meredith Ezinma Ramsay (born January 11, 1991),[2] known professionally as Ezinma, is an American violinist, model, music educator and film composer from Lincoln, Nebraska. Ramsay gained viral fame in 2017 by performing a violin cover of American rapper Future's hit "Mask Off", and for her performance during Beyoncé's 2018 Coachella performance. In 2020 she debuted as a solo musician under Universal Music Classics.
Ezinma was born in Lincoln, Nebraska, to a Guyanese father and German-American mother.[3] Her father is a professor of actuarial science,[4] while her mother is a creative non-fiction author and works as an English professor.[5] Ezinma started playing the violin at age three, and continued to play throughout school.[4] By junior high school, she felt alone as she was often the only black classical musician onstage,[6] and did not meet another black string musician until she was 13.[7] As a child, she listened to a wide range of music, including her funk, reggae, jazz, and Caribbean soca due to her father,[7] and Americana through her mother.[8]
Ezinma attended the University of Nebraska–Lincoln,[9] where she originally studied pre-med, before switching degrees to music.[10] At university, Ezinma formed a string and piano trio, and was mentored by members of the Chiara String Quartet.[11] [12]
In 2012, Ezinma moved from Nebraska to New York to study at Mannes School of Music, the classical division of the New School,[13] [6] which helped her see outside the rules of classical music.[10] Ezinma began releasing music featuring both her violin performance and vocals, and intended to release these songs on an extended play called I Am Ezinma in 2016.[10]
Ezinma began posting videos of her performing violin covers of songs to social media in 2016. Her first cover was a 15 second clip of Adele's "Hello" posted to Instagram.[4] During this time, Ezinma continued to release original music, such as "Elevate Me" in 2016,[14] and the instrumental "Give It Up" in 2017.[15]
In April 2017, Ezinma uploaded a cover of Future "Mask Off" as a part of a viral challenge featuring instrumental covers of the song.[16] Ezinma's version gained her millions of views across Instagram, Twitter and YouTube, and led to a sudden increase in her popularity.[3] American musician Beyoncé took notice of Ezinma's videos on social media (even before her version of "Mask Off"),[4] and invited her to perform as a part of Beyoncé's 2018 Coachella performance in April 2018.[7] Between 2017 and 2018, Ezinma appeared in modelling campaigns for Adidas,[17] Gap Inc.[18] and Gucci.[19]
In early 2019, Ramsay signed to Universal Music Classics.[20] She plans to release a classical-fusion album with hip-hop/trap influences in 2020, entitled Key of Black Minor, to be released alongside a documentary of her life.[4] [7] Ramsay has worked as a film composer, scoring the soundtracks to the documentary film The Times of Bill Cunningham (2020),[21] and the Oluniké Adeliyi-starring short film Promise Me (2020).[22] In August, Ezinma released her debut single "Beethoven Pleads the Fifth".[23]
Ezinma partnered with Wide Open School, Re-Create (a program to provide educational content for public elementary schools in New York) and After-School All-Stars to create violin-related educational content for schools and after-school programs in the United States.[6]
Ezinma's parents divorced when she was young, and she has two brothers and two sisters.[4] Her mother, Lisa Knopp, is an author of creative non-fiction books, and works as a professor at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.[24] [5]
She is an honorary member of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc
| Year | Album | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| "Beethoven Pleads the Fifth"[26] | 2020 | Classical Bae | |
| "Vivaldi Springs Forth"[27] | |||
| "Drummer Bae"[28] | |||
| "Ode to Hustle"[29] | 2021 | Classical Bae |
| Title | Year | Other artists | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| "String Quartet No. 1"[30] | 2015 | Ayumi Okada, Karen Dekker, Rose Hashimoto, James Waldo | Here, Where the Land Ends and the Sea Begins |
| "Piano Trio No. 1" | Ayumi Okada, James Waldo, Alyona Aksyonova | ||
| "Black Panther"[31] | 2018 | Kendrick Lamar | Black Panther: The Album |
| "All the Stars" | Kendrick Lamar, SZA | ||
| "Dazed & Confused [Acoustic Version]"[32] | Ruel | ||
| "Poison Intro"[33] | Swizz Beatz, Áine Zion | Poison | |
| "Lift Every Voice and Sing"[34] | 2019 | Beyoncé | |
| "Déjà Vu"[35] | Beyoncé, Jay-Z | ||
| "Don't Hurt Yourself"[36] | Beyoncé | ||
| "Heaven's Gate"[37] | Jae the Dreamer | Equal & Opposite | |
| "When We're Awake"[38] | Sam O.B., Denitia |