Written by Anaja I. Smith, The Hollywood Reporter, February 26, 2025
For “THR Looks,” the multifaceted artist chats about her journey
As one of seven children born to Nigerian chiefs who are academic-driven, singer-songwriter Lachi defied the status quo of studying medicine to pursue music, a medium she uses to fuse her creative lens into the depths of herself by acknowledging her African heritage, combatting disability erasure and championing self-love.
Born legally blind, the “Black Girl Cornrows” singer has a history of advocating for herself. From being teased at school when she was a child, to a moment at an industry party that radicalized self-acceptance, the star realized disability advocacy starts with her.
In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Lachi shares how she uses her platform to celebrate disability awareness, advice for those with similar intersecting identities and how she uses her glam canes and cornrows as a cultural fashion statement.
I feel like your cornrows are definitely a part of your fashion, a part of your glam, so what does fashion mean to you?
I believe that someone’s fashion, someone’s style, the way they show up in the world, it says a good amount about their self-expression. To me, I use fashion to celebrate all parts of myself, whether it is to amplify my disability culture, whether it is to give a wink and a nod to my Blackness and my African heritage, whether or not it is for me to feel boss that day, feel sexy that day, feel kind of like a blend in that day. Because not every day is a big social media moment. And so I use my fashion to really self-express.
But beyond that, I use it to elevate the different parts of my identity that I recognize folks need to know, see, and hear more about. So it’s why I definitely lean into my disability pride and culture with my glam canes. It’s why I really celebrate my cornrows. For a long time, I would have straight hair wear wigs and stuff like that. And I decided, you know what? I want to really celebrate the Black side of myself through my style. But lastly, it’s like I want to celebrate who I am. So I am a New Yorker, I’m Aries, I’m very passionate, but I’m cheeky and funny. I’m camp, but I’m easygoing. All of those things, I want it to be able to squish into my fashion.
It’s like a culmination of what makes you, you. And something that I thought was really cool that you mentioned is that you actually have parents who were chiefs from Nigeria. Talk about how that played a role in the way that you outwardly express yourself.
My mother’s a chief, my father’s a chief, and they’re both also professors. So they were very much about preserving our heritage, preserving our culture, but they were also very academics. First, very education strong. I have six siblings, all of whom have master’s degrees or working in the hospital, all sorts of things. Everybody’s doing really big things in our family that really played a huge impact on my life, who I am, how I see myself. So as a person who was born legally blind, a lot of society was telling me that I should feel bad about it, perhaps I should try to hide it. I am lesser and all of those things. And I was like, nah, my parents are chiefs. So obviously that don’t apply to me.
And I think it was why I had such a tough time trying to sit in that box. And eventually it all caught up to me and I was like, I am going to explode this whole thing and really celebrate all parts of myself because that is where I come from. I come from a bold celebration of self, whether it is through my parents being chiefs, whether it is through my connection to Nigeria. … I am well sort of aware of my heritage and I know I’ve dug into the soil of my grandparents and my grandparents’ parents and my grandparents’ grandparents’ parents. And something like that really does something to your spirit. I mean, it gives you a holistic view on who you are now and the shoulders that you are standing on to achieve your goals.
With you having such a strong background and a strong sense of self, did you ever have any hesitancy with expressing yourself as confidently as you have now?
When I was super young, second, third grade or whatever, finally a social worker came to my parents and was like, OK, she’s going to have to use a cane. And I remember they got me a cane and I was like, there is no way on this earth that I’m going to use that cane. I was like, I’m already being made fun of in school. I don’t want to stand out more. So I did not use the cane. I was disdainful of it. And as I got older and my vision got less and less, I was risking my health, getting completely lost, bumping into people. People started thinking that I may have not been smart instead of being blind when they would see me holding stuff really close or when they would see me bumping into things.
There was a moment in time where I started navigating the music industry. I remember I got invited by an A&R to go to a big cocktail hour. I go in and it’s too dark for me to see anything. And so I just sit on the wall like a wallflower and these who’s who’s are here, there’s all sorts of famous people. This is what I wanted in my whole career. And then I couldn’t do anything. I was afraid to try to speak to anyone and I couldn’t see anything. So I ended up leaving without talking to anybody. And then I found out later that the A&R that had invited me had waved me over, but I didn’t see, and then he felt snubbed because I didn’t wave back. And I ended up losing a big opportunity because of that. And from that moment forward along with some other big things, I was like, you know what? I’m shooting my own self in the foot by not being confident.
I was contributing to not showing disability to people so that they can see it more and then be more understanding of it. So now I walk around with the cane, it’s out in front. I got the big heels on, I got the big crazy dress. So first you hear me because of the heels, now you turn around and you see the cane, then you dive out the way. … Similar to me having cornrows instead of wearing wigs, I’m out here using the cane instead of hiding it. And all that does is make me more proud to not only go and be in front of people, but to ask for my accommodations that I need. I always thought it was my disability holding me back. But the truth of the matter is that I didn’t do all this stuff despite my disability. I did it despite ableism. I did it despite erasure, I did it despite inaccessibility and lack of accommodation because it’s not the disability of itself that’s the issue. It’s just the lack of people seeing it and understanding it. And so really that in and of itself is my fashion statement.
That’s so beautifully said. I love the journey that you went on because it’s so relatable. I feel like all of us, especially as Black women, we go through our phase of insecurity and then we take our power back where it’s like, “Oh no, we can’t sit in this space anymore.” Thank you so much for sharing that. Can you speak to those intersections when it comes to your identifiers?
It’s not really that many different hats to me. … The thing about it is as well, speaking of my own personal different intersections of my identity, my biggest kind of philosophy is that society’s going to do everything it can to make you hide the deepest parts of yourself.
And I have found that once you celebrate those parts, not just accept and embrace those parts of yourself, but celebrate those parts of yourself, that is the most powerful thing you can do. The less you are like the average person or the normal person, and the more you’re able to find the power in what people may perceive as limiting, that is when you win, because you are being innovative, you are being resilient, you are being adaptable, you are being a visionary. It is why I celebrate my disability specifically because I’m a woman, I celebrate that. I’m a Black person and I celebrate the hell out of it. But the thing about it is, I feel like the hardest thing for people to get is disability. And so that’s why I lean all the way in.
You’ve worked with beauty and fashion brands like Dolly Parton for Dolly Beauty lipstick and Afua Sam at Studio D’Maski for your Grammys dress. What does that mean to you to be able to have these fashion and beauty collaborations?
I am representing the type of person that also buys this product, so that’s a huge thing to tell consumers. But the other thing that I love is that I get to sit down with a brand, in community, and say things like, what are we doing for consumers that look like me, that have my situation? Thirdly, we get to show off some really cool stuff. One of the north stars of what I’m trying to do is showcase really high-quality collaborations that disability can work with some of the top brands in the world to show off really cool stuff.
What advice do you have for people who have identities that intersect like yours or are unique by the world standards of what “average” or “normal” is?
You don’t just wake up one day and be proud. You can’t just wake up one day and be bold. I sometimes tell people, “People are going to take your shoulders and turn you left and turn you right, but you got to take your own shoulders and go the path you want to go.” But then you’re like, “Well, what is my path?” I don’t really know. The answer is always community. That first step, even if it’s just to go on the internet, think about that deep part of yourself and then Google it. Go to a Reddit page. Start going to some events where people who have similar interests to you congregate, get together and talk about these things. Because once you can start to share your wins and woes with other people who can relate to you, you don’t have to expound so much energy explaining the givens to, and you can start to actually begin to feel comfortable with that part of yourself.
