Nashville-based rapper Daisha McBride is having a viral moment right now, thanks to a freestyle verse she recorded on the street in L.A.
She had her first taste of viral fame a decade ago. One night, she filmed herself rapping in her dorm room, and the next morning she had thousands of new Twitter followers, including Missy Elliott. And me.
Now McBride’s having an even bigger online moment thanks to improvising verses to the pop song “Hotel Party” on the spot.
The Canadian duo Crash Adams wrote the song, and did a TikTok bit searching for passersby in downtown L.A. who could rap. Sounds like a setup right? Like, they must’ve recruited McBride in advance? Nope.
McBride says she and her producer Sci-FY happened to be in L.A. for studio sessions this summer when she saw the Crash Adams guys post about what they were up to.
“I just straight up DMed them,” she recalls. “And I was like, ‘I can rap.’ And they were like, ‘Well, we’re actually on Hollywood Boulevard right now filming. If you want to pull up, then come on.’ ”
So, McBride strolled up nonchalantly, as we see in the clip, heard the song and nailed her bars live, in front of a crowd of tourists in just one or two takes.
More: Daisha McBride, WNXP Nashville Artist of the Month
But months went by with no word about the video, long enough that she assumed nothing would come of it. And then Crash Adams posted it last week.
“To go from, you know, a couple of views to 50 million views in a week has been crazy,” says McBride. “Y’all know I’ve been rapping for a long time. So for me, this is cool to see. I’ve probably gained over 150- or 200,000 followers just this week, and the video is not slowing down.”
In fact, “Hotel Party Freestyle featuring Daisha McBride,” drew such a response that Crash Adams released it on streaming services.
“I’ve been in the studio working on new music for 2025,” McBride adds, “so this is exactly the boost I needed before going into the new year.”
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