When he first began rapping, LaKeith Stanfield needed a fan base, and he found it in drama class. 

Coming from an impoverished, dysfunctional family, he had trouble trusting people, at first. But he found solace in handing out his CDs to other students in his drama program who also felt like outcasts. In class, he could explore his emotions without feeling insecure. “That was the only class where I wanted to pass them out,” he told Interview in 2020, “because I was like, ‘If anyone’s going to understand where [emotion] comes from, it’s these guys.’” 

That was the beginning of Stanfield the musician, a path he’s since been balancing with his thriving acting career over the past 15 years. Performing under the moniker Htiekal — his first name spelled backward, which he pronounces “T-kal” — he’s been showing off his mic skills on various releases. Like his on-screen performances, Stanfield’s music is expressive and magnetic, offering an off-kilter mix of spacey and thoughtful.

As a teenager, Stanfield sifted through the sounds of Nirvana, Slipknot, Johnny Cash and Tupac Shakur. By the time he hit high school, he’d started making music himself. For his initial songs, he’d take beats off the internet and record over his computer speakers before burning them to CDs, which he plastered with cheesy album covers. 

He took his work to another level when he met a producer by the name of HH during a movie screening. HH had beats and Stanfield, rapping under his government name, had bars, so the two connected. While Stanfield found some of HH’s beats hard to rap to, there were also plenty he rocked with. Performing as the duo Moors, Stanfield and HH began releasing music regularly in 2014, posting songs like the Ferguson protest track “Wolves at War” before unloading their self-titled debut EP that same year. Filled with futuristic beats and lyrics that swung between braggadocious and philosophical, the project solidified Stanfield’s M.O.

As his acting career took off, Stanfield’s love for music remained, though his output decreased. “Music is always a part of me,” the co-star of The Harder They Fall told Blavity in 2018. “I love it. I’m always writing it, listening to it. It’s a really cool thing. I’m always doing it. I haven’t really put together anything yet, but I’ve got a lot of cool stuff. Maybe one day, I’ll just put it together and come out with something.” 

Stanfield ended the musical drought in 2019 with “Automatic,” the first in a series of new songs he released under his newly christened moniker Htiekal. The single was supposed to be part of an album called Self Control but, to date, the project hasn’t been finalized. In November 2021, he released Do Better, a sprawling, 10-song debut solo album that reaffirms his knack for free associative wordplay and aesthetics.

For the project, he evokes confidence and frenzied confusion as he cruises a diverse soundscape, tackling doubts and existential fear with wry humor and disarming honesty. “I can’t stand to see the brown on my own hands/ F***ing problem, guess I learned to play God, from my old man/ It’s a cycle/ Look I ride the bike no hands,” he raps on the album’s title song. The rest of the project unfolds much the same way, even as the beats drift between discordant and ethereal. Combining reflection and unpredictable instrumentals, Do Better is proof that Stanfield has refined his rap style as he has accrued acting credits. It’s also evidence that dropping bars isn’t just a hobby. 

While he’s most famous for his work in front of a camera, Stanfield has hinted at having a stronger connection to the work he records in the studio. “I feel that music is a little bit more powerful when it comes to connecting the people and really having people move and change things,” he told XXL in 2017. “ Cinema is a very powerful medium, but I think music is the most powerful in getting you to move. It’s a much more intimate experience for me, at least in the practice of it.”

Stanfield will likely rack up more acting credits than rap albums, and he might change his mind about which medium he connects with the most, but that’s beside the point. He started making music because he was looking for a way to express himself — and he’s been lucky enough to find two.