Miami’s late-April music calendar is stacked. But before Baby Keem hits The Fillmore Miami Beach on April 24, and before PinkPantheress brings her “Evening With” show to the same venue on April 26, there is Lexa Gates at Midline Miami on Thursday, April 23. Doors open at 8 PM.
If the name is new to you, that is about to change — because Lexa Gates is one of the more compelling figures working in independent hip-hop right now, and Miami is getting her at a moment when the whole industry is starting to pay attention.
Who Is Lexa Gates
Ivanna Alexandra Martinez, known as Lexa Gates, is an American musician and rapper born on April 8, 2001. She spent part of her early childhood in Puerto Rico before being raised in Queens, New York. Her mother saved up money from packing cigarettes in Puerto Rico to move the family back to the borough where Gates grew up.
Her journey in music began at a young age, with her passion for composing melodies and singing emerging as early as 9 years old. She initially shared her music on SoundCloud, debuting her first tracks in 2019 and eventually releasing full bodies of work, often crafted in her own DIY basement studio.
The catalog has been prolific. Her debut album Order of Events was released in 2020. Her second album Universe Wrapped in Flesh followed in 2022. In October 2024, she released Elite Vessel, and that same month she locked herself in a glass box in Manhattan’s Union Square for ten hours to promote the album.
That last detail is not a gimmick — it is a signal of what Lexa Gates is. She is a performer, an artist, and a craftsperson operating entirely on her own terms, building her world from the floor up.
The Momentum Is Real
In 2023, with a growing internet presence, Gates posted her music to TikTok and shared several music videos on YouTube, world-building a vintage style to match the nostalgic and somber essence of her laidback music, often described as being reminiscent of artists she considers her influences: Mac Miller, Amy Winehouse, and Tyler, the Creator.
Her 2024 album Elite Vessel charted on Billboard, featured collaborations with Zelooperz and Billy Lemos, and earned praise from Rolling Stone (“Artist You Need to Know”) and Complex (“one of the best under-the-radar rap albums of 2024”). That same year, Gates staged her first 10-hour performance art piece in New York City that went viral with over 300 million views. She also wrapped her first sold-out headline tour and debuted at festivals including Outside Lands, Capitol Hill Block Party, and London’s Jazz Café Festival, and starred in a KITH campaign alongside Fabolous and Jadakiss. She also earned “Artist to Watch” nods from Billboard, People, and Hypebeast, alongside co-signs from SZA, Aminé, and Isaiah Rashad.
SZA shouting you out on Instagram is not nothing. It means the people whose entire livelihood depends on knowing where sound is moving are watching.
I Am — The Album Behind This Tour
In January 2026, Lexa Gates released her highly anticipated sophomore album, I Am — a 16-track project on Capitol Records, produced with collaborators including Emile Haynie and Jasper Harris, exploring self-discovery and emotional vulnerability with soulful vocals and punchy bars. The album’s release was accompanied by a second immersive 10-hour art installation, “The Wheel,” held at Jeffrey Deitch in New York City.
The I Am tour follows the album across the U.S. and into Europe. The tour runs through Atlanta, Orlando, and Miami before heading to Philadelphia, New York, and an international leg with stops in London, Paris, Amsterdam, and Berlin.
Miami sits near the middle of the run — a city that will feel the show differently than most. Gates’ sound threads through R&B, hip-hop, jazz-influenced production, and raw lyrical confession. It is not stadium music. It is music that breathes and lands differently in a smaller room, with an audience that actually knows the words.
What the Show Looks Like
The Eventbrite listing describes Lexa Gates as a singer/songwriter, rapper, and producer whose music blends genres and delivers compelling lyrics, with the song “Angel” standing out as a track that has garnered significant attention and contributed to the growth of her fan base.
Midline Miami is presenting the evening as a live set shaped by emotional directness, sharp lyricism and DIY ambition. That framing lands. Gates is a performer who came up doing everything herself — recording in a basement, uploading to SoundCloud, building from nothing — and her live sets carry that ethos. There is no distance between the artist and the material.
The Weekend Ahead in Miami Music
The Lexa Gates show opens what shapes up as one of the more packed music weekends Miami has seen in late April. Baby Keem brings the Ca$ino Tour to The Fillmore Miami Beach on Friday, April 24. Lost Frequencies plays LIV that same night. PinkPantheress brings her “Evening With” tour to The Fillmore on Sunday, April 26. Romeo Santos and Prince Royce take Kaseya Center on Saturday, April 25.
Lexa Gates on Thursday night is the starting point. Midline Miami is at 49 NW 24th St. in Wynwood. Tickets are available on Eventbrite.
