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Lexa Gates doesn’t just introduce herself on I Am, she claims space. The rapper, singer, and producer’s highly anticipated sophomore album is both a personal reckoning and a quiet flex, playing on her legal name, Ivanna Alexandra Martinez, as a way of grounding the record in truth. It’s an album rooted in self-awareness, shaped by growth, and guided by a refusal to soften the edges that make her who she is. Vulnerable without being fragile and confident without being guarded, I Am feels like Gates stepping closer to herself in real time.

From the opening track, “It Goes On,” Gates makes it clear she’s arrived on her own terms. The song carries a moody, angsty weight, but instead of sinking into it, she sharpens it. Her flow is clean and deliberate, every bar landing with intention. There’s a sense of emotional detachment here, not apathy, but acceptance, the understanding that life keeps moving whether you’re ready or not. It’s a cold, confident opener that sets the emotional temperature for what follows.

“Estranged” slows things down without losing intensity. Built on retro-leaning keys and steady percussion, the track lets Gates’s smoky vocals do the heavy lifting. She leans fully into emotional honesty, admitting her mental health struggles and fear of abandonment with startling clarity. The hook captures the push-and-pull of wanting connection without feeling like too much, nights spent waiting by the phone, hoping not to be left behind. It’s intimate, uncomfortable, and deeply human.

On “Last Day,” Gates turns inward, offering a reminder to stop measuring life against someone else’s timeline. There’s a quiet urgency to the song, an understanding that time isn’t promised and that choosing yourself is an act of survival. The production nods to old-school soul with a warmth reminiscent of early Kanye West, creating space for Gates’s soothing delivery, and her inherent chaos, to coexist effortlessly.

Throughout the record, Gates continues to show her range. “Nothing To Worry About” captures her restlessness with unfiltered candor, wrestling with unanswered questions and the pull to keep moving. In contrast, “Rest Of My Life” offers a moment of lightness, carried by groovy soul textures and an unmistakable sense of clarity. Here, Gates sounds grounded and sure, delivering some of her most focused verses on the record.

The album closes with “Serious,” a track that opens in dark humor before unraveling into vulnerability. What initially feels like shock value slowly reveals a deeper plea, to be understood, to be cared for, to be taken seriously. By the time she admits, “I need you to know that I’m yours forever,” the bravado has fully dissolved, leaving something tender and painfully relatable in its place.

At its core, I Am feels like a diary, a collection of thoughts, contradictions, relationships, and realizations laid bare. Gates doesn’t pretend to have everything figured out, and that’s precisely the point. Across 18 tracks, she invites us into her process of becoming, reminding us that self-definition isn’t a destination, it’s something you choose, again and again.