Out100: Angel Haze

Photography by JUCO | Retouching by Anna Glen at Wet Noodle

The Moment: May 11, 1981: Gender-bending musician Grace Jones releases her classic album Nightclubbing.

Angel Haze's decision to leak her debut album, Dirty Gold, three months before its major-label release was a commercial risk, but it was the sort of move we've come to expect from the fiercely independent 23-year-old rapper. On cuts like 2012's "Cleaning Out My Closet," a startlingly vivid account of her sexual abuse, Haze exhibits an insatiable thirst for authenticity and a take-no-prisoners attitude, making her rapid-fire rhymes all the more compelling. The artist, who identifies as pansexual and eschews gender pronouns in her music, says "This year has been remarkable because I have been finding myself. It feels good."

Photographed at the Forge, Los Angeles on August 18, 2014

Styling by Kyle Blackmon. Set Designer: Adi Goodrich. Makeup: Brandy Allen/Epiphany agency. Hair: Tiffany Daugherty. Leather Dress by Mathieu Mirano. Vintage Jewelry from Palace Costume. Jeans by ACNE STUDIOS

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