A true jack of all trades, Rakiyah Wright, simply known as Rakiyah or Raki, is a rocket scientist with passions diverging from math and science to R&B and soul music. 

The 27-year-old New Jersey native’s experimental R&B and soulful melodies are created, reportedly, late at night in the shower. Once she hears a beat, she freestyles and records her best material in her voice memos before going into her room to fine-tune and perfect the lyrics.

With engineering courses and Rue Gloss, her cosmetic line, taking up most of the time in her day, the night time is Rakiyah’s chance to escape the liveliness of everyday life to be creative and make music.

Her debut EP “Alter Ego” oozes with flirtatious and bossy lines that contrast with the “science head” and engineer image that people in her community know her to be. This project set the tone for proceeding singles like “I.T.I.D.” and “Q.T.”

The time and effort the R&B singer-songwriter invests into her craft is clearly reflected in the quality of her music and undoubtedly differentiates her sound from others.

But her talents do not fall short of just singing and songwriting. Rakiyah also has a YouTube channel with nearly 60,000 subscribers. 

On her YouTube channel, you can find Rakiyah reflecting on her two-year study abroad experience in Korea. She provides advice and tips for people interested in studying abroad in Korea and those interested in learning the language, amongst other content.

To retain her knowledge of the Korean language and keep up on her studies, Rakiyah infuses her passion for music and love for Korean culture into her lyricism on her upcoming bilingual project “Like You 너처럼.” 

“I put so much interest and time into someone else’s culture and language, I don’t want it to be wasted,” Rakiyah said. “Even if I don’t get, let’s say an opportunity in the Korean music industry, or get signed into the Korean music industry, that’s fine. My goal is to keep [the language] with me forever.”  

Rakiyah’s upcoming bilingual project “Like You 너처럼” will be available Friday. 

Nyamal Gatluak (NG): Was there a defining moment where you felt you needed to pursue music? 

Rakiyah Wright (RW): You know the quote, “Wherever you go, it becomes a part of you?” My journey teaching myself Korean and then having the opportunity to live in Korea and do some of my college education there as an engineer, too — it just changed me. It completely changed me. It allowed me to learn to be independent and try new things. 

When I was living in Korea last year, I decided to work on another EP. When I did that, I also did auditions for different Korean shows and Korean labels. Even though I didn’t make the cut for the different auditions I did, it made me feel like I really wanted to pursue this.

I’ve been in and out of school since 2011 in college — that’s a long time to keep going back and forth for school and studying for exams. I finally got the experience as an engineer in corporate America.

The task is cool, but I don’t fit. I already stand out as a black woman in engineering spaces. I’m such an outgoing, vibrant, talkative, creative type of engineer. A lot of other engineers around me are a lot more quiet or a lot more stoic and keep to themselves. It just doesn’t feel like I can fit in.

NG: How do you manage to balance all of your commitments?

RW: I realized that something has to suffer, unfortunately. I’m a YouTuber initially, and that’s what I was first, and my YouTube channel is still doing well. But it’s not doing as well anymore because I just don’t have the time and energy to commit to videos since I have to pay more attention to my music. So, you can do it — I just wish I had the team or help.

NG: Are you working in the field of aerospace engineering now, or are you still in school?

RW: I’m still in school. I’ve been in school for quite a long time, in and out just for financial reasons. This is part of my life journey, and I’m glad it happened because if I graduated four or five years ago, I probably wouldn’t be doing the things I’m doing now. So I think everything is meant to happen for a reason.  

I’m finishing my very last semester this semester — thank God — but I have had internships. I’ve specifically worked for an aerospace engineering department of a military defense company and one of the top aerospace and military defense companies. That’s where I got my experience to be a quality engineer. 

Thankfully, I got the opportunity to shift, and managers believed in me enough to let me do aerospace engineering. I did more so, like — here goes the nerdy part — structural analysis of the aircraft’s body frame and the design. This past summer, my internship was at home due to COVID, and I had to design an aircraft with another intern. 

That’s pretty much my engineering background, although I don’t really think I want to pursue that as a career right now anymore. But I still care about education. It’s been a part of me my whole life. Science and math are just something I can’t let go of. So I made sure, to please me and my parents, that I got the experience.

NG: You invest a lot of time, effort and money into your craft as an independent artist. Do you have any advice for artists on a similar journey as you?

RW: Honestly, I feel like I’m still such a beginner at this. I’m still learning so much. I’ve made tons of mistakes, and I’ve “wasted money” on certain things, certain songs, certain recordings, and it’s all an expense, unfortunately. But that’s the double-edged sword of being independent versus being signed. 

My biggest advice is to be patient. Be smart with your time, money and resources, and don’t rush anything. I took my previous projects down off the market because they felt like to me, a year later, rushed projects. They had some nice songs, but I know my standard of talent, and I wasn’t pleased with it anymore. So all that time and money that was spent on previous EPs and singles — gone. But it helped me get to this point, so everything isn’t a waste. 

I would say work within your means. I had to learn that this year with my Korean song, called “Like You 너처럼.” I wanted to make a full-out music video for it. I contacted the videographer, and unfortunately, the money didn’t come in the way I wanted to. It made me realize to work within my means. If that means I just do a dance cover to my song, then that’s what I’m going to do. 

So please, please, please budget. Take your time. Don’t rush your work. As an independent artist, you have a lot of opportunities to go slow; you have a lot of opportunities to try different things and experiment. I feel like signed artists have a hard time changing their style because fans get used to one thing from them.

NG: Is there anything I didn’t ask that you want people to know about you?

RW: Something that I feel like is really important to me that I want to stress to the world and those who discover me — especially those who are interested particularly in Korean culture or the Korean language — is that being a Black person in those spaces can be sometimes toxic and uncomfortable. 

If you ever come across K-pop communities or K-pop Twitter, it can be toxic. It can be draining, and already the world doesn’t really allow Black people to be a part of spaces as we should. Especially since everything we bring out to the world gets loved and then taken or stolen and replicated, and then we’re also told we can’t be in these spaces. 

I know that there are people who don’t want me to put music out in Korean. I know there are people who don’t want me, as a Black woman, to join those spaces or join those parts of the Korean music industry. I know that, and I’m prepared mentally for that already, and I don’t care what people say. I’m doing this for myself and representing people who look like me, and that’s my biggest message. 

If some doors aren’t open for you, you have to open them for yourself. You are your biggest investment. No one else will invest in me, except for me. I don’t feel ashamed for trying something new. I don’t regret spending money, spending all these hours in all my endeavors and in my music because I have one life — why am I afraid to live it to the fullest? 

Black women are so uniquely beautiful and creative and just so talented, and I want to stress that we’re coming stronger and better so that the world can hear us, too. I want to make sure that my message is always positive when I tell the world, I want you to hear me, Rakiyah, too.