Sara Elizabeth Mitchell (born July 28, 1988), better known by her stage name Sirah ( ), is an American rapper and singer from Los Angeles. She collaborated with

Skrillex Sonny John Moore (born January 15, 1988), known professionally as Skrillex, is an American DJ, record producer, musician, singer. Raised in Northeast Los Angeles and Northern California, he began his career in 2004 as the lead vocalist of the ...

, on " WEEKENDS!!!", "

Kyoto Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...

", and the hit single " Bangarang".

Background

Mitchell was born on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

, New York,Article on Sirah, from Thesource.com
/ref> to a bluesman and an artist. Her youth included poverty, homelessness and alcoholism. She was repeatedly caught creating graffiti; she stopped after being arrested for it. She moved to

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

with her father at age six, but after he died of an overdose, she ended up returning to New York. There, she was arrested several times and eventually absconded to Los Angeles rather than be placed in foster care at age fifteen. For a while, she considered

Union Station A union station, union terminal, joint station, or joint-use station is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway company, railway companies, allowing passengers to connect conveniently bet ...

her home before purchasing a

Jeep Cherokee The Jeep Cherokee is a line of sport utility vehicles (SUV) manufactured and marketed by Jeep over five generations. Marketed initially as a variant of the Jeep Wagoneer (SJ), the Cherokee has evolved from a full-size SUV to one of the first ...

and living in it in a garage in East Los Angeles; in an interview, she stated that she lived out of her car and felt safe in doing so.

Career

Mitchell moved from singing to rapping after her mother gave a negative review of her voice, and mentioned that the turning point for her was when she heard

Big Pun Christopher Lee Rios (November 10, 1971 – February 7, 2000), better known by his stage name Big Pun (short for Big Punisher), was an American rapper. Emerging from the underground hip hop scene in the Bronx, he came to prominence upon discover ...

's ''

Capital Punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence (law), sentence ordering that an offender b ...

''. After moving to Los Angeles, she booked her own tours in such countries as Germany and Romania, sleeping on floors and collecting money from fans. Her first EP, ''Clean Windows Dirty Floors'', was produced by

DJ Hoppa DJ Hoppa (born, April 28, 1983) is an American DJ and producer from Panorama City, Los Angeles. He was signed to rapper Hopsin's now defunct record label Funk Volume, and CEO of the San Fernando Valley independent label Broken Complex located ...

. Her first LP, ''Smile You Have Teeth'', was never released. Prior to its intended release, Mitchell's manager sent her a contract demanding $30,000 from the LP's proceeds. She subsequently decided to abandon the album and start anew.

contacted her

MySpace Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...

, commending her work and requesting that they work together. The first track, " WEEKENDS!!!", resulted when Skrillex asked her to rap her some lyrics she was developing into his laptop. Their second collaboration, " Bangarang", happened after he called her while he was on tour and asked her to record 16 bars about the Lost Boys. She forgot to close the window before recording it, and thus birds are audible in the recording. Sirah has also released a mixtape, ''C.U.L.T.: Too Young to Die''. After that she released another EP, Inhale.

Achievements

At the

55th Annual Grammy Awards The 55th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 10, 2013, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles honoring the best in music for the recording year beginning October 1, 2011 through September 30, 2012. The show was broadcast on CBS at 8 p.m. ...

, Mitchell and

won the award for

Best Dance Recording The Grammy Award for Best Dance/Electronic Recording (formerly known as Best Dance Recording) is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists f ...

for their collaboration Bangarang. It is Mitchell's first

Grammy The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...

win.

Influences

Mitchell is influenced by

Joni Mitchell Roberta Joan Mitchell (née Anderson; born November 7, 1943) is a Canadian and American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and painter. As one of the most influential singer-songwriters to emerge from the 1960s folk music circuit, Mitch ...

, WHY?,

Qwel Adam Vincent Schreiber (born June 6, 1980), better known by his stage name Qwel, is an underground hip hop, underground Rapping, rapper and author, originally from Chicago, Illinois. Qwel is co-founder of the underground rap crew Typical Cats, wi ...

Black Thought Tariq Luqmaan Trotter (born October 3, 1973), better known as Black Thought, is an American rapper, singer, actor and the lead Emcee (hip hop), MC of the hip hop group The Roots, which he co-founded with drummer Questlove in Philadelphia. Regar ...

Erykah Badu Erica Abi Wright (born February 26, 1971), known professionally as Erykah Badu, is an American singer and songwriter. Influenced by rhythm and blues, R&B, Soul music, soul, and hip hop, Badu rose to prominence in the late 1990s when her debut al ...

Lauryn Hill Lauryn Noelle Hill (born May 26, 1975) is an American musician. She is celebrated as one of the most influential musical artists of her generation. Hill is credited with breaking barriers for female rappers, contributing to the popular music, m ...

, Jewel, and

Cat Stevens Yusuf Islam (born Steven Demetre Georgiou; ), commonly known by his stage names Cat Stevens, Yusuf, and Yusuf / Cat Stevens, is a British singer-songwriter and musician. He has sold more than 100 million records and has more than two billion st ...

Discography

Albums

Mixtapes

EPs

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

Other charted and certified songs

Other appearances

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sirah Living people Rappers from New York City Rappers from Los Angeles 1988 births Grammy Award winners for dance and electronic music 21st-century American rappers Atlantic Records artists 21st-century American women rappers