Star Bandz: Chicago's Rap Princess
As a kid, Star Bandz would ask her mom to film her rapping covers of NBA Youngboy songs and sing Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber radio hits at family gatherings. It was obvious to anyone around her then: she was born to perform. But few would have predicted how soon the rest of the world would catch onto her talent —and crown her Chicago’s rap princess.
By 14, Star was recording her own songs —already showing off her slick raps—and uploading videos on Triller. Her charismatic personality, amplified over drill’s evolved stylings, made an instant connection with the city’s youth. Early singles like “No Hook” and “Too Many Options” built momentum fast, becoming local high school anthems and trending sounds on social media.
We met the South Side suburbs native at South Facing Windows for our interview, just days after her 17th birthday bash — a party packed with fans, family and some of drill’s rising stars. After all, these aren’t just birthdays anymore. They double as career milestones. Last year’s party birthed the video for “Yeah Yeah,” her biggest solo record to date, exploding on TikTok before earning a remix with Detroit rapper Veeze.
With national attention growing, Star only pressed harder, running up interviews, social collabs with content creators, and new tracks, all while linking with kindred spirits like New York’s Sugarhill Dot for the hit remix, “My Baby.”
If the pace of fame has weighed on her, she’s not showing it. In the weeks leading up to our interview, she’d been on the cover of Chicago Magazine, profiled by Rolling Stone and traveling across the country. It’s a lot for anyone, especially for a teen. Yet, in our conversation, she’s smiling nonstop, answering each question thoughtfully, with her personality fully shining through.
She ended 2024 with Estrella, her debut project (nodding to her Latino roots and the childhood nickname her mother gave her in the title), and one of These Days’ standout releases of the year. Now, with a deluxe edition out on streaming and her first tour on the horizon, co-headlining alongside DD Osama and Sugarhill Dot, she stands on the verge of something even bigger. It feels inevitable: this Star is about to go supernova.
When did you first start rapping?
I started rapping in 2019. Well, I wrote for the first time in 2020, when I was 12 years old. But my first time going to the studio was when I was 11, so 2019.
And you said your mom used to upload videos of you on Facebook?
Yeah.
Did it just come natural to be a performer?
Definitely. I used to like to dance too. All the little dancing songs that used to go around in Chicago around 2012, 2014, I used to dance to those. She used to record me doing all that. I used to sing too. I used to sing at family gatherings, like Christmas or something. My cousin, he used to play the guitar too, so we'd sing like Ed Sheeran or Adele songs. And Justin Bieber.
Justin Bieber fan?
Yeah, I used to love Justin Bieber.
Did your mom know you had the potential early on? Or was it you saying, “I want to do this”?
It wasn't never a sit down, like "I want to be a rapper." I just did it. I said that my first time going to the studio was in 2019, but I wrote my first song in 2020, because my momma used to post me on her Facebook, rapping songs when I was little. My momma's friend used to go to the studio, and he used to always tell me, every time he saw me, to write a song because he’d seen it in me that I could go make music. I’d never seen it in myself. One day in 2019, I want to say in November, he called my mama, and he said he was about to come pick me up and take me to the studio, and he just wanted me to rap my favorite song. So I rapped "House Arrests Tings" by NBA Youngboy. That was my favorite song at the time. I was in sixth grade; I used to listen to Youngboy crazy [laughs]. He took me to the studio, and his whole point of doing that was just so I get the feel of being in the studio. I had a lot of fun while I was doing it. I used to listen to the song all the time. Ever since I made it and recorded it, I always listened to it. And then I was in the house for 2020. It was quarantine. I turned on a beat on YouTube, and I just wrote to it. I told my mom to tell him to come over so he could hear the song, and I rapped the song to him. That's how I got started. By that time, I already knew how to do ad libs and how to punch in and stuff like that, 'cause he taught me that when I went to the studio to rap.
You seem and sound very well adjusted to fame, which is coming at you at a very young age. Is that a true assumption?
I think it's because I feel like it didn't happen overnight. It wasn't just one day I walked outside and everybody knew who I was. It just happened slowly. My first time, somebody took a picture with me because they knew I rapped in 2022. I was excited about that. That’s when it first started, 2022, and it just got bigger every year. Now a lot more people know who I am, but it's nothing new to me. I've been doing this —I've been taking pictures with people in public—but it's just more comes with it.
You already have a handful of songs with millions of streams. When was the first moment you really got excited about a song getting a lot of plays?
When I first noticed that people were rocking with me, it actually made me more motivated to rap. In 2022, I had made a Triller to my song, "No Hook." That was my first known song out here, and I had posted a Triller of it for my 14th birthday. I got my first thousand like and 700 comments; then it went up to 2,000 likes, 800 comments. Something like that. Then all the Chicago blog pages were posting me. That's when that stuff started picking up. That's around the time I really labeled myself as a rapper. I was like, "People rock with my music."
Is there a song that you were surprised that it become a fan favorite?
It's definitely going to be “Yeah Yeah.” I shot the video at my birthday party, but I posted a Triller to it the day before my birthday party, so people knew the song for the party on March 23rd. But the Triller only got 2,000 likes. It didn't even get that many likes forreal. And then, I don't know why, my page was getting so much attention. I posted my birthday pictures, and I got a lot of likes. I probably had 10,000 likes. I posted a snippet of "Yeah Yeah," because it was dropping on my birthday, March 31st, the day after my party; the cameraman sent me a snippet the day after my party. I posted a snippet, and it went up. I think I got like 20,000 likes. After that, I dropped it on my birthday, and it got a whole lot of attention. A week later, or not even, people were reacting to the song on TikTok and stuff like that. And that's really how it blew up. People were doing reactions to it, and then everybody was seeing it. Every time I went back to the video, I had more and more and more and more likes, and I just kept getting more and more followers [laughs].
It sounds like you, almost instinctively, know how to market yourself.
Definitely. Yeah, I be making skits now too. For the [most recent] birthday party, I had my friends make a skit to promote the party. It was like a video. It was like my friend acting like she's sneaking out to come to my party, and then she got caught, and then everybody else wanted to come too because it was all ages. I was the whole director. I was the cameraman.
What's your mindset when you're writing songs?
It just comes naturally, but I always brainstorm. Well, not all the time. Sometimes it just comes to me, but in the process of making music, I write, and I just take my time. I don't rush it.
How did you decide to name the album Star in Spanish?
Estrella is my nickname at home; my momma calls me that. It was going to be my official name, but she thought nobody would know how to pronounce it, so she named me Star instead. However, she still calls me Estrella. I used to have it as my name on Instagram. I've always kept it with me; I even had a necklace with it. I still have that necklace, and I recently got a chain made that says "Estrella."
When the album dropped, how was that?
It felt good. I ain't going to lie, when I drop something, sometimes I get nervous. You never know what's going to happen or how it's going to perform, but I enjoyed it. I feel like the whole mixtape was very authentic. Everything was just me, and I wasn't trying too hard. All the songs on there were a part of my journey—before I got signed, when I blew up, and in between getting signed. Every song on there represents the time from then until when I dropped the mixtape.
You're very intentional about avoiding profanity in your music. Is that something you see continuously doing for a while?
I don't think it's hard because you have to consider the situations where you talk to certain people, and you need to speak professionally. I was raised to respect my elders too. I never cuss in front of my mom and them; I just don't do that. My people listen to my music too, so I don't want them questioning what I'm talking about or anything like that. It makes it better because kids can listen to me, everybody can listen to me, and I can reach further.
What’s been the coolest thing to happen as an artist?
The coolest thing? I think just having people know me, really. I don't know; respectfully, I get a lot of free stuff [laughs]. People give me free clothes and stuff. I love that. And then people just rock with me as a person. I'm respected, and I like that. I don't know—people just like me—and I'm just being myself for real. And the kids love me too.