Teyana Taylor

Teyana Me Shay Jacqueli Shumpert (' Taylor'''; born December 10, 1990) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, model, dancer, choreographer, and music video director.

Teyana Taylor was born on December 10, 1990, to Nikki Taylor and Tito Smith, in Harlem, New York City.

She is of African American and Trinidadian descent.

Taylor is her mother's only child, while her father has two sons and another daughter from a different relationship.

Her mother raised her and is currently her manager.

After choreographing the video for Beyoncé's 2006 single "Ring the Alarm," she signed a recording contract with the Neptunes' Star Trak Entertainment, an imprint of Interscope Records to embark on a career as an recording artist the following year.

In September 2006, 15-year-old Teyana Taylor was credited as the choreographer on the music video for American entertainer Beyoncé's hit single, "Ring the Alarm".

In January 2007, Taylor was offered a contract to join American recording artist and record producer Pharrell Williams' Star Trak Entertainment label, through Interscope Records.

In February 2007, Taylor first entered into the public sphere through an episode on MTV's My Super Sweet Sixteen, a show depicting over-the-top birthday parties for rich—and typically “spoiled” and confrontational—teenagers.

In 2007, Taylor appeared in the music video for Jay-Z's single, "Blue Magic", where she can be seen dancing and popping.

Taylor appeared on MTV's My Super Sweet 16 prior to the release of her 2008 debut single, "Google Me."

In February 2008, Taylor released her commercial debut single, "Google Me".

The song was released as the lead single from her full-length debut mixtape, titled From a Planet Called Harlem.

The mixtape, released August 16, 2009, features production from Jazze Pha, Pharrell, Mad Scientist, Frost, Shondre and Hit-Boy, among others.

Sing365 says that the record’s "…[a] mix of throwback break beats, futuristic boom bap, and melodic renderings is the perfect backdrop for the starlet's musical mayhem."

"Google Me" debuted at number 90 on US Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs.

The mixtape was also released for free download, billed as "the mixtape before her debut album".

Despite lukewarm commercial response, she later gained wider attention in 2010 for her uncredited guest performances on the songs "Dark Fantasy" and "Hell of a Life" by Kanye West, from his highly-acclaimed album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010).

She parted ways with Star Trak and Interscope in favor of signing with West's GOOD Music, an imprint of Def Jam Recordings two years later.

In 2010, Taylor made her film debut in Stomp the Yard: Homecoming, and later appeared in the Tyler Perry film, Madea's Big Happy Family in 2011.

In August 2010, Taylor expanded her career into acting, appearing in the sequel to Stomp the Yard, Stomp the Yard: Homecoming.

She also appeared on the debut episode of House of Glam on Oxygen in October 2010.

In 2010, just hours before Kanye West's fifth album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy was due to be turned in, West called Taylor into the studio to look over some of her fashion pieces.

While in the studio, Taylor was determined to make an appearance on West's album.

She purposely hummed along with the tracks he played for her, to get his attention.

He eventually took notice, and asked to put her vocals on a few tracks, notably "Dark Fantasy" and "Hell of a Life".

Upon recalling the experience of recording "Dark Fantasy", Taylor stated that "at the time it was pretty empty, just verses."

She remembers that West "put [her] in another room by [herself] and said, 'Go'."

Taylor came back with the "intro and chorus," and "did all the scratches and the cuts [herself]."

She admitted that she was nervous upon letting West hear her contributions to the tracks, trying to cover her nervousness by stating that she "hadn't been in the studio for so long."

In 2010, Taylor contributed on one of GOOD Music's GOOD Friday tracks, "Christmas In Harlem".

The track was released as a shortened version of the single to the iTunes Store on December 17, 2010, and features guest appearances from American rapper Cyhi the Prynce as well as Kanye West.

In 2010, Taylor, alongside fellow rapper Bow Wow, were offered roles for Tyler Perry's play-turned-film Madea's Big Happy Family, the fifth installment in Perry's series.

The following year, she appeared on the GOOD Music compilation album Cruel Summer (2012), which peaked at number two on the Billboard 200 chart.

Her debut studio album, VII (2014) received positive critical response and peaked within the top 20 of the Billboard 200, along with her second and third studio albums K.T.S.E. (2018) and The Album (2020); the latter peaked in the top ten of the chart, while K.T.S.E. spawned the single "Gonna Love Me" (remixed featuring Ghostface Killah, Method Man and Raekwon), which received platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

As an actress, Taylor had roles in two seasons of the Lee Daniels television series Star (2017–18), and the Amazon Prime film Coming 2 America (2021).

In 2023, she received critical acclaim and Oscar buzz for her starring performance in the film A Thousand and One.

She appeared in the VH1 reality series Teyana and Iman with her then-husband, basketball player Iman Shumpert.

She has directed music videos for artists including herself, Diddy, Schoolboy Q, and Queen Naija.

She won the BET Award for Video Director of the Year in 2020 and 2023.