Lex

Lex is a rapper from Thessaloniki, Greece, and a Queens-based MC from the United States. The name is also used by several other acts, including a Russian-born producer and DJ alias, a Gothic rock band from Lithuania, and artists from South Africa, Australia, Denver, Japan and Mexico.

United States use of the name

In the United States, Lex is used by a Queens-based MC who is also a member of the Queens-based group Sinistah Circle and a founding member of the New York Rhyme Exchange. The name is also used as an alias by producer and New York DJ Ray "Pinky" Velazquez. Another US artist with the name is a Denver-based indie pop musician who releases music under LEX and puts out a debut single called "SINNER" in 2018.

Greek rapper Lex

The Greek Lex begins in 1999 with the group Voreia Asteria, which becomes known as one of the most prominent underground rap groups in Greece and a pioneer of rap in northern Greece. The group’s albums Xalara and Xalarotera, released in 2003 and 2004, are considered classics. In 2007, Lex teams up with fellow rapper Mikros Kleftis in the duo Anapoda Kapela, which records tracks including "O Typas Pou Den Pas".

Lex releases a solo debut album, Tapinoi kai Pinasmeni, in 2014. The record focuses on urban life and uses Lex’s slow flow and direct lyrics. It attracts wide attention, with the album’s tracks drawing large online audiences without mainstream media support. A follow-up album, 2XXX, arrives in 2018 and leads to a run of sold-out concerts. In June 2019, Lex becomes the first solo hip-hop act to perform to a crowd of more than 10,000 in Greece’s capital. Singles including "Tipota ston Kosmo" and "Oxi Simera" are certified Gold and Platinum, and Lex is widely regarded as a leading Greek hip hop artist.

Japanese rapper LEX

LEX is also the name of a Japanese rapper born in Kanagawa, Japan in 2002. He starts releasing music at the age of 14 and uploads his first album, LEX DAY GAMES 4, in 2019. He appears on Red Bull’s "RAISEN" cypher, which brings him wider attention, and follows this with the project LiFE. In 2021 he releases COSMO WORLD, made with Only U and Yung sticky wom, and LOGIC, which includes "Nandemo Icchatte" featuring JP the WAVY. That track becomes his most successful song to date. In 2023, he releases GOD, supported by the single "Ookanemochi no Anata to Binbou na Watashi", and also appears in a GQ Japan mini-documentary under the RPZN STORIES banner.

Other acts using the name

Other artists and bands using the name Lex include a South African singer-songwriter with a debut single called "strawberry sky", an Australian, Serbian-born singer-songwriter who debuts with "C'est La Vie", a Gothic rock band from Lithuania formed in 1997, and a Mexican audiovisual artist whose work centres on technology and imagined worlds.

The name also appears as a reference to an early 1980s US electro track, "Fourteen Days".