Saucy Santana: The Viral Star Breaking Barriers In Hip-Hop And Pop Culture
From bold TikTok hits to chart-topping tracks, Saucy Santana rose from makeup artist to music sensation. Discover how he’s reshaping rap with style, confidence, and unstoppable energy.
Jul 21, 2025143 Shares71.4K Views
If someone told you a makeup artist could become a TikTok rap star, you’d want to hear more. Saucy Santanastarted by doing makeup for City Girls and quickly turned into a viral music sensation with his bold style and catchy songs. His track “Walk Em Like a Dog” blew up online in 2019, followed by hits like “Material Girl,” “Walk,” and “Here We Go.” Known for flaunting fierce fashion and owning his true self as a Black, openly gay artist, he has reshaped what hip-hop can look and sound like.
Early Life
Saucy Santana, born Rashad Jamiyl Spain on October 8, 1993 in Bridgeport, Connecticut, moved with his family to Florida when he was 10 years old. He is of Afro‑Dominican heritage through his grandmother. Growing up, he was creative and expressive—his mother encouraged his self‑expression from an early age, and he showed interest in makeup, fashion, and pop culture during his childhood in Florida.
While the details of his schooling are not fully known, he spent his formative years in Florida, where local music and culture shaped his bold personality and artistic style. As a young gay Black man, he faced societal pressure, but he embraced his identity openly and confidently, using those experiences as fuel for his creativity and self‑belief.
Career
Saucy Santana began his music journey in August 2019, releasing his first song “Walk Em Like a Dog” on SoundCloud. Within one week, it received over a million streams. In September 2019 he followed up with his debut EP Dog Walkers, and in January 2020 he released his first mixtape Imma Celebrity.
In mid-2020, he put out another mixtape titled Pretty Little Gangsta, which included the songs “Up & Down” featuring Latto and “Back It Up” with LightSkinKeisha. He also appeared on the reality show Love & Hip Hop: Miami during its third season in early 2020, which boosted his public profile.
His 2020 single “Walk” went viral in 2021 thanks to the TikTok #WalkChallenge, earning praise including from Nicki Minaj. Two later songs, “Here We Go” and “Material Girl,” also became viral hits on TikTok. Madonna remixed “Material Girl” with him and they released the joint version titled “Material Gworrllllllll!”
Saucy Santana’s debut studio album Keep It Playa dropped on December 16, 2021, and included the single “Shisha,” marking his first musical collaboration with City Girls—the same people he once did makeup for. In August 2022, he made his late-night TV debut performing “Booty” on The Tonight Show, and also performed at the MTV Video Music Awards pre-show.
In January 2024, Santana joined the cast of Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta, first as a supporting role and then promoted to the main cast the following season.
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