Most musicians aren’t successful after being dropped by two major labels. Most musicians aren’t Angel Haze. Constantly throughout her life and music career, Haze has proven that she is a fighter, and will get her message out at all costs.

Born Raee’n Roes Wilson, Haze was raised in the Greater Apostolic Faith – a religious institution she describes as a cult. “We all lived in the same community, within 10 minutes of each other. You weren’t allowed to talk to anyone outside of that, you weren’t allowed to wear jewelry, listen to music, to eat certain things, to date people…you weren’t allowed to do pretty much anything” She told The Guardian.

When Haze was 16, the Wilson family relocated to Brooklyn after her mother was threatened by a pastor in the community. It was in Brooklyn that Haze was first exposed to rap music. Five years later, she would sign her first major label record deal – a joint contract between Island and Republic records.

On December 18th, 2013, after months of negotiations with label execs and repeated pushbacks of her album release, Haze leaked her own debut album, Dirty Gold, to Soundcloud. The record received critical acclaim, but sold fewer than 1000 units in its first week of US sales. While Republic/Island didn’t drop her immediately, her relationship with the labels was severely strained from that point on, and they eventually parted ways.

Fast-forward to 2015 and the September release of Back to the Woods, Haze’s first record in two years. Although hesitant to refer to BTTW as her sophomore album (Haze prefers the title of mixtape and released the record for free across all platforms), the LP was professionally produced and recorded, with more than an abundance of excellent songs.

You can listen to the first single off Back to the Woods, “Moonrise Kingdom” below: