Bunny Michael

{{Infobox musical artist | name = Bunny Michael | image = | image_upright = | image_size = | landscape =  | alt = | caption = | birth_name = Melisa Rincón | alias = | birth_date = {{birth based on age as of date|42|2024|10|03}} | birth_place = | origin = Dallas, Texas, U.S. | death_date =  | death_place = | genre = Rap | occupation = Visual artist, musician, rapper | instrument = | years_active =  | label = | associated_acts = | website =  | module = | module2 = | module3 = }} '''Melisa Rincón''' (born {{birth based on age as of date|35|2018|08|15|noage=1}})<ref name=":2" /> known professionally as '''Bunny Michael''', is an American interdisciplinary visual artist, musician, and rapper.

== Early life and education == Bunny Michael was raised in Dallas, Texas.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Saxelby |first=Ruth |date=20 December 2016 |title=Meet Bunny Michael, The Artist Whose Tragicomic Memes Say What Everyone Is Feeling |url=https://www.thefader.com/2016/12/20/bunny-michael-meme-interview |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230207234114/https://www.thefader.com/2016/12/20/bunny-michael-meme-interview |archive-date=7 February 2023 |access-date=4 January 2019 |website=FADER |language=en}}</ref> They are the middle of three children born to a second-generation Mexican American father and a Samoan mother. They were raised in an affluent suburb. Michael attended Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. They realized they were queer at the age of fifteen and stated that coming out to their family was a difficult process. Michael briefly moved in with their first girlfriend's family. They have since reconciled with their family. Michael graduated from Marymount Manhattan College.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |last=Frank |first=Priscilla |date=1 February 2018 |title=The Selfie-Help Guru Healing Millennials On Instagram |language=en-US |work=HuffPost |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bunny-michael-selfie-help-guru_us_5a625d79e4b0dc592a08a171 |url-status=live |access-date=4 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230408185917/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/bunny-michael-selfie-help-guru_n_5a625d79e4b0dc592a08a171 |archive-date=8 April 2023}}</ref>

== Career == Michael is a visual artist, musician, and rapper<ref name=":0" /> whose work often examines the relationship between the masculine and feminine, the body and the soul, and the self and higher self.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rose |first=Annie |date=16 January 2017 |title=Bunny Michael on Spiritual Sexuality and Transcending Gender |url=http://posturemag.com/online/bunny-michael-interview/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200218110636/https://posturemag.com/online/bunny-michael-interview/ |archive-date=18 February 2020 |access-date=6 February 2020 |website=Posture Magazine}}</ref> After graduating from college, they shared their music through Myspace. Michael was the vocalist performing by the name Bunny Rabbit with producer Black Cracker. It is described by ''HuffPost'' as an "eponymous experimental rap collaboration." Bunny Rabbit toured with CocoRosie and gained praise from New Yorker critic Sasha Frere-Jones who stated in 2007, "I am fond of the deeply odd, occasionally obscene art rap of Bunny Rabbit."<ref name=":1" />

Michael garnered a large fan base through Myspace which allowed them to book their own U.S. tour.<ref name=":1" />

Michael was working as a waiter in 2017.<ref name=":1" /> In 2018, Michael went on tour in Europe with Fever Ray.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bulut |first=Selim |date=16 March 2018 |title=Bunny Michael is the meme-making, psychedelic rapper touring with Fever Ray |url=https://www.dazeddigital.com/music/article/39401/1/bunny-michael-higher-self-interview |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221004111204/https://www.dazeddigital.com/music/article/39401/1/bunny-michael-higher-self-interview |archive-date=4 October 2022 |access-date=4 January 2019 |website=Dazed |language=en}}</ref>

They are known for their "Me and My Higher Self" memes on Instagram which started when Michael was undergoing a major spiritual transformation of their own.<ref name=":0" /> This project is aimed at increasing self-love,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Dommu |first=Rose |date=29 July 2017 |title=Bunny Michael's 'Self/Higher Self' Memes Spread a Message of Self-Love |url=https://www.out.com/art-books/2017/7/29/bunny-michaels-selfhigher-self-memes-spread-message-self-love |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200222042549/https://www.out.com/art-books/2017/7/29/bunny-michaels-selfhigher-self-memes-spread-message-self-love |archive-date=22 February 2020 |access-date=4 January 2019 |website=Out |language=en}}</ref> and much like Michael's music and visual art,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Baritaux |first=Zio |date=21 December 2017 |title=these memes are the queer, uplifting answer to evil kermit |url=https://i-d.co/article/these-memes-are-the-queer-uplifting-answer-to-evil-kermit/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220914200732/https://i-d.vice.com/en/article/gywqnx/these-memes-are-the-queer-uplifting-answer-to-evil-kermit |archive-date=14 September 2022 |access-date=5 February 2020 |website=i-D |language=en}}</ref> also explores the multiplicities within the self.<ref name=":0" /> ''Remezcla'' reports that Michael is a "queer multimedia artist...[who] utilizes music, art videos, and memes as their mediums to explore themes of self love and acceptance, spirituality, and sexuality in a time when our 'deepest truths are being revealed'."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Alejandra |first=Itzel |date=9 January 2018 |title=Bunny Michael's Spiritual Memes Will Help You Find Your Higher Self |url=http://remezcla.com/lists/culture/bunny-michael-memes-self-love/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230301221455/https://remezcla.com/lists/culture/bunny-michael-memes-self-love/ |archive-date=1 March 2023 |access-date=4 January 2019 |website=Remezcla |language=en-US}}</ref>

Michael is the host of “Broadly Hotline,” a web series on Broadly.<ref name=":2">{{Cite news |last=Oswaks |first=Molly |date=15 August 2018 |title=Bunny Michael Is a Rapper and Meme Maker |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/15/style/bunny-michael-rapper-vice-show.html |url-status=live |url-access=subscription |access-date=4 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200222042541/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/15/style/bunny-michael-rapper-vice-show.html |archive-date=22 February 2020 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Michael is currently working on starting a podcast centered around self-care, personal growth, and other millennial-related topics.<ref name=":2" /> Michael appeared in two seasons of the HBO series High Maintenance.<ref>{{cite web |title=Hello Higher Self: A Celebration with Local Author Bunny Michael |url=https://www.roughdraftny.com/events/bunnymichael-iol35f |website=Rough Draft}}</ref>

== Influences == Two years into their music career, Michael was influenced by the book ''A New Earth''. They are a student of ''A Course in Miracles.<ref name=":1" />''

== Personal life == Michael moved to New York City one week before the September 11 attacks in 2001.<ref>{{cite web |last=Soprano |first=Ripley |date=2016 |title=Interview with Bunny Michael |url=http://www.maskmagazine.com/the-depravity-issue/life/bunny-michael |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210619184328/http://www.maskmagazine.com/the-depravity-issue/life/bunny-michael |archive-date=19 June 2021 |accessdate=1 September 2019 |website=Mask Magazine}}</ref> Michael is non-binary<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sullivan |first=Beth |date=19 July 2019 |title=Bunny Michael's Higher Self Will See You Now |url=https://www.austinchronicle.com/screens/2019-07-19/bunny-michaels-higher-self-will-see-you-now/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221206153608/https://www.austinchronicle.com/screens/2019-07-19/bunny-michaels-higher-self-will-see-you-now/ |archive-date=6 December 2022 |access-date=23 May 2023 |website=The Austin Chronicle |language=en-US}}</ref> and now lives in The Hudson Valley with spouse, Khara Gilvey and a cat named Pepper.<ref name=":2" />

== References == {{reflist}}

==External links== * {{Official website}} * {{IMDb name}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Michael, Bunny}} Category:Living people Category:1980s births Category:Year of birth uncertain Category:American non-binary artists Category:American non-binary musicians Category:20th-century American rappers Category:21st-century American rappers Category:Rappers from Dallas Category:Rappers from Brooklyn Category:LGBTQ people from Texas Category:American people of Samoan descent Category:American rappers of Mexican descent Category:American artists of Mexican descent Category:Hispanic and Latino American LGBTQ people Category:Marymount Manhattan College alumni Category:20th-century American artists Category:21st-century American artists Category:20th-century American LGBTQ people Category:21st-century American LGBTQ people Category:Non-binary singers