Quadeca (US rapper / YouTuber)

Benjamin Fernando Barajas Lasky (born October 2, 2000), better known by his stage name Quadeca (formerly QuadecaX8), is an American rapper, singer-songwriter, and record producer. Lasky began on the Internet by uploading rap songs, music videos, comedy sketches, and video game gameplay to his YouTube channel. Since then he has been pursuing his musical career, which has been met with critical acclaim. Quadeca deviated away from his YouTube career to focus on his music career, releasing four mixtapes prior to the albums Voice Memos in 2019, From Me to You in 2021 and I Didn't Mean to Haunt You in 2022. The mixtape Scrapyard, released on February 16, 2024, contains features from Brakence and Kevin Abstract. His fourth studio album, Vanisher, Horizon Scraper, was released in July 2025, and contains features from Danny Brown, Maruja and Olēka. His fifth studio album, Life 1, is expected to release in 2026. Benjamin Fernando Barajas Lasky was born on October 2, 2000, in Los Angeles, California. His father, Mitch Lasky, is a Benchmark general partner and former entrepreneur and video game executive. Lasky became an avid soccer player as a child and was enthusiastic about hip-hop and other forms of music, spending his free time writing songs on guitar and piano. He also has a younger sister named Anna who was featured in some of his earliest videos, along with an older sister, Natasha. Lasky opened his YouTube channel on June 11, 2012, under the name QuadecaX8; his early videos were based around video game commentating and the FIFA franchise. In 2014, Lasky began to create rap-related content and freestyles for his YouTube channel. In February, he performed at a middle school talent show that went viral on YouTube. He was admitted to Menlo School in 2015, where he joined the soccer team. Lasky continued to play with his soccer team through his student years and became a tri-captain of the team. In late 2018, YouTuber KSI called out Lasky and other YouTube rappers, referring to them as "frauds". Lasky responded with a diss track, titled "Insecure", within a week. The music video received over 8 million views within 10 days. In November, KSI gave a review of the track and praised it, saying that it warranted a diss track from himself. He responded to Lasky's song with his own diss track "Ares", to which Lasky gave a lukewarm response in a tweet. Logan Paul revealed that he had wanted to collaborate with Lasky to diss KSI as well, but was denied. On March 8, 2019, he released his debut studio album Voice Memos, and on March 22, the album peaked at No. 42 on Billboard's Independent Albums and Heatseekers Albums. He was featured on the song "Roll the Dice" from KSI and Randolph's collaborative album New Age on April 12, 2019, and continued releasing singles for the rest of the year, including the songs "Not a Diss Track", "Schoenberg", and "I Don't Care". After an extended hiatus, on January 29, 2021, Lasky reannounced his second studio album titled From Me to You on YouTube, which released on March 30, 2021, under AWAL. He released the self-produced single "Sisyphus" on March 20, 2021, which garnered widespread critical praise. On September 19, 2022, Lasky released the lead single to his third album I Didn't Mean to Haunt You, titled "Born Yesterday". He then released the album's second single, titled "Tell Me a Joke", on October 25, 2022. On the same day, he announced his album, revealing the cover art, tracklist, and release date. The album, a self-produced concept album where Lasky plays the role of a ghost reckoning with his own suicide as his loved ones move on without him, released on November 11, 2022 and features experimental rapper Danny Brown and the Sunday Service Choir. The album was released alongside an accompanying film later that same day. I Didn't Mean To Haunt You marked a notable stylistic shift in Quadeca's artistry that was celebrated by critics, such as Spill Magazine, who rated the album 4 out of 5 stars, and Anthony Fantano, who ranked the album's lead single "Born Yesterday" as the seventh-best song of 2022. On October 3, 2023, Lasky announced via his Twitter and Instagram pages an upcoming project, "The Scrapyard Series". Lasky detailed that the project would consist of five separate EPs, consisting of 2–3 songs that did not make the cut for I Didn't Mean to Haunt You, or his then-upcoming album Vanisher, Horizon Scraper, each one being released every 2–3 weeks. The first EP was released on October 11, 2023, titled Scrapyard I. The second EP, Scrapyard II, was released October 30, 2023, and the third EP, Scrapyard III, was released on November 22, 2023. On December 24, 2023, Lasky announced that the remainder of the Scrapyard EPs would not be released, but promised that the series would "go out with a bang". On February 15, 2024, Lasky published a music video for his song "Way Too Many Friends" as promotional material for the final installment of the series, a mixtape titled Scrapyard. The mixtape, which compiled all of the songs on the EPs as well as songs previously unreleased, released on February 23, 2024. Scrapyard built upon Quadeca's newfound critical success in online music spaces with Anthony Fantano giving the project a score of 9 out of 10, ranking it as the 12th best album of 2024. KTLA also listed Scrapyard as the seventh best album of 2024. Quadeca's fourth album, Vanisher, Horizon Scraper, was released on July 25, 2025. It was accompanied by a full-length film posted to YouTube which was written and directed by Lasky, featuring the entire concept album in visual form. Lasky's Vanisher, Horizon Scraper Tour was from September 30, 2025 to December 15, 2025 in the U.S., Ireland, Germany, the Netherlands, and the UK. Quadeca announced his Australia tour on November 23, 2025. Frontier Touring and Penny Drop made the official public reveal that day through social media posts on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. The Australia tour for Vanisher, Horizon Scraper ran from May 2, 2026 to May 5, 2026. Lasky's early releases were categorized as "YouTube rap", but he has since diversified, combining elements of art pop, experimental hip hop, chamber pop, neo-psychedelia and folktronica. His earlier projects were influenced by rappers like J Cole. In his second album From Me To You, Quadeca draws from influences such as Tyler, the Creator, Joji, Childish Gambino and Frank Ocean. Quadeca has cited artists such as Duster, the Microphones, Lingua Ignota, Björk, and Caroline Polachek as influences for his third studio album I Didn't Mean To Haunt You. As a part of Pitchfork's "Perfect 10" social media series, Lasky described how the album Construção by Brazilian musician Chico Buarque influenced his 2025 album, Vanisher, Horizon Scraper. One track from Buarque's album, "Deus Lhe Pague", was sampled on Vanisher, Horizon Scraper's opening track, "No Questions Asked". "BURNIN BRIDGES LONG DAY FEAT IDK". ASCAP. American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. Retrieved May 1, 2023. McClain, James (December 1, 2020). "Venture Capitalist Mitch Lasky Drops $40 Million on Malibu's Broad Beach". Yahoo! Finance. "How Quadeca Turned Himself Into A Ghost - PAPER Magazine". www.papermag.com. Retrieved March 7, 2025. Eymer, Rick (January 20, 2017). "Lasky's first soccer goal is music to Menlo's ears". Palo Alto Weekly. "2015–16 BOYS SOCCER ALL-LEAGUE TEAM". West Bay Athletic League. "Page 48 – Menlo Magazine Summer 2019". Menlo School. p. 48. Eymer, Rick (February 6, 2019). "WBAL BOYS SOCCER: THREE TEAMS STAKE A CLAIM TO THE TITLE". Sacred Heart Schools, Atherton. Glaze, Virginia (November 24, 2018). "KSI gets roasted by YouTube rapper in savage diss track". Dexerto. Donigan, Wyatt (November 27, 2018). "KSI gives surprising review of Quadeca diss track". Dexerto. Griffin, Louise (December 15, 2018). "KSI viewers affirm Deji's claim he has a 'god complex' as he collabs with Randolph". Metro. Donigan, Wyatt (December 4, 2018). "KSI releases