vigoronline

b Kierra Luv. Photo by Leon Laing.

On the heels of her graduation from Central Dauphin East High School in Harrisburg, Kierra Luv will be releasing her first major-label album. Titled Take It or Leave It, the album drops on June 19 (Juneteenth).

Born Tianna Kierra Hernandez, Luv is the first Harrisburg-based rapper to gain national attention. On Nov. 7, 2018, Cardi B, the Billboard chart-topping superstar, posted Luv’s video on her Instagram page. In the video, Luv spits her own bars over Cardi’s “Money.” With hunger in her eyes, Luv wore a signature silky while giving an impressive performance. Luv’s IG followers ballooned to 1.5 million as a result of Cardi’s cosign. Like ODB, A$AP Rocky used to live in Harrisburg. Rocky was one of the celebrity rappers who contacted Luv after her viral video.

“Every achievement starts with an idea,” she tells vigoronline.com.

Hip-hop runs through Luv’s veins. Her grandparents hail from the Bronx, the birthplace of hip-hop. Luv, who looks and talks like her mom, credits her mother for inspiration.

“My mom is like mad cool,” she says in her No Jumper interview. “I’m like real close with my mom because she’s like the only one that’s there.”

Hitmaker Tory Lanez and Iann Dior, Luv’s labelmate, appear on Take It or Leave It. Local resident Miguel Miranda knows both Luv and Dior. Miranda attended CD East with Luv, and he used to play video games with Dior.

“I listened to his music [in 2018] when he [wasn’t famous yet],” Miranda says about Dior. “Then we started to play Xbox together.”