DJ Akademiks recently claimed that Molly Santana, a rapper featured on Drake’s Ran To Atlanta with Future, went from 600K to 7 million listeners on music streaming platforms. Santana, whose real name is Mya Parks, is a 21-year-old up-and-coming American rapper of Japanese and African American ancestry.
For those uninformed, Ran To Atlanta is one of the songs that Drake released as part of his highly anticipated album, ICEMAN, on May 15, 2026. The title is a play on one of Kendrick Lamar’s lyrics on Not Like Us, in which he attempted to frame the Canadian rapper as a “colonizer” for allegedly using Atlanta artists to boost his success amid their rap feud in 2024.
On May 20, 2026, @AkademiksTV, the alternate X account for DJ Akademiks, a known Drake fan, alleged that Santana’s monthly listeners have vastly multiplied following her collaboration with Drake.
“Molly Santana’s Drake collab took her from 600k to 7M listeners, got offered 500k for a feature and secured a top 3 hit,” the post read.
According to Complex, Molly Santana ended up recording a verse for Drake’s Ran To Atlanta after Future name-dropped her during his verse for the song, rapping, “Bring all the freaks to France and skrrt in the Sprinter, they wanna play Molly Santana.” Santana revealed to Complex that Drake told her, “Future said your name, we gotta get you on this song.”
The Canadian rapper co-signed Santana during behind-the-scenes footage from the Ran To Atlanta music video shoot, calling the 21-year-old rapper the “biggest in the game.”
North West joined Molly Santana during her set at Rolling Loud Orlando
Hailing from Fontaine, California, Molly Santana began gaining traction for her music in 2021 after the release of her EP Molly’s World. Santana is reportedly signed to Victor Victor Worldwide and Capitol Records. In a 2025 interview with Billboard, the rapper revealed why she chose to sign with Victor Victor Worldwide, adding:
“When I signed there, everybody I talked to was personal. Labels are corporate and working a job for real. Don’t really care about you outside of it. The people I met at Victor Victor have real personalities. That’s why I gravitated [towards signing there], because it’s real humans and not just an office.”
Santana has since released multiple EPs and two studio albums, Molly Santana in 2024 and Molly and Her Week of Wonders in 2025. The rapper has listed Lil Uzi Vert and Chief Keef as her inspirations, and has also talked about wanting to work with Future, PinkPantheress, Hayley Williams, and Dej Loaf.
During her conversation with Billboard, the rapper explained her creative process behind the short film that accompanied her sophomore studio album Molly and Her Week of Wonders, saying it was inspired by Christopher Nolan‘s Memento and Valerie & Her Week of Wonders.
“First, Valerie & Her Week of Wonders, and Momento. He always be talking about Christopher Nolan and how he did his first movie for $6,000. Then we got no excuses if he could do it for $6,000. I met this director who shoots 35mm. Talking to a director helped me realize if I wanna make something about me or my art, then I’m gonna have to steer the whole thing,” she said.
Molly Santana has opened for Don Toliver during the North American leg of his “Psycho Tour.” Additionally, the rapper was joined by North West during her set at Rolling Loud Orlando on May 9, where they performed an unreleased song. She is currently working on her new album, tentatively titled Black Punk.
Edited by Juhi Marzia
