Anthony Zhang was born in December 1998 in
Brooklyn,
New York,
United States to
Chinese immigrants. Zhang is fluent in
Mandarin Chinese and features Chinese lyrics in some of his songs. Zhang first started releasing music under the name Khantrast in 2017 on
Soundcloud. Zhang has repeatedly stated how important his parents' immigrant background and his identity as an Asian-American child of immigrants is to his music. When launching his 2025 tour "Chinatowns Favorite" he exclaimed "
This tour is for my parents — for every immigrant kid who sees themselves in my music." As of 2026, Khantrast is an independent artist, and alludes to the fact that he's not "backed" by a major record label in some of his songs. Khantrasts' style has changed drastically over the years, but a sharp articulation and deep voice has given him a distinct vocal character present throughout all his music. His music has always been strongly influenced by
New York drill music. Early on, Khantrast's album and song titles, as well as the cover images, were heavily inspired by trends in the aesthetic rap community; With edgy or absurd titles, and a lot of
anime imagery and references, Khantrast combined his characteristic voice with eye-catching titles and covers. The catchyness of his titles and particularly his music videos featuring scantily-clad anime girls became a staple of his early viral songs like She Bad (2022), Let's Ride (2022), and Big Stunna (2022), garnering millions of views on YouTube and getting millions of streams on music streaming platforms. Oftentimes, these were combined with samples of
Latin music, perhaps owing to Brooklyn's large
Hispanic community. Since
Landed in Brooklyn (2024) however, Khantrast's style has shifted significantly, with many of his listeners jokingly commenting in surprise how this is "the same guy that used to sing about anime girls" on his newer work. His most famous bars often feature controversial subjects and are beloved by his listeners, but have also come under significant scrutiny by outside observers.
Controversy Khantrast's 2024 hit single
Landed in Brooklyn featured many bars that played off Khantrast's Asian heritage, and when the song got popular his lyrics ended up at the forefront of the discussion. Khantrast had played with his immigrant background and identity in a manner which some argued fed into racist ideas; wearing straw hats while spitting bars that played off Asian stereotypes in America, and even using ethnic slurs at times, but Khantrast claims to have always been mindful of his roots ever since he first started recording. Others, however, have commended Khantrast's controversial lyrics as a daring creative decision that had led to commercial success. == Discography ==