\u201cI was almost homeless literally a month before Spike DMed me,\u201d says Aiyana-Lee, launching into her fairy-tale story of how she came to be part of Spike Lee\u2019s new movie \u201cHighest 2 Lowest<\/a>.\u201d The 24-year-old musician, who had seen some success releasing music online, woke up one morning two Decembers ago to a DM that began, \u201cYo, this is the real Spike Lee<\/a>. Are we cousins?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI woke my mom up, it was like 6 a.m., and I said, \u2018I think Spike Lee just texted me,\u2019\u201d Aiyana-Lee says. \u201cAnd I met him that same day. So something was in the air.\u201d<\/p>\n More from WWD<\/strong><\/p>\n At first, the legendary filmmaker didn\u2019t even mention his movie to her.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was just giving me the history of how he approaches film and music in film and what that combo looks like. And he was giving me the rundown of a lot of his movies, how he makes creative choices, things he enjoys to watch, and what kind of creative history really. He showcased a lot of culturally important things I should be aware of, and movies<\/a> that I should check out,\u201d she says. \u201cI had a lot of homework that he gave me.\u201d<\/p>\n A few months went by before he started calling her again, asking if she could come to his office and read some scenes with his casting team.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was surreal. And he didn\u2019t say anything after the audition. He just said, \u2018Let\u2019s go get Jordans,\u2019\u201d Lee recalls. \u201cAnd I was like, \u2018OK, so maybe I didn\u2019t completely f\u2013k this up because I don\u2019t think the man would want to get Jordans for me if this was terrible.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Lee stars in the film as Sula, an aspiring musician, alongside Denzel Washington, A$AP Rocky, Jeffrey Wright and Ilfenesh Hadera<\/a>. Sula performs the title track \u201cHighest 2 Lowest\u201d for executive David King, played by Washington, which Lee herself wrote for the film.<\/p>\n \u201cSula was me. You know what I mean? I\u2019ve been through that exact situation that she goes through in the movie, to the point where I felt d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu as it was happening and all the same emotions were going through my head,\u201d Lee says. \u201cAnd Denzel plays such an incredible and powerful executive that you have no choice but to feel all those emotions in the moment. But Sula is such a character that anybody can relate to her.\u201d<\/p>\n Lee says she can\u2019t remember a time when she wasn\u2019t surrounded by music. Her mother, Daciana-Nicole Anderson, is a multiplatinum singer-songwriter, and her uncle is David Ruffin of The Temptations.<\/p>\n \u201cI always felt very inspired to continue that legacy, but put my own spin on it and keep that alive. I do feel like we have to try and preserve the quality of music right now,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019ve always been so inspired by the greats in Motown and I\u2019m thankful that my mom really gave me a great introduction to all that as well.\u201d<\/p>\n She\u2019s written her own music for as long as she can remember, and started winning songwriting competitions at the age of 8.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve always found it a therapeutic experience, especially growing up. I went through a lot of hardships, being bullied severely, my father being abusive. [Music] always felt like my home,\u201d she says. \u201cBeing part of and being able to express myself through music was my safety net.\u201d<\/p>\n When it came to making the track for \u201cHighest 2 Lowest,\u201d she recorded more than 10 songs before Spike Lee settled on the one heard in the film.<\/p>\n \u201cHe really has better ears than a lot of executives do. I\u2019m going to be real,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Now that she\u2019s made her acting debut, she\u2019s eager to keep going in that industry as well.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you play with someone like Denzel Washington, you can\u2019t help but feel drawn and inspired to thrust yourself in that world because it\u2019s so magical,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd being on set was a feeling that I can\u2019t even describe.\u201d<\/p>\n Launch Gallery: Aiyana-Lee Gets Ready for the Highest 2 Lowest Premiere<\/a><\/p>\n Best of WWD<\/strong><\/p>\n Sign up for WWD’s Newsletter<\/a>. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cI was almost homeless literally a month before Spike DMed me,\u201d says Aiyana-Lee, launching into her fairy-tale story of how she came to be part of Spike Lee\u2019s new movie \u201cHighest 2 Lowest.\u201d The 24-year-old musician, who had seen some success releasing music online, woke up one morning two Decembers ago to a DM that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1974572,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25173],"tags":[339682,45167],"class_list":["post-1974571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artists","tag-aiyana-lee","tag-spike-lee"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Aiyana-Lees-DM-From-Spike-Lee-Led-to-a-Role-and.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1974571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1974571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1974571\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1974572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1974571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1974571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1974571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}