You may not know who Kris Yute is just yet, but you definitely know one of his close friends. For the uninitiated, Yute is a Jamaican-born, Brooklyn-based musician known for a stylish blend of rap and hazy beats that he primarily produces on his own, and his music is finding an audience. Yute has over 100,000 monthly listeners on Spotify, and his song “I Did It” even became a popular TikTok trend in 2019.
However, for now at least, Yute is probably better known as the guy Penn Badgley occasionally dances with on TikTok. Badgley posted their first dance video, to “I Did It,” on his Instagram account on Sept. 9, 2019. In total, Badgley has posted three videos with Yute on his social media platforms, with the most recent being a December 2022 post to Yute’s song “Breeze.” Badgley also occasionally appears on Yute’s accounts, which has helped bring more attention to his music.
The internet’s intrigue into who Yute is perhaps one of the few good things to come out of Badgley’s personal life constantly making headlines. It helps that Yute and Badgley’s chemistry is undeniable. When you watch the actor posting with the musician, you don’t see a celebrity hawking their friend’s songs. Rather, they’re two pals just dancing and vibing. Dudes Rock by way of Brooklyn.
The reason they’re dancing at all is, in part, because Yute’s career has been slow to take off. He told BuzzFeed News he currently works two hospitality jobs after a recording deal with September Recordings, whose music is distributed by Sony via its Columbia Records label, ended. So he did as many do and turned to his friends to help spread the word of his music. It just so happens that one of his friends is a star of a hit Netflix show and formerly a hit CW show.
“Maybe people see it as me supporting him,” Badgley told BuzzFeed News. “And I think sure, I am, because I have the platform to do it, but it’s also a reflection of just the way that we are musically and as friends.”
