The Infinite Man

Rising artist Infinite Coles may have been raised by rap royalty, but learning to own his identity has been the secret of his success.

- Jill Di Donato

“Everyone wants to be real, but no one knows how to open their eyes,” muses Infinite Coles. Seated in a Brooklyn loft on a brisk winter afternoon, the 23-year-old R&B singer, actor, dancer, and model is contemplative yet cheery as he talks over carrot cake. So, what’s real?

“Love, loyalty, respect,” he replies.

It sounds pretty straightforward, but as Coles’s father—Ghostface Killah of the multiplatinum-selling rap group Wu-Tang Clan—once posed in a song, can it be all so simple? Authenticity has a funny way of becoming complex, considering the pressure to be an individual but still comply with society’s predetermined norms. But for Coles, eschewing conformity and simply being who he is has been the most influential force in his career—even more so than the fact that his dad is one of the greatest rappers of all time.

Coles has always known that he was gay, which was the primary source of angst in his teen years. By that time, Wu-Tang’s legendary debut album, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), had been around for a decade, and each member was a star in his own right, with individual albums that garnered street cred and critical acclaim alike. But for Coles, much of the hip-hop collective’s macho dogma was a personal affront.