Even with all the new ways the world has given us to discover music—SoundCloud, Spotify Discover, etc.—a ton of dope artists fly under the radar. Here's our guide to some youngins you'll want to know about—based off who you already like—so you can brag about knowing them first when your other friends see them for the first time on stage at the Grammys.
Photo: The Come Up Show / Flickr
If you like Chance The Rapper, you’ll love…
One of the coolest sub–genres to establish itself in hip–hop in the past few years is the sing–songy, positive vibes–focused soul rap, popularized by guys like Chance The Rapper. Chance’s success has drawn attention to his home city, Chicago. Once characterized by darker, harder artists like Chief Keef, the city has now given brighter and more positive artists like Saba and Mick Jenkins their rightful shine in the past few years. Smino is another Midwesterner (from St. Louis, not Chicago) who fits within this loose collection of artists, but at the same time sets himself apart with his unique voice and adept blend of rapping and singing. He also works almost exclusively with Monte Booker, one of the best young producers out right now, and it’s not an exaggeration to say that the two have Drake & 40–level chemistry.
If you like Noname, you’ll love…
Speaking of Chance–affiliated, positive–vibes artists from Chicago, rapper and singer Noname has been making a name for herself by stealing the show both on Chance’s album and on his Saturday Night Live performance; on campus, people are buzzing about Nonmae and are already looking for secondhand tickets to her sold–out tour stop here in Philly at World Café Live in March. But with only one album, Telefone, many people may be left wanting more. Enter Ivy Sole. Ivy graduated from Penn back in 2015, and if you pay any attention at all to Penn’s own hip–hop scene, this should not be a new name to you. Street interviewed her both as a part of her former group Indigold and after her solo project last year, Eden. Her latest EP, East, came out last week following appearances on the likes of Beats1 Radio and Soulection Radio. The project shows her incredible growth both as a rapper and as a singer, along with a diversity in beat choice, from the grimier "East" to the bouncier "Life."
If you like Skepta, you’ll love…
Grime—a subgenre of British hip–hop—has been gaining steam on this side of the pond over the past few years (Ed. note: We covered that for you.) Skepta's probably the most successful Brit so far, and for good reason—he’s spent the better part of the past decade dominating the music scene where they drive on the left side of the road. His U.S. affiliations, particularly with Drake’s OVO crew and A$AP Mob, have helped bring his music to new ears and open up the opportunity for a new fanbase. At the same time, Skepta’s popularity has inspired many American hip–hop listeners like myself to dig for other British artists. J Hus is definitely my favorite artist from what I've found. His unique combination of a deep, bass–y voice, funny and self–deprecating lyrics (he calls himself ugly all the time) and Caribbean–inspired, dance–ready instrumentals makes for a great listen. With his recent collaboration with Dave, a young Drake–cosigned British artist, things are only looking up from here. And now's a good time to catch on—he's so underground that he doesn't have any pictures of himself on Creative Commons, so we had to use a pic of Skepta.
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