16 up-and-coming rappers to watch right now.

Last year, we started a series where we introduced you to rappers we thought were “next up”. That list featured a lot of artists who have seen success since its release in August of 2021, like EST Gee and Scorey. This year we’re bringing it back with a new class of future stars!

*all Spotify monthly listeners are as of July 7, 2022

Mike Dimes

Age: 21

Hometown: San Antonio, Texas

Spotify Monthly Listeners: 3,284,159

Where to start: TALK2ME, HOME

If any rapper on this list is a sure thing to blow up, it might be Mike Dimes. The 21-year-old, who reps the state of Texas even though he moved around as a child in a military family, oozes charisma and energy with every word he spits. It’s clear when you turn on a Mike Dimes track that his hunger will allow him to attract a strong young audience, but he also respects the art of hip hop enough to please older fans and critics. At times his lyrics are overly cocky and brash, but that’s part of his appeal. Dimes makes turn up music full of relentless energy, and that has style has led to his success in the college party scene. If you need any more proof that Dimes is up next, look no further than the commercial success of his 2022 album In Dimes We Trust, which has seen more than half the tracklist surpass the million streams mark since March.

BIG30

Age: 22

Hometown: Memphis, Tennessee

Spotify Monthly Listeners: 1,675,910

Where to start: Dead Guyz, Allegations feat. Pooh Shiesty

BIG30 blew up as an associate of Memphis rapper Pooh Shiesty, but 30’s star-power may soon rival that of his friend and collaborator (think Gunna’s rise right after Lil Baby blew up out of Atlanta). 30 is a street artist, make no question, his lyrics are violent and aggressive, but he’s also a sneaky good lyricist. With an accent and production choices that sound very Memphis, 30 differentiates himself with a flow and lyrical ability that are a level above many of his peers. He also has shown an ability to make a great body of work, with his mixtape King of Killbranch making our best albums of 2021 list. At just 22, Big30 is coming with quality raps that appeal to a diverse range of audiences in hip hop, giving him an amazing chance to have commercial success. Just look at how his new single (and one of his best tracks yet) “Dead Guyz” is already making waves.

Renni Rucci

Age: 30

Hometown: Irmo, South Carolina

Spotify Monthly Listeners: 479,368

Where to start: 8 Year Run, Act Funny

Renni Rucci started off as a model and internet personality who sometimes covered hit songs, but it was evident early on that she could rap, and she was swiftly signed to Atlanta’s famous Quality Control records. Renni is confident and has a strong command of her flow, with a sound that is most easily compared to Latto, but her voice and flow differentiate her. Renni has the ability to seamlessly integrate her intriguing come-up story into swag rap and typical flexing. As a listener, you can tell this means a lot to her, that she is doing this for her kids and to prove people wrong, and that she is not going to let anyone stop her. That kind of genuine passion and drive should help her make her way past the competition, and she most certainly has the natural talent to be a major commercial force.

redveil

Age: 18

Hometown: Prince George’s County, Maryland

Spotify Monthly Listeners: 1,383,296

Where to start: pg baby, better feat. Sam Truth

redveil is easily the best lyricist on this list while being the youngest artist at just 18 years old. With an album in Learn 2 Swim on our best albums of 2022 list, and a song from that project “pg baby” making our songs of the year list, redveil was a lock for this list. An amazing producer who self-produced all of Learn 2 Swim, redveil is one of the most talented musicians to come out in hip hop in a long time. Every artist here has potential, but redveil has ridiculous potential. You can hear his influences from Logic to Odd Future in his sound, but he is very much himself, and with every track he puts out he finds his sound more and more. He is able to use melody, make commercial hits and introspective album cuts, and reflect on life with incredible poise and thoughtfulness for such a young rapper. redveil has set himself up to have decades of longevity, so you definitely won’t regret tapping in now.

BabyTron

Age: 22

Hometown: Ypsilanti, Michigan

Spotify Monthly Listeners: 497,256

Where to start: Manute Bol, Half-Blood Prince

BabyTron might be the most unique artist on this list, and that’s why we see an astronomical rise coming for the Detroit rapper. The first thing you’ll notice when you turn on a Tron song is his unorthodox flow, which sounds like each bar is its own sentence or that he recorded each line one at a time. It takes some getting used to, but when you give him a chance, you realize that he just has a more extreme version of a typical Detroit flow, and that he is one of the wittiest rappers out. BabyTron is made for the internet, with quotables full of humor and pop culture references, and an ear for production that mixes traditional Detroit drums with wild and busy sample melodies. Anyone who can make a serious song called “Half-Blood Prince” and immediately jumps in with “Me and gang flying ’round with sticks like we playing Quidditch” is worth paying attention to.

Ivy Sole

Age: 26

Hometown: Charlotte, North Carolina

Spotify Monthly Listeners: 299,021

Where to start: Easy to Kill, Nights Like This feat. Bathe

Ivy Sole has to be the most complete artist on this list, with a mastery of lyricism, a great singing voice, and a thoughtful artistic vision that puts them far ahead of their contemporaries. With their album Candid landing on our best albums of 2022 so far list, it’s evident that Sole can make a great body of work. Starting out the album saying “I’m finally afraid to die/ finally know what I want from life before I lose it”, on the intro “Easy to Kill”, it’s clear that Ivy Sole is introspective and passionate about conveying their vision through their art. They are also able to infuse elements of jazz rap, neo-soul, and vocal melodies, with traditional boom-bap hip hop, which creates an impressive multi-faceted sound. Ivy also has a true social consciousness that we don’t always get in hip hop, and is able to deliver that without sounding preachy or corny.

Hurricane Wisdom

Age: Unknown

Hometown: Havana, Florida

Spotify Monthly Listeners: 202,003

Where to start: Lil Hurricane, Better

Hurricane Wisdom hasn’t seen significant mainstream attention yet, but his catalog is already excellent at a very early stage in his career. The Florida artist has a soulful singing voice and a sound that was clearly inspired by Rod Wave, but his versatility is incredible, with an ability to jump between tracks about pain and adversity to upbeat melodic rap songs and introspective, lyrical rapping. His voice is completely undeniable, as soon as you hear it you’ll know this kid is supposed to be a star, and his ear for catchy melodies is definitely there, as exemplified on one of his biggest tracks, “Better”. It’s rare to hear a young rapper with a mature lyrical perspective and strong sense of their own sound, and Hurricane has that, able to deliver better melodies than established rappers with ease, but also to flow confidently and flex without overdoing it on a remix of Jack Harlow’s “Churchill Downs”.

Fresco Trey

Age: 22

Hometown: Memphis, Tennessee

Spotify Monthly Listeners: 1,256,513

Where to start: Need You, Fresh Off A Heartbreak

Memphis’s Fresco Trey caught a lot of buzz on TikTok over the last year, and he has turned it into significant early commercial success. With a sound that is nothing like what you would expect out of a Memphis rapper (he probably sounds the most like Post Malone of any established artist) Trey was able to use the internet to get the kind of national attention he deserves. The tone of his voice, which is clear, powerful, soulful, and distinctive, stars throughout his catalog, and his vocals give him the range to sound great on both acoustic production and heavy 808 beats. Thematically, Fresco is a very emotional rapper, often singing and rapping about relationships and heartbreak, but also about traditional hip hop themes like money and his come-up. Out of anyone on this list, Fresco Trey has so much potential to pen a smash hit, and it will probably be coming sooner than you think.

Lakeyah

Age: 21

Hometown: Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Spotify Monthly Listeners: 1,627,321

Where to start: Mind Yo Business feat. Latto, I Look Good

At just 21, Lakeyah has already seen a lot of success in hip hop, and her refined sound and confident style should get her far. She has proven to have an ear for catchy production, and her ability to write hit-ready choruses should earn her a lot more commercial success than she has already seen. Her songs also make sure to fit in quotable lines and sections that will get stuck in your heard. Her music lends itself well to TikTok, but also to the party and club world. For an artist coming out of Milwaukee, a city not known for its hip hop scene, Lakeyah has already positioned herself quite well in the game for such a young artist, and she has the backing of Quality Control Records and collaborations with stars like Latto and Tyga under her belt.

Dro Kenji

Age: 19

Hometown: Summerville, South Carolina

Spotify Monthly Listeners: 1,427,741

Where to start: KILL CUPID feat. $NOT, THEY DON’T KNOW

Dro Kenji stands out immediately for his voice, with a tone that sounds like no one in hip hop, and a fantastic ability to sing catchy melodies. He is able to be soft and draw you into the track with his tone, or layer his vocals to create huge hooks like on his biggest hit, “KILL CUPID”. At just 19, Kenji is only a year out of high school, but he has already signed a major label deal with 10k and Internet Money, and has seen significant commercial success. He has also shown consistency in his sound, maintaining emo elements in his melodies and lyrics without straying away from hip hop and trap beats. This kid definitely has the potential to write massive hits, and it shouldn’t be hard for him to grow his fanbase with a sound that appeals to fans of many successful rappers like Juice Wrld, Roddy Ricch, or Lil Uzi Vert.

Vory

Age: 24

Hometown: Louisville, KY

Spotify Monthly Listeners: 2,112,585

Where to start: Do Not Disturb feat. Nav and BLEU, Lesson Learned

At 24, Vory is just starting to get a lot of attention in the hip hop mainstream, but he’s been at this for a while. The Louisville artist has been dropping music since he was just 18 in 2016, but he finally caught his big break last year with multiple features on Kanye West’s Donda. Most hip hop fans should be familiar with him from Ye, but if you haven’t gotten into his solo work, now is the time to start. Vory stands out for his incredible voice, which has a special, memorable tone. His command of melodies is elite, and he’s able to create both dark and moody tracks as well as bouncy, pop-leaning songs. His recent album Lost Souls has seen a lot of success, and Vory is just going up from here. A mysterious figure who always covers his face, Vory clearly had respect in the industry before he blew up, and it’s likely you’ll see him land more and more high profile features over the next year as his solo work continues to grow.

Duke Deuce

Age: 30

Hometown: Memphis, Tennessee

Spotify Monthly Listeners: 1,171,513

Where to start: Crunk Ain’t Dead, Just Say That feat. GloRilla

Duke Deuce’s energy is nothing if it is not infectious. His style brings back crunk music, the up-tempo southern hip hop sub-genre that spawned stars like Three 6 Mafia and Lil Jon. As soon as you turn on Deuce’s music, you’ll be reminded that “Crunk Ain’t Dead”, as the name of his most successful song tells you. Following the release of his album CRUNKSTAR in June of this year, Deuce has been receiving widespread praise and critical acclaim, and you can expect him to get bigger off this current momentum. He also has collaborations and praise from Memphis legends Juicy J and Project Pat, and like Renni Rucci and Lakeyah, is signed to the famous QC records. If you like high energy hip hop that will instantly get you up and moving, Duke Deuce is for you.

Doechii

Age: 22

Hometown: Tampa, Florida

Spotify Monthly Listeners: 1,614,625

Where to start: Persuasive, Yucky Blucky Fruitcake

If there is any record label a new rapper can sign to that will command immediate respect in the industry, it might be Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE), and Doechii did just that this year. The 22-year-old earned a spot on the label that signed stars like Kendrick Lamar, SZA, Jay Rock, and more as a true entertainer with an ability to mix infectious melodies with aggressive raps. Doechii is completely unapologetic in her music, rapping with the aggressive energy of an artist like Rico Nasty on some tracks, but also using smooth melodic flows on other tracks. Tampa is not a hot-spot for upcoming rappers, but the young Doechii was able to harness the power of the internet, as her song “Yucky Blucky Fruitcake” went viral on TikTok, and got noticed by a famous west coast label in TDE. Now that she is on, expect Doechii to come with a full-length project that shows off all aspects of her versatile sound.

Hunxho

Age: 23

Hometown: Greensboro, North Carolina

Spotify Monthly Listeners: 1,737,030

Where to start: Let’s Get It, Fight

If you were wondering when the next big trap artist would come out of the south, look no further than Hunxho. Now based in Atlanta, Hunxho’s sound is based on smooth, auto-tuned flows over trap beats. He uses production that sounds like something Lil Baby would hop on, and his flow really does resemble that of Baby in a way that should earn him fans, but he has a deep full tone that’s very different from his Atlanta contemporary. His sound could be described as a mix of Lil Baby and Sahbabii. With bubbling numbers on SoundCloud and Youtube, it’s clear that Hunxho has earned the respect of young, tapped-in rap fans, and should soon translate more of that success to Spotify and Apple Music. It’s also clear that “Let’s Get It” and its 21 Savage remix are hits that will only get bigger going forward.

SleazyWorld Go

Age: 24

Hometown: Grand Rapids, Michigan and Kansas City, Missouri

Spotify Monthly Listeners: 4,503,046

Where to start: Sleazy Flow, Step 1 feat. Offset

SleazyWorld Go is quickly blowing up, and now is the time to tap into what he is doing. With a nonchalant delivery and an ear for hard southern production, Sleazy is a hitmaker. He first saw major success when his 2021 single “Sleazy Flow” blew up and even received a Lil Baby remix, and now he is a doing numbers on a new hit with an established star, “Step 1” with Offset. You generally won’t get emotional or introspective lyrics from Sleazy, but his ear for haunting production and evocative, descriptive, violent lyrics should make him highly appealing to a wide-variety of hip hop fans. He has the kind of dark, southern sound that would sound fantastic on a Metro Boomin beat, and he clearly has earned respect in the industry as evidenced by his collaborations with Lil Baby and Offset.

JELEEL!

Age: 26

Hometown: Pawtucket, Rhode Island

Spotify Monthly Listeners: 1,914,110

Where to start: DIVE IN!, JELEEL JUICE!

I don’t think ripped Rhode Island rapper who loves doing backflips and has a Playboi Carti-reminiscent sound was on anyone’s bingo card, but maybe it should have been. JELEEL! might have struck many people has a meme rapper when his 2021 track “DIVE IN!”, built on a screaming delivery and a beat that sounds like it could have been on Playboi Carti’s Whole Lotta Red, blew up on TikTok, but if you go through his catalog, you’ll realize he’s legit. With self-awareness and charisma, an ability to play into the memes and build and internet audience, and a true passion for music, JELEEL! is a threat to do big things in the in the industry. Also, JELEEL! isn’t Carti, his vocal delivery is much more aggressive and annunciated, he just gravitates towards similar production, which will allow him to tap into an established group of rap fans while differentiating himself.

Enjoyed the post? Check out our playlist of songs to introduce you to these emerging rappers!

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