When it comes to music, there might not be a genre that has become more diverse than hip-hop. There are so many more styles, sounds, beats and flows that are found in rap music today compared to its origins in the 1970s.
Nowadays, lyrics in songs seem to be less important than a good beat hard bassline, and despite all the growth and evolution hip hop has seen over the last half century, many lovers of the genre criticize artists for being more style over substance.
Hip-hop is predicated on the art of story telling, wordplay, and clever and creative punchlines, and while the music may be trending toward a more beat oriented sound, there are still more than a handful of artists that have plenty of talent and knowledge to express.
If you’re into good music with words you can relate to and beats you can vibe with, here are 10 talented artists that you should add to your hip-hop playlist!
Note: this is NOT a top 10 list. This is NOT a list of my 10 favorite artists. It is simply a list of 10 rappers that make some dope music!
A Grammy winning rapper whose considered by many one of the greatest ever, Kendrick Lamar is someone that should definitely find his way onto your hip-hop playlist!
Kendrick is revered as one of the great rappers we have today because of his elite storytelling and wordplay abilities. In classic albums like good kid, m.A.A.d city (2012), To Pimp A Butterfly (2015) and DAMN. (2017), he’s able to incorporate many things he’s lived through into his lyrics in a way that is so complex and thorough, yet so clear and understandable. His delivery over smooth, old school west coast funk style beats also makes his music very enticing as well.
Three Kendrick Lamar songs you should definitely have added to your rotation are:
From a multi-time Grammy winner to a multi-time Grammy nominee, J. Cole is another artist who is argued alongside Kendrick as the best alive right now.
Kendrick’s music is said to speak more to the soul of the listener, but Cole’s lyrics speak directly to the mind. When he raps, he really sounds like he’s having a conversation with you, and whether he’s trying to teach you or tell you a story, his strong lyricism and smooth flow blend effortlessly over the beat, and on projects like Born Sinner (2013), 2014 Forest Hills Drive (2014) and 4 Your Eyez Only (2016), these talents are displayed in full.
Here’s some J. Cole that you should be listening to:
While Kendrick and Cole might be more talented from a lyrical story telling standpoint, there may not be a rap artist more popular than the main hailing from Toronto, Canada!
The most recognizable figure in the game, Drake is an artist that should find his way onto your hip-hop playlist because he may be the most versatile on this list. There are many different types of Drake songs; trap bangers, lyrical masterpieces, “old” Drake and of course singing Drake, and he’s made hits through at every levels. Drake is an artist that can have you pumped up one moment, thoughtful in the next, and way in your feels moments later. How couldn’t you have him on your hip-hop playlist?
Here are some examples of the levels of Drake:
So I’ve listed the three biggest heavyweights in the rap game right now, but there are some young stars that are emerging that should find themselves on your hip-hop playlist as well.
One of those young stars is Roddy Ricch, a rapper from Los Angeles. Roddy has always displayed his talent, but wasn’t widely recognized until his feature on the late Nipsey Hussle’s track Racks In The Middle. His rapping and singing on his tracks blend so well over every beat because he has a great sense and feel for melody. With the use of autotune, he’s able to enhance his vocals and make it very appealing to the listener, and on his debut album Please Excuse Me For Being Antisocial (2019), you can see just how appealing his sound is.
Roddy has his fair share of smooth tracks and bangers, and here are a few to get you introduced:
Another hip-hop artist that has emerged more recently is Chicago’s very own Polo G.
Polo is another young artist that had the talent but was widely unrecognized by the public. It wasn’t until his debut album, Die A Legend, was released in 2019 that his music started gaining the attention it deserved. He has a clear influence of violence portrayed in some songs through his experiences living in Chicago, and has songs about life and love as well, but every single track finds a way to be lyrically wowing to the listener.
Just listen to these tracks and hear for yourself!
Nick Grant is known by a slim few, but he’s a highly talented rapper that should get some airtime on your hip-hop playlist!
Grant gives his listeners everything you look for in a good hip-hop artist; clever metaphors and witty punchlines with a clear voice over a knocking beat. Some of his songs have a more old school sound where he sits back and spits some bars, but he also gives some newer school vibes as well.
He’s a South Carolina rapper with plenty rhymes, and he proves that on these tracks:
One of the artists that has sadly passed away, but still has great music for you to add to your hip-hop playlist is Pittsburgh’s Mac Miller.
Mac burst onto the scene as a teenager with high energy songs targeted to a teenage demographic. I mean, one of his earliest mixtapes is literally called K.I.D.S. (2010). But as his listeners grew older, so did he, and his music greatly reflected his growth and maturation as a human being. Hearing his earlier stuff, its almost impossible to imagine how he and his music could have evolved into what it came to be, but he still managed to make music that we could all nod our heads to.
Take a look at Mac’s unbelievable evolution in music:
Rest in peace, Mac.
Joyner Lucas is a rapper that may be more well known for his remixes over other hits, but his original work is more than worthy of a spot on your hip-hop playlist!
Joyner is one of the least known artists on this list, but his talent is undeniable. He’s very, very good at portraying the roles of different people in his music, and this adds to his strength as a storyteller through his lyrics. Even when he doesn’t switch between roles on a track, his lyrics are potent and his delivery can be both fierce and fun to listen to. This is evident on his first two albums, 508-507-2209 (2017) and ADHD (2020).
Check out some examples of role play and fierce delivery from Joyner in these songs:
Another late artist that had the shortest lived career of everyone on the list, but managed to reach such a high level of stardom in just a short period of time.
From the summer of 2018 to his untimely death at the end of 2019, Juice WRLD was a rapper that was taking over the scene of rap. Juice blew up off of his single Lucid Dreams, which basically became 2018’s summer anthem, and from there he became one of the hottest feature artists in hip hop on song after song. His work ethic was one that hardly anybody could match, and his extreme talent in the booth helped him complete songs in one take and even freestyle verses off the top of his head and still turn them into hits. Most of Juice WRLD’s tracks focus on heartbreak with women, his battle with severe drug addiction and a few dashes of gun violence to spice things up.
Juice WRLD’s produced a ton of music in just a year and a half, and even though we only got two albums; Goodbye And Good Riddance (2018) and Deathrace For Love (2019), he’s rumored to have over 2,000 unreleased songs waiting for us to hear. Until then, here are a few great tracks Juice left behind:
Rest in peace, Juice.
He’s the least known artist on this list for sure, but that has never stopped this Cali rapper from producing quality music for the ones that have been fortunate enough to listen!
Hopsin isn’t very well known because he hasn’t necessarily dropped an official “hit” song, but he’s released a lot of good music for a number of years, including his annual Ill Mind Of Hopsin tracks on YouTube, which attract millions of viewers. What many people don’t know about his music is that he not only does we write his own lyrics down, but he produces mostly all of his beats as well. His music touches on a number of subjects, from struggles in his love and personal life to struggles with friends and fans in his daily life to social and political stands to feelings about his faith, but he also makes leaves plenty of room for fun tracks that show off his energy and superb creativity.
Check out these songs and see why Hopsin should be on your hip-hop playlist today:
Each of these hip-hop artists have made their own mark on the genre, each has their own unique sound, and all of them have an immense amount of talent. Maybe you’ve heard of a few of these artists, or maybe you’ve never heard of any, but if you’re going to create a modern hip-hop playlist, these are 10 artists that you should consider adding!
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