XXXTentacion

Born in 1998, Jahseh Dwayne Ricardo Onfroy started posting music on SoundCloud in 2013. He became popular with his song “Look At Me” which has since become platinum. He released his first album called 17 on August 25th 2017 and it went to number 2 on the US Billboard 200. Then in 2018, his second album ? became number 1 on the US Billboard 200 with three singles all breaking the top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100. Unfortunately in June of 2018 he was killed by a gun shot wound in an attempted robbery. Following his death his single “Sad!” climbed to number 1 of the Billboard 100 making him the first musician to top that chart posthumously since The Notorious B.I.G. Also after his death XXXTentacion won Best New Hip Hop Artist at the BET Hip Hop Awards.

Post Malone

Austin Richard Post, or known as his stage name Post Malone, rose to the spotlight in 2015 with his hit single “White Iverson”. The song went quadruple platinum and resulted in a recording contract with Republic Records. Since then Malone has had an amazing career with six singles that all went on the Billboard Hot 100. His 2018 album Beerbongs and Bentleys broke several streaming records. His 2016 album Stoney went 77 consecutive weeks on the Billboard’s Top R&B and Hip-Hop Album’s Chart. Post Malone is known for his musical style of blending various genres together. He is only 23 years old and his success has not slowed down.

21 Savage

Born in 1992 and based out of Atlanta Georgia, Sheyaa Bin Abraham-Joseph goes by the rapper name 21 savage. He rose to local prominence with his 2015 mixtape The Slaughter Tape. Then in 2016 he became nationally known with his EP Savage Mode. In 2017 he released his first studio album Issa Album that went to number 2 on the Billboard Hot 200 and the single “Bank Account” also from that album went on the Billboard Hot 100 Top 20. He was featured on Post Malone’s hit track “Rock Star” that was nominated for two Grammys. In 2018 he released his 2nd studio album, I am > I was that reached number 1 on the Billboard Hot 200 and stayed there for 2 weeks in a row.

Lil Peep

Lil Peep is best known for helping pioneer the melding of emo pop rock with hip-hop. Raised in Long Island New York, Lil Peep began releasing his music on SoundCloud in 2014. He got a cult following due to his several mix tapes and collaborations with other artists like Lil Tracy. On August 15th 2017, Peep released his debut album Come Over When You’re Sober. Then a few months later Lil Peep was found passed away from an accidental drug overdose in his tour bus. After his death his album entered the Billboard Hot 200 and peaked at number 38. on November 9th 2018, His second album, Come Over When You’re Sober pt. 2 debuted at number 4 on the Billboard Hot 200 chart.

Denzel Curry

Denzel Rea Don Curry is a 24 year old rapper who made his first mixtape in 2011. It impressed the rapper SpaceGhostPurrp who shared it in his social media then asked Curry to join his hip hop collective Raider Klan. Curry left the group in 2013 to work on his solo career. He would release 3 albums with his last one Ta13oo going to number 28 on the Billboard Hot 200.

Chance the Rapper

Born and raised in Chicago Illinois, Chancelor Jonathan Bennet goes by the rap moniker Chance the Rapper. In 2011 he made his first mixtape called 10 Day, named after a 10 day suspension he got at school. The song “Windows” from that mix tape gained him some recognition nationwide. So much so that Childish Gambino took Chance on his first tour to open for him. In April 2013, Chance’s career really took off when he released his second mixtape called Acid Rap. It was downloaded 1.5 million times and went to number 63 on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. In May 2016 Chance released his third mixtape titled Coloring Book, streaming exclusively on Apple Music. It debuted at number 8 on the Billboard Hot 200 and was streamed 57.3 million times in it’s first week. Coloring Book earned Chance 3 Grammys including Best Rap Album. It became the first streaming only album ever to win a Grammy.

Migos

The hip-hop trio from Georgia broke onto the scene with their hit single “Versace” in 2013. Drake promoted the song on twitter and even remixed it, adding his own verse. In June 2014, their single “Fight Night” peaked at number 69 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2015, they released their debut album Yung Rich Nation, which opened at number 17 on the Billboard 200. Their second album Culture, featuring the song “Bad and Boujee” debuted at number 1 on the Billboard 200. In January 2018 they released their third album Culture II , which also debuted at number 1 on the Billboard 200.

Lil Dicky

David Andrew Burd, who would go on to become Lil Dicky, grew up in northern Philadelphia. After graduating college, David moved to San Francisco to work in accounting for an advertising agency. David wanted to become a comedic writer/actor so he started writing raps. In 2011 he started working on his first mixtape called So Hard. It took him two years to make because he still to work his day job. When he released the music video for the leading track on the mixtape (“Ex Boyfriend”) it went viral. The video received more than a million views in 24 hours. After the mixtape’s success, Lil Dicky raised more than $100,000 on kickstarter to produce more music and go touring. In 2015 he released his debut album Professional Rapper, which featured big names like Snoop Dog, T-Pain and Fetty Wap. In 2016, XXL Magazine listed Dicky in it’s Freshman line-up of the year. In 2017, he released an EP under his alter-ego Brain, called I’m Brain. In 2018 he released the song “Freaky Friday” which got over a 100 million views on YouTube and top the charts in the United Kingdom and New Zealand.

Lil Pump

Lil Pump’s real name is Gazzy Garcia. He is 18 years old and is from Miami Florida. In 2016, Pump started releasing singles independently through SoundCloud. These songs include “Elementary”, “Ignorant”, “Gang Shit” and “Drum$tick”. Garnering several million streams, Lil Pump was recognized as an up-and-coming artist. He co-headlined the No Jumper Tour with his friend and fellow rapper Smokepurpp. in 2017, Lil Pump had two more major hits on SoundCloud, “D Rose” and “Boss”, with a combined 70 million streams. Then in July 2017, he released the single “Gucci Gang” which became his first Billboard Hot 100 song peaking at number 3. In October 2017, Pump released his debut album Lil Pump, featuring artists like Smokepurpp, Gucci Mane, Rick Ross, Chief Keef and 2 Chains. In 2019, Pump released his second studio album called Harverd Dropout. It debuted at number 7 on the Billboard Hot 200.

Suicide Boys

Suicide Boys ($uicide Boy$) is a hip-hop duo consisting of New Orlean natives and cousins Ruby Da Cherry and Scrim. They call themselves Suicide Boys because if they didn’t make it in the music scene by the time they were 30, they promised they would both commit suicide. In 2015 they had their first success with their EP $outh $ide $uicide with 75 million streams on SoundCloud. In the summer of 2016, they released Radical $uicide, which was produced by EDM artist Getter. The project peaked at number 17 on the Billboard Hot Rap Songs chart. In September 2018, they released their debut album called I Want to Die in New Orleans. It debuted at number 9 on the Billboard 200.

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