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Who To Watch In 2018

Every few years music takes a turn. This past year with giants like Drake, Kanye, J. Cole, Adele, and Beyonce taking time off has, along with a a streaming boom and pop music being more top heavy than ever has allowed unknown and new artists to slide into our lives. 2018 will be a year of reemergence of sleeping giants in mainstream and underground hip-hop, while bubbling artists look to jump off after setting the ground work over the past 12 months. 

Mac Miller

From: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Genre: Hip-Hop, R&B

For the first time in a decade Mac Miller has hidden from the world and released no solo work. A well deserved break that has followed since the terrorist attack at girlfriend Ariana Grande’s concert earlier this year, and after a dive into R&B that showed yet another level in the Pittsburgh artist’s vision of himself. Mac has never done the same album twice, and rarely has even covered the same themes in more than a few songs since his evolution into a more serious rapper in his work post-”Blue Slide Park”. If it’s a new pure rap album, more R&B, a dip into acid jazz, or country music, Mac has the talent and creative prowess to create something worthwhile.

Trippie Redd

From: Canton, Ohio

Genre: Hip-Hop

Hip-Hop music has become harder and harder to truly define in the past few years. With the term “mumble rap” being pushed onto any and every new artist from Soundcloud, whereas Punk Rap would fit better, every new artist is either swept under the rug or pushed into superstardom in days. None are like Trippie Redd though. His emotional moans and screams laced within well structured songs have caught the attention of major artists like Travi$ Scott, DRAM, and Drake, along with internet hits like those i'm his “Love Scars” song series and “In Too Deep”. Releasing two mixtapes, a myriad of videos and features with the previously mentioned DRAM and Travi$, whenever Trippie decides to put an official body of work forward, it is without a doubt he will be among the leaders of his generation's acts. 

Cardi B

From: The Bronx, New York City, New York

Genre: Hip-Hop

A hit single is hard to come by. A national SMASH is even harder. Cardi B took over 2017 in every way, and now the pressure is on for her to deliver an album with just as much appeal and swagger of “Bodak Yellow”. But can she actually come through with another hit, or even a quality body of work? History say….nothing. Never has there been an artist like Cardi. Someone coming from the streets and clubs of New York, into viral fame via Instagram and Twitter videos, and making a number one smash out of a remix, is something we have never seen. Viral hits? Yes. Non-rappers turned into household names in hip-hop culture? Yes. All in one? Never.  Cardi has already made history, and will continue to do so, or at least strive to.

Freddie Gibbs

From: Gary, Indiana

Genre: Hip-Hop

The time has come. The time has come for Freddie Gibbs to once again take over the world with his talent. “Pinata” is one of the best hip-hop albums of the decade, and was received critically as such. Now with Freddie released from prison, with a solo workout that shows that the time off didn’t weaken his skills, and with Madlib on his usual tear of underground productions, the follow up in the MadGibbs discography, “Bandana”, is poised to be another juggernaut of an album. Freddie Gibbs has been an artist with the ability to bend and mold to whatever production style he is given, whether it be ethereal trap beats or sample heavy boom bap production. Nothing can stop Gangsta Gibbs from staking his claim yet again as one the best rappers alive. 

Earl Sweatshirt

From: Los Angeles, California 

Genre: Underground Hip-Hop

The story of the Odd Future family tree is as interesting as any musical groups story in modern times. Earl’s next studio album follows his widely heralded sophomore break into the underground, and the details are few and far between. Some speculate it’ll be a full on collab with producer Knxweldge, while others believe it could be an angrier dive into the grimy world created on “I Don’t Like Shit...I Don’t Go Outside”. No singles or verses have come from Sweatshirt, but a heavy production year (in which Earl laced underground lyricists Wiki, Mach-Hommy and Denmark Vessey) has also created the idea of a self-produced album, putting Earl into a class all his own with underground greats like Oddisee and DOOM.

Creek Boyz

From: Baltimore, Maryland 

Genre: Hip-Hop

The Baltimore based crew set the internet and the hip-hop world on fire with a single like none other this year. “With My Team” managed to be a party anthem with a perfect intertwining theme of  survival in a world and city against you. Baltimore over the past decade has been a hub of violence and racial inequality, all while having no one to speak for it in music. Creek Boyz deal with 300 Entertainment could turn into the push the group needs to enter the collective conscious of music, though with the track record 300 has made for itself, it’s best to keep our hopes low.

Jorja Smith

From: Walsall, England

Genre: R&B, Pop

The UK has been a hotbed for talent this past year, and Jorja Smith is a star among stars. An EP, a feature with Kali Uchis and Drake, and a few singles into her career Smith is already the most exciting singer in music. “On My Mind” is one of the most irresistible jams to come out this year, and that coupled with well shot videos and tweets confirming a full length project is in the works leads to believe that the coming year will be owned by the UK songstress. The internet has shrunk the world to which an artist like Jorja can release a few singles on Soundcloud, and within months become the focal point of the future for pop and R&B music.

Ski Mask The Slump God

From: Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

Genre: Hip-Hop

The underground scene over the past few years has taken a split into two completely different directions. The traditional “underground sound” consisting of lyrically dense and experimental hip-hop like the likes of Busdriver and Aesop Rock is on one side while the other is a drug induced ragger which birthed the likes of XXXTentacion, Pouya, Ghostemane and UnoTheActivist. Somewhere in the middle lies Ski Mask The Slump God. With the beats and energy of the Soundcloud guys, and the lyrical showboating and experimentation as the other side of the split. Ski mask can rap, but the scene in which he came from has lead many to doubt and dismiss him as a fad. With music in the works with Timbaland, Busta Rhymes, and singles out with A$AP Ferg, it just shows how serious people take Ski Mask, which in the coming months might be something we won’t have a choice to do.

Swae Lee & Slim Jimmi

From: Tupelo, Mississippi 

Genre: Hip-Hop

Solo albums were promised, and never fulfilled, but in return the party boy duo rode the wave of their sophomore release, “SremmLife 2″ , into the beginning of 2017. The duo's single “Black Beatles” was pushed by a viral internet challenge into the #1 spot on the billboard singles chart, along with Swae Lee breaking off to give hooks to another smash hit with French Montana in the form of “Unforgettable” and the moderately successful Ty Dolla $ign cut “Don’t Judge Me”. Though a quiet year for Swae’s partner in crime Slim Jxmmi has lead to just as much excitement as the prolific year Swae conjured up. Solo projects and possibly the third installment of the SremmLife saga is in the works to make for another huge Sremm filled year.