5 Rappers to watch for 2017
Green labelThe next big rap star will come from Portland. Or New Jersey. Or St. Louis, Philadelphia, Baton Rouge, or Boston. Without a record deal, a nebulous âco-sign,â or a publicist, a teenager in Miami can have a hundred-thousand loyal fans, eager to buy merch and support a âmovement,â whatever that may entail.
The reasons for this are manifold: the record industry is decentralized and weak, rap has become more socially acceptable and accessible, and recording music (and videos) has never been cheaper. Rapâs twinned messages of struggle and uplift have pan-cultural appeal, and, as a result, rap is increasingly ethnically and geographically diverse.
Our list of 5 Rappers Who Are Going to Blow Up in 2017 reflects these changes. AminĂ©, raised in Portland, is the son of Ethiopian immigrants (he even raps in Amharic on his newest single); Anik Khanâs parents are Bengali asylum-seekers who settled in Astoria, Queens; BIA is a Bostonite of Puerto Rican and Italian heritage; Nav, the mysterious Torontonian, is thought to be South Asian. These arenât token inclusionsâthese are just the new faces in a multi-cultural genre
Portland has verdant foliage, an extensive public transportation system, a temperate climate, and a history of embracing countercultural movements. The City of Roses is also overwhelmingly white. The list of influential bands from Portland is endless; the list of influential rappers from Portland is non-existent. Scratch thatâit begins and ends with 22 year-old AminĂ©.
AminĂ©âs ascent to stardom has been rapidâheâs only released two mixtapes, Odyssey to Me and Calling Brio, and has already disowned the first. His hit, âCaroline,â a paean to a curvy paramour, earned him a spot on Billboardâs Hot 100 (currently #12 and rising!), a guest appearance on The Tonight Show, and a contract with Republic Records
Anik Khan was born in Bangladesh to a poet father who, soon after Khanâs birth, was granted asylum in the United States; Khan was raised in public housing in Astoria, Queens. His music is an attempt to reconcile the music heâd hear in his neighborhood and the spoken-word kobita his father would perform at family gatherings. He raps with a New York accent, but his beat selection pays homage to the diversity of QueensâWest African, Caribbean, Bengali, and beyond. Though heâs currently unsigned, Khan has found an ally in Ebro Darden, who premiered the rapperâs single âRenegadeâ on his Beats 1 radio show.
Russ is vertically integrated. The New Jersey-bred, Atlanta-residing artist performs, writes, produces, mixes, and masters every song, a formula thatâs earned him a massiveâif largely unseenâfollowing. Before creating a Soundcloud account, heâd already released 11 mixtapes. The streaming platform further increased his visibilityâhis uploads (usually annotated by âProd. Russâ) regularly reach a million plays and the YouTube comments for his videos are crammed with admiration for his top knot. With a legion of dedicated fans, heterochromatic eyes, and a melodic voice, the crooner-rapper appears to be a star-in-the-making. A deal with Columbia Records will surely push him over the top.
Sminoâs from St. Louis, but his fledgling career began taking shape when he settled for the second time in the Windy City and met producer Monte Booker. Booker, a devout Timbaland fan, makes beats that pop and crunch; Smino, a devout Nelly fan, raps verses that contort and unfurl. On Sminoâs most complete effort to-date, blkjptr (pronounced âblack jupiterâ), he and Booker combine for five-songs of pulsating, soulful rap. Though he signed with Interscope Records in August, Sminoâs membership in collective Zero Fatigue is more meaningfulâtheyâre his musical grounding, and the ethos by which he abides: no rest, no fatigue.
PnB Rock is easy to root for. Raised in Philadelphiaâs Germantown (and nicknamed for an area intersection, Pastorius & Baynton), PnB Rockâs adolescence was marked by poverty, crime, and the murder of his uncle/father-figure. It was during a 33-month stint in a maximum-security prison that the âSelfishâ singer, encouraged by a cellmate, discovered his knack for performing. Conveniently, the Philadelphian has already made a mixtape with his most famous correlative, Fetty Wap, the duo using their sine wave lilts to sing-rap about lucre and licentiousness.
A semi-recent Atlantic Records signee, PnB Rock is currently working on his debut album.