For the previous 12 months, HipHopDX has been protecting tabs on the ten greatest new artists picked to be on our 2023 Rising Stars checklist, which included DD Osama, Redveil, JELEEL!, TiaCorine, Ice Spice, GloRilla, Lola Brooke, Reuben Vincent, Destroy Lonely and Luh Tyler.
In a dynamic 12 months, DX has adopted these stars within the making via their highs and lows, as they’ve both continued to develop, plateau, or in a few circumstances, disappoint.
Try what every of the 2023 Rising Stars received as much as this previous 12 months beneath:
DD OSAMA
Regardless of releasing his debut album, Right here 2 Keep, again in Might, DD Osama has had a little bit of a lackluster 12 months. As pattern drill turned extra mainstream this previous 12 months — thanks partly to Evilgiane and Money Cobain‘s genre-defining manufacturing — Osama’s slithering supply in opposition to bigger than life, sliding 808s appeared to lose each its bark and its chew.
Struggling to search out his place in Hip Hop, casually maneuvering his voice via indistinguishable acoustic guitar loops and the identical croons that after outlined NBA YoungBoy and Polo G‘s careers, DD Osama sounded a little bit misplaced in 2023. With far much less selection in his beats and a extra informal tonality in his voice, the Harlem rapper struggled to recapture the uncooked emotionality that made songs “MIA” and “Letter 2 Notti” so gut-wrenching.
Regardless, the New York rapper seems to nonetheless have a number of methods up his sleeve. He began his personal document label this 12 months, NottiWorldRecords, in honor of Notti Osama, and new collaborations with NLE Choppa and Coi Leray proved that he can nonetheless ship — if the beat is correct.
Try our full sit down interview with DD beneath:
Destroy Lonely
Even when If Appears to be like May Kill isn’t your favourite Destroy Lonely challenge, you may’t deny the splash he made in 2023, taking the mantle as one of the vital influential figures within the melodic rap underground. In a flip away from NOSTYLIST and </3², the Director’s Reduce to the Playboi Carti signee’s newest challenge rounds out to a full one hour and 41 minutes, unfold throughout 32 songs.
The challenge — which hears him swap out his typical bubbly synths and 8-bit sound results for electrical guitar riffs and shoegaze-like distortion — was additionally the Atlanta rapper’s introduction because the self-ascribed “style demon,” confirmed by hordes of followers and friends alike donning Vetements coats, all-black leather-based jackets, all of the whereas mumbling alongside to his sedated melodies.
With two options on Ken Carson‘s A Nice Chaos, all eyes are firmly on Destroy Lonely and his labelmates as they outline (and continually redefine) rage music.
Glorilla
Even with out dropping an album in 2023, GloRilla managed to keep up her place as one of many hottest rappers in Tennessee. In January, she traded bars with Moneybagg Yo on “What U On,” slicing one another off and arguing about their poisonous tendencies over a lightweight piano loop and half-time bass drum kicks.
In September, GloRilla appeared on 4 of the 18 songs on Gangsta Artwork 2, the collaborative album with CMG The Label. Her offbeat supply and her insatiable sexual prowess has solely made her extra widespread, even preluding the success of 2023’s breakout star, Sexyy Pink.
Massive Glo made it clear this 12 months that she’s the connection between old style Southern horrorcore and the fashionable sounds of Memphis. Her greatest single of the 12 months, “Lick Or Sumn,” flips Three 6 Mafia‘s “Slob On My Knob,” nodding to the late Gangsta Boo as she suggests she’s the south’s feminine star of the long run.
Try our interview with GloRilla on the BET Hip Hop Awards right here:
Ice Spice
At first of the 12 months, it was unclear whether or not or not Ice Spice can be greater than a one-hit surprise after “Munch” turned a viral sensation. However it rapidly turned abundantly clear that the Bronx bombshell is right here to remain. In 2023 alone, she managed to share the stage a number of instances with Taylor Swift, gained Greatest New Artist on the VMAs, and not too long ago wrapped up an area tour with Doja Cat.
Whether or not it’s a visitor verse from Nicki Minaj on her first-ever EP, Like..?, her verse on PinkPantheress‘ inescapable ear worm, “Boy’s a liar, Pt. 2,” or her placement on the Barbie soundtrack which landed her one more collaboration with Nicki, Ice Spice carried the torch for modern feminine empowerment in 2023.
At 23, Ice Spice, who exudes sexual liberation, usually flaunting her determine on-stage, has grow to be a logo of enjoyable, feminism, and the no-frills perspective of ladies from the Bronx.
Try our viral purple carpet clip with Ice Spice right here:
JELEEL!
Chances are high, “JELEEL! YEEAAAAHHHHH!” would possibly nonetheless be the one JELEEL! lyric you already know. Displaying promise on the finish of final 12 months, the New England rapper, singer and producer feels like a manifestation of Juice WRLD over rage beats pushed by the crunchy buzz of lead synths.
His debut album, REAL RAW!, solidified the swole rapper’s infectious vitality, however it additionally proved that that’s solely sufficient to get him by. Regardless of having WORKING ON DYING manufacturing credit and visitor options from Denzel Curry and Chow Lee, JELEEL!’s shrieks and aboriginal pop punk manufacturing typically really feel extra like a gimmick akin to tearing off his tank-top than a cohesive challenge.
JELEEL!’s potential continues to be there however he ought to take into consideration steering away from Yeat type-beats and his ear-piercing screeches that haven’t modified since his 2021 viral single,“DIVE IN!”
Try our interview with JELEEL at The 2023 GRAMMYs right here:
Lola Brooke
Lola Brooke is without doubt one of the hardest drill rappers in Brooklyn proper now. After the success of her gritty 2021 single, “Don’t Play With It,” she tapped Latto and Metropolis Women rapper Yung Miami for the remix, bringing the track to membership audio system within the south and all throughout America.
Staying extremely constant all through the remainder of the 12 months, she dropped visitor verses on a flip of “Shabooya [Roll Call],” the traditional college track made well-known by Spike Lee‘s 1996 flick Get on the Bus, as properly a remix of “Immodest” by Flo Milli, and even dipping into R&B with a visitor spot on Ciara‘s “Da Women (Women Combine).”
In 2023, Lola Brooke demonstrated how she will be able to rap over virtually any beat, transforming Clipse’s “Grindin’” for “Blind ‘Em” and debuting her formidable first full-length challenge, Dennis Daughter. Honoring her late father, the 2023 XXL Freshman‘s album reveals her big selection of feelings, mixing Bryson Tiller, Coi Leray, Nija and French Montana options with a voice that straddles the road of aggravated frustration and restrained sultry.
Luh Tyler
It’s loopy to suppose that at 17, Luh Tyler had one of the vital profitable years out of all of DX’s 2023 Rising Stars. He launched 17 singles, acquired a placement on the Quick X soundtrack, and on high of that, he launched his debut album, My Imaginative and prescient, in addition to its Reloaded deluxe.
Whispering his approach via TikTok and varied regional scenes, Luh Tyler — who earned a spot in XXL‘s 2023 Freshman class — confirmed that his nonchalant cadence and slow-burning melodies can match alongside any rapper of his selecting.
The Tallahassee, Florida rapper spent the 12 months buying and selling bars with everybody from Babytron to Latto and Lil Uzi Vert. In Might, he even collaborated with DDG to create one of many songs of the summer season — the suave and swinging “I’m Geekin” remix. Luh Tyler is cool, calm and picked up, and now he’s on observe to turning into one in every of rap’s youngest superstars.
Try our interview with Luh Tyler right here:
Redveil
Though Redveil solely dropped an EP this 12 months, he exhibited how he can maintain his personal in opposition to Hip Hop’s wonkiest manufacturing and its weirdest voices. He was the one characteristic on JPEGMAFIA and Danny Brown’s SCARING THE HOES, and acquired the previous’s solely characteristic of 2023 for his single “black enuff,” and he nonetheless managed to remain unbiased.
Redveil’s accolades don’t even cease there. He introduced alongside femdot. and D’mari Harris on his first-ever headlining tour in North America earlier than heading out on a string of reveals in Australia and New Zealand — and he did all that having simply turned 19 in April.
If anybody has a vibrant future forward of them, it’s Redveil. The soul-flipping rapper/producer from the DMV has discovered success selling Black empowerment and DIY ways, all whereas having ceaseless ambition.
Try our interview with Redveil right here:
Reuben Vincent
After releasing Love Is Warfare final January, Reuben Vincent’s 12 months has been a mirrored image of the perseverance he’s proven all through his profession. Mixing increase bap with nu-soul, the Roc Nation-signee spent the 12 months selling his new album and dealing with Tay Keith, Zacari, Guapdad 4000 and extra on collaborative challenge Humble Soles hosted by DJ Clue.
The Charlotte, North Carolina rapper solely launched two singles final 12 months, offering meditations on spirituality, love, lust and his Liberian roots over lucious samples and laid-back drum kits.
Nonetheless working to interrupt into the mainstream, Vincent’s efficiency finally 12 months’s BET Hip Hop Awards has solely introduced him nearer to being the south’s subsequent grasp of the pen.
Tia Corine
TiaCorine continues to be coasting off the success of “FreakyT.” Apart from bringing on Latto for the remix, the Winston-Salem rapper didn’t launch a solo single for the whole thing of 2023, as a substitute choosing a myriad of pageant appearances and a handful of reveals in L.A. and Atlanta opening for Key Glock.
Corine’s fundamental accomplishment final 12 months was the popularity she acquired for her debut studio album from 2022, I Can’t Wait. Together with her album pushing her ahead, she made XXL‘s Freshman Class, dropped a shoe collaboration with dybbuk, and even appeared on an episode of The Cave with Kenny Beats in the direction of the top of the 12 months.
2023 could not have been the strongest 12 months for TiaCorine’s music, however each time she’s popped out so far, her rhyming has solely gotten sharper.
Try final 12 months’s HipHopDX Rising Stars Wrap-Up.
For extra year-end content material, try DX‘s 2023 Hip Hop Awards protection, which spans a number of classes together with Greatest Hip Hop Album, Greatest Rapper of the Yr, and Rookie of the Yr, amongst others.
