Time and time again, the best new rappers have proven to be the saving grace for the future of Rap music. It doesn’t matter if their energy is referred to as “TikTok” Rap or a trendier term, the game can always count on the newcomers to impact Hip Hop history.
Two years after our inaugural 2021 Rising Stars year, HipHopDX is proud to introduce our Rising Stars for 2023. Over the past year, we have monitored these 10 new artists and predicted their trajectory through their social presence and musical style. More than anything, their music has many qualities that make them the best new rappers.
So what is a HipHopDX Rising Star, exactly? A Rising Star is a burgeoning talent we pinpoint within the year before or after their initial introduction and rollout of new rap music. These are the top artists that we feel have the ideal total package in terms of their musical sound, performance and genuine personalities.
Over the course of the year, we will highlight their career progression through exclusive features, interviews, playlists and other surprises.
Much like our past new rappers’ iterations of Rising Stars (Baby Tate, Coi Leray, Doechii, BIA, Nardo Wick, EST Gee, Duke Deuce and MAVI) the Rising Stars 2023 will undeniably set the bar for a fresh batch of talent for Hip Hop this year.
Read more about each artist’s 2023 so far and stay tuned for updates on our fresh new batch of HipHopDX Rising Stars!
GloRilla
GloRilla” width=”240″ height=”300″ />There’s hardly any contention that “F.N.F. (Let’s Go)” was last year’s song of the summer. The mere act of “hanging out the window” GloRilla describes is dedicated to fighting off the beaming Memphis sun, spitting slow-drawn slews of spite against the sparse piano keys of the beat. Whether you heard about her from “F.N.F.” or her feature on “JUST SAY THAT” with Duke Deuce, GloRilla’s deep voice etches her verses with muscle, crowning herself to be the up-and-coming queen of the South.
Ice Spice
Ice Spice” width=”240″ height=”300″ />At this point, it’s not just about Ice Spice’s music. Her grandiose confidence radiates like the reverb of her drill-type 808s. She’ll straighten her orange afro at a moment’s notice, but all you would be able to focus on is her fuzzy white jacket, the two belts on her waist, or the figurehead chain on her neck, made to look like a frosted version of Ice Spice’s own animated head. Within a short month of virality, she both popularized the term “munch” and spotlighted the sexism of the New York drill scene. Now, the success of her debut EP, Like..?, is slowly making Ice Spice another reason to crown the Bronx as the best New York borough.
Luh Tyler
Luh Tyler” width=”240″ height=”300″ />Luh Tyler nods off to his instrumentals, touched by electric keyboard tones and clavinet chords. His voice is hushed, almost to a slick grumble, a perfect complement to how he elongates the last word of each of his lines. Tyler’s delivery is as calm as the tight stream of cool air that you can push out of pursed lips. At only 16-years-old, Luh Tyler makes breezy Tallahassee rap that unwinds as if he’s spending his weekend at a timeshare in the Key West. Already one of (if not the) hottest young rapper coming up, Tyler is set to continue his streak in 2023.
Redveil
redveil” width=”240″ height=”300″ />When redveil released Niagara in 2020 at the young age of 16, the project was mostly self-produced and became a showcase of how fresh ears can revamp samples with the same nostalgia as artists twice his age. His wordy music fills a blank canvas, ready to be marked by lyrics of black excellence, soon to be cut by shards from one of the many glass ceilings that he hopes to shatter. After releasing his 2022 project, learn 2 swim, the Maryland-based artist is on a path to becoming an unbreakable symbol of diaspora.
Lola Brooke
Lola Brooke” width=”240″ height=”300″ />Lola Brooke’s vindictive delivery cuts with malice. She loosely raps over brooding soundscapes and thick basslines, ad-libbing her own lyrics with a man-made sound of a submachine gun magazine unloading, sighs of relief, and even gasps of surprise – most likely struck by her own audacity. Lola Brooke holds nothing back, whether it’s images of bodies bleeding or Lola stepping on her competition. Her brash confidence mixed with understated sex appeal has her on the trajectory to become another star coming out of Brooklyn.
TiaCorine
TiaCorine” width=”240″ height=”300″ />Combining the swagger of GloRilla with the dream-laced pop aesthetics of Doja Cat and Rico Nasty, TiaCorine is a symbol of anti-establishment, pushing away traditional elements of both Hip Hop and pop music in search of a more digital sound. Her most recent album, I Can’t Wait, shows TiaCorine dressed like Sora from Kingdom Hearts, holding her own keyblade in an internet-produced, Disney-adjacent landscape. She’s capable of anything. She can work with Tony Shhnow in a funky callback to The Neptunes, or on her most popular single to date, “FreakyT,” she can clearly jump between cutesy falsettos and gritty, deep-toned Southern rap. Her versatility knows no bounds, but it’s the proficiency she exhibits that makes her rap’s new age chameleon.
DD Osama
DD Osama” width=”240″ height=”300″ />DD Osama masks himself behind sliding 808 basslines and sample drill snippets of Y2K pop hits. Amidst the unpredictable kick drum patterns and yearning screams dedicated to his lost brother Notti, the Harlem rapper uses his music to tell a jaded tale of redemption. DD Osama croons with survivor’s guilt on “Letter 2 Notti” and he shrieks with vehemence on “MIA” to deliver an unkempt warning to anyone who dares to speak down on his family. And if his live shows are any indication, DD Osama should continue keeping crowds hyped and pissing off parents for years to come.
Reuben Vincent
Reuben Vincent” width=”240″ height=”300″ />With early instrumentation similar to Tobe Nwigwe in an ode to his Liberian roots, Reuben Vincent raps over vocal chops and jazz riffs to tell a story of his journey towards self-love. With his most recent release, Love Is War, Reuben morphs boom-bap stylings in a direction that’s more orchestral, inspired by his own affinity for The Love Below by Andre 3000. Reuben Vincent blends the technical flow of Dreamville’s Cozz with the production of early hip-hop legends, from 9th Wonder to Young Guru, creating an atmosphere that blends traditional hip-hop with red-tinted R&B. If you want bars, introspection and conceptual raps, Reuben Vincent checks all the boxes for the next generation.
JELEEL!
Jeleel” width=”240″ height=”300″ />You can’t help but love JELEEL!. He has his own signature catchphrase, “Jeleeeel! Yeaaaah!,” he might reorient a fan and deadlift them during a performance, and he looks like hip-hop’s response to Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s verse on Tech 9ine’s “Face Off” back in 2021. Screeching over synthesizer leads and his own iteration of rage beats, JELEEL! wavers between 645AR-type high-pitched melodies and autotuned doses of angst. With a bodybuilder’s physique, JELEEL! is a lovable breakout star, thanks to the success of “DIVE IN!” He’s coming into 2023 flipping over his competition and breaking the concept of genre.
Destroy Lonely
Destroy Lonely” width=”240″ height=”300″ />Over synth-laden rage beats, Destroy Lonely is reviving high fashion for the new generation of melodic rappers. Working with Playboi Carti’s Opium label, and Matthew Williams (creative director of Givenchy), Lonely, the son of I-20, is a gothic look at codeine and purposefully torn leather jackets. Colored in with designer brand name drops from Rick Owens and Ksubi to Yves Saint Lerant, Destroy Lonely floats over his twinkling arcade beats. His album No Stylist made waves last year, and his rager tour experience gives Travis Scott a run for his money. Of the group of Carti-core rappers, Lonely’s rockstar attitude and influence looks like the surest bet to come out of the scene.
Read the full article here
