Top 5 Up and Coming Hip Hop Artists you Should Check Out in 2020

Melii

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Coming onto every song with an infectious energy, Melii has been killing it in the past two years with songs like “Balling” and “Icey”. Her talent has begun to become noticed by established talent such as Meek Mill and Rihanna who have both co-signed her. With a rise in Latin rap, Melli’s bilingual flow put her in the perfect position to have a breakout year.

Don Toliver

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Don Toliver has been on a meteoric rise recently. After his breakout project, Donny Womack, and his feature on Travis Scott’s breakout single “Can’t Say”, Don Toliver saw his popularity grow tenfold in 2019. However, Don Toliver showed that he was here to stay with the recent release of his album Heaven or Hell. Heard throughout the streets of Houston, Heaven or Hell has further thrown Don Toliver into the mainstream limelight. At this rate, if he continues to grow in popularity and talent then he could easily become the face of Houston’s new sound.

 

GRIP

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“I wanted to speak on something bigger than me,” GRIP told Pigeons & Planes last year. With his conceptual debut, PORCH, he’s succeeded. He’s been quiet lately, releasing only one single (“Bernie Mac”) in recent months. But that track left us hungry for more of GRIP’s thoughtfulness, fire, ambition, and confidence. “Bernie Mac” explicitly mentions CyHi and J.I.D as hometown contemporaries whom the Atlanta-based GRIP respects. 2019 will be the year he’s mentioned in the same breath as them. —Shawn Setaro

 

Baby Keem

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The last two artists on this list, have blown up recently due to the widespread popularity of Tik Tok. Baby Keem came onto the scene in 2018 with high level production placements on projects like TDE’s Black Panther soundtrack and Jay Rock’s Redemption album. He then built on his growing production acclaim with his thunderous, chest-thumping self-titled album. If Tik Tok’s adoption of his songs is any indication, Baby Keem is here in 2020 to take over. 

 

Lil Keed

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Like Baby Keem, Lil Keed’s popularity has grown exponentially with the advent of TikTok. His recent album Long Live Mexico is filled with potential chart topping hits. Songs like Nameless, Snake, and HBS have all blown up recently (for a good reason, considering they all contain unique verbal experimentation). Growing up in Atlanta, I may have a soft spot for his music, but I promise you his recent singles are a must listen for any Hip-Hop fan looking to listen to the forefront of future Hip-Hop.