Hip Hop is an evolving entity, always has been, always will be. And with every step forward and upward, there are microphone bearers that rise to claim their spots on Hip Hop’s never-ending staircase of progression. The turn of this decade was no different, providing a fresh new batch of emcees attempting to leave their mark. However, the leaders of this latest surge seemed to have shone the light back on artful Hip Hop, with many claiming we’ve scratched the surface of another, maybe, Golden Era in rap.
Does that mean the majority of the music out there is coming from an elevated artistic space of creativity? Of course not. The Hip Hop gatekeepers have been forced to the unemployment line due to YouTube, Spotify, and Soundcloud, resulting in a tsunami of inferior music hitting the masses more than ever before. But over the past five years, five leaders of the new school have maneuvered through these waters, and have risen to the top and contributed to the culture in a major way.
Big K.R.I.T.
Although he’s finally being recognized as a King. Remembered. In. Time, it wasn’t too long ago that Big K.R.I.T was rocking the underrated crown on his head instead. It’s been a slow and steady journey for K.R.I.T, which culminated this year with Cadillactica, one of the best Hip Hop albums of 2014. Probably one of the most refreshing albums to FILLER in a while, Cadillactica embodies everything K.R.I.T. fans have come to love about the Mississippi emcee: top-tier lyricism, top tier musicianship, and that southern soul that oozes from anything K.R.I.T touches.
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It’s a sound Big K.R.I.T has worked diligently to fine-tune and maintain over the years, impressively avoiding the pitfalls of conforming to the mainstream. His skills as a producer have also assisted in that aspect, allowing the majority of his music to go from an idea in his mind straight to the speaker, without much filter in between. With so much of Hip Hop sounding so similar production wise, K.R.I.T.’s sample-heavy style (ranging from Al Green to BB King) gives his music a classic feel and most importantly takes you away from the turn-up and into the soul. Although he’s delivered what some might say a classic album with Cadillactica, his full range of musicality has mainly been on display through his mixtapes. From Return of 4Evato the critically acclaimed King Remembered In Time, not having to worry about sample clearances or restrictions (which admittedly frustrated K.R.I.T on his debut album Live from the Underground) let K.R.I.T’s creativity ride free in 72 Coupe de Ville. But as evidenced by his latest effort, he’s adjusted just fine.
As far as album sales go, 83K for Live from the Undergroundand roughly 53k for Cadillactica might not seem too impressive. But factor in relatively no radio singles, minimal promotion, and the upward battle he’s enduring similar to the Southern rap artists before him (Outkast,* 8 Ball & MJG, and UGK to name a few), those numbers start to speak volumes for the type of music K.R.I.T. is providing Hip Hop. When it comes to who Big K.R.I.T is, the kid from Meridian, Mississippi put it best, “I never had been about a large radio push. It was more word of mouth, and then the people learn about the music and support it. I kinda would rather it be that way. They know I do it for the love not the credit or fame.”
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Big Sean
If Disney ever made a Hip Hop movie, the Big Sean story wouldn’t be a bad idea for the script. A young aspiring rapper from Detroit freestyles for his idol at a radio station resulting in a record deal. He goes on to travel all over the world creating and performing the music he loves, and even escapes from evil at one point, as evidenced on “I Don’t Fuck With You”: “Everyday I wake up celebratin’ shit, why? / Cause I just dodged a bullet from a crazy bitch.” But in the end, he ends up with his pop princess Arianna and goes on to continue making music and living Hip Hopily ever after, “BOI.” Granted we have a better chance at a third season of Chappelle Show than Disney ever making Detroit: Sean’s G.O.O.D. Journey, but hey, worth a thought.
Future Disney classics aside, Big Sean has been putting in work from “10 to 10” since the turn of the decade. Since getting signed to G.O.O.D. Music, Sean has released three volumes of his Finally Famous mixtape series, one of the best mixtapes of the past five years in Detroit, and two albums (Finally Famous and Hall of Fame). Not to mention he’s laid down some of the most infectious and memorable guest verses in recent memory. Whether it was “Mercy” and “Clique” with Yeezy, “All Me” with Drake, or “Burn” with Meek Mill, Sean has built up a reputation for being able to deliver bars that resonate. Although he’s good for spill your liquor club bangers and lyrics that infiltrate brains and set up shop, Big Sean’s at his best when using his voice to motivate and inspire. Whether it’s dropping verses like on the track “Higher” where he spits, “show ‘em that it’s more to the world than trying to make a living / like changing it, and looking back like saying that we did it”, or dropping motivational YouTube clips he’s constantly reminding the youth to chase their dreams and work hard.
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Sean murders verses, got club anthems on deck, and possesses the ability to spit conscious lyrics, so why isn’t he put in the same category as the greats yet? The answer takes only three words: body of work. Expectations and momentum were at an all time high for Sean following the Detroit mixtape and his stellar performances on G.O.O.D. Music’s Cruel Summer, but when supposed payoff Hall of Fame didn’t live up to the hype, his spot at the top relinquished its security. However, the Detroit emcee is finishing up 2015 strong with his third release Dark Sky Paradisebeing his best work to date, so hopefully, well you know the saying.
J. Cole
Hip Hop media outlets, blogs, and the YouTube comment section can be the ultimate melting pot for negativity, slander, and just overwhelming hate. Statements of artists being “straight trash” or “overrated” fly back and forth on the daily. Name a rapper, and he’s getting destroyed; except, however, when it comes to Jermaine Cole. Dive into the dirty comment section swamps across the web on any post-Cole related and instead of finding non-stop negativity bombs, you’ll discover an abundance of “Cole the truth,” “best lyricist in the game”, or “how is Cole still so underrated?” Maybe it’s his demeanor, maybe it’s his lyrical content, or maybe he’s just that damn dope, but J Cole has undoubtedly become one of the most universally loved and respected emcees of his generation.
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And this wasn’t an overnight revelation either because one of the most intriguing aspects of Cole’s career was the insane amount of Hip Hop fans riding for him before he ever dropped an official album. His mixtapes The Come Up and The Warm Up lit the fuse, but by the time mixtape number three Friday Night Lights hit the masses? The damn roof exploded. The quality of music Cole was putting out for free created a fever pitch in Hip Hop, with tracks like “Too Deep for the Intro” and “Lights Please” building up his fan base with every verse and hook. Although the movement was huge, it was the lack of heavy radio play and the fact that only the Hip Hop community knew the name J Cole that made it such a dope moment in the culture. And when it was all said and done, Friday Night Lights was viewed over 2.5 million times, streamed over 721,000 times, and downloaded over 943,000 times on DatPiff.
Let’s not forget the platinum success that’s 2014 Forest Hills Drive with exactly zero features and enough pedigree to have been dropped in the 90s and fought its way to relevance.
So, three albums, tons of mainstream success, and over 1 million record sales later, Cole is still the hungry yet conscious emcee he was as a young Simba. Difference is now the flow and the content have definitely grown up. More than anybody on this list, Cole has been a voice for the people. Whether he’s raising awareness on issues like teen pregnancy on “Lost Ones”, or being one of the first Hip Hop artists to arrive on the scene in Ferguson, we can always count on J Cole to provide cerebral analysis on our society, and to remind us all that our brain muscle isn’t a no flex zone.
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Kendrick Lamar
It’s been quite some time since pressure and Kendrick Lamar weren’t synonymous with each other. Following the release of Section.80 in 2011, the pressure mounted as everybody waited to see if K. Dot could deliver on his debut studio album. Well, we all know how that turned out. But although the work of art which is Good Kid, m.A.A.d. cityreset Kendrick’s pressure meter back to zero, it’s been slowly rising ever since, and due to him recently dropping off the first single “i” from his sophomore album, it’s starting to violently shake in the red.
This isn’t simply sophomore pressure because that would imply GKMC was simply a kind-of debut album. And if GKMC is simply just another debut album, then Michael Jordan is simply just another basketball player. Because when Kendrick delivered GKMC, it shook Hip Hop to the core. Kendrick in one fell swoop set the bar that every great Hip Hop album has been measured by since. And as if that wasn’t enough re-upholstery to the culture from K.Dot, he decides to flip Hip Hop on its head again with a few measly bars on a little track named “Control.” If you think Kim Kardashian’s Krispy Kreme booty cheeks broke the internet, Kendrick Lamar’s verse on “Control” broke Hip Hop, or in other words, shut it the hell down. Once everybody hit reboot, however, the Hip Hop that started back up was much different than the previous version. This version featured dialogue about lyricism, competition in Hip Hop, and essentially all the things that seemed to have been scarce from rap. If put bluntly, Kendrick changed the game.
Then he did it again with his second modern masterpiece in To Pimp A Butterfly. At this point he’s a Hip Hop hero, going three-for-three on the unheard of my first three records are going to be straight up classics scale. Who else has done that? And at his essence, that’s exactly what Kendrick Lamar has been put here to do: show us just how amazing Hip Hop can be. Because where J Cole seems to fight for issues in society through Hip Hop, Kendrick’s main issue in society is Hip Hop. Fight on King Kendrick, fight on.
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Drake
If Kanye West is the Yeezus of polarizing figures in Hip Hop, the self proclaimed 6 God is definitely his main disciple. A Gifted songwriter with lyrical prowess, or over emotional sap, there usually isn’t an in between when it comes to how people perceive Aubrey Graham. But although Drizzy has garnered more hate and memes over the years than a Lifetime biopic, his impact on Hip Hop culture since his arrival is undeniable.
For starters, Hov said it himself, “numbers don’t lie check the scoreboard,” or in this case, the Billboard. Of course, album sales and hit records aren’t the sole factor of one’s impact on the culture, but at the same time, they shouldn’t be fully ignored either. Because 72 entries on the Billboard Hot 100 single chart (recently surpassing The Beatles for 8th all time) and over 5 million records sold might be a tad bit important when discussing Drake’s imprint on Hip Hop.
All he does is win. Meek Mill was vanquished without him breaking a sweat. And, while casually putting out his diss track “Charged Up” he dropped “Hotline Bling,” which turned into another web phenomenon, almost garnering him his first number one. Before that it was If Youre Reading This Its Too Late, which was a masterclass in how to give the web what they want while low-key screwing your bosses at the same time.
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Drake’s grind isn’t solely entrapped within the confines of 16 bars however, with his moves off wax growing more impressive year by year, specifically the move’s he’s made for his city. In addition to owning his own label October’s Very Own, his annual OVO Fest (which celebrated its 5th year in 2014) brings Hip Hop’s biggest names to Toronto, and is arguably the most important music festival in Canada. On the hardwood Drizzy was named Toronto Raptors’ Global Ambassador to assist with re-branding and revitalizing the team. And with the Raptors currently worth $115 million more than they were last year, it’s safe to say that Drake (and the Hip Hop machine he brings with him) will be holding that position for quite a while.
But when it comes down to it, Drizzy continues to break down walls. From shattering the perceptions of what a mixtape could achieve (platinum/gold singles and a Grammy nomination with So Far Gone), to shattering the perceptions of what a Hip Hop artist is supposed to embody, Drake has been pushing the envelope his entire career. And as ironic as it sounds, what has made him so polarizing and unique has simply been his unabashed willingness to display the average and normal. Although he can spit braggadocious bars with the best of them, relatability has always been his best-executed technique. It’s the reason the saying “don’t Drake and drive, you’ll end up at your ex’s house” exists, the reason YOLO prefaced almost every irresponsible action in 2012, and the reason “Started From the Bottom” and “0 to 100” infiltrated regular conversation all over the globe.
Not everybody knows how it feels to floss $100,000 chains or wake up in a Bugatti, but Drizzy has the innate ability to vividly depict the emotions and situations average people go through every single day. It’s the honesty that transcends, and it’s the honesty that will most likely be keeping here for quite some time. Now all that’s left is Views From the 6, and if it’s a modern classic, it’ll be his first (or second depending on if you ask a Take Carefan) and he’ll be catapulted onto the throne for good or ill.
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Nicki Minaj
Also joining the pack with her 2009 mixtape Beam Me Up Scotty, Onika went from Jamaica, Queens native to Atlanta thriller to Cash Money princess in what seems like record time. There’s no time left, though, and we all live in Ms. Minaj’s world now, as the queen has ascended her throne as the King of New York rap, and, arguably, the greatest female emcee of all time, already. She’s taken her star seriously from the start. Signing to Cash Money after said mixtape and subsequent beefs with the likes of Lil Kim began to brew up seemingly out of nowhere. She shut that noise down early, and went immediately for the throat of mainstream pop in the process with Pink Friday.
Heavy is the head, as they say. “Superbass,” put her on Ellen and in the hearts and minds of little girls everywhere (fast-forward to Miley getting the “What’s good?!” treatment and you can say she’s come full circle). It was her verse on “Monster” though, that rocketed her into the rap fan consciousness whether they liked it or not. She could flow in like five different accents without breaking a sweat. And, maybe Drizzy taught her, but her loosie game has been completely off the charts with straight-up freestyles on thuggers “Danny Glover” and disrespectful is that a world tour or is that your girl’s tour fare on “Lookin’ Ass Nigga.” That and more made it an easy decision for Complex to name her 2014’s best rapper alive.
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Then The Pinkprint. Arguably her most rappity-rap album had a little something for everyone except for Safaree, but she found her footing again like she never left in that haunted house in Hawaii with Yeezy glaring at her. She’s versatile and can outrap just about every emcee in the game, and if that’s not enough, she’s not afraid of her duality as both a sex pistol, and hard-spitting maniac with a diabolical flow.
