Travis Scott signs Don Toliver to Cactus Jack Records - HipHop

There is an effort made by some to discredit "SoundCloud rappers" as a whole. To shame everyone on the platform as immature kids with face tats and colorful dreads that sound like each other. Not only is that erroneous, as any open-minded listen through the most emblematic songs of the movement would prove, it is undeniable that SoundCloud has catapulted artists like Uzi, Carti or Peep to the mainstream. The DIY aspect of it has given everyone the required tools to blow up: through a combination of talent, hard work and networking acumen, the future is what you make of it. Two years ago, after the release of the 2016 XXL Freshman List, I made a Reddit post highlighting other teenage artists besides the three that XXL picked. In the meantime, some of the kids I chose (like Carti or Khalid) have gone from relative obscurity to topping charts. Today, I bring you three artists blossoming on SoundCloud that been making the right moves to become bigger than their platform, and that have a star quality to them that you can't force regardless of how hard you work. I deliberately kept this post short and concise, because this isn't about highlighting my favorite "SoundCloud rappers": it's about sharing a few rappers that combine a set of characteristics that should see them blow up in the near future.

1. Lerado

Age: 20

For fans of: Earl Sweatshirt; Lucki; Night Lovell.

Latest Release: Mayhem

Starter Pack:

Has been honing his craft over time, and his sound has gone from a little bit all over the place to these focused, hypnotic, deadpan flows. Of the three, he might have a smaller ceiling popularity-wise, because his sound doesn't have as much crossover appeal; however, 21 Savage (who Lerado has opened for in the past) is one of the biggest rappers of his generation, so Lerado's soundscape might not be an obstacle.

He's the only artist in this thread to have dropped a refined solo project so far. His new mixtape Shark Fin Soup dropped on July 24th.

Should blow up because of: his unique look, his great ear for beats that compliment his production and an overall sounds that sounds equal parts creative and familiar.

2. Kevin Kazi

Age: 17.

For fans of: Travis Scott; Young Dolph; ThouxanBanFauni.

Latest Release: Tax (prod. Fish)

Starter Pack:

A young artist's sound tends to be more varied than an established rapper's, in an attempt to find their sound. However, Kevin is great at a lot of different styles, especially once you take his age into consideration.

Rappers this young aren't supposed to sound this confident, and definitely not on such varied production. Kevin is a complete outlier and there's no limit to where he might end up peaking.

Although he doesn't have a solo project out, he recently dropped a great EP with Tommy Ice called Tommy Kazi.

Should blow up because of: his versatility, how far along he's gotten at such a young age, and he's already getting beats from important producers in the scene, from Danny Wolf to Xangang to Gin$eng to Soldado.

3. Krishu

Age: 18.

For fans of: old Lil Wayne; Carti.

Latest Release: Wakeup! (prod. MJL)

Starter Pack:

SoundCloud rappers have a stigma around them of lacking lyrical content and masking it through their beats and flows. In my opinion, most of the time listeners fail to pick up or even recognize the bars, the rhyme schemes and the word play that a lot of these songs have. Krishu is a glaring example of that.

I see him all over KanyeToThe, where he's developed a tight lil following for the most part. A member of this forum as well, he has shown incredible networking skills online to get his name out there. As online music forums grow, there have already been rappers blowing up off of them: Brockhampton would be the biggest example, as some members linked up through KTT; Skizzy Mars used to be one of many Reddit users posting [ORIGINAL] links.

Should blow up because of: ^{^{^{^relative}}} lyricism (he's not Pharoahe Monch but he's definitely saying some shit), his unique look and his understanding of how to get his name out there and maximise his own visibility.

Honorable mention: Glokknine. Super talented 17 year old rapper from Broward County, Florida who's already doing huge numbers (7 music videos with over 2 million views, 9 songs with over 9 million plays, over 300k followers on Instagram). However, two things kept me from including him: (a) even though he uploads his music to SoundCloud, he's much less Internet based than the rappers on this list and (b) he signed to Cash Money this last week, which means that his potential to blowing up will most likely go to waste.

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