Jay-Z. Eminem. Lil’ Wayne. Rick Ross. All great emcees, surely, but at times it seems like they’re the only emcees on the radar of the music press. Have you seen MTV’s 10 Hottest MCs in the Game – why have the same 5 rappers been ‘the hottest’ for the past 10 years? While these megastar emcees get all of the shine, there are a host of others on the come up who are slowly building their brands, gunning for that number one spot – and for, for the most part, their music far exceeds and outshines that of the big name emcees. We’ve already looked at the new school of producers, so here is the Global Grind look at 10 great new rappers (in no particular order).
Artist: Curren$y
Why He’s A Great New Rapper: Curren$y, a.k.a. The Hot Spitta, isn’t exactly new – he’s something of a veteran of the New Orleans rap scene, having been down with the No Limit fam as a teen and the first artist signed to Lil’ Wayne’s Young Money. He even appeared on XXL Magazine’s 2009 Freshman list. That said, 2010 was a big year for Spitta, with his highly acclaimed sophomore album Pilot Talk dropping earlier in the year (and the follow-up Pilot Talk II due out next month). His flow is deceptively laid-back, sometimes distracting you from the fact that Spitta is a lyrical beast.
See Also: Stalley, L.E.$., Smoke DZA
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Artist: Vado
Why He’s A Great New Rapper: Vado has managed to go toe-to-toe with one of the best to ever do it (Cam’Ron) over the course of 3 mixtapes (the Boss of All Bosses series) and bested Killa on quite a few tracks. As if that isn’t enough to get him on this list, his debut album Slime Flu is one of the year’s best. Vado is just a great rapper on all fronts – his storytelling abilties are on point, his punchlines are great, his swag is serious, and his flow is deadly.
See Also: French Montana, A-Mafia, Fred Da Godson, Al-Doe
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