Most Creative Rappers: The New Class Of Emcees

Tyler named himself quite aptly. The outspoken 22 year old is responsible for the creation of the Odd Future crew, and still stands as the figurehead for the group. Tyler raps, produces, directs, acts, and does artwork for his own projects, as well as the other members of OF. His insistence on keeping the majority of his work contained within his crew has allowed Tyler to essentially market and brand himself. Odd Future's success marked a change in the industry. Tyler proved that in the age of the internet, musicians can make a name for themselves almost single-handedly. This approach has allowed him the artistic freedom to create his own label, and even his own television show. All the while he continues to completely self produce his albums (generally with the exception of one Left Brain beat per album), create his own album art, and direct his own videos. Tyler proved to the industry, that sometimes the artist really does know best, which has led to plenty of musicians getting signed from a single viral hit. Wolf Haley is no one hit wonder however, and continues to take interesting steps in all aspects of his art. Look out for his upcoming album Wolf, as well as the second season of his off-the-wall sketch comedy show Loiter Squad premiering this Sunday March 10 at Midnight ET/PT.

A$AP is pretty much the poster boy for post-regional rap. The NY rapper turned heads by referencing Houston styles like chopped and screwed vocals on his tracks, especially considering he comes from a city that has hosted such an iconic sound for some time. Rocky serves as a signal that the internet is changing rap completely. No longer are rappers harvested by their neighborhoods, their influence now comes from their exposure and access to different sounds and collaborators through their laptops. Rappers put on for their Tumblrs more than their cities these days.

Action Bronson makes great use of visuals for his projects. He exemplifies how important the use of visual aesthetics are to the independent approach to making it in the rap game today. Though low budget, Action's videos are a long way from Chief Keef's living room thuggery. The rapper delivers high concept, but very humorous visuals for his music, and actually proves himself as a fairly capable actor. Another key element to Action's videos and persona is his acute self-awareness, a characteristic shared by most of the new class of rappers, including Action collaborators Das Racist and Riff Raff.

There's not much left to be said of Kendrick. One possible aspect of Lamar's talent that hasn't been touched on, but is certainly pushing things forward is his unconventional flows and vocal manipulation. No one really sounds like K-Dot, and sometimes it's hard to tell whether he's even capable of writing a conventional verse, especially when his ghostwriting for Dre almost transforms the Dr. into a Kendrick doppelganger. There's something inhuman about Kendrick's delivery, even on his sung hooks he sounds otherworldly. His manipulated vocals whether of his own command, or use of effects bring an interesting dynamic to his sound, territory that's also being explored by (like it or not) Atlanta's Future. Kendrick's experimentation with different vocal techniques adds yet another layer to the consistently growing range of hip hop.

Danny Brown certainly isn't the youngest of the bunch, but that doesn't make him any less of a trendsetter. Danny's penchant for more abrasive, industrial, and electronic production sets him apart from much of today's rap, and certainly his Dilla-worshipping hometown of Detroit. The fact that he pairs his noisy beats with a cartoonish high pitched yelp of a flow is even more daring, though he also possesses the ability to change his delivery drastically from track to track, showing a range akin to his musical taste. Brown is an unabashed music nerd, readily presenting a depth of knowledge in genres from rap to UK Bass, to 60s psycheldelia. Plus he was talking about poppin' mollies over 2 years ago.

K.R.I.T. is yet another young rapper/producer, but happens to hail from the south. The Mississippi spitter is known for dropping long-form mixtapes that he produces top to bottom. As with a few of the other rappers on this list, he showed up on A$AP's "One Train" earlier this year, to which Rocky credited him to having the best verse on the epic crew track.

Lil B might be the very best example of a product of the internet. The Based God remains unsigned, yet has maintained a steady output of a mixtape per month for the past two years or so. He films plenty of videos for his tracks, all sharing the same DIY camcorder aesthetic. That's all Lil B really has to do to gain a massive following, who consistently meme-ify pretty much anything this man does. He was easily the earliest endorser of producer Clams Casino, and his more ignorant Swag Rap style certainly rubbed off on rap tofu like Soulja Boy (get it? he absorbs their flavor!). As much as some may dismiss Lil B as an incapable rapper (kind of missing the point), his importance as an independent artist with a new approach to music distribution stands strong.

Gambino made the successful transition from actor to rapper. His punchline-heavy style is a pretty logical progression from his days as comedian. Mr. Glover pulls from a variety of styles, and embodies a persona that lends itself to the new post-authenticity rap world that willingly houses other actors turnt rappers like Drake. 

SpaceGhostPurrp is a good example of a rapper who is able to draw heavily from his influences while maintaining a very distinct new sound. Purrp is indebted largely to darker 90s rap like Three 6 Mafia, creating a sincerely devilish atmosphere with his production, rather than veering into the tongue in cheek "666" wielding of Odd Future. Purrp is probably the very first decidedly lo-fi rap producer. While plenty of amateur beatmakers have turned in improperly mastered distorted messes of songs for some time, Purrp actually does it on purpose. His 90s horrorcore reproductions have enough dizzying fuzz, and pop-up ad samples to remove them almost entirely from the decade they pull from.

One thing this new wave of rappers has solidified is the re-emergence of the crew. Joey rides with Pro Era, a crew that consists not only of emcees, but producers, engineers, graphic designers, artists, and overall thinkers. While you could say crews exist within labels like GOOD Music, YMCMB, and MMG, these differ from groups like Pro Era, which are formed more organically, and represent more of a movement than a collection of artists. A crew can establish an aesthetic, style, and general approach that allows artists to create their own brands to a certain extent. Pro era executes this well, and the very talented Joey is there to take the reins.