10 Artists To Watch In 2017

Predicting breakout sensations months before they happen seems like an increasingly difficult task when memes have become more effective at popularizing music than labels or even blogs. I stumbled upon Lil Yachty about a year ago during a late-night Soundcloud binge, but wouldn't have bet $5 on him brushing shoulders with Kanye a month later if I was given 1,000 to 1 odds. But thanks to that viral "1 Night" video, or "Minnesota" blowing up, there he was on the "Pablo" stage in theaters across the country. Elsewhere, Kamaiyah came out of nowhere with a dope debut tape and an assist on a YG single, Desiigner blew up off a similar Kanye cosign, and Rae Sremmurd scored their first #1 single thanks to a bunch of people standing still. 

Our Breakout Artists of 2016 list did have a few artists on it whose 2015s primed them for huge ensuing years-- Kodak Black, 21 Savage, and D.R.A.M. were definitely at the top of my list as potential 2016 success stories at the top of the year-- but the majority were people I'd never even heard of until less than 12 months ago. Now comes the time to train our sights on artists we have heard of, but who we expect to reach much larger audiences in 2017. Here are the ten, listed in alphabetical order, who we think could do it. 

Portland, Oregon's never been a city with a major hip hop presence, but last year, Aminé began making moves to put his city on the map. His single "Caroline" blew up in a big way, and having risen from #16 to #11 on the Billboard Hot 100 just last week, it's showing no signs of cooling down quite yet. What's more, when he showed up to the Tonight Show to perform the track a few weeks ago, he added in some spectacular Trump-dissing bars to boot. He's also got another heater in the form of "Baba," which dropped in November, so don't sleep on what's sure to be Aminé's biggest year yet. 

Atlanta's Dae Dae already had a pretty big year thanks to regional hits "What U Mean" and "Spend It," which got big remixes featuring Lil Yachty and Young Thug/Young M.A., respectively, but look for him to hit the rest of the country this year. He's also fresh off the excellent London On Da Track collab tape The DefAnition (which spawned my favorite Dae Dae track yet, "Woke Up"). If he manages to curate a solo project with appearances from rappers and beatmakers of that caliber, watch out. 

Another artist who's already well on his way to success thanks to a rabid local following, Mozzy is undoubtedly the hardest rapper on our list. The Sacramento native put out a whopping 12 albums last year, including the recent Tapped In collab LP with Trae Tha Truth, and saw his tracks "Bladadah" and Future remix "Perk Callin" blow up online. Next up for Mozzy is cementing his cred, sound, and rapping ability into the commercial full-length Fake Famous, which is dropping this month and should be all he needs to take his Sacramento movement national. Check out his latest track below, and our recent interview with him here. 

Since we were introduced to this Toronto native last year via "The Man," which got played on OVO Sound Radio, the singer/rapper/producer has collaborated with Belly, Metro Boomin, and Travis Scott, and been spotted hanging with The Weeknd. Nav's managed to keep a low profile thus far, but that should change in 2017 thanks to a full collab album with Boomin, his first since cementing 21 Savage's star status with Savage Mode. Check out the video for his Birds In The Trap Sing McKnight cut "Beibs In The Trap" below. 

ATL's Russ has been on our radar since 2014's "Kiki," but he seems more poised than ever for a run at stardom in 2017. Last year, he went on a crazy run of Soundcloud loosies, all unified by a dope aesthetic, and increased his followers on the site from a couple thousand to 300k. His tracks now regularly surpass a million views, and just as I'm writing this, another one dropped. Check out the singer/producer's "Sideline Number" below. 

Another Soundcloud sensation on the cusp of greatness is St. Louis-via-Chicago rapper Smino, a member of the Zero Fatigue crew. He recently popped up on tracks with fellow Midwesterners Saba (on "World In My Hands") and Chance The Rapper/Big Sean/Jeremih (on "Living Single," though he didn't appear on the final version), so things are looking up for him. Next up for Smino is the tape blkswn, the Sango-produced title track of which you can listen to below. 

We've been fans of singer Drew (Love) for quite a while now, but last year he linked up with producer Dante to form THEY., and elevated his game substantially. They've (no pun intended) already been on tour with PartyNextDoor and Jeremih, and have a debut album due out in February. Listen to their latest track below and check our 2016 interview with the duo here. 

Lucci's probably the biggest star on this list already, as he's been a household name in ATL since 2015 and had quite a big hit with "Key To The Streets" last year. That being said, the singer/rapper has increased his popularity in each of the past years, so who's to say that he won't again in 2017? Just in the past month, he's teamed up with Yo Gotti and fellow Think It's A Game artist Rich Homie Quan for new tracks, so expect to see more big collabs and a blowout solo tape from YFN this year. 

24hrs has been bouncing around the game for a minute with multiple opportunities to blow up, but his latest venture seems to be most likely to succeed. First known as Rolls Royce Rizzy, then just Royce Rizzy after a cease-and-desist from the car company, the former rapper was once singed to Jermaine Dupri's So So Def label. After watching his little brother, Madeintyo, blow up last year, he's now pivoted to a singing career and changed his name to 24hrs. Since first hearing from his new project in August, we've seen an unbelievable glo-up in effect, which has included collabs with Yo Gotti, Murda Beatz, Ty Dolla $ign, Gucci Mane, Roy Woods, Wiz Khalifa, Hit-Boy, and Post Malone. Not bad for four months. He just dropped the 24hrs In Tokyo project (below) with his bro a few days ago, and has a collab project with Dolla $ign in the works, so watch out for 24hrs in 2017.

ATL's 6lack is undoubtedly the newest artist on this list, as we first heard from him in November 2016 with the track "Just In Time 4 The Weekend." Since then though, we've seen his debut project FREE 6LACK blow up and become one of the most talked-about albums of the tail end of 2016. We still don't know much about him, but 6lack is riding a huge wave into this new year. Check out his latest, the "Ex Calling" video, below.