WClifford Ian Simpson, well known by his stage name Kevin Abstract, is an American rapper, singer-songwriter, and director, and is a founding member of Brockhampton. Abstract released his debut album, MTV1987, in 2014, and received attention from a number of major music blogs and magazine publications. His second album, American Boyfriend: A Suburban Love Story, was released in November 2016, and his third, Arizona Baby, was released in April 2019.
WAja is an American rapper, reality television personality and former drag queen best known for competing on the ninth season of RuPaul's Drag Race and on the third season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars. Aja released their debut EP, In My Feelings, in 2018, followed by their debut studio album, BOX Office, in February 2019. Their second EP, ALL CAPS, was released in June 2019. They released Nail in the Coffin, a Halloween-themed EP, in collaboration with Shilow later that year. They currently host the web series Ayo Sis on WOW Presents Plus.
WAzealia Amanda Banks is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and actress. Raised in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City, she began releasing music through Myspace in 2008 before being signed to XL Recordings at age 18. In 2011, her debut single "212" went viral and entered several international charts. Banks subsequently signed with Interscope and Polydor Records before later separating in July 2013. Banks ultimately became an independent artist and started her own independent record label, Chaos & Glory Recordings, after multiple negative experiences with previous labels.
WFreddie Ross Jr., better known by her stage name Big Freedia, is an American musician known for her work in the New Orleans genre of hip hop called bounce music. Freedia has been credited with helping popularize the genre, which was largely underground since developing in the early 1990s. Freedia identifies herself as a gay man and has stated that she does not care which pronoun is used to refer to her.
WMichael David Quattlebaum Jr., better known by the stage name Mykki Blanco, is an American rapper, performance artist, poet and activist.
WRashard Bradshaw, better known as Cakes da Killa, is an American rap artist who fuses genres of hip hop, house, and electric dance music. He came to prominence in the "queer explosion" of hip hop music stemming from New York in 2012 and is among the credited performers for the current trend of LGBTQ+ acceptance in the rap community. Bradshaw is currently based in Atlanta and his latest release MUVALAND, a full-on House EP, is set to be released later this year via Classic.
WBrooke Dyan Candy is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, director, and fashion stylist. Raised in the suburbs of Los Angeles, daughter of Tom Candy, former CFO for Hustler Magazine, Brooke rose to prominence after starring in Grimes' music video for "Genesis" (2012), which went viral online. Following its success, Candy's status in the underground scene rose as she began to release her own material: "Das Me" (2012), "Everybody Does" (2013), and "I Wanna Fuck Right Now" (2013). In 2014, she signed with RCA and released her debut major label single, "Opulence", with an accompanying EP of the same name on May 6, 2014. Later, she joined Columbia's UK roster. Both are divisions of Sony Music.
WBelcalis Marlenis Almánzar, known professionally as Cardi B, is an American rapper, songwriter, and actress. Born in Manhattan and raised in the Bronx, New York City, she became an Internet celebrity after several of her posts and videos became popular on Vine and Instagram. From 2015 to 2017, she appeared as a regular cast member on the VH1 reality television series Love & Hip Hop: New York, which depicted her pursuit of her music aspirations. She released two mixtapes—Gangsta Bitch Music, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, before signing with label Atlantic Records in early 2017.
WElijah Daniel is an American comedian, rapper, record producer, songwriter, and author. He became popular online through his satirical social media posts. Daniel began rapping under the name Lil Phag in late 2017.
WAmala Ratna Zandile Dlamini, known professionally as Doja Cat, is an American singer, rapper and songwriter. Born and raised in Los Angeles, she began making and releasing music on SoundCloud as a teenager. Her song "So High" caught the attention of Kemosabe Records and RCA Records where she signed a joint record deal at the age of 17, subsequently releasing her debut EP Purrr! in 2014.
WFergie Duhamel is an American singer and songwriter. She first achieved chart success as part of the hip hop group the Black Eyed Peas. Her debut solo album, The Dutchess (2006), saw commercial success and spawned three Billboard Hot 100 number one singles: "London Bridge", "Glamorous", and "Big Girls Don't Cry". Although she vocally incorporates rapping into her performances, she does not consider herself a rapper.
WMilly Toomey, known professionally as Girli, is an English singer, songwriter and rapper. Based in London, she has released a number of singles and EPs, that The Guardian has described as veering "between PC Music, bubblegum pop, punk and rap, each one treading a line between catchy and deliberately discomforting." Much of her music is about feminism, sexuality, queer culture, and mental health. In April 2019, Girli released her debut studio album, Odd One Out, on PMR Records.
WRaykeea Raeen-Roes Wilson known professionally as Angel Haze, is an American rapper and singer. In 2012, Wilson released the EP Reservation and later signed a record deal with Universal Republic Records before moving to Republic Records. On December 31, 2013, Wilson released her debut album Dirty Gold, which featured the singles "Echelon " and "Battle Cry.” Wilson has released a number of mixtapes, including Reservation, which was ranked the sixth-best mixtape of 2012 by Mike Diver of the BBC, the most recent one Back to the Woods appeared in 2015.
WHeather Keisha Hunter, nicknamed Double H, is an American rapper, painter, author, and former pornographic actress.
WSilvana Imam is a Swedish rapper. She is known for her political songs protesting racism, homophobia, and the rise of the far right.
WJohn Patrick Masterson, known professionally as Jipsta, is an American rapper, songwriter, and music producer. Jipsta has released four full-length studio albums: Bandoozle (2011), Turnt Up (2013), Ban2oozle(2017), and most recently, "Swaggerific" (2019). Jipsta's unique style of layering intricate lyrics over uptempo house music beats has resulted in seven consecutive appearances on the Billboard Dance Club Songs Chart since 2007 when his debut single "Don't Act Like You Don't Know" was released. Jipsta is also widely known for his genre-bending cover songs; the most popular of which is his cover version of "I Want Your Sex" by George Michael which reached #4 on the Billboard Dance Chart in 2009. More recently, Jipsta has recorded cover versions of Mariah Carey's "Touch My Body," and Ed Sheeran's "New Man," both of which appear on the "Swaggerific" album. Jipsta's notoriety increased significantly when he was asked to collaborate with RuPaul on the song "Sexy Drag Queen," which was heard regularly on the television program Rupaul's Drag Race. Jipsta is an openly gay member of the LGBTQ community. Jipsta recently completed filming a documentary about hate crime survivors called "Pieces of Us," which is being directed by legendary Broadway actress Cheryl Allison which is set to be released in early 2021.
WRocco Kayiatos, known professionally as Katastrophe and in some later releases as Rocco Katastrophe, is an American rapper.
WKesha Rose Sebert is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, and actress. In 2005, at age 18, Kesha was signed to Kemosabe Records. Her first major success came in early 2009 after she was featured on American rapper Flo Rida's number-one single "Right Round".
WKhalif Diouf, known by his stage name Le1f, is an American rapper and producer. He also founded the record label Camp & Street, with Boody, DonChristian, and Chaz Requina. As a gay rapper he's garnered attention for his musical and performance styles. Following a series of well-received mixtapes and EPs, his debut studio album, Riot Boi, was released in November 2015.
WMelesha Katrina O'Garro, known professionally as Lady Leshurr, is a British rapper, singer, songwriter and producer. She is known for her Queen's Speech series of freestyles, the fourth of which became popular in 2016. Her subsequent freestyle, Queen's Speech 5, was called "brilliant" and "2015's crowning freestyle" by Spin.
WGustav Elijah Åhr, known professionally as Lil Peep, was an American rapper, singer, songwriter and model. He was a member of the emo rap collective GothBoiClique. Helping pioneer an emo revival style of rap and rock music, Lil Peep has been credited as the leading figure of the mid–late 2010s emo rap scene and came to be an inspiration to outcasts and youth subcultures.
WJanelle Monáe Robinson is an American singer-songwriter, rapper, actress, and record producer. Monáe is signed to Atlantic Records, as well as to their own imprint, the Wondaland Arts Society. Monáe has received eight Grammy Award nominations. Monáe won an MTV Video Music Award and the ASCAP Vanguard Award in 2010. Monáe was also honored with the Billboard Women in Music Rising Star Award in 2015 and the Trailblazer of the Year Award in 2018. In 2012, Monáe became a CoverGirl spokesperson. Boston City Council named October 16, 2013 "Janelle Monáe Day" in the city of Boston, Massachusetts, in recognition of their artistry and social leadership.
WMichelle Lynn Johnson, better known as Meshell Ndegeocello, is an American singer-songwriter, rapper, and bassist. She has gone by the name Meshell Suhaila Bashir-Shakur which is used as a writing credit on some of her later work. Her music incorporates a wide variety of influences, including funk, soul, jazz, hip hop, reggae and rock. She has received significant critical acclaim throughout her career, and although she has never won a Grammy Award, she has been nominated ten times. She has been credited for helping to have "sparked the neo-soul movement."
WNickesse Trimaine Toney, known by his stage name Nicky Da B, was an American rapper specializing in the regional genre of bounce music. He released an album in 2012 titled Please Don't Forget Da B, and his single with the artist Diplo that year, Express Yourself, was one of the year's largest viral successes, featuring in a Doritos commercial during Super Bowl XLVII. He was also known for his role in popularizing the dance phenomenon of twerking.
WDestiny Nicole Frasqueri, better known by her stage name Princess Nokia, is an American rapper. She released her debut studio album, Metallic Butterfly, in 2014, followed by the 2015 mixtape Honeysuckle. As Princess Nokia, she rose to prominence for her 2017 studio album 1992 Deluxe. She released another mixtape, titled A Girl Cried Red, in 2018, followed by the release of two studio albums, Everything Sucks and Everything Is Beautiful, in 2020.
WClaudia Alexandra Madriz Meza known professionally as Snow Tha Product, is a Mexican/American rapper and actress from San Jose, California. She released her first album Unorthodox in 2011. In 2012, she signed a record deal with Atlantic Records but is no longer with Atlantic Records. She is best known for the singles "Holy Shit" and "Drunk Love", as well as her mixtape Good Nights & Bad Mornings.
WJoshua Dolgin, better known by his stage name Socalled, is a Canadian rapper and record producer, known for his eclectic mix of hip hop, klezmer, and other styles such as drum & bass and folk music. A pianist and accordion player, he has taught the latter at Klezfest London, where he has also run workshops in "hiphopkele". He has played with clarinetist David Krakauer's Klezmer Madness!, and has also worked with artists such as rappers C-Rayz Walz, Chilly Gonzales, funk trombonist Fred Wesley, and Sophie Solomon. Dolgin has Ukrainian, Romanian and Russian roots.
WSoce, the elemental wizard is an American rapper and producer and one of the rap scene’s openly gay MCs.
WLouise Harman, better known by the stage name Lady Sovereign, is a British rapper and songwriter. She is best known for the songs "9 to 5" and "Love Me or Hate Me".
WAlida Kinnie Starr is a Canadian multidisciplinary recording artist.
WSydney Loren Bennett, known professionally as Syd, is an American singer and songwriter from Los Angeles, California. She initially gained recognition as a member of the alternative hip hop collective Odd Future, and went on and founded her own band The Internet, in 2011. Bennett released her 2017 debut solo album Fin, followed by the EP Always Never Home.
WSaul Stacey Williams is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, musician, poet, writer, and actor. He is known for his blend of poetry and alternative hip hop, and for his lead roles in the 1998 independent film Slam and the 2013 jukebox musical Holler If Ya Hear Me.
WKatorah Marrero, better known by her stage name Young M.A, is an American rapper and entrepreneur. The abbreviation in her stage name, "M.A" stands for "Me Always." She first gained widespread recognition with the release of the quadruple-platinum hit single "Ooouuu", breaking the top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100, boasting over 300 million YouTube views on the music video.
WZebra Katz, born Ojay Morgan in West Palm Beach, Florida, is a Berlin-based Jamaican-American rapper, producer, and songwriter who's collaborated with artists like Busta Rhymes and Gorillaz. His career took off in 2012 when fashion designer Rick Owens featured Zebra Katz's song, "Ima Read," on loop at Paris Fashion Week.