James Victor Heinz, known professionally as J57, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, record executive, and music video director that infuses hip hop with indie rock, pop, folk & Americana music. He is a member of the Brown Bag AllStars, a group of emcees he helped create while working at Fat Beats in 2004, and Jamo Gang, a hip-hop group along with Ras Kass and El Gant. J57 cites DJ Eclipse and his mentor DJ Premier, as his musical influences. He owns a record label called FiveSe7en Collective which is the home of a lot of new, promising talent in different genres of music.
Jason Powers, better known by his stage name Elzhi, is an American rapper from Detroit, Michigan. He is a former member of Slum Village and now records as a solo artist. In his youth, he made numerous visits to the Hip-Hop shop in Detroit, taking advantage of open-mic nights hosted by fellow Detroit rapper Proof.
Olubowale Victor Akintimehin, better known by his stage name Wale, is an American rapper. He first gained recognition in 2006 when his song "Dig Dug " became popular in his hometown of Washington D.C., leading to Wale gaining local recognition as he continued recording music for the regional audience. Wale met English DJ-producer Mark Ronson in 2006, and signed to his label Allido Records in 2007. While signed to Ronson, Wale released several mixtapes which slowly amassed national attention as he appeared on MTV and various Black America-focused magazines.
Antonio Williams, better known by his stage name Antwon, is an American rapper based in San Jose, California. In 2013, he was included on Complex's "15 Unsigned Rappers Who Should Get a Deal After SXSW" list. He was also included on Complex's "25 New Rappers to Watch Out For in 2014" list.
Peter Cory Pankey, Jr., better known by his stage name Cory Gunz, is an American rapper from The Bronx, New York City. Gunz is currently signed to After Platinum Records, Young Money Entertainment, Cash Money Records, and Universal Republic Records.
Santiago Leyva, known by his stage name Fashawn, is an American hip hop recording artist from Fresno, California. He first gained major attention after releasing his debut album Boy Meets World in 2009, which was produced entirely by Exile. The album received critical acclaim and landed him on the cover of XXL Magazine's Top 10 Freshmen issue in 2010. Since then, Fashawn has collaborated with other artists and producers such as Nas, J. Cole, Wiz Khalifa, Evidence, Murs, Aloe Blacc, Blu, Big Mike, Brother Ali, The Alchemist, and 9th Wonder. In 2014, Fashawn performed the entrance theme to WBO welterweight champion Timothy Bradley's rematch against Manny Pacquiao.
Donavan LaMond Johnson better known by his stage name XV is an American rapper, singer and songwriter from Wichita, Kansas. He first gained major attention after the release of his twelfth mixtape Everybody's Nobody, for which he received two awards from DJBooth.net. His name, XV, refers to the age (15) at which he began his musical career. On Monday July 26, 2010, XV announced that he had signed a recording contract with Warner Bros. Records via his Twitter page.
Dee-1 is an American rapper from New Orleans, Louisiana. He is the first rapper in Louisiana history to be an appointee of the governor.
Steven Adam Markowitz, known professionally as Hoodie Allen, is an American rapper, singer and songwriter from Plainview, New York. After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, he began working at Google before ultimately quitting to pursue a music career full-time. In 2012, he released his first official EP titled All American which debuted at No. 10 on the Billboard 200. In October 2014, Hoodie officially released his debut studio album, People Keep Talking which was successful with first week sales of over 30,000 along with a debut position of No. 8 on the Billboard 200. Hoodie followed up on his success in January 2016 and released his second studio album, Happy Camper.
Randell Obrain Jones, known by his stage name Kydd, is an American rapper, producer, and singer from Austin, Texas.
Lord Giveth, Lord Taketh Away is a collaborative EP by American rapper Freddie Gibbs and producer Statik Selektah. It was released on June 24, 2011, by Showoff Records and CTE World.
Amir Mohamed el Khalifa, better known by his stage name Oddisee, is a half Black American and half Sudanese rapper and record producer from Washington, D.C. He is one third of rap trio Diamond District. He was also part of the Low Budget Crew. He is based in Brooklyn, New York.
Noa James is a West Coast rapper based in the Inland Empire region of California.
Brian Todd Collins, known professionally as Kid Ink, is an American rapper, singer-songwriter and record producer. He released his debut independent album Up & Away in 2012, following an EP titled Almost Home, and his first major studio album My Own Lane in 2014. The latter spawned the singles "Show Me", "Iz U Down", and "Main Chick". On February 3, 2015, he released his third studio album Full Speed, which spawned the singles "Body Language", "Hotel", and "Be Real".
Dionte Hunter, better known by his stage name Chuuwee is an American hip hop artist from Sacramento, California. Chuuwee spent many years of his life moving around as a child. He lived in nearly every neighborhood of Sacramento, CA before moving to San Antonio in middle school.
Matthew Alexander "Max" Frost is an American singer, songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist from Austin, Texas, who is signed to Atlantic Records. He has released two EPs: Low High Low in October 2013, and Intoxication in September 2015, followed by the release of his debut album, Gold Rush, in 2018.
Michael Parker, better known by the stage name Worldwide, is an independent rapper, emcee, music producer & hip hop artist from San Antonio, Texas.
Low Pros are a musical duo consisting of Canadian DJ A-Trak and American hip-hop producer Lex Luger. They released their first EP, titled EP 1, on May 6, 2014.
Cory Kendrix is an American independent rapper, emcee, singer, music producer and hip hop artist based out of Denver, Colorado. In 2014, he released the IGNORANCE LP as well as the Worth Something EP with Red Bull Music Academy 2013 graduate Anna Love. During 2015, Cory performed at Pop Montreal and the Denver Westword Music Showcase. Changing his artist name to KNDRX, he released his debut R&B solo EP in 2017 entitled Me Right Now under the LNS Crew imprint and then released GUMBO under Davies Entertainment in 2021. In 2023, KNDRX performed at SXSW and was featured on New York rapper Conway The Machine's Drumwork The Album.
Marquis Amonte King, better known by the stage name Shy Glizzy, is an American rapper from Southeast, Washington, D.C.
