Archive for Artist Profiles

Future, who got his stage name from Atlanta's Dungeon Family, is one of the hottest emerging artists in the south and was also featured on my list of ten emcees to watch in 2011.

If you're new to Future's music, catch up by downloading 1000, Kno Mercy, and his most recent mixtape, Dirty Sprite, hosted by DJ Scream, DJ Esco,and DJ X-Rated.

Chances are that you've already heard track number six from Dirty Sprite, "Racks."  The Sonny Digital-produced single is currently getting a lot of love from radio stations and clubs nation wide.

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Out of all the 2010 XXL Freshman, OJ Da Juiceman has received the most hate and strangely enough he's also achieved the most commercial success, ha!

Since his debut album, The Otha Side of the Trap, was released in the first month of 2009, many critics wondered why the Atlanta rapper was named one of 2010's freshmen to watch.  What made things more awkward was OJ and Gucci Mane's smash single, "Make Tha Trap Say Aye," which peaked at #13 on the Billboard U.S. Rap charts last year.

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Ashanti Floyd, aka The Mad Violinist, is one of the top Violinist/String Arrangers in the country.  You may recognize his work from songs such as Rick Ross' "Maybach Music 2" (Featuring Kanye West, Lil Wayne, and T-Pain), Young Jeezy's "Greatest Trapper Alive," and most recently Travis Porter's "I Put On A Show."

Ashanti currently produces music alongside Kane Beatz ("Reverse Cowgirl," "Bed Rock, "We Be Steady Mobbin") for their production team, "The Building."

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Unlike a number of the Bay area emcees, who have a hard time gaining a fan base outside of the region, DaVinci has proven with his debut album, The Day The Turf Stood Still, that his sound has nationwide appeal.

The project, which dropped earlier this month, has been picking up steam around the country despite its content largely revolving around the emcees home town of Fillmore, CA and its current gentrification. (More..)

If you don't recognize the man in the screen shot, you soon will. Wiz Khalifa spent his 2009 hard on the grind, parting ways with Warner Bros. and eventually achieving greater buzz than he ever had while on the label.

His hustle, coupled with Rostrum Records' impressive grassroots campaign, has given Wiz quite possibly the strongest buzz out of all the "new" artists in the game.

Not being included in the infamous XXL 2009 Freshman Class list greatly fueled Wiz's 2009 hustle, which saw him drop a number of impressive releases.

When next month's issue of XXL Magazine drops, Wiz's face will no longer be in the shadows. His once hard-to-pronounce name is becoming more common place in hip hop discussions. (more...)

The last time OJ Da Juiceman’s name was featured in the press and blogs, it was concerning the extremely over-hyped incident of getting booed off stage.

I happened to be in attendance that evening as OJ caught the worst of… (MORE... )

Download – Kendrick Lamar EP

The city of Compton is known for creating one of hip hop’s most influential groups, N.W.A., and it’ll always be important to hip hop culture for that reason.

Due to the success of… (MORE... )

A lot has happened to J.Cole since I wrote about the Fayetteville, North Carolina emcee in HipHopAtLunch.com’s first post.

He’s been getting major love from industry insiders, has laid down a handful of impressive guest verses, and is… (MORE... )

With co-signs ranging from established mixtape DJs such as DJ Drama, to fellow emerging artists like Pill, the Edgewood, Atlanta, Zone 6 native has been creating quite a buzz in the last couple months.

Young Jeezy… (MORE... )

From 10 Emerging Artists to watch in 2010:

Chip Tha Ripper recently received a large amount of buzz from features on Kid Cudi’s debut album, Man On The Moon: The End of Day.

Following that release,… (MORE... )