10 New NY Rappers To Watch Out For

If you read our "New York Back" piece last week then you already know: there's a whole bunch of fresh talent percolating in the New York City rap scene at the moment. With NY-repping rappers like A$AP Rocky, Azealia Banks, Action Bronson, French Montana, and Theophilus London blowing up, it's only natural that there would be newfound interest in the next wave of NY rappers.

Suddenly, there are dozens of new acts who pride themselves on originality and creativity instead of just flaunting their street cred. With so many to choose from, we did some close listening and narrowed the field down to pick our 10 favorite new New York rappers (listed in alphabetical order). Keep clicking to check out their Empire mindstate...

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Written by Insanul Ahmed (@Incilin)

Twitter: @AsapTwelvyy

A$AP Rocky f/ A$AP Twelvy & A$AP Nast "Trilla"

Pros: He has an entertaining personality, plus he rolls with A$AP Rocky so he'll get attention regardless.
Cons: Hasn't released much material yet, needs to establish himself outside of Rocky's shadow.
Essential Listening: N/A

A$AP Rocky is already a full-blown star so everybody wants to know who's next from A$AP Mob. Although they're all pretty interesting—and Ferg is especially entertaining; peep his Twitter feed—we're tempted to go with Twelvy as the next in line. Rather than riding on the crew's coat-tails, Twelvy is a fully formed artist unto himself who's been temporarily relegated to hypeman duties. The 22-year-old rapper (born Jamel Phillips) hasn't made his mark just yet, but be on the lookout for him to shine on the upcoming A$AP Mob mixtape.

Twitter: @BIGBABYGANDHI

Big Baby Gandhi "American Experience"

Pros: Has a knack for wordplay.
Cons: Has a tendency to yell on the mic, home studio recordings lead to poor sound quailty.
Essential Listening: NO1 2 LOOK UP 2

With his group already established and his solo career on and popping, Heems of Das Racist has begun recruiting acts to his Greedhead Entertainment imprint. The first act he began promoting was Queens rapper Nafis Islam a.k.a. Big Baby Gandhi, who immediately impressed us with his wry humor, witty lyrics, and clever wordplay.

Despite putting NO1 2 LOOK UP 2 together in a mere two weeks (and producing the bulk of it himself) Gandhi is still a student at St. Johns University in New York who seems more interested in getting his degree in pharmacy than being an actual rapper. We hope he reconsiders, but either way he's still the greatest Bengali rapper of all time. OF ALL TIME!

Twitter: @MeechIsDEAD, @ZombieJuicee, @erickarcelliott
Pros: They're not afraid to be weird.
Cons: They've got abrasive voices, and they've struggled to make another song as good as "Thug Waffle."
Essential Listening: N/A

This BK trio comprised of childhood friends Erick Arc Elliott, Zombie Juice, and Meechy Darko have a distinctly New York sounds and look to them. They first caught the attention of blogs earlier this year with the excellent video for their song "Thug Waffle" but since then their buzz has died quite a bit since then. It didn't help when they got booed off the stage at a recent Slaugherhouse show.

But we haven't given up hope. The BK Zombies' rapping style is quite unlike anyone else on the scene right now. We're still looking forward to new music from them in the next few months. After all you can't kill a zombie.

Twitter: @JoeyBADASS_
Pros: A pure spitter who uses laces multisyllablic rhymes with ease.
Cons: Have yet to hear him spit a hook.
Essential Listening: We're still waiting for him to drop his 1999 mixtape

We first caught wind of Joey Bada$$ when he suffered the unfortunate fate of having his music video reviewed by Odd Future during MTV's Rap Fix Live. Although Tyler and company didn't really offer Joey any helpful advice, they didn't really need to-Joey's video was pretty much as good as it could be.

Since then, the Bada$$ buzz has steadily building thanks in part to his affiliation with Jonny Shipes and Cinematic Music Group. Although his work so far has been impressive, the jury will still be out until he drops his much anticipated 1999 mixtape.

Twitter: @BrownsvilleKa
Pros: Has a no frills style built for grown men and hardcore hip-hop fans.
Cons: Has little potential—or aspiration—for commercial material.
Essential Listening: Grief Pedigree

Coming straight outta Brownsville, Ka is a refreshingly raw artist who knows exactly who he is and what he wants to do. "I've been rhyming for over 20 years and appreciate any hip-hop fan who respects lyrics," he writes on his YouTube page. "I already know my songs are not for everyone."

Although he obviously isn't "new" per se, his name only started popping this year thanks in part to his gritty, thought-provoking, self-produced album Grief Pedigree. We're not really looking for Ka to take over the whole rap game, but he's still a dope artist to check out if you're ready for that real.

Twitter: @SIYA_
Pros: Has a unique sound that mixes hardcore street raps with dance-floor ready beats.
Cons: Like all female MCs, lives in the shadow of Nicki Minaj.
Essential Listening: Elevator Dreams

Hip-hop often gets a bad rap for being homophobic and there's no denying that many rappers have said some incredibly ignorant things over the years. While there's been a ton of speculation about who might be "the gay rapper," female rappers have been quietly coming out of the closet in recent years.

Azealia Banks has admitted to being bi-sexual and Odd Future's Syd is openly gay. So maybe the market is finally ready to make way for an artist like SIYA, who's openly gay and kicks harder rhymes than most of the crooner-rappers who currently dominate the conversation.

Born in California (where she lived with her drug addicted mother), SIYA was raised in Brooklyn so we're more than happy to claim her. Earlier this year, she dropped her Elevator Dreams mixtape and she's been on our radar ever since. We're looking for her to find a balance between the street and the dance-floor with dope rhymes as the common denominator. A tough task? Yeah, but it's right up her alley.

Twitter: Wiki is not on Twitter but his group @RATKING_ is
Pros: Can rap for hours and hours, has complete package of visuals, sound, and overall vision.
Cons: Nasally voice can be off-putting, tendency to rap at listeners, bombarding them with a rhyme barrage.
Essential Listening: 1993

Although his 1993 project was released in late 2011, we weren't really up on Wiki until he dropped the awesome visual for his song "Wikispeaks" earlier this year. Since then we've gotten down with Wiki and his RATKING crew to talk about how they came together and where they see themselves going.

We're already convinced Wiki is a dope rapper (that is, if you love "rappity rap") we're just waiting to see how his style will evolve as time goes on and if he can write a hit song or will settle for underground king status. We should have our answer soon enough as RATKING's EP is expected to drop later this year.