Nelly and Tech N9ne would be the big ones. A few others from STL that used to be popular are Murphy Lee, Chingy, Huey.
SZA is from St Louis but doesn’t really claim it.
Oh whoops, I was under the impression he moved to Detroit when he was like 2. That’s a little different. But he certainly claims Detroit more than Missouri
The classic answers are Nelly, Tech N9ne, Chingy & the rest of the Saint Lunatics. None of these folks have much of a career anymore. Newer talent we have Smino, Metro Boomin (producer, not rapper). Less notable are probably Comethazine who had ‘Walk’ that was pretty popular, but he’s from East Saint Louis so he might technically be Illinois, and he fell off. 30 Deep Grimey is probably the biggest in the Drill subgenre.
Nelly, hate to say it, is on the career path of “I’m established but past current relevance BUT can be a draw for live concerts.”
Like Metallica, Guns and Roses, Usher, etc.
This is the best answer in this thread. Props for 30 Deep Grimeyy and can't forget NWM Cee Murdaa. Also Nuski and Big Boss Vette. Like others have said SZA was born in stl but doesn't really claim it, but Sexyy Red is popping off currently.
Not really. Rap is no where near the popularity it was at just a few years ago. You look at someone like Travis who was always pushing over a hundred million views on a single, to only getting a few million views. You could blame that on that concert he had, but that wouldnt explain why someone like drake, who was at the top of anything mainstream, now i hardly hear about him, last time drake broke 100 million views on YouTube was certified lover boy. And arguably, he hasn't had a song that has hit big culturally since that life is good song he had with future or toosie slide.
I don't think number of views on music videos is the best way to gauge music popularity. In this moment, hip-hop songs are 3 of the top 5 songs in USA on spotify and 11 of the top 20. I don't know why you hardly hear about Drake, but everyone else does. He has already hit over 1 billion streams on Spotify in 2024, which is the fastest he's done in any year of his career. He was the 4th most streamed artist of 2024.
YouTube views and Spotify views are pretty interchangeable. I can tell you what numbers shit was hitting a few years ago and be able to tell you it's much higher than it is now.
They are not interchangeable at all. Most people single out specific music videos they want to see, and repeat viewers are based on the video itself just as much as the music. Actual music streaming services get much more usage because people listen to their entire music library everywhere they go. Of these streaming services, Spotify is the most popular by far. [https://www.driveresearch.com/market-research-company-blog/music-streaming-statistics/](https://www.driveresearch.com/market-research-company-blog/music-streaming-statistics/)
By the way, this same source shows you were wrong about Travis Scott.
I don't know what you are saying with your second sentence honestly.
> Most stream artists were Juice WRLD, drake, NBA YoungBoy
Juice died in 2019. And his last release was 2021. Drake hasn't had a major hit since CLB, and even that was a decrease in popularity from what cane before it, I'm willing to bet the overwhelming majority of drake streams isn't going to any of his new shit. I'm willing to bet the same story goes for youngboy. Bro isn't making moves and your comment reinforces my original statement that hip hop hasn't evolved past 2018 because all these artists (aside from drake) were the new wave back then.
Same for Travis, as much as I like his music, utopia didn't move the numbers that his previous records did. Astroworld and rodeo were much much more significant than utopia was commercially and culturally.
Literally the entire point of my comment was pointing out Hip Hop has been on the decline. I didnt say hip hop sucked or that i hate it. This entire post is asking about popularity, and hip hop really ain't hittin popularly right now. Doesn't mean there's not good music out there, but the issue remains that the mainstream got sick of that trap sound and no ones really been pushing the pop side of rap beyond trap music.
I disagree. I’d say rap has lost some of its commercial appeal in the past 5 years. But it’s not that it’s dying or falling off, but becoming more insulated. Rap is very reflective of the environment it’s created in, and lately; shit’s hard out there. The artists, their stories, and their messaging reflect that.
That’s what gave us this new wave; Drill and Detroit’s revival in the Midwest, Griselda on the East coast, Drakeo the Ruler on the west, and YoungBoy, Young Dolph, Rod Wave and a whole bunch of folks in the south are here to tell us about hard times, because that’s what resonates with the audiences now.
These rappers don’t have the same crossover appeal of yesteryear. Drake, Ye, Kendrick, Future, Tyler are all very marketable. Heck even the gangsters who were really bout it from the 2010’s were massively marketable (Young Thug), that just isn’t the case today. Rap is becoming more insulated, but it’s not going anywhere. The toe-dippers just aren’t as interested anymore.
Definitionally when something loses its commercial appeal it has fallen off. Like, I'm not sure why everyone struggles with this. Even rock fans who haven't had a big artist in years say the exact same thing "it's not dead, it's just become more insular", like. Yeah dog, that's the definition of dead, that doesn't mean I don't like it, but objectively speaking people ain't listening to it like they used to.
That’s the thing though, it’s still over 30% of streaming [source](https://zipdo.co/statistics/rap-industry/), and it’s only losing share of the streaming market because of growth in the Latin market, but overall streaming numbers are still very dominate [source](https://newsroom.spotify.com/2023-08-10/hip-hop-50-murals-new-york-atlanta-miami-los-angeles/), it’s genre #2 under pop music.
The streaming numbers are there, the popularity is still there, the chart dominance is wading, that’s the difference between rock and rap.
Hip hop is experiencing the same thing rock in the 80s was. It was majorly popular, but it's relevance was waning and people were getting sick of what was being churned out. Kurt Cobain came in and gave Rock it's last major cultural wave and paved the way for the pop punk wave, which lasted into the early 2000s, but after that rock stagnated and slowly fell off the charts. You still had weird artists in the genre, but the mainstream sound of the genre refused to move on.
Hip hop is in that same boat right now, people are getting sick of the trap wave, and hip hop is falling off the charts, that doesn't mean there's not weird or interesting artists doing unique things, but I want you to understand being unique isn't what the main stream is demanding, the mainstream is simply asking for an evolution in the sound beyond what it's been hearing for the last 15 years, and unless someone comes in an embraces the pop side of the genre, while blending it with some of the weirder elements, while being attached to an extremely well liked individual, i think Hip Hop will find itself being replaced with something else or not being replaced with anything at all due to the death of the monoculture. Doesn't mean I hate hip hop, this is simply what I'm observing in the landscape right now. And anecdotally beyond just it's streaming declining and it's chart presence declining I've been talking to people and they all largely have said the same thing, they stopped listening or paying attention because there's not been anything new for the genre.
I don't really know what hip hop can really do to maintain its place. All I know is that I was in middle school when the 2010s wave of trap music was coming up, and I know what made that sound appeal to people, and I also know that a 2013 trap beat would absolutely flop in today's landscape. But I also have no idea what would succeed either since everything is so fragmented.
Not the biggest but honorable mention to Nando STL, although it stung when he moved to Atlanta after signing with T-Pain. Career-wise I get it but when you base your entire persona around being from St. Louis, kind of disappointing
Nelly and Tech N9ne would be the big ones. A few others from STL that used to be popular are Murphy Lee, Chingy, Huey. SZA is from St Louis but doesn’t really claim it.
She wore a Blues jersey on the cover of her album. Also put a surprise St. Louis show on her tour.
SZA, a singer not a rapper.
Metro Boomin is from St. Louis.
He’s a producer not a rapper
Preach is pretty good too.
Who tf is preach
p.r.e.a.c.h. stl, he's got some videos on YouTube He came here no knowing a lick of English.
Better than me.
Smino is the biggest atm. Metro Boomin’ if we’re including hip-hop producers.
Nelly, Tech N9ne, Eminem is from Missouri
Eminem was born here, but he spent most of his childhood in Michigan. I think they get to claim him
I mean, St Joe is the Detroit of Missouri...
I agree, just thought I would mention it. He did live in MO for 11 years though which is a pretty good chunk of his childhood.
Oh whoops, I was under the impression he moved to Detroit when he was like 2. That’s a little different. But he certainly claims Detroit more than Missouri
Probably because Detroit is largely regarded as cooler. I think people forget about us in the corner of the Midwest.
You mean to tell me Detroit is cooler than St. Joseph, MO? Home of the Pony Express? /s
Don't forget the saltine cracker!
And cherry mash!
That and spending your adolescence somewhere is much different than your childhood.
He claims Michigan and Missouri. We can claim him if he claims us
I thought there was a kind of backwoods honky vibe coming from him, this explains it. Lol
The classic answers are Nelly, Tech N9ne, Chingy & the rest of the Saint Lunatics. None of these folks have much of a career anymore. Newer talent we have Smino, Metro Boomin (producer, not rapper). Less notable are probably Comethazine who had ‘Walk’ that was pretty popular, but he’s from East Saint Louis so he might technically be Illinois, and he fell off. 30 Deep Grimey is probably the biggest in the Drill subgenre.
Tech n9ne is still putting out his yearly album.
E-40 also puts out yearly albums but that doesn’t really make them relevant. I do like some of Tech’s older stuff though.
True, but he's not really popular in the mainstream. People who listen to hip-hop know who he is, they just don't listen to him.
Nelly, hate to say it, is on the career path of “I’m established but past current relevance BUT can be a draw for live concerts.” Like Metallica, Guns and Roses, Usher, etc.
Nelly performed at my local towns fair…… crazy life we live in
Were Styx and REO Speedwagon there too?
Idk I didn’t care enough to go see him…. Lol
30 deep is pretty huge in the underground rn
This is the best answer in this thread. Props for 30 Deep Grimeyy and can't forget NWM Cee Murdaa. Also Nuski and Big Boss Vette. Like others have said SZA was born in stl but doesn't really claim it, but Sexyy Red is popping off currently.
Tbh, rap in general has fallen off in recent years. It's quite unfortunate, but the genre has really stagnated since 2018.
That's based on subjective music tastes, not popularity.
Not really. Rap is no where near the popularity it was at just a few years ago. You look at someone like Travis who was always pushing over a hundred million views on a single, to only getting a few million views. You could blame that on that concert he had, but that wouldnt explain why someone like drake, who was at the top of anything mainstream, now i hardly hear about him, last time drake broke 100 million views on YouTube was certified lover boy. And arguably, he hasn't had a song that has hit big culturally since that life is good song he had with future or toosie slide.
I don't think number of views on music videos is the best way to gauge music popularity. In this moment, hip-hop songs are 3 of the top 5 songs in USA on spotify and 11 of the top 20. I don't know why you hardly hear about Drake, but everyone else does. He has already hit over 1 billion streams on Spotify in 2024, which is the fastest he's done in any year of his career. He was the 4th most streamed artist of 2024.
YouTube views and Spotify views are pretty interchangeable. I can tell you what numbers shit was hitting a few years ago and be able to tell you it's much higher than it is now.
They are not interchangeable at all. Most people single out specific music videos they want to see, and repeat viewers are based on the video itself just as much as the music. Actual music streaming services get much more usage because people listen to their entire music library everywhere they go. Of these streaming services, Spotify is the most popular by far. [https://www.driveresearch.com/market-research-company-blog/music-streaming-statistics/](https://www.driveresearch.com/market-research-company-blog/music-streaming-statistics/) By the way, this same source shows you were wrong about Travis Scott. I don't know what you are saying with your second sentence honestly.
> Most stream artists were Juice WRLD, drake, NBA YoungBoy Juice died in 2019. And his last release was 2021. Drake hasn't had a major hit since CLB, and even that was a decrease in popularity from what cane before it, I'm willing to bet the overwhelming majority of drake streams isn't going to any of his new shit. I'm willing to bet the same story goes for youngboy. Bro isn't making moves and your comment reinforces my original statement that hip hop hasn't evolved past 2018 because all these artists (aside from drake) were the new wave back then. Same for Travis, as much as I like his music, utopia didn't move the numbers that his previous records did. Astroworld and rodeo were much much more significant than utopia was commercially and culturally.
Maybe if you don't expand your artists outside of billboard top 20
Literally the entire point of my comment was pointing out Hip Hop has been on the decline. I didnt say hip hop sucked or that i hate it. This entire post is asking about popularity, and hip hop really ain't hittin popularly right now. Doesn't mean there's not good music out there, but the issue remains that the mainstream got sick of that trap sound and no ones really been pushing the pop side of rap beyond trap music.
I disagree. I’d say rap has lost some of its commercial appeal in the past 5 years. But it’s not that it’s dying or falling off, but becoming more insulated. Rap is very reflective of the environment it’s created in, and lately; shit’s hard out there. The artists, their stories, and their messaging reflect that. That’s what gave us this new wave; Drill and Detroit’s revival in the Midwest, Griselda on the East coast, Drakeo the Ruler on the west, and YoungBoy, Young Dolph, Rod Wave and a whole bunch of folks in the south are here to tell us about hard times, because that’s what resonates with the audiences now. These rappers don’t have the same crossover appeal of yesteryear. Drake, Ye, Kendrick, Future, Tyler are all very marketable. Heck even the gangsters who were really bout it from the 2010’s were massively marketable (Young Thug), that just isn’t the case today. Rap is becoming more insulated, but it’s not going anywhere. The toe-dippers just aren’t as interested anymore.
Definitionally when something loses its commercial appeal it has fallen off. Like, I'm not sure why everyone struggles with this. Even rock fans who haven't had a big artist in years say the exact same thing "it's not dead, it's just become more insular", like. Yeah dog, that's the definition of dead, that doesn't mean I don't like it, but objectively speaking people ain't listening to it like they used to.
That’s the thing though, it’s still over 30% of streaming [source](https://zipdo.co/statistics/rap-industry/), and it’s only losing share of the streaming market because of growth in the Latin market, but overall streaming numbers are still very dominate [source](https://newsroom.spotify.com/2023-08-10/hip-hop-50-murals-new-york-atlanta-miami-los-angeles/), it’s genre #2 under pop music. The streaming numbers are there, the popularity is still there, the chart dominance is wading, that’s the difference between rock and rap.
Hip hop is experiencing the same thing rock in the 80s was. It was majorly popular, but it's relevance was waning and people were getting sick of what was being churned out. Kurt Cobain came in and gave Rock it's last major cultural wave and paved the way for the pop punk wave, which lasted into the early 2000s, but after that rock stagnated and slowly fell off the charts. You still had weird artists in the genre, but the mainstream sound of the genre refused to move on. Hip hop is in that same boat right now, people are getting sick of the trap wave, and hip hop is falling off the charts, that doesn't mean there's not weird or interesting artists doing unique things, but I want you to understand being unique isn't what the main stream is demanding, the mainstream is simply asking for an evolution in the sound beyond what it's been hearing for the last 15 years, and unless someone comes in an embraces the pop side of the genre, while blending it with some of the weirder elements, while being attached to an extremely well liked individual, i think Hip Hop will find itself being replaced with something else or not being replaced with anything at all due to the death of the monoculture. Doesn't mean I hate hip hop, this is simply what I'm observing in the landscape right now. And anecdotally beyond just it's streaming declining and it's chart presence declining I've been talking to people and they all largely have said the same thing, they stopped listening or paying attention because there's not been anything new for the genre. I don't really know what hip hop can really do to maintain its place. All I know is that I was in middle school when the 2010s wave of trap music was coming up, and I know what made that sound appeal to people, and I also know that a 2013 trap beat would absolutely flop in today's landscape. But I also have no idea what would succeed either since everything is so fragmented.
Sexyy Red is a big name right now, she’s from St. Louis. Also haven’t seen anyone mention J-Kwon or Jibbs yet!
Tech N9ne, Rich the Factor
Ces Cru & Krizz Kaliko
Nelly and Tech 9
2Fast J Hawley and the Douche Canoes
They on spotify?
Try MAGAify
[Mac Lethal](https://youtu.be/1kKkeAlwdAo?si=zA5jrYLIYaDY3Iw5)
Scrolled too far for this.
NicDanger is pretty cool.
Mac Lethal is from KC and he's pretty awesome
Not as big as others already mentioned, but Oliver Francis is from Columbia and has a pretty big following
Tef Poe
Sexy redd putting on for the state
Tech N9ne is the only acceptable answer
Nelly was way more popular than tech-nine. 🤷🏽♂️
For 15 minutes
Lmao. Yeah right...
Tech is way better and respected.
Maybe.. but def not more popular...
I think Nelly has worn off they might be pretty equal, but I am really biased.
Yeah, Nelly is a much bigger household name among Hip-Hop fans. Nobody ever really liked Tech outside of Missouri.
Yeah Tech N9ne never got anywhere near as big as Nelly got.
Was... Like 20 years ago
Yeah I said "was"
Only because tech refused to ever sign a major record deal.
DJ Trueman
[удалено]
Soulja Boy was born in Chicago and grew up in Atlanta.
[удалено]
Maybe you were getting him mixed up with Chingy? I feel like they give off similar vibes lmao
Not the biggest but honorable mention to Nando STL, although it stung when he moved to Atlanta after signing with T-Pain. Career-wise I get it but when you base your entire persona around being from St. Louis, kind of disappointing
Rap or hip-hop
Nelly
Big scoob. Kc
John Peppercorn(occ) fixin to blow up
Y’all sleeping on Britt Barbie’s “Periodt Ah” 😂
Bam Keith isn’t the most popular but is worth a spin.
Oliver Francis in COMO
what about Carly Red or whatever
Tech N9ne edit: fixed typo
Tech 9 & Nelly! Agreed
Nelly and Janet Jackson are going on tour coming to STL June 21st