1. Aminé

You may know him from his hot song "Caroline", but he has so many more songs to offer! He released a small album this year titled ONEPOINTFIVE, which contains 34 minutes of hip-hop beauty. He does a great job of showing his different sides of his personality through his honest raps throughout the album. The song, "DR.WHOEVER", goes into his struggle with depression.

Not only that, but his first album, Good For You, contains a great song for every mood. It even contains great features by Kehlani and Ty Dolla Sign. He is doing something in hip-hop that can be seen as revolutionary. He is showing honesty throughout his songs and proving that anyone can suffer from mental illness. Listening to both these albums is highly recommended and you can find a song for any mood.

2. Saba

Another artist that shows a lot of honesty throughout his music. His most recent album, Care for Me, dives deep into the struggles he had growing up in a city like Chicago. He features another Chicago native, Chance the Rapper, in "LOGOUT", when he discusses the struggles of our generation addicted to social media.

He also has a much longer first album titled Bucket List Project containing a lot more chill and relaxing songs, such as "Photosynthesis". You can hear Saba's conflict with his life and the way things are setup in society as he explains his thoughts. I would recommend this artist for someone who is interested in sad rap and having their feelings brought out through music.

3. Noname

Noname keeps her real name hidden in order to keep her audience focused on her music, rather than her name. She is a young female rapper who seems to be forgotten because of her melodic and cute raps. She just recently released an album titled Room 25 in which she explains how heartbreak felt for her. In her previous project, Telefone, she included a lot of features and created a safe sounding album. It always makes me feel calm and content, which is why it will be a go to album during the springtime for me.

4. Smino

Smino has raps that just make you want to dance. He makes really groovy upbeat songs that can be the background for any party or get together. A lot of his songs flow together well and you don't even realize that you've gone through the whole album. His most recent album, NOIR, includes many different forms of his voice throughout. His music does a great job of uplifting me and putting me in a good mood.

5. Jaden Smith

As the son of Will Smith, this 20 year old rapper gets forgotten about most of the time. He has released 4 albums since 2016 and has even created his own record label called MSFTSrep. One of his best songs, in my opinion, was released just recently on his new album, The Sunset Tapes. This album encases one of my favorite songs of the year "Yeah Yeah." I could literally have this song on repeat all day. I highly recommend giving Jaden Smith a listen!