February 12th of this year, Chance The Rapper won the Best New Artist at the Grammys alongside his second Grammy for Best Rap Album, and third for Best Rap Performance. In his acceptance speech for the Best New Artist, he talked about why it was so important for him to remain an independent artist and thanked those who had done it before him. But the real moment came when he thanked SoundCloud for "always holding him down", where other artists must thank their record company he was able to thank the website that got him started.

SoundCloud is the world's leading sound platform where anyone can listen to music or podcasts and are also free to make their own and share them virtually everywhere. This makes it easy for anyone to record and upload sounds to the site and either keep them private or share them with others. Artists are also able to interact easily with their fans through comments and promoting their work on multiple other platforms. Being a listener is easier than ever, you are able to find new music and share it with friends, family, and artists alike. You are able to save your favorite artists, songs, and playlists to your profile for convenient listening. They even put a personal touch to listening, after the site (or app if you're using another device) has gotten to know you through your likes and saved music it will surprise you and offer you music you haven't found yourself. This site is most importantly a place where you can follow upcoming artists before the mainstream media finds them. Maybe even get some bragging rights when your favorite artist gets his/her big break.

Chance The Rapper was the first artist to ever win a Grammy without selling any physical albums. Chance The Rapper didn't sell much of his music at all before winning the Best Rap Album Grammy. The rapper who is notorious for being unsigned to any record deal was also the first to be nominated without such deal. He drops all his music online for free so all his fans have equal access to it. Previously the board for the Grammy award would not consider albums that were strictly released on streaming services such as Soundcloud, Apple Music, or Spotify, but this year the board loosened their rules to include Chance and his gospel and hip hop mixtape Coloring Book. Despite being the only artist to win a Grammy in such conditions it also makes it more astounding when you look at who he was up against including Kanye West’s The Life of Pablo, Drake’s Views, and DJ Khaled’s Major Key. All albums which were heavily backed and marketed by the music industry and record labels.

If you follow New York rap you know the magic behind it. Once you drop a hot single it's like the whole city is behind you, take Bobby Shmurda and Hot Nigga for example. It was like once that song was discovered he got big and fast. Well that was exactly what happened to Soundcloud rapper... A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie. The rapper who is signed with the Highbridge the Label is one of the biggest names this summer. So big in fact that XXL just named him one of the class of 2017 hottest freshman. When A Boogie dropped his mixtape Artist on Soundcloud he exploded, he was literally everywhere. You could hear his song class of 2017 hottest freshman. When A Boogie dropped his mixtape Artist on Soundcloud he exploded, he was literally everywhere. You could hear his song Still Think About You no matter where you went. Then came Jungle and Friend Zone and by then everyone wanted to listen to A Boogie. At first like Chance the Rapper he was someone who you could only find on Soundcloud but slowly he has begun selling his music. Highbridge the Label, which is only made up of four artists including A Boogie and Don Q, another SoundCloud rapper, is one of the up and coming record labels to watch out for in the near future.

It's very easy to look at someone who's made it off SoundCloud and went big like Chance or A Boogie but there are still a lot of "underground" rappers on SoundCloud struggling to make it. Take Bronx rapper Yung Fly for example. Yung Fly rapped and recorded his first official song eight years ago when he was just 12 and from then on out he's been writing and recording his own music. Inspired mostly by Drake and Kanye, Yung Fly is interested in making music from every type of genre like the two that inspire him. With his musical talents, he hopes to branch out and try to blur the lines between rap and other genres. Being that Yung Fly hasn't made it mainstream he doesn't have any "standout hits" but local fans of his say Gone For The Winter Ft. Qua Snipes may be the one that gets him in the spotlight. This song is on the Summer Sixteen mixtape which he worked on back home and also while he was away at school. Being away at school also helped him open a few more doors as an artist, he was able to meet other artists like Qua Snipes, Billy Racks, and others who shared the same passion as him as well as get his music to other areas. Of course just getting his music out there isn't the main goal. His main goal is to break records that have already been set, introduce a new and completely different sound to the music industry while still making his music relatable and making a profit, of course, is the main goal because who wants to work for free. But putting aside his main goals Yung Fly is working on releasing his most anticipated mixtape yet, KiTOTHECITY, (pictured in this articles cover). This mixtape features KiTOTHECITY and Balled It. Both of which he prereleased for fans on the Syracuse radio station WAER: Kicking It With DJ A.O.

But in order to make this all possible he has to beat the biggest obstacle in his way, the stigma of SoundCloud rappers. When an undiscovered artist tells someone "hey I rap, go check out my SoundCloud" people automatically assume that you're just like everyone else trying to rap but actually just sounding bad. Being from New York, Yung Fly said: "It's almost like 3 out of every 5 people you meet is going to portray themselves as a rapper, who may or may not even be that good but its the land of the 'hype beast' so go on thinking they're good." Yung Fly brands himself on simply sounding like himself and no one else. He raps the way he thinks the mood of the song calls for and goes upon that. It's a constant struggle for such a unique artist to be found because they don't sound like what is popular right now. Despite all the recent breakthroughs with Chance the Rapper and A Boogie, producers still very hesitant to give SoundCloud rappers a chance