31 Artists You Need To Know About Immediately

Meet the innovative humans behind right-now’s coolest sounds.

Illustration Yael Malka
September 21, 2016

Here at The FADER, we've always prided ourselves on looking down the road. We aspire to provide you with a deeper look at the innovators whose work reflects the always-shifting music landscape. Here, we've rounded up a bunch of the artists we've put on for recently, a lot of whom were featured in our long-running GEN F section. There are some talented noisemakers here — like New Age doo-wop rapper Noname, or reckless Manhattan punk band Show Me the Body. It's an eclectic crew, but they've all got one thing in common: it's only the beginning for them.

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1. Noname
31 Artists You Need To Know About Immediately Lyndon French

Noname is a 25-year-old rapper from Chicago. She just released her first solo project, and it doesn't sound like any other hip-hop out right now. As FADER contributor Kiana Fitzgerald explained, "At its core, Telefone is a conversation between Noname and anyone looking for a thread of logic to grasp onto during maddening times." Read Noname's interview with The FADER.

2. Elysia Crampton
31 Artists You Need To Know About Immediately Daria Kobayashi Ritch

Elysia Crampton is a Bolivian-American digital composer. With an arsenal of abrasive sounds and textures, she produces epic, delirium-inducing instrumentals that mirror the messy beauty of modern life. Read Elysia Crampton's GEN F profile.

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3. Young M.A
31 Artists You Need To Know About Immediately Chris Lee

Young M.A's “OOOUUU” is a warm weather anthem. The raspy-voiced Brooklyn storyteller makes music people can relate to. Like any good New York MC, she's clever, boastful, and sometimes kind of dark. Read her interview with The FADER.

4. Show Me the Body
31 Artists You Need To Know About Immediately Max Hoell

Show Me the Body is three New York kids who strive to make music that's as hectic as their city. With Body War, an album of thorny punk songs built around harshly distorted banjo riffs, they've accomplished exactly that. Read Show Me The Body's GEN F profile.

5. Trill Youngins
31 Artists You Need To Know About Immediately Trill Youngins Entertainment

With candy-like chords and infectious hooks, this East Oakland group's songs have started spreading beyond the Bay. As The FADER's social media editor Nazuk Kochhar wrote, "Trill Youngins’s music makes you feel like you can do anything." Read Trill Youngins interview with The FADER.

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6. Lil Uzi Vert
31 Artists You Need To Know About Immediately Rachel Chandler

Lil Uzi, the Atlanta-via-Philly wavemaker with magenta-tipped dreads, just might be the first rock star of post-Obama rap. Read Lil Uzi Vert's GEN F profile.

7. Kent Jones
31 Artists You Need To Know About Immediately Sam Balaban

Kent Jones is the artist behind "Don't Mind," a multilingual, Barry White-referencing bop that was basiccally ubiquitous this summer. Now signed to DJ Khaled's We the Best imprint, the Florida singer's got a lot of summer songs left in him. We can't wait to hear them. Read an interview with Jones.

8. Mozzy
31 Artists You Need To Know About Immediately Dan Monick

Mozzy is a rapper from Sacramento. His hit song, “Bladadah,” which was named after the NorCal slang word for pistol, perfectly displays his gruff voice and nimble delivery. Read Mozzy's GEN F profile.

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9. Nao
31 Artists You Need To Know About Immediately Ronan Mckenzie

With an arresting voice and an ear for weird flourishes, Nao, a one-time backup singer from London, is finally seizing her place in spotlight. Read Nao's GEN F profile.

10. Jorja Smith
31 Artists You Need To Know About Immediately Francesca Allen

Jorja Smith is a 19-year-old British singer who writes vital, soulful pop songs about our scary world. Her songs, hinged on her gorgeous vocals and chewy inflection, often muddle grime's grit with clean-sounding melodies. Read Jorja Smith's GEN F profile.

11. Mitski
31 Artists You Need To Know About Immediately Cait Oppermann

Mitski, 25, is a singer-songwriter who lives Brooklyn. Her latest LP, Puberty 2, is an unpredictable riot, refining unruly angst into grown-up melancholia — one carefully composed rock song at a time. Read Mitski's GEN F profile.

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12. Charlotte Day Wilson
31 Artists You Need To Know About Immediately Devon Little

Charlotte Day Wilson is a velvet-voiced contralto from Toronto. She fits in with contemporary Toronto neo-soul and jazz revivalists like Daniel Caesar, but her bluesy songs feel sort of unstuck in time, too. Read Wilson's interview with The FADER.

13. Teyana Taylor
31 Artists You Need To Know About Immediately Dusdin Condren

Teyana Taylor has been popping, and she always will be. Her inspiring performance in Kanye West's "Fade" video only reaffirmed that. Read the 25-year-old singer's interview with The FADER.

14. Destra Garcia
31 Artists You Need To Know About Immediately Nigel Reid / Frame Photography

Destra Garcia earned her title as the “Queen of Bacchanal” via a string of hits, including "It's Carnival," a 2003 duet with Machel Montano that holds a place in every soca DJ’s set to this day. The Trinidadian singer's labored-over newest album, Queen, proves she's ready to cross over into straight-up pop terrain. Read Garcia's interview with The FADER.

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15. N.A.A.F.I
31 Artists You Need To Know About Immediately Rose Marie Cromwell

N.A.A.F.I is a Mexico City-based experimental electronic label. The music is eclectic, but there are remarkable throughlines: harsh textures, unscrupulous rhythms, and an interest in blending folkloric sounds with brain-breaking beats. Read N.A.A.F.I's GEN F profile.

16. Amy Becker
31 Artists You Need To Know About Immediately Vicky Grout

Amy Becker, 22, is one of London's most promising new DJs. Her sets blend grime and confrontational club music with hip-hop, dembow rhythms, Jersey club, and more. Her monthly Radar Radio show is essential. Listen to her FADER Mix.

17. A-Boogie
31 Artists You Need To Know About Immediately Sam Balaban

A-Boogie Wit Da Hoodie is a rapper from the Bronx. He goes by A-Boogie for short. In an interview with The FADER, he said he made his breakout hit, "My Shit," in 30 minutes. His wildly catchy tracks will stick with you a lot longer than that, though.

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18. Toxe
31 Artists You Need To Know About Immediately Simone Steenberg

Toxe is a Swedish teenager who makes gutsy club music. With skeletal hip-hop beats, house rhythms, and fluttering samples, her production style is tough like rubber — but sometimes playful, too. Read Toxe's GEN F profile.

19. PUP
31 Artists You Need To Know About Immediately Fracesca Allen

PUP are four Toronto friends who turn the bleakness of adult life into catchy, hopelessly quotable pop-punk. Read PUP's GEN F profile.

20. AJ Tracey
31 Artists You Need To Know About Immediately Vicky Grout

AJ Tracey is a West London grime MC. His flow is fast and versatile, and his lyrics are witty and jam-packed with references to everything from Lindsay Lohan to Dragon Ball Z characters. Read about some of AJ Tracey's best songs.

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21. Tomasa Del Real
31 Artists You Need To Know About Immediately Rod Photography

Tomasa Del Real is the 29-year-old Chilean hit-maker who records loud, vulgar reggaetón tracks. Her lyrics often subvert the genre's traditional machismo. Read Tomasa Del Real's interview with The FADER.

22. Angel Olsen
31 Artists You Need To Know About Immediately Colby Katz

Angel Olsen's not a new artist by any means, but she's definitely having a moment. On her ambitious third full-length, the North Carolina songwriter takes her folksy sound to a brighter, more pop-leaning place — while still letting her country-rock roots show. Read her long, honest conversation with The FADER.

23. Novelist
31 Artists You Need To Know About Immediately Maya Fuhr

Already a fixture at raves and on radio broadcasts, Novelist has produced and rapped on some of the most rugged, essential grime cuts of the past few years. He's also only 19. Read Novelist's GEN F profile.

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24. PnB Rock
31 Artists You Need To Know About Immediately Ike Edeani

PnB Rock is a singer whose voice rockets away from instrumentals on a trip of its own. Whether he’s telling love stories or tales of his time of the block, his lyrics are similarly brash. Read PnB Rock's GEN F profile.

25. Lydia Loveless
31 Artists You Need To Know About Immediately Caroline Tompkins

Lydia Loveless injects country music with an iconoclastic attitude. Her latest album, Real, is like a honky-tonk punk record, full of raw emotions and Replacements-esque hooks. Read Lydia Loveless's GEN F profile.

26. serpentwithfeet
31 Artists You Need To Know About Immediately Thomas McCarty

The artist known as serpenetwithfeet makes rich, unconventionally structured gospel music. His debut EP, blisters, sees the angel-voiced songwriter working with Björk collaborator Haxan Cloak. Read serpentwithfeet's GEN F profile.

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27. LVL UP
31 Artists You Need To Know About Immediately Shawn Brackill

LVL UP are a Brooklyn band that make heartfelt guitar records full of enigmatic, Built To Spill-style poetry. Mike and Dave and Nick all write songs separately, but their individual narratives collide in the most harmonious way. Read LVL UP's interview with The FADER.

28. Jamila Woods
31 Artists You Need To Know About Immediately Matthew Avignone

Jamila Woods is a Chicago-based do-it-all who writes freedom songs for girls. Her best art is patchwork; she pieces tracks together like they're soulful puzzles. Read Jamila's GEN F profile.

29. Section Boyz
31 Artists You Need To Know About Immediately Francesca Allen

Section Boys are a South London collective who bridge the gap between U.K. rap and straight-up grime. They count Drake and Skepta as fans, but they know good vibes are more important than any co-sign. Read Section Boyz's GEN F profile.

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30. Daniel Caesar
31 Artists You Need To Know About Immediately Buruk Early

Daniel Caeser is a soul songwriter from Toronto. He writes dreamy, stripped-down ballads that will, more than likely, melt your heart. Read his GEN F profile.

31. Kablam
31 Artists You Need To Know About Immediately MÄRTA THISNER

Swedish producer Kajsa Blom, 28, DJs and releases music as Kablam. She threads dislodged vocal samples through hardstyle kicks, reggaeton snares, and baile funk to soundtrack personal and political frustrations. Read Kablam's GEN F profile.

31 Artists You Need To Know About Immediately