SEARCH FOR: NORTH CAROLINA

Charlotte, North Carolina singer/songwriter Jonah Ward follows up his vastly popular single “False Confidence” with a new single entitled “Currents.” With this single Jonah continues his progressive pop and left of center approach on his records. This single is an exploration of unrequited love and serves as an encouraging next step in what direction Ward’s music career will be headed. Like on “False Confidence” with “Current” Jonah wrote and produced both of these singles in his home studio during the COVID-19 lockdown. While only being 17 Jonah has been exploring a cross-section of influences to create a sound that is unique and discernable to him. If you’ve never checked out one of his Instagram lives you should. He was arguing with his parents to see if country was real music and he made a country song the next day as a joke and it sounded incredible. Witnessing things like show you have immensely talented this kid is. Stream and check out Jonah Ward’s new single “Current” for yourself below.

North Carolina’s Toosii is one the hottest rising artists in the rap and r&b space right now. Recently Toosii released visuals for his new single entitled “Back Together.” If you’re a huge r&b fan you might recognize that the sample in this record is from Kaleem Taylor’s single “Feel.” With these visuals, Toosii shows us flashbacks of more simple and blissful times of moments he spent with his significant other. This single and video is a great starting point for the rollout of Toosii’s forthcoming album ‘Thank You For Believing’ which is set to release on May 7. This should be the North Carolina crooner’s biggest drop to date from the amount of press and hype Toosii’s received in 2020 and coming into 2021. “Back Together” is a record that will have you fighting the urge to text your ex or old fling, a dangerous feeling, but makes a great premise to a lead single. Watch Toosii’s new video for “Back Together” for yourself after the break.

One of the best ways to find music is still word of mouth. One of the homies actually brought this kid 1Dada4ever to my attention and he’s actually from my backyard here in Charlotte, North Carolina. There’s so much talent littered across the state the only thing is that it can be kind of cliquey at times. I was told this kid is in a similar space as rising rapper SoFaygo. If you’re up to date on a lot of the underground rappers SoFaygo is one of the main names who people believe can make a jump to the mainstream this year. 1Dada4ever shows flashes all across his Soundcloud discography of what his potential could be, trust me I went through and listened to every single he’s put out so far. His single “Still” ended up being the record I’ve been running back the most so far mainly because of how enticing his flow over the ninetyniiine and 4am production. It’s still early and this is still really raw but 1Dada4ever might break out by the end of 2021 or early 2022. Stream 1Dada4ever’s record “Still” and see if you’re rocking with him below.

North Carolina rapper Big Mali turns heads with her standout single “Hear Me.” Mali seems to be set on gearing up to have a very special 2021 after receiving numerous honors including being one of Complex’s rappers to watch in 2021. “Hear Me” is looking as if this will be the standout record from Henderson, North Carolina’s newest project ‘All In’. During this video, Mali takes her talents and rapping to the baseball diamond, the strip club, and down your neighborhood street. This perfectly fits the sample “don’t you hear me beating down your block.” This is a switch-up compared to music videos we’re used to getting from her with the unique scenes and the intense drone transitions. With outside opening back up “Hear Me” can possibly be one of those records that takes off with DJ’s spinning it. Watch Big Mali’s knock her visuals out the park with the Kosmic Shots directed video “Hear Me” after the break.

Over the past year or two, artists have been popping up from all over the map, and many of them are starting to carve out lanes of their own even if they’re not necessarily from a classically recognized Hip-Hop or Rap hub. Places like Michigan, Florida, North Carolina, Maryland, and many others are quickly becoming new destinations for rappers to blow, and although LA, NYC, and ATL will always be recognized as the main Rap cities, they’re clearly not the only Rap cities that exist. Most recently, I was put onto rapper Kenny Muney from Memphis which is another music town that is beginning to rapidly make its way back into the spotlight that it once had so many years ago. He signed to Paper Route EMPIRE which includes names like Young Dolph and Key Glock, and he is rapidly becoming one of the faces of the labels with every new release. Earlier today, Kenny decided to drop off a brand-new single for his song “Poppin It” which was produced by Bandplay, and while the song is already amazing, the video simply makes it that much better. Opening up on a shot of Kenny fast asleep on an airport chair, …

YSB Eli is a North Carolina rapper who is having a great moment right now with his newest single and video entitled “Bacc West.” Sometimes as an artist it just takes perfect timing for things to happen for Eli he’s progressed and gotten better over the past couple of months he’s starting to reap the benefits of his hard work. There’s definitely something brewing in the water in the Carolinas as it seems to be a new crop of promising young talent stemming from the states. The only problem is that the old guard and the rap community need to do a better job at putting their arms around these kids. With this new record “Bacc West” is a short and quick banger that came from his Los Angeles sessions. There’s still a long way to go in his development but YSB Eli has seen solid progression in his sound and music in the past six months. Listen to YSB Eli’s newest offering “Bacc West” for yourself after the break.

16-year-old North Carolina rapper Tino Szn makes his first drop of 2021 with a new single entitled “Vice.” The crazy thing about this song is that it features one of the raps’ budding stars in $NOT. How this track came about is very interesting. $not actually saw Tino on his Instagram live and directed messaged the young emcee to collaborate with him. Even though it’s still early and Tino’s career he’s already worked with a couple of household names. He’s already worked with producers such as Based1 (Bad Bunny), Lukrative (Playboicarti), and Harold Harper (Lil Uzi Vert) to name a few. Being this young and having so much room to grow it should be interesting to see where 2021 takes Tino Szn. We should be looking to seeing how he expands his sound as some of his influences include Chief Keef, Young Thug, Lil Uzi Vert, and Billie Eilish. Stream Tino Szn’s new record “Vice” with $NOT below.

19-year-old, North Carolina native, Kevin Powers, brings us an uptempo new video and single entitled “Punchline”, luring in new and avid hip hop listeners with his distinctive smooth vocals that are accompanied by bouncy upbeat instrumentals. Powers tells a story about being honest about affection towards his romantic partners on this record. At first, through his catchy hook may seem like Kevin holds rather little to no affection, switching between lovers and partners. However, within the pre-hook Powers honestly speaks about how heartbreak has affected the display of affection and empathy towards his partners. “Punchline” was produced by Kevin’s longtime friend Whit Kane, who was also behind the boards on his latest hit “Walked in” which has garnered more attention to his music reaching over 350,000 streams on Spotify alone. Powers brings a youthful energy to his melodic sounds creating enticing hooks that stick to listeners and music enthusiasts alike. Watch the visuals shot by Kosmic Shots for Kevin Powers’ “Punchline” for yourself below.

North Carolina rising r&b act Quez starts off 2021 by dropping a new vibey single entitled “Weekend.” This is Quez second time landing on the Lyrical Lemonade pages, sometimes it takes artists more time and growth and the right single to land something that connects. Watching his come up over the years, it’s refreshing to watch an artist build their way up and progress in their sound. Quez is still a small act stemming from High Point, North Carolina but has worked with one of the biggest artists from the state in DJ Luke Nasty. With this track “Weekend” Quez isn’t going to blow you away with his vocal range but that isn’t what he’s trying to do. His purpose is to build a story around vivid imagery crafted around standout production that causes the listener to just sit back and enjoy. Stream Quez’s brand new single “Weekend” after the break for yourself.

Out of all the hubs for Rap music in today’s internet age, there are so many rising regions that deserve a claim at the throne. Obviously, something I’ve mentioned before is the fact that LA, NYC, and Atlanta are some of the dead giveaways for these sonic destinations, but other places like Detroit, North Carolina, and Florida are beginning to make leaps and bounds towards the spotlight. One other area that deserves much more recognition is Texas, and the talent in this state goes much further than Travis Scott and Meg the Stallion, even if they are two of the biggest names in all of music at the moment. Even so, Houston is the city taking the cake and receiving all of the recognition it seems, but Texas is a big state with even bigger personalities throughout. One of the most notable up and comers is Wacotron, a rising talent who recently signed to Pick Six Records after working fairly extensively with hitmakers like Southside and 808 Mafia. His latest single “Take Off” was an immediate showstopper that showed off many of the newcomer’s skills and talents, so when I found out that he made a brand-new music video to …