@Mantas Drinkus

Discover new music from artists we think you'll like. Refreshed every Friday.

Druggy, raw, slick and surreal, Future’s singular sound helped to redefine 2010s street rap as something strange and almost avant-garde. Imagine trap as modern psychedelia, though still naggingly melodic. Future has a way of bending his voice into soulful, often sad shapes that are half-rapped and half-sung—epitomised by his 2017 blockbuster “Mask Off”. His unwavering self-assurance continues to define his work as he settles into middle age. Rather than mellowing with the years, he remains outspoken and unapologetic about his rock-star lifestyle and chemical excesses, as heard on 2022’s “WAIT FOR YOU” alongside Drake and Tems, and 2024’s addled “Like That” with Kendrick Lamar and Metro Boomin. Showing unusual staying power across the shifting sands of smaller trends and wider eras alike, Future has lost none of his heavyweight status in the years since his groggy, grandiose breakthrough—whether he’s casually dropping labyrinthine mixtapes or commanding superstar cameos.

Brooklyn’s Shawn “JAY-Z” Carter had already been a well-charting rapper for a few years when he levelled up with his 1998 breakthrough, the <i>Annie</i>-sampling “Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)”. But that sizeable hit allowed the former drug dealer to fully graduate “from grams to Grammys”—as he later rapped—and make a convincing case for being the world’s greatest MC. While early hits like 2000’s “Big Pimpin’” leaned hard into that street cred, by the following year he had perfected his self-mythologised image as an unbeatable rapper turned cigar-puffing mogul with “Izzo (H.O.V.A.)” and its culture-shifting source album <i>The Blueprint</i>. Carter’s dream combination of lyrical dexterity, commercial polish, unshakeable swagger and artistic risk-taking came through in repeat collabs with rising producers like Kanye West and Just Blaze, not to mention such industry mainstays as Timbaland on “Dirt off Your Shoulder” and Rick Rubin on “99 Problems”, both from 2004. With 2009’s Alicia Keys teamup “Empire State of Mind”, Carter proved that he could command a pop smash while retaining his hip-hop bona fides and shrugging off multiple would-be retirements. He continued to work with West even after the latter had become a rapper and household name in his own right, leading to multiple hits like 2011’s “Ni**as in Paris” and “Otis”. Even once Carter slowed down in the years since 2013’s Justin Timberlake collab “Holy Grail”, he has remained a very visible public supporter of his wife Beyoncé and a permanent fixture on rap’s Mount Rushmore.

From the sleek, clubby Neptunes tracks that fuelled Clipse's run of radio hits to the fractured, experimental Kanye West beats on his solo records for G.O.O.D. Music, Pusha T has always been backed by visionary producers. His razor-sharp wordplay and cynical tales of the drug trade is what made King Push such a favourite of hitmakers and underground heads alike. Whether paired with his brother Malice in Clipse or surrounded by superstars, Pusha T's emphatic delivery and dark sense of humour make him stand out.

Detroit rapper Big Sean began writing poetry as a kid and was selling his own CDs by high school. His break came in 2005 when he freestyled for Kanye West in a radio station parking lot—an encounter that led to a deal with West’s GOOD Music label. After a trio of mixtapes, Sean debuted in 2011 with <i>Finally Famous</i>, an album that balanced wit (“My Last”), introspection and swagger (“Dance [A$$]”). He quickly became one of the most versatile rappers of the 2010s, and has continued to deliver bangers (“Blessings”) and heartbreak ballads (“Beware”) ever since. He’s also the consummate collaborator, not just on his own albums (“Deep Reverence [feat. Nipsey Hussle]” and “Body Language [feat. Ty Dolla $ign and Jhené Aiko]” from the guest-packed <i>Detroit 2</i>) but also on joint full-length projects with Jhené Aiko (2016’s <i>TWENTY88</i>) and Metro Boomin (2017’s <i>Double Or Nothing</i>).

Since his debut, Kid Cudi has treated his career like a Jungle Gym. The Ohio-raised, New York-based rapper playfully explored the fusion of hip-hop and indie on his infectious breakthrough single “Day ’n’ Nite” and 2010’s drowsy, indelible “Pursuit of Happiness” with MGMT and Ratatat. His sudden fame saw him go toe to toe with his G.O.O.D. Music boss Kanye West (“Erase Me”), King Chip (“Just What I Am”), Pharrell Williams (“Surfin’”) and Travis Scott (“THE SCOTTS”) in the decade that followed, while also completing an ambitious trilogy with his psychedelic <i>Man on the Moon</i> albums. For Cudi, creation is ultimately about unlocking access to a higher power, and he turned trap beats into another means for transcendence on 2024’s harder-edged outing <i>INSANO</i>. Observe the haunted self-reflections of “TORTURED” and the low-slung swagger of the A$AP Rocky-assisted “WOW”. Maintaining a free-wheeling sense of creativity across his many multimedia pursuits, he still feels like an outsider made good.