Nothing makes Milwaukee feel like a far bigger city than it actually is than its enormous reserve of rappers. While the city’s rap scene has always been crowded, this year it was more visible than ever, too, as a litany of ascending stars on the city’s North Side continued to do monster numbers online, building an audience beyond the city.
Lots of those bigger names are represented on this list of the year's best Milwaukee rap, alongside just as many indie and underground rappers who would probably be thrilled to log even just a couple hundred streams of their latest project. That's alright. This list isn't about judging music based on numbers, and just because some rap doesn’t scale doesn’t mean it isn’t great.
Before we get into it, some disclaimers for the sake of my mentions: Yes, I forgot to include [your personal favorite and/or the track you’re promoting]. Yes, I did include a Coo Coo Cal track on here—you need that song in your life. No, I have no idea how TeeGlazedIt was able to film this many videos. And, yes, there’s an awful lot of Gwapo Chapo on this list. Gwapo Chapo had a truffle-hound-like gift for sniffing out the city’s hottest tracks this year. Ditto Lil Chicken, Lil Axion, Solowke, Velle Vell and WeUpNexxt. Those guys all had undeniable years.
And most importantly, don’t get too hung up on the rankings. There are some absolutely brilliant tracks in the 30s and 40s. The point of this list isn’t to rank apples and oranges, but rather to illustrate how vast and varied Milwaukee's rap scene is right now. If this list seems a little manic in the way that it jumps from one wildly different style to the next, well, that’s kind of the glory of it.
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1. Lil Chicken – “Story of My Life”
2. IshDARR – “Slow Down”
3. Looney Babie x Gwapo Chapo – “All Racks”
4. WebsterX – “Feels”
5. Lil Axion – “Don’t Stop 8”
6. Velle Vell x Gwapo Chapo x WeUpNexxt Fresh – “They Be Like”
7. Shle Berry – “Sugar Free”
8. Solowke – “All Da Smoke”
9. Marratedr – “FLEXXX***”
10. Lil Chicken x WeUpNexxt Fresh – “Back 2 Back”
11. TeeGlazedIt ft. Seemingly Every Damn Rapper in the City – “No Hook”
12. MT – “Thinking Out Loud”
13. LeanBeatz ft. Kane x Munch Lauren – “Tester”
14. Kaylee Crossfire and Kia Rap Princess – “Right Now”
15. Lorde Fredd33 – “Bel Biv Devotion”
16. Lil Axion ft. Gwapo Chapo – “Close Dat Door”
17. Mari Boy Mula Mar – “No Hook”
18. Velle Vell – “Bounce Out”
19. Coo Coo Cal – “Home”
20. Q The Sun ft. Kane – “Wide Awake”
21. Von Alexander – “Paradise”
22. Lil Chicken – “Make ‘Em Say Ugh”
23. SHAAM ft. CREEPTHE7 – “Blurry”
24. Gwapo Chapo x Looney Babie – “Extortion”
25. Mic Kellogg – “Last”
26. Vincent VanGREAT x Dana Coppa x Yo-Dot – “Matlock”
27. Munch Lauren – “Cash Cow”
28. Genesis Renji ft. Domi Lee – “Roll Up”
29. BoodahDARR – “Transylvania”
30. IshDARR - “Critical”
31. YPN Rex – “Clarity”
32. McGuire Is God – “Passionate”
33. Reggie Bonds – "I’m The Man”
34. Dom' McNeal – “Lake Drive”
35. Lil Axion – “Ain't Safe”
36. Velle Vell x Ruddy Bando – “Westside”
37. WebsterX – “No End”
38. Shontrail Scott – “Walls”
39. CAMB ft. Tyso SPRME – “Prosper”
40. King Ameas ft. Sharrod Sloans and Rich P. – “Chill n’ Drank”
41. Nile – “$pace Cadet”
42. Lorde Fredd33 x Zed Kenzo - "True Indeed"
43. Marratedr – “DEAD***”
44. El-Shareef – “Fully Loaded”
45. Kia Rap Princess – “Low Key”
46. Kane – “Watch Out”
47. Jigg – “No Hook”
48. Tyso SPRME – “O.G.”
49. MT ft. Solowke – “Be Without You”
50. Gwapo Chapo – “Watchamacallit”
