Hip Hop is widely considered to be the most influential genre of music for decades. It is comparatively newer, but going by the massive increase in the rap genre’s popularity, we can safely say that it is here to stay.
As time proceeds, the popular styles of rap and rappers begin to transition into something new. In the late 20th century, boom-bap, and gangster rap were huge. By the early 2000s, more and more conscious rappers came onto the rap scene and garnered huge popularity and acclaim.
In the current decade, trap music and mumble rap rules the culture. Unlike other previous styles, though, many rappers and fans feel that the new wave of hip hop is easy to mimic and repetitive. We disagree, though. There are only a few best rappers right now that have perfected the art of trap music.
Other styles are prevalent too currently, but not that much. Today, after listening to the hip hop community and analyzing the receipts, we will be listing the Best rappers in 2020.
Disclaimer: This list only covers artists that are up and coming in 2020. You can also check out our picks for the best rappers of all time here.
So, without further ado, let’s get to it.
Top Hottest Rappers 2020
Roddy Rich
2020 has yet been the best year for Roddy Rich as long as his rap career is concerned. He dropped his debut album, “Please Excuse Me for Being Antisocial” and it sky-rocketed to the top of the Billboard 200 post its release.
Roddy is based on Compton, California, and prior to his debut album, he had secured impressive features from Nipsey Hussle (“Racks In The Middle”) and Meek Mill (Splash Warning”). The west coast rapper is surely one of the hottest rappers right now.
DaBaby
DaBaby is a super talented rapper who made his mark on the culture due to his side-splitting wit, bruising punchlines, and speed run-on-sentence delivery. He gained instant popularity due to his unique style of rapping that was distinct from the ongoing trap-heavy rap landscape.
He dropped his debut album “Baby on Baby” was a successful project that received its popularity mainly because of the song “Suge”. Regardless, his follow up album “Kirk” soared to the top of U.S. Billboard 200, which was the first time for DaBaby.
Drake
If there is one rapper in this list who would go into the history books as one of the most successful artists of this era, it’s Drake. The Canadian rapper has won three Juno Awards, twenty-seven Billboard Music Awards, six American Music Awards, and four Grammy Awards.
He has also been ranked by the Recording Industry Association of America (R.I.A.A.), the artist with the world’s highest-certified digital singles. He has dropped hits after hits for the longest period securing him as one of the top rappers right now.
Joyner Lucas
Joyner is one of the few rappers on this list that focus on bars and lyricism and not only the beat. He is a rapper, singer, and songwriter who became recognizable after his 2015 “Ross Capicchioni” blew up. After which he released his successful debut major label mixtape, 508-507-2209.
He later gained viral recognition due to his authentic single, “I’m Not Racist.” This single established Joyner as the contender for one of the best rappers right now.
After a feature with Eminem on “Lucky Now,” Joyner recently released his new album A.D.H.D. and maintains his position as one of the top rappers in 2020.
Kendrick Lamar
Kendrick is already considered one of the best rappers of all time. He released his initial projects like “Section. 80” (2011) and Overly Dedicated (2010) without much recognition, but his first big studio album, Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City (2012) blew up massively.
This album charted at Number two on the U.S. Billboard and singles like “Swimming Pools (Drank)” and “Poetic Justice,” “Bitch, Don’t Kill My Vibe” were straight hits out of this project.
He has since released “To Pimp a Butterfly” (2015) and Damn (2017), with hit singles like “King Kunta” and “Humble.”
Travis Scott
Travis Scott is one of the top rappers right now and has achieved this feat in a very short period of time. He has been making and releasing music since 2012. But it was until the release of this 2018 album “Astroworld” when he achieved worldwide recognition as an artist.
His single with Drake, “Sicko Mode”, really set a bar for other rappers. It also peaked at Number One position on Billboard Hot 100 singles.
J. Cole
If you are looking to listen to a 2020 artist who has had experience in both the old and new hip-hop, J. Cole is the rapper. He rose to fame after his 2007 mixtape, “The Come Up. “Since then, he has dropped more mixtapes: Friday Night Lights (2010), and The Warm Up (2009).
He also has five major studio albums since with tremendous success and his recent one, K.O.D. was released back in 2020, but Cole has been putting out new singles recently before the drop of his upcoming album, The Fall Off (2020).
Lil Uzi Vert
Lil Uzi Vert’s debut album from a major label “Luv Is Rage 2 (2017) charted at number one spot on the Billboard. From this project, the single “X.O. Tour Llif3” was the most successful one as it peaked number 7 on the Billboard, being the first single by Lil Uzi to so.
The debut album also had other hits like “Sauce It Up” and “The Way Life Goes” that popped the rapper off into becoming one of the top rappers right now.
Gunna
It was Young Thug who helped Gunna gather recognition through his song “Floyd Mayweather”, which was released in August 2020 with Gunna as a feature.
He later went on and dropped his first mixtape “Drip Season” through the same label that was swiftly followed by 2017’s “Drip Season 2” and 2018’s “Drip Season 3.”
Moreover, he gathered fame after his joint project with Lil Baby, “Drip Harder” that peaked at No. 4 spot on the Billboard Hot 200 with the lead single “Drip Too Hard.”
Rick Ross
Ross stepped into the game with a bang back in 2006 when he dropped “Hustlin.” “Port of Miami and Trilla” was his debut album, and it peaked at No. 1 spot on U.S. Billboard 200 album rankings. The veteran Godfather of paper rap has been nominated for a Grammy for his song “Gold Roses”
He went on to release some great albums through his own record label, Maybach Music Group, which he established 2009. His best albums include: Mastermind, Hood Billionaire (2014), Black Market (2015), Deeper Than Rap (2009), Rather You Than Me (2017), and Teflon Don (2010).
Conclusion
If there is one genre that keeps evolving over time, it is Hip-Hop/Rap. There are a lot of new rappers that are coming up with viral hits in 2020. However, most of these hypebeasts are one-hit wonders.
Today, we have listed out some of the best rappers in 2020 that are on their way to greatness. The artists mentioned are not in any specific order and are the product of our personal opinion and independent research.
So, do you agree with our picks? Who do you think are the best rappers right now in 2020? Drop your thoughts and recommendations using the comments section down below.
