What to Expect for Rap in 2017

Drake’s More Life project just came out last week. Featuring 22 songs, Drake pulled out all of the stops on this album. It recently received a 7.8 rating on Pitchfork, fairing much better than his last album (Views). Future has already come out with 2 new albums. This made me think, what else will 2017 have in store?

1. Underground will no longer be underground. With the increasing popularity of SoundCloud, artists can emerge from anywhere. This was apparent with XXXTentacion, a rapper who actually became popular while he was in jail. I started to listen to his music over the summer, when his songs had about 30k favorites. But in December, his favorite count quickly reached 200k per song. XXX, even while incarcerated, gained popularity from SoundCloud. Underground rappers have a platform to release music to anyone. Songs recorded in a basement can be released to an audience of millions.
2. XXL Freshmen. Each year XXL magazine produces videos of up and coming rappers freestyling. Last year, Denzel Curry, Lil Uzi Vert, Lil Yachty, 21 Savage, Kodak Black, Dave East, G Herbo, Desiigner, Anderson .paak, and Lil Dicky were featured on the freshmen list. This year’s list will be a weird one. I’m predicting XXXTentacion, $uicideboy$, Playboi Carti, Famous Dex, Lil Peep, Night Lovell, Young M.A., and MadeinTYO (even though I hate those last 2, they probably will make the cut). I also hope that Mick Jenkins and Pouya will make the list.

*Note: I don’t like all of these artists. But I still think they’ll be on the freshmen list (like how Kodak and Desiigner were on the list last year, and their music is awful).

1. Who knows?                                                                                                                                                                                           Chance the Rapper and Future? Chance recently tweeted about a possible collaboration with Future. He already featured Future on Coloring Book (in the song Smoke Break), so the two have chemistry.
2. J. Cole will come up with an album better than 2014 Forest Hills Drive.
3. Kendrick Lamar will make the best rap album of the year.
4. A$AP Rocky will prove that he is not overrated.
5. Young Thug will fall out of the spotlight.
6. Migos will continue to produce hits.
7. Desiigner will fall out of the spotlight as well.
8. Can The Carter V be released now????