Mar 1, 2015 I'm betting that Chlidish Gambino is on a lot of people's lists (mine included), but which artists did you listen to way before they made it big? first one that comes to mind for me is Gwen Stefani/No Doubt. Was listening to them well before they found themselves on the radio.
Mar 1, 2015 J Cole Depending on when you say Gambino blew up, Gambino I was listening to Yelawolf before he signed to Shady, though I don't know if you could say that he's blown up Greek Fire. They're still not overly huge but their song On Top of the World has been getting tons of play Jamie N Commons & X-Ambassadors both. Once again not overly huge but Jungle is used for tons of sporting events Kendrick Lamar Sam Hunt
Mar 1, 2015 Was listening to Hollywood Undead long before they had a record deal. Back when they only released music through myspace.
Mar 1, 2015 Three 6 Mafia, I was into all their underground stuff and then senior year of high school, 'stay high' is all of a sudden like the biggest song out there. I was proud of them tbh and pretty happy. Also I'm not really a fan, but saw Linkin Park as an opening act once before anyone knew who they were.
Mar 1, 2015 d--- near every artist that's prominent in rnb and hiphop right now, used to follow music religiously
Mar 1, 2015 Probably nobody, there was a time were I didn't listened to music for like 2 years, i guess nothing really stood out to me.
Mar 1, 2015 Well, some of these might not fit the typical definition of "blowing up", but I listened to them before they reached their peak popularity: Action Bronson (since the "Imported Goods" video dropped in 2010) Macklemore (since the first time I heard "White Privilege" sometime in 2007) Danny Brown (since The Hybrid dropped in 2010) Freddie Gibbs (since 2010, when Str8 Killa No Filla dropped) El-P (since the late 90s, when Company Flow was on Rawkus) YC The Cynic (since 2010 when he dropped You're Welcome) J. Cole (since The Warm Up dropped in 2009) Joell Ortiz (I first heard of him from his appearance on Kool G. Rap's The Giancana Story album which dropped in 2002) 50 Cent (since his appearance on "React" from Onyx's Shut Em Down album in 1998) Nitty Scott (since about 2011, before she became an IG thot)
Mar 1, 2015 Jon Connor B.o.B Macklemore Joell Ortiz Ace Hood Cole Wiz Trae Tha Truth (not really a huge name, but I've been listening to him since he was working with Chamillionaire)
Mar 2, 2015 I used to listen to a lot of Seattle hip-hop when I was in middle/high school, so I liked Macklemore back in like 2005 or so. Hate him now though. Like a year before Crank That dropped, my friends and I found a bunch of Soulja Boi videos on the internet and we thought he was 100% a joke youtube rapper. I remember being f---ing floored when I heard someone play Crank That at a party and everyone knew he was after that song got big. I listened to Jay Rock back before I had any idea who Kendrick or any other TDE rappers were, around the time that song he had featuring Lil Wayne came out.
Mar 2, 2015 All My Life (In The Ghetto) I was the same as you, listened to Jay Rock about a year before he got signed to Strange Music. From there I learned about the rest of Black Hippy
Mar 2, 2015 J. Cole, Hollywood Undead, Nothing More, 50 cent, b.o.b, and that's about all can think of right now.
