Current diverse indie hip-hop?
June 9, 2021 10:17 AM   Subscribe

I listen mostly to current indie-rock, with a bias towards front-women. What's the hip-hop equivalent I might enjoy listening to?

I don't know much about hip-hop, especially not about anything current, but have decided to leapfrog the gaps in my education and seek out cool, current, indie hip-hop.
What artists/tracks do you recommend and why?
Female voices, marginalized groups, non-English, non-U.S., etc., all very welcome.
Not really a fan of reggaeton, latin trap, etc., but my ears are open.
posted by signal to Media & Arts (19 answers total) 35 users marked this as a favorite
 
I'm a big fan of both Rocky Rivera and Dessa.
posted by terretu at 10:36 AM on June 9, 2021 [1 favorite]


I'm a fan of Junglepussy. Her newest album Jp4 is good, as well as her older ones (Satisfaction Guaranteed, Pregnant with Success). She's fun, smart, creative, confident and uses some sounds/techniques that are also used in indie rock.
posted by RGD at 10:38 AM on June 9, 2021 [2 favorites]


Sampa the Great
posted by niicholas at 11:08 AM on June 9, 2021 [3 favorites]


I highly recommend Sa-Roc.
posted by box at 11:21 AM on June 9, 2021


Little Simz is, for my money, the best rapper in the UK right now.

Seconding Sampa the Great

Baloji, although I think he's focusing on his film work at the moment, his back catalogue is great. Belgian-Congolese, raps in French and English.

Other favourites from the UK at the moment (which is having a bit of an Afro-jazz inflected moment in hip-hop) include Loyle Carner and Kojey Radical.
posted by parm at 11:26 AM on June 9, 2021 [3 favorites]


Ooh, one of my favorite artists fits your criteria nicely. Madame Gandhi is excellent. From an interview with her:

"To me, The Future is Female very much espouses an inclusive ideal. Society is obsessed with the hyper machismo and has built gender as a ranking system as opposed to a true spectrum. We live in a world where insults are often gendered: it’s normal to say, don’t be such a girl and, grow a pair of balls, as if reaffirming the fact that being male is more desirable than being female. When we call for a future that is female, we are calling for a true paradigm shift: the very nature of having something female becomes desirable, trans is welcome, queer is welcome, male is welcome. In a future that is female, we thereby enable people of non-gender-binary identities, queer identities, trans identities to feel safe in their own skin."

My top two tracks are Bad Habits and Top Knot Turn Up
posted by RobinofFrocksley at 11:47 AM on June 9, 2021


Dessa and Jean Grae! Also, maybe a bit polarizing, but I do find some Qveen Herby songs catchy.
posted by neushoorn at 12:14 PM on June 9, 2021 [2 favorites]


Thirding Dessa.
posted by socialjusticeworrier at 12:18 PM on June 9, 2021


I’m enjoying iamDoechii
posted by saucysault at 12:31 PM on June 9, 2021 [1 favorite]


A few from the past couple years:

BRASS, the 2020 collaborative album between Moor Mother and billy woods - Rapunzal.

Noname - here's Self from her 2018 album Room 25 (and here's Diddy Bop from her 2016 mixtape Telefone).

Tyler, the Creator - here's I Think from 2019's Igor, which admittedly he considers a pop album.
posted by theory at 12:48 PM on June 9, 2021 [1 favorite]


I really like Ana Tijoux.

Antipatriarca

La Bala

Rebelión de Octubre
posted by Gadarene at 2:34 PM on June 9, 2021


Teezandos is one of the hardest UK drillers, in my opinion.
posted by so fucking future at 7:17 PM on June 9, 2021


Noname
posted by fabius at 5:08 AM on June 10, 2021 [3 favorites]


If you can, listen to KEXP's Gabriel Teodros's early morning show or in the archives. He plays amazingly diverse sets of indie hip-hop and r&b. Gabriel's shows are specifically women-fronted, but they're far more diverse than normal commercial radio.

(6/11 is a pledge drive, listen on Monday :) )

I don't see SAULT mentioned upthread. They're prolific and great.
posted by tayknight at 6:06 AM on June 10, 2021 [1 favorite]


For real on SAULT! (And thanks for this Ask). Fab suggestions.

Current high-rotation Tinashe's Pasadena
posted by zenpop at 6:57 AM on June 10, 2021


Response by poster: Great, great answers everyone. Will make a spotify playlist later, if that's your thing.
posted by signal at 7:06 AM on June 10, 2021


It's from 2018, but check out Tierra Whack's Whack World. It's a very strange video, and she probably isn't considered indie anymore, but it's great.

Bandcamp is my favorite place to find music now, so I find something I like and start following tags around to find more that's similar and good.

And probably doesn't exactly fit what you're looking for, but LEENALCHI is my favorite thing to recommend right now.
posted by msbrauer at 7:56 AM on June 10, 2021


Jamila Woods
posted by carrienation at 12:57 PM on June 10, 2021


Late, but I love hip hop and want to suggest some albums.

Femme, non-binary: Non-English and/or non-United States: Other cool, current, indie hip hop:
posted by EmperorOozy at 7:03 PM on June 12, 2021 [2 favorites]


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