Charlotte, N.C. is a banking city. If there is anything less exciting to be the identity for a city, @ me. Charlotte, for a while, was another place where rappers played catch-up or completely forewent lofty ambition, content sticking to the city’s underground. What’s shifted in recent years is that rappers from the Queen City have begun internalizing a "Charlotte" way of presenting themselves that better encapsulates the place. The music is losing trap clichés, treading down the conscious path of fellow North Carolina forefathers like J. Cole or Little Brother. No major rap talent has come from the city and Charlotte’s rappers are not boasting that they’re going to change the world if they do make it. The collective goal is personal success that can reach back into the city, so each successive generation can feel the impact of the music and not have it lost once another high school class graduates—music for a city full of side streets, endless strip malls, deferred dreams, and people constantly wondering if "success" can really be found in the place that one calls home.
Bankroll Bird
In the year since Dura the King released "#NewCharlotte", the video scored in excess of a million views; the hashtag was trending in the city a week after release. Bankroll Bird, still a couple months out from releasing his own "True Story", received local attention providing the song’s hypnotizing hook, which served as a soft introduction to his melodic style that effortlessly switches between pure rapping and R&B. Hard to believe in 2015, but Bird upstaged Young Thug with his freestyle of the rapper’s song "Check". Bird leads the song’s hook and verses in a way probably too straightforward for Thugger, but the guidances tightly hit on the song’s potential. Similar to the track "True Story", where his verging into melodic sing-song rapping is never a crutch and instead effectively weaves lodging a hook in one’s head along with revealing one’s emotional heart.
King Mez
King Mez is from Raleigh, the capital of North Carolina, not Charlotte. Yet I’d be remiss to not include the main writer of Dr. Dre’s Compton right here. Though he moved from the state to Los Angeles to work with Dre, Mez shines best when the spotlight is on him. Last year when he released Long Live the King he didn’t have any contacts with Dr. Dre, but was instead a solid local act who sought a change of scenery to see if he could make it to the next level. Confident, but not braggadocious, there is a Southern timidness to Mez that is charming. His recent videos that both feature child protagonists fit the mood he attempts to create, which is one where he cannot prove he’s the best rapper, but show he’s the one that’s impacting the most hearts.
Rashaun Hampton
Soon enough there will be a whole generation of rappers and producers known for being "post-Travis Scott". Rashaun Hampton fits into this mold—like Scott, his music isn’t afraid to stack and layer to a point where one cannot even be sure that a human recorded the original track. Last year he put out a project called Mercy Seat, which was fine but still showed a rapper searching for his own voice. Earlier this year when he put out the track "Jesus Piece", it appeared that he was staking claim to one. The hook was rough and buried, but within all of the distortion was a powerful hook and a sense of "I think I got something here right now." His talent is remains raw, but each new track reveals a real next step forward.
Well$
Deniro Farrar might be the biggest rapper to emerge from Charlotte in the last few years, but Well$ is ready to grab and run with that Queen City crown. Well$ doesn’t just stick to a single style of rap. He can go in on a song with #bars, and he’ll also hold back when the time is for restraint instead of intensity. Where a melodic hook can and often does sell many songs, Well$ makes sure each line he writes builds, so listeners can get to know the guy behind the mic. Congolese-American and always ready to rep the state of North Carolina, Well$ makes sure to let people know of these traits since they aren’t markers to which listeners bring a real set of expectations. A charismatic live performer and with still just a single mixtape from last year and a number of singles into his career, the hometown hero is ready to shine whenever the national look is imminent.