The music industry is filled with rappers, singers and DJs that are just ridiculously talented, absurdly underrated and incredibly underappreciated.The artists in this list are a few that I have discovered recently that I am blown away by. These musicians go above and beyond n their creativity, their message, their style and various other artistic abilities. Here are five artists whose incredible talent deserve some recognition. I’ve also included links to my favorite songs so that you can check them out for yourself.

1. Grimes

Her real name is Claire Elise Boucher and she’s a twenty-eight year old electronic music artist from Canada. Though her music is extremely eclectic, an acquired taste for sure, her talent is undeniable. The concept of electronic music is sometimes considered an art that requires no skill, however I just do not feel that is the case. Grimes’ music consists of intricate vocal layering and synthesized beats that mesh together to make a sound like nothing I’ve ever heard before. In fact, she described the effect her unique style exhibits, “By sounding a little like everything you've ever heard, the whole sounds like nothing you've ever heard." You may have seen her opening for big names like Florence and the Machine, Diplo and Skrillex and Lana Del Ray or heard her song “Medieval Warfare” featured on the album for the blockbuster movie, Suicide Squad. She’s also won a few prestigious awards such as the Webby Awards’ Artist of the Year, the Juno Awards’ Electronic Album of the Year for her album Visions, and Bazaar Women of the Year’s Musician of the Year 2016. Not only is the construction of her music absolutely mystifying but the lyrics have meaning and each song is individually relatable. Not only does she write her own lyrics and produce her own beats, she also produces and directs all of her music videos and illustrates her own album covers. Her music videos also require some recognition because they are just beautiful. They are filled with color and fascinating videography that will draw you in within the first ten seconds and you won’t want to stop watching them.

Favorite Song: "Flesh Without Blood/ Life in Vivid Color"

Favorite Video: "Realiti"

2. Clean Bandit

This group consists of three incredibly talented artists: Grace Chatto on cello, percussion and vocals, Jack Patterson on bass, keyboard, piano and vocals, and Luke Patterson on drums and percussion. Clean Bandit originated in 2008 in Cambridge, England but their music tops the American music charts in addition to those in the United Kingdom. Their style is unique in that it is an electronic and classical cross-over consisting of classical musicianship played over mixed house and pop beats. They have yet to win many awards since their music has only recently emerged as chart-topping hits thanks to their collaboration with Jess Glyne to produce the well known pop song, “Rather Be.” However, this song won a Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording in 2014. Since then the group has collaborated with many other artists such as rapper Sean Paul and singer/songwriter Anne-Marie in their newest chart topper, “Rockabye” released in 2016. Clean Bandit also has some of the most beautiful music videos I have ever seen. The special effects and storylines are incredibly captivating and the videography is some of the most creative. Definitely worth checking out.

Favorite Song: "Tears (feat. Louisa Johnson)"

Favorite Video: "Rockabye (feat. Sean Paul and Anne-Marie)"

3. Chance the Rapper

Alright, so Chance is pretty popular and most people know who he is at this point, but I really don’t think he gets enough credit for the creativity in his music. Lyrically, there’s no match for this man. His lyrics are so unbelievably creative that I am always astonished to think that he can come up with them himself. One of my favorite examples of Chance’s lyrical genius comes from a freestyle produced by XXL that Chance did in 2014. There is no beat, it is simply Chance spitting lyrics as he thinks of them on the spot. The verse is incredibly true to Chance’s style and embodies his belief in God and faithfulness to Christianity. This makes the creativity behind the lyrics even more incredible as it demonstrates his deep-rooted understanding of biblical stories and teachings. The lyrics are:

“My sword look just like Michael’s, he lent it to me.This is a house of God, I’m just leasing, he rent it to me. This sentence He penned it too.”

Beautiful. My favorite is the last sentence where Chance credits God for his lyrical abilities. Chance is not only an incredibly creative lyricist but his creative mind flows over into his music videos. For the video of “Good Ass Intro,” the intro song for his absurdly popular mixtape Acid Rap, Chance mashes the real world with cartoon drawings. The video is constantly shifting from real world images to cartoon drawing versions of those same images. Chance is in the video as a drawn silhouette dancing around the real world spreading the cartoon images as he goes. How does he think of this stuff? I also think it is worth mentioning that Chance created his fame completely independently. He writes and produces all of his own stuff and this year he became the first artist to ever win a Grammy for a mixtape. His 2016 mixtape, Coloring Book, won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Album. Congrats Chance, that’s a ridiculous achievement.

Listen To: "XXL Freshman 2014- Chance the Rapper Freestyle"

Listen To: "Good Ass Intro"

Favorite Song: "Cocoa Butter Kisses"

4. Hopsin

Most of you have probably never heard of Hopsin, or Marcus Jamal Hopson, because I know I had never heard of his music until recently and that was only because a friend (who I should mention is into eclectic music) showed him to me. Hopsin does not fit into the typical stereotype of modern rappers, in fact, it is his entire persona to be different than those currently in the rap game, which is why I’ve included him in this list. Hopsin is often seen wearing white contact lenses, which is incredibly unsettling but has a purpose. In reference to his contact lenses, Hopsin says, “It’s marketing. The contacts draw them in to pay attention to what the hell is going on. I was taught from being in the entertainment world that only the fools get noticed and succeed. You gotta be willing to make a fool of yourself. You gotta let it all go and not care what people think.” Hopsin not only stands out against modern rappers in his look but in his beliefs and the content of his music. Hopsin is strongly against drug use, money flaunting and the sexual objectification of women, the three most common taboos that exist in rap music. One of my favorite songs is called, “Ill Mind of Hopsin 5” in which Hopsin just completely obliterates the values of the modern youth. In the three verses of this song, Hopsin discusses the topics of laziness, privilege, entitlement, drugs and sex. The song has the potential to upset a lot of people as his opinions on these topics are definitely not popular. But, in reality, everything he says is so true and at the end of the song, he pleads with the modern generation to be different from the status quo and to turn away from drugs, the party scene and the values of most modern rap artists. Hopsin’s song content displays his constant struggle with depression and is often deeply emotional. His song Ill Mind of Hopsin 7 is all about his struggle with his religious beliefs and is incredibly moving to listen to as he discusses why he lacks a belief in God and heaven. Hopsin’s music is definitely not for everyone and borders on the aggressive side but I have to give him so much credit for his beliefs and his drive to be different from the stereotypical rapper

Favorite Song: "Ill Mind of Hopsin 5"

Listen To: "Ill Mind of Hopsin 7"

Favorite Video: Ill Mind of Hopsin 8

5. Halsey

You’ve probably heard Halsey’s newest song, “Not Afraid Anymore” on the album of the ultra-popular movie, "Fifty Shades Darker," but Ashley Nicolette Frangipane has been putting out awesome music since she created a parody of a popular Taylor Swift song in 2012. The parody, called “The Haylor Song,” went viral on YouTube and was the beginning of her career as it gave her a following. So when she released her song, “Ghost” she just blew up. I’ve included her in this list for the uniqueness of her voice and her beautiful lyricism. Halsey has such an incredible talent for piecing together the words in her songs. As a listener, you can just tell that she carefully chooses each and every lyric to create deep emotional meaning in her music. This in combination with her unique voice, which has a vaguely raspy tone, makes her one of my favorite artists. Her music is perfect “feels” music, whether you’re feeling the love or the pain of a relationship you can find a Halsey song to relate to. One of my favorite songs is “New Americana” that discusses the lives of the modern youth and is just so easy to relate to as a member of the same generation. It seems that everyone knows the words to the chorus:

“We are the New Americana, high on legal marijuana, raised on Biggie and Nirvana. We are the New Americana.”

Another on of my favorites is her song “Gasoline” which discusses an internal and deeply emotion struggle in self-discovery. The lyrics embody the emotions we all feel while finding ourselves like low self-esteem and feelings of isolation. The song is not only relatable but incredibly moving when you truly comprehend the lyrics. The chorus is especially deep:

“And all the people say you can’t wake up, this is not a dream. You’re part of a machine, you are not a human being. With your face all made up, living on a screen. Low on self-esteem, so you run on gasoline. I think there’s a flaw in my code.These voices won’t leave me alone. Well, my heart is gold and my hands are cold.”

I think this song is the perfect summation of my adolescence. Feeling out of place and like you will never be good enough is a part of growing up and figuring out who you are. I just think the relatability of her music and the beautiful way she words her messages deserves adequate recognition because it takes a great deal of intelligence and intellect to write music of this caliber. Way to go, Halsey. You rock.

Listen To: "New Americana"

Listen To: "Gasoline"

Listen To: "Hold Me Down"

Favorite Song: "Coming Down"

(I really like Halsey)

You’re welcome. I have now exposed you to five unbelievably talented, creative and unique artists that you should absolutely know about. It is rare in today’s music industry that we find people of this level of intelligence and talent and these people definitely deserve this shout out.