There is no other rap scene in the country like the Bay Area’s. There is so much young talent in this part of the country, it’s crazy! Bay Area artists have never gotten the respect they deserve on a national level, so the independent hustle of being able to self-promote and distribute your music is a necessity like no other. Blowing up locally in the Bay Area does not mean you have a legitimate chance of blowing up nationally, like in other parts of the country. The Bay Area does not receive the same recognition other parts of the country receive so we have sort of developed this freedom in the art of hip-hop in which artists don’t care about whether or not what they are making is something that can make it on the radio. Rather, it is what they truly would like to express, what they are feeling, and their actual thoughts, from all different types of artists within hip-hop, from the street hustler to the backpacker. This list was incredibly difficult to make, but here it is, the top five Bay Area artists to be on the lookout for:

The Jealous Guys

Made up of Ayinde and Bizy Casa, The Jealous Guys hit the scene with a bang in Feb. 2011 with their debut mix-tape “The Love Mix-tape.” The rawness of Ayinde’s raspy voice makes a perfect counter to Bizy Casa’s smooth conversational flow, and the raw emotion of young men pouring their hearts and minds into songs about love in such a genuine and authentic way causes you to feel a raw emotion in a totally different way than ever before. The stand-out track on the tape is “Bus Stop Jazz,” with mid-90’s hip-hop production and vintage/golden-age lyrics. “Bus Stop Jazz” is easily a song that every hip-hop head can appreciate. 3/4, the boutique agency that helped unleash Odd Future on the world, has now picked up on The Jealous Guys and is ready to take them national. With features on national blogs such as Complex magazine and The Fader, there is nowhere to go but up for The Jealous Guys as they try and break out of the underground Bay Area scene. Check out their new tape titled “AudioBook” that they just released this month.

Moe Green

Possibly the hardest working MC on the come up, Rapper Moe Green hits the studio all day and then heads to his post graveyard shift at FedEx all night. When you first see Moe Green, he looks like every other Bay Area rapper who raps about his neighborhood on really Bay Area mobby-sounding beats, but there is more to this young MC then meets the eye.

His debut album, “Rocky Maivia: Non-Title Match,” swerves in and out of hip-hop, with electronic, pop, and jazz samples that make for an interesting outcome. His new mix-tape “Lion’s Heart” was another great example of Green’s range. Not being able to label this rapper is a plus because of his versatility, to which everybody can relate. “I got to a certain point in my life where I was like, ‘Dude, forget what everybody thinks,'” Green said. “‘If you like it, just like it. Stop trying to fit in.'”

DaVinci

Fillmore rapper DaVinci gained an unusual amount of national buzz for a Bay Area street rapper with his debut mix-tape “The Day the Turf Stood Still”. The tape was put together with a strong message that focused on the impacts of gentrification in his Fillmore neighborhood.

In a new age of hip-hop where the focus has gone away from having a message and more on being clever with one’s word play, most hip-hop heads would proclaim some artists who over-do these techniques as “not saying anything.” The message DaVinci provides is what makes him a standout. This year’s EP “Feast of Famine” is probably his best work to date; the tape confronts the everyday struggle of living in the hood in a way where a person is talking and reflecting privately to himself on the tangled problems he’s been forced to confront. He brings together the old school feel of the Bay with the new.

Young Gully

Young Gully is one of the most talented rappers in the Bay Area right now; his music is really honest with lyrical content that is relatable. Rapping over hyphy’s signature bass throb to old-school loops, Gully raps almost from beginning to end without taking a single breath. This is what is commonly called “gassin”. This great delivery, mixed with his dope writing skills, and his ability to also show his emotions through his music, is what makes Gully a standout artist. “Hustla Movement 4” is his latest offering, and has been making quite a dent in the Bay Area’s music scene.

Kreayshawn

I couldn’t keep her off this list; Kreayshawn is the hottest thing to come out of the Bay Area since Lil B! Her single “Gucci Gucci” sky-rocketed her to celebrity status and even gained her a nomination for MTV’s VMA Best New Artist. She was quickly signed to Columbia Records, and I am now highly anticipating the release of her first al- bum later this year. Because her newfound fame is based off of this one track, she has a lot of pressure on her, and if the album flops she will be known as a one-hit won- der, something no artist wants to be known as. She definitely has the swag and great visuals; now we will see if she has the talent to live up to all the hype built around her.