Key Takeaways

This a ranking of the 13 teenage rappers shaping rap’s increasingly unhinged, experimental future while older stars continue to dominate the mainstream.

BabyChiefDoit holds the top spot after scoring a TikTok-fueled hit with “Ghetto Love Story,” while Nettspend commands a cult following and Slayr pushes rage toward pop.

Selected for impact, music quality, and commercial momentum, the list spans underground rage, New York and Chicago street rap.

Whether it’s the rap underground or street rap, new rap music has never sounded this unhinged and extreme and devote of tradition. It’s as if would think it was a bunch of children running around making this.

But for the most part, it’s not. As we mentioned in our Best Rappers in Their 20s list, hip-hop has gotten older, with legends of the past dominating for longer than ever. There was once a time when being a 40-year-old rapper was a diss.…