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An Italian rapper whose broad commercial appeal has been informed by the likes of the Diplomats, the Game, and Fabolous, Emis Killa has combined aggressive rhymes and pop choruses to achieve sustained mainstream success in his native country. Barely into his twenties when he released his acclaimed debut album, L'erba cattiva (2012), Emis has gone on to top the Italian chart with the successive full-lengths Mercurio (2013), Terza stagione (2016), and Supereroe (2018). Between his first and second proper LPs, Emis captured the attention of a U.S. audience when he participated in the cypher segment of the BET Hip Hop Awards.

Born Emiliano Rudolf Giambelli in Vimercate, near his eventual homebase of Milan, Emis Killa (the son of keyboardist Sergio Giambelli) started rapping during his early teenage years and made a name for himself at the age of 17, when he won a freestyle competition. Soon thereafter, he was affiliated with Blocco Recordz, which in 2009 and 2010 released his first two mixtapes, and then moved upward with the larger and storied Carosello label. L'erba cattiva, Emis' first proper album, followed in 2012, peaked at number two on Italy's official album chart, and with help from the breakthrough single "Parole di ghiaccio," went platinum. Accolades from the Italian version of Total Request Live (Best Emerging Artist), as well as the MTV Europe Music Awards (Best Italian Act), followed suit.

Mercurio, Emis' second album, quickly followed in 2013 and eclipsed the performance of the debut by topping the Italian chart, and likewise was platinum certified. Later in the year, Emis performed in the cypher segment of the BET Hip Hop Awards -- a major gesture of acceptance for a rapper who had grown up immersed in the recordings of U.S. artists. Despite a three-year gap between releases -- during which Emis coached on The Voice of Italy -- he again went to number one with the 2016 album Terza stagione. Preceded by another major hit single, "Rollercoaster," Supereroe continued the streak of chart-topping releases in 2018. ~ Andy Kellman

An underdog from the underground, Buffalo-bred rapper Westside Gunn brings the sounds of '90s hardcore rap into the 21st century alongside his brother and fellow emcee Conway. With their tales of street life, drugs, and gun violence, the pair have employed sample-heavy production in the gritty East Coast tradition of the Lox, Mobb Deep, Capone-N-Noreaga, and the Wu-Tang Clan. In addition to his work with Conway and their Griselda labelmates, Westside Gunn branched out on his own with a series of Hitler Wears Hermes mixtapes issued in the 2010s, as well as solo albums such as Flygod (2016), Supreme Blientele (2018), and Pray for Paris (2020), the latter of which cracked the upper half of the Billboard 200. The lengthy, guest-heavy full-length And Then You Pray for Me appeared in 2023 and reached the Top 30 of the same chart. The EP 11 and a mixtape, Still Praying, were released almost simultaneously in 2024.

Born Alvin Lamar Worthy in Buffalo, New York, Westside Gunn started rapping at a young age. In high school, he joined with Conway (born Demond Price) and fellow rappers Benny the Butcher and Machine Gun Black as the Forerunners. They stuck together over the years and in the early 2010s, they founded Griselda Records. In addition to output as Westside Gunn & Conway, Worthy began issuing his own mixtapes, including the Hitler Wears Hermes series, which kicked off in 2012. With his strong, steady rhymes and often laid-back production, he released five installments of the Hermes series into 2017.

His debut studio full-length, Flygod, arrived in 2016 and featured appearances by Benny, Conway, Roc Marciano, Danny Brown, Action Bronson, and more, as well as production by Statik Selektah and the Alchemist. In 2017, Griselda inked a deal with Eminem's Shady Records, which graduated Westside Gunn to the majors. That same year, he hopped onto a collaboration with MF Doom titled WestsideDoom, and a year later he issued his sophomore LP, Supreme Blientele, which featured many familiar faces from Flygod, as well as new guests Jadakiss, Busta Rhymes, Anderson .Paak, and producers Pete Rock and 9th Wonder.

After Griselda hit the Top Ten of Billboard's R&B/hip-hop and rap charts with WWCD, Westside issued the solo album Pray for Paris in April 2020. DJ Premier, DJ Muggs, the Alchemist, and Tyler, The Creator were among the contributors to the set, which entered the Billboard 200 at number 67 and the R&B/hip-hop chart at 39. A second Gunn album, Who Made the Sunshine, was initially set for release that August, but it was delayed following the death of longtime Griselda Records collaborator DJ Shay from COVID-19. The album eventually appeared in October 2020 and featured appearances by Benny, Conway, Slick Rick, Black Thought, and others. Two tracks, "Julia Lang" and "TV Boy," arrived in March 2021 as the first songs released off Gunn's mixtape Hitler Wears Hermes 8: Sincerely, Adolf. Hitler Wears Hermes 8: Side B followed. The mixtapes Peace "Fly" God and 10 (the final installment in the Hitler Wears Hermes series) appeared in 2022. The studio album And Then You Pray for Me arrived in 2023, boasting guests like Rick Ross, DJ Drama, Denzel Curry, and Boldy James. It reached number 29 on the Billboard 200. In 2024, Gunn issued the EP 11 as well as the DJ Drama-hosted mixtape Still Praying. ~ Neil Z. Yeung