10 SA Hip-Hop Artists To Look Out For In 2023

Here are 10 South African Hip-Hop artists who showed promise in 2022 that are likely to shine more in 2023.  

Scumie

Scumie teamed up with MOËTT in June last year for the collaborative project ‘Gangsters With Standards’ and closed off 2022 by joining forces with Blxckie to deliver ‘Give Me Ya Luv?’ and she further appeared on Blxckie’s single ‘investigate’. Scumie is ready to take on the new year with an upcoming single tagged ‘Quick Fix’ alongside Roiii, as well as teased fans late last year with a dope cover art for her forthcoming project, ‘815 Vol 2’, which she intends to drop this year. These are only a few reasons why you will indeed miss out if you choose to sleep on Scumie this year. 

Horid The Messiah

In September, Horid The Messiah came through with a 5-track EP titled ‘While We Wait’ with contributions from Scumie and Eddie Soul. Horid The Messiah dropped two singles last year, ‘Breakthrough’ and ‘I Won’t Tell’, dropped hard bars on the ‘Put Me On Switch Podcast’ in October. This young talent is definitely going places.

King Ky

King Ky is one multi talented artist to look forward to this year. The hot female rapper came through with her first single ‘BBB’ in July last year and delivered hot bars in her ‘Halloween Freestyle’ which has a visualiser. She teamed up with Q2K, another upcoming talent, to release ‘Girls That Get It’, produced by Dooushii. 

Eddie Soul

Eddie Soul is a rising Hip-Hop star who foresaw his role as the “voice, vessel and living testimony”, as he says in the intro for his project ‘Heavy Is My Crown’. The young talent displayed a strong work ethic last year with his consistent releases and continues to do so by kickstarting the year with upcoming visuals for ‘Money’, a fan-favourite from the project. 

Choloazaiah

Choloazaiah delivered a spectacular offering in July last year titled ‘Hold Me Down’, as well as featured in ‘November’, an EP by Steveisfrench. The artist intends to, as he said on Instagram, “flood 2023 with some R&B film and sonics”. Choloazaiah has mastered the art of creating a distinct sound through his versatility which he successfully incorporates in his music, making him one artist to keep an eye out for in 2023. 

Sandrahhh

Sandrahhh delivered great content last year, from the EP ‘Eating Good’ to visualisers for which she received love from fans and various artists such as Blxckie and Yolophonik. She has the bars, delivers dope rhyme schemes and is good with the wordplay. We are highly excited to see what she has to offer this year.

BeloSalo

Formally known as RIGINALSALO, BeloSalo is yet another artist to look out for this year as his rebrand allowed him to make a stellar return. The artist dropped a variety of singles such as ‘Inadequate’ and ‘Chocolate’ with Case-Klowzed and ‘Championship’ with Jay Jody which was supported by a clean visualiser. He performed at Street Fest and hosted his own show in Braamfontein. We can't wait to hear what he has to offer this year as he preps to release his debut album.

Gaffi 

After the success of his single, ‘Eshe’, accompanied by viral visuals, Gaffi dropped a 5-track EP, ‘Machasa Galore’, that was rooted in humour and hard trap bangers. Gaffi is one of the most prominent Xhosa trap rappers out right now and had a dope 2022. He can only move up from now. 

Read our interview with Gaffi here.

Loatinover Pounds

Loatinover Pounds represented Pretoria in the previous year with his tape ‘Hood Misunderstood’. The project consists of hits such as 'Sosh Plata' and 'Flower Seedz' and much more. He has since been hard at work as he launched his clothing brand Punyete as well as hosting his own picnic in Pretoria last December. The anthem 'Sosh Plata' has received an immense amount of love as the crowd sings the song word for word at gigs. The song was boosted by a remix featuring Thapelo Ghutra and PTA rap general 25K. We cannot wait to see what he has to offer this year as he continues to expand his brand.

Ivy Leeg

Pretoria keeps producing new talent in the Hip-Hop game and one of the city’s latest contributions is Ivy Leeg. 2022 was a productive year for him as he remained consistent; each drop stood out as he experimented with various sounds as heard in his EP ‘Izy’. His work in 2022 speaks for him as an artist. We can’t wait to hear the type of music he will be releasing this year.