Although stars such as Wale, Logic and GoldLink have found their way into the limelight, the DMV area is still not seen as a breeding ground for hip-hop the way New York, Chicago and Atlanta are. This week’s Push Play Monday is for all of those local artists whose SoundCloud pages are full of self-produced and self-written work buried under ignored DMV tags.

1) “Nobody’s Business” by CheikhMac

A Baltimore native, Cheikh Mckissic never shies away from representing his hometown in his music. He only has a few other tracks out, but they are on Bryson Tiller production levels.

2) “Coast 2 Coast” by Kasey Jones feat. rMell and Al Hostile

Kasey Jones is based out of Silver Spring, Maryland, but has tweeted about coming to College Park to collaborate and visit students. Al Hostile, another in-state artist, frequently features on Jones’ work and labels himself in the same collective as Jones.

3) “Already Know” by Miles Meraki

Meraki is a member of the Gramfam collective, a group of four local artists and producers who feature on each other’s tracks and help hype them up. The collective has just begun gaining the public recognition it has been working for.

4) “Bape Kondomu” by rMell

Another member of Gramfam, rMell has been linking up with artists all over the DMV to make tracks. He is based out of Clinton, right here in Prince George’s County. His sound is nothing like the other members of the Gramfam, and well worth looking into.

5) “Aquafina” by Falcons feat. GoldLink and Chaz French

GoldLink needs no introduction these days; he is everywhere already. After performing for years to rapidly growing crowds, he made it to the limelight of the industry. Chaz French is quickly following in his footsteps, with his tracks already finding their way to Spotify and garnering thousands of plays.

6) “Take Two” by Al Maralen feat. Innanet James

Al Maralen, a freshman at this univeristy, calls himself the “quirky dapper rapper” because of his influence from comedians and freestyle battlers. Priding himself on creativity and building a sense of community in the DMV for artist like himself, it only makes sense that he collaborated with Innanet James, a rapidly rising DMV rapper.

7) “Nobody” by Young Moe

Young Moe is often associated with Fat Trel, another DMV artist who works under the radar of Wale. Young Moe has been putting out music for longer than most of his rivals, helping him gain a better grip on lyricism.

Of course, not everyone making music in this area is a rapper or an R&B artist. This is only the hop-hop edition of a locals-only playlist. Be on the lookout for a future collection of local artists making moves in other genres soon.