Here at Respect My Region we recently kicked off a new series called Local Music Wednesday that highlights recent releases from artists in Seattle, Tacoma, and eventually other areas too. For this week’s Local Music Wednesday, we have a solid list of rising artists that includes Pay Diggs, Westen, Lil Clayre, Bn Rich, HS Dro, Kash Keek, Hunnidkbaby and more.
Pay Diggs
To start off our Local Music Wednesday list, we have Pay Diggs whose music includes hip-hop and trap influences paired with interesting samples in his songs. In the song “R.I.P. Steve Job,” he samples Steve Job’s talking as well as news segments about Apple. Pay Diggs’ most recent release is “dirt money & double cups,” shot by Luldarb.
Westen
Originally from Lynwood, WA, Westen has been making moves in music for a while. He has been releasing music on streaming platforms since 2019, releasing his first full record Thugging in the West in 2022. My personal favorite record of his is “Rolling Rich,” although it’s not the most recent. Check out his latest release Westside Freestyle below.
Lil Clayre
Our next artist is Lil Clayre. Lil Clayre is absolutely sick, he is a latin artist and mostly raps in Spanish. Born in Venezuela, he became known for his song “LNGTS” which was released in 2021. Since then, he has been racking up streams and currently has over 17k monthly listeners on Spotify. He recently dropped a music video for his song “Baby Feos” that you can view a quick clip of on his IG down below.
Bn Rich and Jimmy Mack
Next on our list are local artists Bn Rich and Jimmy Mack. They released their collaboration albums Back to Bell, in September 2022. The record was entirely produced by Starr Spazzin and it is not one to miss. One of my personal favorite tracks off the record is “Knock it off,” the song starts off with a quality beat and some electric guitar lines. As well as the great instrumental, the lyrics are super clever, “Tried to gun me down he had a long day/ social distance with my stick I shoot from long range”. They blend funny lyrics with deep lyrics in a super cool way and all the tracks on the record keep the listeners attention. The pair also recently released a music video for their song “Better,” which includes new clips about gun crimes in their area.
Kash Keek
Kash Keek has also been making a name for himself in the local scene recently. The West Seattle native is the self-proclaimed Voice of the Seattle Streets, and it’s a great title for him. His most recent record SeAfghanistan 2 was released on the fourth of July this year. The record is a follow up to his 2022 record SeAfghanistan. His lyrics on these records combine references of the street life in West Seattle with some added political references. He also makes great use of whisper ad-libs throughout his record. His new project includes multiple features as well, such as DG MarkG and Tallybanny. Overall, his music is super fire and contains some heavy beats that I can see people moshing to at concerts.
Hunnidkbaby
Hunnidkbaby has also been delivering some great music recently. A local to the Tacoma area, the 19-year-old has definitely been making moves. He started making music around 12, making tracks in a shed in his backyard. Interestingly, he started making beats and producing before he started rapping. He is highly inspired by emo rap and artists like JUICEWRLD and Lil Peep. He both sings and raps which is super cool, plus his most popular track “Ok Part 2” contains a lot of distorted vocals, and 808s as well as guitars. But he also has chiller tracks such was “Whatever” where there is a lighter beat. Overall, Hunnidkbaby is super diverse and it’s hard to believe that he’s only 19 years old.
M@lly
M@lly is another really cool artist who is up and coming in the rap scene. His style combines modern rap with some classic old school Seattle grunge influences. His beats contain the classic modern 808s as well as some dope grunge influences guitar loops. His song “369” has over 23,000 streams on Spotify and his most recently released track, titled “BB King,” is named after the old school blues guitarist. The song features 2000Baby, another artist who has also been killing it and was included on our last episode of Local Music Wednesday. The music video is sick and even includes old footage of B.B. King.
Josh Lambros
Another artist that we’ve been bumping over here at RMR is Josh Lambros. Lambros combines his love for rock with his love for hip-hop flawlessly. He uses a lot of guitars in his music and sings his hooks with clear pop-meets-punk influence. He has so far released two full EPs, Euphoria and At Will. His music touches on a variety of different topics, from euphoric highs to his love for his girlfriend, it’s clear this kid can write about anything. He recently released a new track “Stay” which starts off with some great acoustic guitar as well as some sick singing, then a laid back 808 beat kicks in at about a minute. Another artist who definitely blends genres and his influences, Josh Lambros is someone you need to check out.
2oopaid TK
Lastly, to round out this week’s episode of Local Music Wednesday we have rapper 2oopaid TK. Arguably one of the biggest artists on our list this week, 2oopaid TK has been making moves in music for a while now. He’s been releasing music on streaming platforms since 2020 and has ranked up almost half a million streams on some of his bigger songs. With a unique vocal style, TK has been able to reach an audience. His lyrics are awesome, his most recent record Dear Mr. Kennedy is stocked full of political references. It is easy to say that he is super creative and we will be continuing to keep an eye on him and updating you guys on his music.
HS Dro
Continuing on, our next artist is Portland local rapper HS Dro. He released his newest record Calm Before the Storm in June of this year. The record is super diverse and HS Dro worked with different producers on each track, showing how important collaboration is to him. Calm Before the Storm is a great body of work with many diverse hip-hop tracks.
One of my favorite tracks off the record is “ABC” which features Fr3do. The track has a sick beat driven by a light synth as well as a booming bass. The song also includes an amazing hook that gets stuck in the listener’s head. The lyrics are also ridiculously clever and both rappers are absolutely spitting. Another track that I loved off his new record is “12pm at the Red Room,” this is one of the deeper songs on the record where HS Dro raps about chasing his musical dreams. I’m sure we will be hearing a lot more about HS Dro.
