17 Best Rapper From Arkansas To Follow In 2023

Rapper from Arkansas Bankroll Freddie is a Southern Hip Hop artist. He was born in the city of Helena, Arkansas named Freddie Gladney III.

Though born in Helena, he and his mother moved to nearby Conway, Arkansas after a cousin of his passed away from being shot in 2009. The young rapper then went to Conway High School where he graduated in 2013.

He started his career in 2017 by releasing a series of freestyles from Lil Baby, named after the popular rapper, and a freestyle based on the City Girls song, Act Up. The latter gained the attention of the music label Quality Control’s CEO Pierre “P’ Thomas, who not only reposted it on Instagram but also invited the rapper to meet him in Los Angeles. 

The rapper started releasing original music in 2019 with his single, Drip Like Dis to great success. As of the writing of this article, the song has over 21.5 million plays on Spotify and is his most streamed song.

He quickly followed up the success of Drip Like Dis with his first mixtape, Saved by the Bales, which he released on July 4, 2019. Since then, he has released two more mixtapes named From Trap to Rap on January 17, 2020, and its sequel on July 29, 2022. 

The latter charted at number 6 on Billboard’s Heatseeker charts. The rapper has since collaborated with artists like Megan Thee Stallion and Lil Baby.

Hunter Beard is a controversial rapper from Little Rock, Arkansas. He was born on July 28, 1981, and has an extensive criminal history.

The rapper’s criminal activities started young as he was suspended from high school many times and ended up dropping out in his sophomore year. However, he would later get a GED while in prison. 

He started selling drugs at thirteen and has a criminal record that includes fourteen felony counts. Hunter was sentenced to three prison terms for robbery, with the first beginning at 17.

However, he started turning it around during his last stint in prison when he sang lyrics onto a handheld voice recorder. He used hip-hop as a way to avoid falling into old habits, and it became something of an obsession.

In fact, prison ended up helping him with his career as a prison guard who had heard his recordings and connected him with a music promoter from Flipside entertainment. The promoter in turn gave Hunter an offer to open for famed R&B singer Chris Brown.

Sadly, Hunter didn’t get released on time. Still, the experience validated him, and when he got out, he started focusing on creating music.

Since then, he has released three albums in 2007, 2008, and 2011. He moved to Los Angeles in 2012 and is currently based there.

Kari Faux is the stage name of American rapper Kari Rose Johnson. She was born in Little Rock, Arkansas on June 11, 1992.

Born to a single teenage mother, Kari was adopted by a couple who already had a 10-year-old son. Her adoptive father was a factory worker for Skippy Peanut Butter, and her mother was a minister.

She studied at Little Rock Central High School and moved to Atlanta soon after graduating to study at the Art Institute of Atlanta. While at the Institute, she studied audio engineering but soon dropped out because she had a terrible experience, and since then has called the school a scam.

Though Kari would officially start her career in 2014, her first release came in 2012 with a mixtape called City Limits. She would gain prominence after the release of her 2014 mixtape, Laugh Now, Die Later, which was received well by critics and even landed a spot on the Most Overlooked Mixtapes of 2014 by music publication Pitchfork.

Since then, the singer has released four projects starting with her debut album, Lost En Los Angeles in 2016, two EPs called Primary in 2017 and Cry 4 Help in 2018, and her most recent work, a mixtape called Lowkey Superstar which she released in 2020. 

SL Jones is the stage name of American rapper Bryan Charles Jones. He was born in Flint, Michigan but moved to Little Rock, Arkansas shortly after.

In Little Rock, the rapper was raised in a gang-heavy part of the city called 23rd & Wolfe Street. The rapper has since stated that the neighborhood was part of many Crip and Blood-affiliated neighborhoods which led to many gang activities.

He started his career in the mid-2000s after he joined Grind Time Rap Gang, where he would rub shoulders with many prominent rappers like Killer Mike and Pill to name a few. He appeared on the former’s seminal album, I Pledge Allegiance To The Grind, released in 2006.

The rapper started his solo career after he released his debut and only album, C.O.L.O.R.S. (Banging on Wax) on January 2, 2008. The acronym stands for Collectively Organizing Leaders Offering a Revolutionary State of Mind.

Since then, the rapper has released over seven projects which consist of three mixtapes named The Number 23 and Flight Risk, both released in 2011, and Paraphernalia, released in 2012, and four EPS called Trapper’s Delight in 2013 and CUZ, WHAT UP CUZ and BLUE SLIME in 2015, 2017 and 2018 respectively.

For the last three projects, the rapper has been calling himself Cuz Lightyear and has made the changes on his Spotify too, with their being separate pages for SL Jones and Cuz Lightyear.

Tony Tillman is the current stage name of the rapper Tony Daniel Frazier. He was born on January 25, 1981, in Camden, Arkansas.

Originally known as Brothatone, Tillman is a Christian hip-hop artist who was raised in a single-parent home. During his youth, he was a member of the Crips gang, but religion made him turn his life around which led him to leave the gang and focus on his music.

He started his career in 2006 by traveling with Seventh Day Slumber. During this time, he opened shows for various Contemporary Christian Music and Hip-Hop artists. 

His first release came in the form of his debut album, Mic Check, which he released on February 19, 2013, through his label, Reflection Music. Despite being a debut it was a success on Billboard’s Gospel charts where it peaked at number 25.

He followed that up with The Tillman EP which came out later in the year on June 25, 2013, also through Reflection Music. It was a success in not only the Gospel charts, where it peaked at number 19 but also the Christian music charts where it peaked at number 28.

The rapper’s most successful record is also his most recent, which is his sophomore album, Camden, which he released on August 7, 2015. The album peaked at number 10 on the Christian music charts and 8 on the Heatseeker’s charts.

BiC Fizzle is the rap stage name of American rapper Jeremiah Northern. He was born on April 22, 2003, in Blytheville, Arkansas. 

The rapper is famous for being signed by famed Southern Hip-Hop artist and Atlanta legend, Gucci Mane, who signed him to his 1017 Records Label. Since then, the rapper has been regularly pumping out music.

BiC has a successful YouTube channel with over 97K subscribers as of the writing of this article. The most popular song on the channel is his song Servin, which has over 7.2 million views. 

His success has also transferred to his Spotify account where the rapper has over 448,553 monthly listeners. His most successful song is Turnt Shit with over 3.4 million plays.

As he only got signed in 2021, the rapper has only released one full-length project, an album called Clark Street Baby. He released the album on January 27, 2023, and it features many prominent Southern artists like Gucci Mane and Quavo, alongside young hopefuls like Cootie, Big Scarr, and NoCap.

Aside from his own music, the artist has featured in four of Gucci Mane’s projects from 2021’s So Icy Boyz to his most recent 2022 Mixtape So Icy Gany: The ReUp. His label head has consistently been pushing BiC to great success.

Cee Kay is an American rapper from Pine Bluff, Arkansas. He was born on March 27, 1999.

Also known as OG Cee Kay, the rapper debuted during the Soundcloud rap boom of the late 2010s, around 2019. He started his career by having his music showcased in various online hip-hop forums and YouTube channels.

His most successful song to date is on the WORLDSTARHIPHOP YouTube channel called No Remorse. The song, which was released on February 2, 2019, has over 3.6 million views as of the writing of this article. 

He has had another song on the channel called Pressure featuring popular rapper YoungBoy Never Broke Again, which has over 3.7 million views and was released around the same time. 

The rapper also has his own YouTube channel called OG CeeKay which he started on April 5, 2014. The channel has amassed over 35.9K subscribers as of the writing of this article.

The most popular video on the channel has amassed over 729K views. His success is also reflected on his Spotify page, where the rapper has racked up over 148,975 monthly listeners. 

He has only released one full-length so far, which is an album called Blood On My Hands which he released on March 29, 2019. The album streamed well as four tracks on the album No Remorse, Winning, Predator, and Dangerous have surpassed a million streams, with the former surpassing two million streams each.

DLU Kemp is a rapper and TikToker who was born on January 12, 2001. He was born in Lepanto, Arkansas.

He is best known for promoting his music on TikTok where he has over 261.7K followers and has amassed over 2.5 million likes. His social media fame extends to other platforms too as the rapper has amassed over 66.3K followers on his Instagram account and over 55.1K subscribers on his YouTube account.

The rapper’s most successful song on his YouTube page is called This Is Why I’m Hot, which is a remix to the throwback track of the same name by 2000s rapper MIMS. DLU Kemp released his version on January 29, 2001, and it has amassed over 6.2 million as of the writing of this article.

Kemp has also amassed over 399,125 monthly listeners on his Spotify page. Incidentally, the most popular track on his Spotify is also his remix of MIMS This Is Why I’m Hot, which has garnered over 15.9 million plays on the app.

Per his Spotify, the rapper has released two albums with the first one being Most Hated, which he released on October 29, 2021, and the second one being Welcome to Arkansas which he released the next year on July 3, 2022. His latest release is a song called Bender, which he released on October 4, 2022.

Feezi Redd is the stage name of American rapper Bilal Muhammad Junior. He was born in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1996. 

Redd grew up amidst one of the deadliest gang wars and violence in his neighborhood of Schiller Street. His father and many of his other family members had a history of being involved in gangs, but thankfully, both his parents kept him out of major trouble.

The rapper discovered his flair for rapping at an early age and was writing rhymes and poetry from the age of six. In third grade, he was already starting a rap group with his brother and cousin. 

His father, Bilal Muhammad Sr. recognized his son’s talent when the boy was nine years old and helped him record his first studio song, called I’m a Problem. In honor of his father, the rapper picked his stage name, Feezi Redd, as his father also rapped under the moniker Feezio.

Redd’s first brush with the mainstream came in 2012, when he met with the popular record label, EMI Records. They wanted to sign him then and there, but only he, and the rapper, who was part of a rap group called Fight Klub, turned down the offer due to loyalty towards his partners.

Sadly, turning down that offer may have been a death knell for his career as now, a decade passed since the meeting, and the rapper has yet to break out from his home state.

OG Ty is the stage name of Arkansas rapper Tylin Walker. He was born and raised in Jonesboro, Arkansas, and reps the city in his music.

According to the rapper’s website, he gained the name OG from the drug deals, or trappers, living in his neighborhood. They started calling him OG at age 8 because he was ahead of his time in their eyes. 

On the same website, the rapper states that what makes him special is the fact that he has no special sound. From hardcore rap to melodic lyrics, the rapper can do it all.

He deems himself not only a rapper but a ghostwriter, producer, graphic designer, and an artist in general. As an underground rapper, he is not well known in the mainstream yet but has steadily been releasing music on Youtube, Spotify, and other platforms.

OG Ty has over 2.07K subscribers on his YouTube page where his most popular song is called Get Away, which has garnered over 33K views. He regularly uses the platforms to drop visuals for many of his songs, with most of them garnering views in the thousands.

The rapper also has a Spotify page where he has amassed over 3.8K monthly listeners. The most popular song on his Spotify is one called Pop Y’all Shit, which has garnered over 686,373 plays as of the writing of this video.

MBG TYGlizzy is an up-and-coming underground rapper from Arkansas. He is also unsigned and works independently from any label.

He started his career in 2016 when he released a song called Opp Life on his YouTube page on December 12, 2016. Since then, the rapper has released over 20 songs on the account, with the last two being official music videos for his songs, Different Cloth, and Mr. Clean.

The most popular song on his YouTueb page is a collaboration with fellow rapper Rolley Denaro called Kick Doe. The duo released the song on June 3, 2021, and it has since amassed over 3.3K views as of the writing of this article.

TYGlizzy is much more prolific on his Soundcloud page where the rapper has released more than 37 songs. He has amassed 74 followers on the page, and his most popular song is called Caake Part 2.

Recently, the rapper has also joined Spotify and has started posting his tracks there. Though he has only posted three tracks on the app, he has already gained 11 monthly listeners.

Despite this, the rapper has continued grinding, mainly focusing on his Soundcloud and his YouTube. Speaking of YouTube, the rapper also used to have a gaming channel on YouTube called TY GAM3ING where he has posted six videos, but sadly, the channel has been inactive since January 30, 2017.

Cootie is the stage name for American rapper Randarious Caruthers. He was born and raised in Blytheville, Arkansas.

Like BiC Fizzle, his friend and collaborator, Cootie is a member of Atlanta legend Gucci Mane’s record label, 1017 Brick Squad, and The New 1017. He has collaborated with both artists as he appeared on Gucci’s 2021 album So Icy Boyz and 2022 compilation So Icy Boyz 22, and Fizzle’s 2021 single Trapmania, and the 2023 debut album, Clark Street Baby.

As for his own music, Cootie is fairly popular as he has amassed over 308,234 monthly listeners on his Spotify page. Four of the five songs on his popular list have amassed over 2 million plays, with his collab with Fizzle, Trapmania, having garnered over 4 million plays.

The rapper is also successful on other platforms, especially on his YouTube channel called Big Cootie where he has amassed over 46.6K subscribers as of the writing of this article. His most popular song on the platform is one called 2Tone which also features popular rapper NBA Youngboy, and has amassed 1.4 million views since its release on September 28, 2022.

In fact, that is not the only million-crossing song on his account, as a previously released song, On the House, has also surpassed a million, and currently sits at 1.3 million views, despite being released only a year and a half ago on August 13, 2021. 

ZaeHD is the stage name of American rapper, dancer, and choreographer Isaiah Holdt. He was born on September 20, 1998.

Hailing from Little Rock, Arkansas, Zae started dancing at the age of 8, when he started doing Michael Jackson’s impersonations at home with his family. He started gaining fame around 2014 when he started posting his dance on social media, and since then has amassed hundreds of thousands of followers across many platforms.

He mainly posts his dances on his Instagram and TikTok pages. He has amassed over 201K followers on the former, and over 1.7 million on the latter, alongside 25.9 million likes. 

As for music, Zae is best known as part of the duo ZaeHD and CEO, alongside his collaborator Darrell Baker. The two have three albums called HighDefGang Volumes 1, 2, and 3, and an EP called Global Warning.

The duo has amassed a following of 141,150 monthly listeners on their Spotify page. However, the rapper also releases music on his own and has his solo Spotify page which has over 98,612 monthly listeners. 

He is especially successful on his solo YouTube channel, which has over 321K subscribers. The most successful video on the channel is a dance video, where Zae and CEO do their rendition of BlocBoy JB’s Shoot dance, and it has amassed over 64 million views.

PME JayBee is an underground rapper hailing from Little Rock, Arkansas. The PME in his name stands for Product of My Environment.

The rapper started his career in 2018 when he released a song called Never Squeal on his YouTube channel on March 22, 2018. The song has since amassed over 6.5K views.

Since then, the rapper has steadily been cultivating his YouTube channel and currently has amassed over 15.9K subscribers as of the writing of this article. His most popular song on the channel is called Murda Twins, which has garnered over 568K views since being released eleven months ago on March 1, 2022.

JayBee has also found success on Spotify and is a verified artist with over 17,751 monthly listeners. Four out of the five most popular songs on his discography have amassed over a hundred thousand plays.

He has released over 16 singles on the platform, an EP called Streets Rockstar: Chapter One, which he released on May 18, 2020, and two albums called Tales of Little Rock, which he released on June 1, 2022, and his most recent project, Get Rich Or Die Slimin’, which he released on November 2, 2022.

The rapper’s most popular platform is definitely his Instagram page, where he has amassed over 65.6K followers. He uses the site to promote his music and interact with his fans.

ED Dolo is an up-and-coming Arkansas rapper whose birth name is Heiron Thomas. He is signed to the record label Quality Control Music.

Hailing from Helena, Arkansas, Dolo comes from a heavily gang-violent background as he lost his best friend to violence in 2009, which sparked a series of terrible events including the death of his aunt, and grandmother, and culminated with the death of another best friend, Dre in 2016. 

Needing something to alleviate the pain, the rapper started rapping, and within two years, achieved some mainstream success with a hit song called FLYH Remix alongside rapper Dee Mula. 

Since then, the rapper has steadily been building his fan base and platforms, starting with his YouTube channel where he has amassed over 5.03K subscribers. The most popular song on the channel is one called Turn Me Up, which has garnered over 231K views since its release on April 14, 2022.

Dolo is also a verified artist on Spotify where he has amassed over 2.4K monthly listeners. Per Spotify, the rapper has released four albums called Lisa Son, Mr. One Take, and 90 Days Before the deal, all in 2020, and his major label debut album Stuck in the Trap in 2022.

Mucho Reemo is an up-and-coming underground rapper hailing from Little Rock, Arkansas. He started releasing music in 2019.

Reemo has been gaining recognition from the underground for some years now and has finally started gaining recognition from people outside of Arkansas too. His most popular platform is his Instagram page where the rapper has amassed over 20.7K followers as of the writing of this article. 

The rapper uses the account to interact with fans, promote his music, and show off his successful lifestyle. Though he is not verified yet, his follower count shows that he is reaching a large audience.

He also has a successful YouTube channel with over 3.95K subscribers. The rapper started the channel on March 8, 2020, and has earned over 1.5 million views on the channel in total.

His most successful song on the channel is a collaboration song with fellow rappers EBK TaeSavage and EBK FatHead called S Block to Schiller. It was released on May 20, 2021, and has amassed over 190K views as of the writing of this article.

However, his success is not universal to all platforms as the rapper has not had much success on Spotify. He only has 886 monthly listeners on the platform, and his most-played song, Let It Hang, has over 13K plays.

Lg Malique is also an up-and-coming American rapper from Arkansas. He is a regular collaborator of fellow Arkansas rapper Bankroll Freddie.

The rapper is signed to the record label Demon Time and is managed by O Gates. He has been releasing music since October 3, 2016, when he released his first song on YouTube.

He has since amassed over 10.8K subscribers on his YouTube channel. The most popular song on the channel is his collaboration with Banroll Freddie called Back Home, which has over 591K views.

The rapper has also seen a healthy listener count on Spotify where he has over 18.9K monthly listeners. The most popular song on the platform is his single, Work Fa My Spot, which has over 330,675 plays. 

The rapper hasn’t released any albums yet but has released over 13 singles, with his most recent one, Too Easy, being released last week on February 10, 2023. He is also fairly popular on Instagram, where he has over 38K followers.