BY MICHAEL TRISTANI

It seems like every other year, one or two cities has a flock of young, new artists that all blow up simultaneously and take over the game. In 2012 it was New York with A$AP Rocky, Joey Bada$$, Action Bronson, etc. and Los Angeles, with the powerhouse that was TDE with releases of Kendrick Lamar’s Good Kid, M.A.A.D City, Ab-Soul’s Control System, and Schoolboy Q’s Habits & Contradictions. 2013 wasn’t the same, which was just a year full of big hitter releases from Kanye, A$AP Rocky, Drake and J.Cole, to name a few. In 2014, it was Atlanta. With the unstoppable force that was Young Thug, Rich Homie Quan, Rae Sremmurd, Peewee Longway, etc. However, in 2015 you can expect the next city in the cycle to be Chicago. Everyone had a taste of the fresh raw talent from the Windy City in 2013 with the breakout releases of Chance The Rapper’s Acid Rap and Vic Mensa’s Innanetape. While both of them have been working on their upcoming, much-anticipated releases, 2014 was a relatively quiet year for Chicago. With many of these artists on the list bubbling beneath the surface, expect many of these artists on this list to breakout and have a huge year.

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