The spark that ignited Emmitt James’ musical career was lit, like so many others, during his teenage years.
“I started off doing spoken-word poetry,” he says, recalling his days at Reagan High School. “That naturally transitioned to rapping. And when my music teacher saw me and my friends were really into it, they built us a little makeshift studio. And so we learned how to record.”
That was more than a dozen years ago – back when he was just a scrappy kid from the North Side. Since that time, his musical dreams took him to Los Angeles in 2015. He spent almost a decade living and working there – as both a rap artist and a barista – while he continued to create, perform and polish his skills as an MC, opening for acts like The Pharcyde, Cuco and Yasiin Bey before moving back to Milwaukee almost two years ago.
It’s time to pick your Milwaukee favorites for the year!
The artist that James is today is the sum of all of the experiences of his 31 years. He stands out as one of the city’s more uniquely authentic rappers, unafraid to let listeners into his life while at the same time not taking himself too seriously.
Round-faced, quick to smile and full of energy, James has a catalog of raps that run the gamut from unrequited and unbashful love to the annoyances of everyday life like paying taxes and not having dental insurance.
He also tackles loftier topics like faith, humility and overcoming uncertainty and low self-esteem, rhyming over beats that are usually jazz-inspired. “If you see me live, more times than not, I’m playing with a full band – could be bass, drums, violin, trumpet, keys,” he says. “When I can have it, I prefer that live instrumentation.”
His latest project, a September release titled It’s Giving Healed Black Man, crosses into very vulnerable territory: “My music is always about me, so this new album is about my recent journey of starting to go to therapy for the first time,” he says.
Still, its jams are upbeat, like the quick-paced, uplifting “Stress Less” and the confident, piano- and horn-heavy “Under My Feet.”
James also knows that to regularly make shows happen in Milwaukee – a city that hasn’t been known for its deep bench of rap artists – he has to create the opportunities himself. So he’s become his own best promoter, event organizer and playmaker – a DIY approach with echoes of the architects of hip-hop culture and music 50 years ago in New York City.
Case in point: While James has played at a variety of venues around town from the Pabst Theater and Var Gallery to the Milwaukee Night Market and Brady Street Festival, he regularly books his own gigs and even organizes fundraising shows for local nonprofits. He has also earned some income teaching middle school kids about hip-hop through the Future Urban Leaders program.
“I mostly live off doing live shows, selling merch and doing other things behind the scenes. Every two weeks, I battle with myself about whether I need to get a regular job,” he says with a laugh. “But I usually win that argument and somehow just keep doing this art thing full time.”
IN A CITY THAT JUST ISN’T KNOWN as a mecca for rap music, there’s no formula for the hip-hop community here. There’s not one specific producer or crew that cranks out hits. And it was only in the last few years that the city’s unique, bass-heavy signature sound – known as “lowend” – began to take hold and be recognized outside the area.
The Milwaukee acts who’ve been at it for decades, like the Rusty Ps or Baby Drew, learned early on that the local rap scene was a choose-your-own adventure – and that it’s also like running in place sometimes. That said, there also isn’t any shortage of born-and-bred Milwaukee rap artists who have given it everything they’ve got to make it big outside the 414. And some have enjoyed brief and varied degrees of success, running a song or two up the charts.
Most notable is Coo Coo Cal, whose Southern rap-inspired song “My Projects,” topped Billboard’s Hot Rap Songs chart in the summer of 2001. Then there’s the pioneering sounds of the Spanish-language rap group from the city’s South Side, Kinto Sol, which began to make major waves and charted in the Top 10 of the Latin Rhythm Album section of Billboard a few times during the early and mid-2000s.
And also worth noting, Todd “Speech” Thomas, the frontman for the 1993 Grammy Award-winning group Arrested Development, is from Milwaukee. Thomas said on 88Nine RadioMilwaukee’s podcast “Backspin” that he and his crew during his teenage years in the mid-’80s – an act known as A-Tak – “were definitely the first official hip-hop crew to release a record of hip-hop in Milwaukee.”
While no MC or rap crew has been named as the kings or queens of the growing Milwaukee rap scene, plenty of artists are reaching for that crown. And there’s more than enough shine from the spotlight to share.
Known for his ability to weave together and overlap different genres, singer/composer/producer Klassik lives inside the sound of the Milwaukee rap scene. As a musician, scholar and mentor, he’s studied its growth and evolution more than most.
“We really are a melting pot of all of these hip-hop influences, like Detroit and Chicago but also stretching out to the [San Francisco] Bay Area and down to New Orleans,” says Klassik. “Right now, the Milwaukee sound – which it’s been for the last 10-15 years – is the clap on every beat or almost every beat, stripped down instrumentals and very heavy bass.” That instrumental makeup has been dubbed “lowend,” and many consider it the signature Milwaukee beat formula.
Klassik, who’s 35 and released his first musical project back in 2010, is bullish on the next few years for Milwaukee hip-hop, in part because of the range of ages and approaches within the local rap community.
“I think that it’s going to compound in an interesting way because the sounds coming out of Milwaukee are a blend of everything that’s going on in the country. And, we have the freedom to not be constrained,” he says. “We don’t have to sound like New York or sound like something from Atlanta or sound like the West Coast. We get the luxury of being able to be all of those things.”
“You have these new, younger artists who are very much so in the now,” says Klassik, a multi-talented musician who’s also one of the city’s most celebrated MCs. “But then you still have this presence of folks who are now part of the young O.G. crowd – like me – who are still young enough to be making things. It’s a healthy mix of really young, really experimental artists taking chances and making the most of what’s going on right now. And then a mix of these veterans and people who have been here.”
One of the most impressive new-ish MCs is J.P., the 20-year-old singer/rapper phenom who’s been riding high since his hit “Bad Bitty” took off last year and has climbed past 26 million plays on Spotify alone so far. Klassik sees J.P. – who also landed a performance spot on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” in 2024 – as blending raw talent with pop-savvy skill.
“He’s had an astronomical year, and there’s not been someone from here that has had not only viral success, but is also genuinely musically talented and can do a bevy of different things,” he says. “But the sound that he brought to the forefront nationally is that very specific Milwaukee sound.”
MCs from Milwaukee want to show the world what their home is like – and in great detail, Klassik says. Just like in other cities, Milwaukee’s rappers use their surroundings to tell their stories, whether that’s recording rap videos on the pothole-filled streets of the North Side, their favorite nightclub, an after hours party spot or, in some cases, their bedroom.
There’s no attempt to hide from their city or hide their city from the world – and for many of them just starting out, it’s a lot of do-it-yourself visuals, making beats on your computer and recording in your closet. That DIY/hustle vibe is exactly what artists elsewhere have done in other cities that are now on the national rap map.
But with so much talent emerging from the 414 right now – aided by technology and the ease of releasing music straight to the Internet – it’s no longer a matter of if and when someone from Milwaukee blows up nationally or even internationally, it’s more about who and how.
ONE OF THE CITY’S most prolific MCs of late is Wave Chapelle. He’s been grinding on- and offline since the early 2010s and has more than a few notable notches on his belt.
Dropping songs and albums consistently for a decade, Wave, 30, started making significant strides outside the state when he landed a record deal while a college student in Memphis, Tennessee.
But back here at home, he’s caught the eye of promoters, landing spots performing at Bucks games and as the first act to headline Vivarium when the East Side concert hall opened last year.
His track record has led to the confidence and swagger you’d expect from someone who literally came of age already in the game. Wave taps into an upbeat, fast-paced beat recipe and layers in his lyrics about everything from partying all night and being the ladies’ first choice to the challenges of fatherhood and his life goals and aspirations.
“I definitely like to have fun and rap about what’s going to draw people into the party, but I also have to add in some authenticity about what I’m going through in my real life,” he says. “I think that’s what people gravitate to with my music.”
In a rap game that’s not only highly competitive but also full of flash-in-the-pan artists, Wave has a system for staying relevant and retaining fans. “I measure success by competing against myself from last year,” he says, adding that he looks to not only grow as an artist and create better music but also expand his brand and outreach.
“If I can beat what I did – whether that’s how many shows or monthly song streams – that keeps me going. It’s easy to look at the money – and that’s part of it, sure – but I need to be growing and reaching more and more people. So, I ask myself: As an artist, am I improving?”
For 18-year-old Milwaukee-born sensation Myaap, the answer was Atlanta, the modern-day epicenter of rap. She promises to never forget her 414 roots – and to come back for shows – but Myaap says she’s letting her stardom lead her, at least for now.
“Milwaukee can have an impact on other artists now because we’re finally getting the recognition we deserve,” she says. “And I think this music can take me far to work with mainstream artists and find even bigger opportunities.”
It wasn’t all that long ago that Myaap – pronounced Mia P – was a kid dancing around her East Side house as her dad played rap classics by Ice Cube and Tupac. But she never really imagined herself as a rap artist herself. “Me and my brother would have our little freestyle sessions,” she says. “But honestly, I wasn’t that big on rapping.”
Still, when the Internet presented Myaap with the opportunity for social media stardom a couple of years ago, she snatched it up. “One day when I was bored,” she says, she made a song – “Getting To It,” built around a sample of ABBA’s “Dancing Queen” – that sparked an online dance craze. “I uploaded it to TikTok and it blew up and it all just kept going from there,” she recalls.
The song would later be taken down for copyright reasons – she’s tried repeatedly to get the sample cleared – but she followed it up with hits like “Party Crackin” in 2022 and “Wham” a year later. And she’s kept it going and going since, with two albums and millions of streams, shares and likes across social media and digital music platforms.
Musically, Myaap packs a punch by combining a rapid-fire rap flow over fast, clap-heavy beats. Her lyrics are a mix of aggressive independence, disregarding her haters and thoroughly celebrating her sexuality. Her cadence and content channels that of rap stars like Ice Spice and Cardi B. “There just aren’t a lot of female Milwaukee rap artists,” she says. “And so I’m out here to change that.”
WHILE HIGH-MINDED LYRICAL THEMES and dance party tracks have a prominent place in Milwaukee rap, plenty of artists lean into the darker side of struggle and street life. Take Chicken P, who delivers his lyrics about money, women, drugs and violence with a laid-back, unbothered vibe and contagious confidence.
Doing serious numbers on all music streaming sites as well as YouTube, Chicken P attributes his skyrocketing career to one simple fact: “I got out of jail,” he says, referencing his latest arrest last summer involving three ongoing drug, weapons and battery cases.
“I guess when I was in there, people thought that was it for me and that I wasn’t getting out. So when I did shake it and got out on bail, I went straight to the studio. Two weeks later, I was going everywhere – New York, Cali – for record label meetings, and now we’re here.”
Chicken P says a major part of his success is the ability to make his music – and his lavish, money-flashing lifestyle – accessible online. “If you know how to grasp people’s attention and really show them who you are, they’ll want to be a part of it,” he says. “And once you have them, keep dropping more and more on them.”
With Milwaukee finally coming into its own, every artist here adding to the diverse and growing scene feels like they have a shot at making it.
“Everybody seems to have different styles, and if someone from here is winning, that’s a W for us all,” says James. “There’s people from this city here who are just as talented in their own right as others elsewhere and who are making big waves beyond this city – we can all still champion that and gain from it.”
The MKE Starter pack
414BigFrank is amorphous: His punchline-packing raps and hilarious videos make folks wonder if he wants to be a comedian or MC. Answer: Probably both.
HOT TRACK: HIS NAMESAKE SONG “414BIGFRANK (BACKPACK)” IS AGGRESSIVE, FACT-PACED AND INFECTIOUS.
Certified Trapper switches up his style every other song with wildly different beats and voice effects while his lyrics stay focused on getting money, attracting women and engaging in less-than-legal activities.
Kia Rap Princess may not have the streaming numbers of others in this list, but she’s got veteran stripes and a velvety flow dipped in liquid charisma.
IshDARR hit the local scene like a meteor about a decade ago. Now he’s back with an EP full of funky beats that match his straightforward flow and emotional content.
Lakeyah is an MKE native who hit it big after moving to Atlanta in 2019. Strong-willed with an assertive voice to match, she backs up every bit of braggadociousness.
SteveDaStoner is a TikTok star known as much for designing dance crazes as as being an MC in the streets
Mariboy Mula Mar is part singer, part rapper and all Milwaukee. His melodic savvy shows out in most songs, paired with lyrical prerequisites of stacking currency, threats against his opposition and tales of romantic adventures.
