Tomorrow’s Five: BabyChiefDoIt, Snow Strippers, Cleotrapa, Bayker Blankenship, and STAR BANDZ

Third Bridge Creative -

By Kemet High, Colin Joyce, and Jaelani Turner-Williams of Third Bridge Creative

In this week’s installment of our column following artists on the rise, we’re obsessing over two very different Chicago drill rappers, a Midwest electronic duo, heartfelt Tennessean country, and an online socialite-turned-NYC-rapper.    

BabyChiefDoit

Chartmetric Artist Rank: 4,441

Genre: Hip-Hop/Rap

Country: U.S.

Chicago's rap scene is hearty right now, thanks to the young crop of natives like BabyChiefDoit. Last summer, he released his first song "Rollin"—a drill flip of Waka Flocka Flame and Gunplay's 2011 song of the same name. Emerging as a popular soundbite on TikTok, the track has cracked the U.S. Viral 50 chart on both TikTok and Spotify. This year alone BabyChiefDoit has released a handful of singles, with high-energy standouts like "Snooze You Lose," "6ix Times 2Day," and "Pancakes & Drugs" that have crossed one million streams on Spotify. In the last month, his monthly listener count on Spotify has gone up 200%, thanks to a number of releases that have caught fire.

Snow Strippers

Chartmetric Artist Rank: 7,782

Genre: Dance/Electronic

Country: U.S.

The Detroit-formed electronic duo Snow Strippers have experienced a gradual rise over the last few years, self-releasing a unique strain of hazy, yet colorful music that endeared them to fans of nostalgic dance music that’s come to be known as indie sleaze. After a streak of notable cosigns—a collaboration with psychedelic merch-slingers Online Ceramics, a team-up with rap experimenters Surf Gang, a spot on a Lil Uzi Vert tape—they’ve edged ever closer to the mainstream. Now, they’re just about there thanks to the dark pop song “Under Your Spell,” which has a grim, yet ecstatic beat that recalls Crystal Castles and Salem. Prominent editorial playlist placements, including big on the internet, anti pop, and hexxed, show that Snow Strippers are translating attention into real success. 

Cleotrapa

Chartmetric Artist Rank: 12,915

Genre: Hip-Hop/Rap

Country: U.S.

Cleotrapa carved a lane for herself as an online personality known for her New York City-centric skits and became even more visible with her comedic grammar lessons. After years of cultivating an audience, her online presence opened the door for her rap career.  Earlier this year, she dropped her biggest songs to date "Rockstar" (741K Spotify streams), which samples the 2007 Hannah Montana song of the same name, and "Von Dutch" (135K Spotify streams). Cleo took to TikTok to air out her grievances of how she felt mistreated in Ice Spice's Y2K! World Tour where she was an opener. In September, the six-part story time garnered over 27M views on Tiktok. Leveraging the newfound support and attention, she dropped her latest single "D.B.A.D." in mid-September, which grew her Spotify monthly listeners to 140K.

Bayker Blankenship

Chartmetric Artist Rank: 5,357

Genre: Country

Country: U.S.

The teenage Tennessean songwriter Bayker Blankenship has experienced a rapid rise over the course of 2024, thanks to his sentimental stripped-down take on country music. Laid-back yet emotional, his music takes cues from Zach Bryan, Tyler Childers, and the whole history of dewy-eyed singer/songwriters who write country music with hearts firmly pinned to their sleeves. Blankenship broke out earlier this year thanks to a live performance video of “Maxed Out,” a heartfelt ballad delivered with steely authenticity. Since then, he’s released an EP, Younger Years, and garnered a host of fans as a result, appearing on popular country playlists like Hot Country, homegrown and New Boots.

STAR BANDZ

Chartmetric Artist Rank: 8,342

Genre: Hip-Hop/Rap

Country: U.S.

At just 16 years old, Chicago rhymer STAR BANDZ is one of the buzziest names in drill music. One year after her debut EP star bandz where you been?, the rapper gained traction in March on her breakout single “Yea Yea” (6.9M Spotify streams) for her laid-back and potent flow. The track was also popular for its choppy sample of Ahmad Jamal signature “Pastures,” famously known for being sampled on Jay-Z’s “Feelin’ It.” Star’s feisty bars resurfaced on the G-Funk influenced “Cut Throat” (258K Spotify streams), street-savvy anthem “Too many options” (641K Spotify streams) and 1up Tee collaboration “Click” (782K Spotify streams), currently on editorial playlist Fresh Finds Hip-Hop. Possessing a more grim perspective than most women in rap, Star’s fanbase is enjoying the contrast; her Spotify monthly listeners have gone from 443K at the beginning of September to 928K by the end of the month.

Portions of this are included in Sound Signal, a bi-weekly newsletter from Third Bridge Creative. Sign up here.

Visualizations by Alejandra Arevalo and cover image by Crasianne Tirado; data as of Sept. 30, 2024.