Tomorrow's Five: smokedope2016, Nate Sib, Michael Marcagi, Lucy Bedroque, DAMEDAME*

Third Bridge Creative -

By Colin Joyce, Jaelani Turner-Williams, Brandon Ousley, Vrinda Jagota, Leah Mandel, Kemet High, and Andrew Marcogliese of Third Bridge Creative

smokedope2016

Chartmetric Artist Rank: 49,526

Genre: Hip-Hop/Rap

Country: U.S.

There isn't a lot of fully confirmable information about the bleary-eyed cloud-rapper smokedope2016. Despite the 442K monthly listeners on Spotify and giving the occasionally trollish interviews with underground scene outlets—including one with Masked Gorilla where he claims to have tripped on acid for eight months straight—he’s kept things low-key, blurring his face and wearing masks in any promotional materials and generally favoring fried mythmaking over more traditional approaches to marketing. The mystique is working—he’s made his way onto gatekeeping editorial playlists like Internet People and earned the attention of tastemaking critic Eli Enis’ blog, even as the wider public remains unaware of his shadowy take on emotional rap music. It only feels like a matter of time, though, he has a knack for the same kind of fractured melodies that have caught the ears of a generation of Drainers and Lil Peep fans. 

Nate Sib

Chartmetric Artist Rank: 36,419

Genre: Hyperpop

Country: U.S.

With just a handful of releases, Los Angeles-based artist Nate Sib is one of the post-hyperpop scenes breakout stars. He clocks 375K monthly Spotify listeners, and has landed spots on the platform’s popular playlists “Varsity Bars” and “Internet People.” His song “afraid,” featuring frequent collaborator 2hollis, just got a spot in Fortnite Festival. He’s got a knack for gaming music, it seems: his 2023 breakout track, “Why can’t you see,” appears on the NHL 24 soundtrack. The 21-year-old songwriter and producer has a distorted hook-laden, blown-out pop sound that exists somewhere between peak SoundCloud-era and arena polish. His recent EP, for us, was released with Republic and features more from 2hollis, on the R&B-tinged party track “back & forth,” and includes the single “tonight,” which has surpassed one million streams.

Michael Marcagi

Chartmetric Artist Rank: 4,121

Genre: Indie Folk

Country: U.S.

By early 2024, folk singer Michael Marcagi had only released two singles, and yet each—"The Other Side” and “Scared to Start”—had surpassed 6M streams on Spotify. In the year and a half since, “Scared to Start” has accumulated more than 100 times that amount, for a current total of 666M Spotify streams. Marcagi’s music is reminiscent of early-‘00s radio folk-pop of the Keane and Gavin DeGraw variety—it sounds like it could be placed on The O.C. soundtrack, if the show hadn’t ended 18 years ago and was set in Ohio. The Cincinnati-born musician’s latest single, “Wish I Never Met You,” from his April EP Midwest Kid, has the same vibe, and features The Lumineers’ Wesley Schultz. With prominent playlist placements on country and folk staples like homegrown and Fresh Air, he seems poised to continue his rapid rise.

Lucy Bedroque

Chartmetric Artist Rank: 92,281

Genre: Hip-Hop/Rap

Country: U.S.

A longtime traveler of the Soundcloud underground, Lucy Bedroque has made his name as one of the most boundary-pushing artists in the neon-bathed current that has followed in the wake of the hyperpop boom. Lucy’s latest album Unmusique is a critically beloved record of blown-out rap music that Pitchfork “half-jokingly” dubbed as “rage 2.0.” But it's a surprisingly fitting descriptor, it feels like an expansion of and mutation of the bruised rap music that Playboi Carti and other artists of his ilk have introduced to the mainstream over the last few years. In part due to his association with the tastemaking label deadAir (Jane Remover, Quadeca, Underscores), he’s won a host of dedicated fans, garnering over 117K monthly listeners on Spotify and placements on notable playlists like ‘Internet People.’ It’s a rare win for a truly visionary producer and vocalist, a testament to the magnetic power of doing your own thing. 

DAMEDAME*

Chartmetric Artist Rank: 3,737

Genre: Hip-Hop/Rap

Country: U.K.

English duo DAMEDAME* is among a crop of diverse acts shifting the UK's R&B landscape into new directions. Consisting of Barbara Boko and Edith Nelson, the prolific songwriting-production team have made a mark on the mainstream, lending their soulful, genre-fluid touch to stars like Jorja Smith, Wizkid, and Tems. But in 2023, the England-based duo stepped into the spotlight with their upbeat, ‘80s-spiked debut single, “A STRANGER.” Along with earning a coveted spot on the official EA Sports FC 24 video game soundtrack, the single became one of their top-streamed Spotify tracks at 814K plays. After a year-long hiatus, the duo offered fans more of their rapturous sound with the May 16 release of their summer-ready second single, “PROMISE” (692K Spotify plays). Their latest, the socially-conscious Jorja Smith-assisted single, “FREEDOM,” is their biggest yet, soaring up to 1.1M Spotify plays since its June 6 release while being a mainstay on playlists like ‘Bounce, Riffs & Runs,’ and ‘R&B Weekly.’  With only three singles out and no debut album announced, DAMEDAME* has already secured 688K monthly Spotify listeners—a testament to their seamless transition from behind-the-scenes hitmakers to breakout stars.

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

Visualizations by Emad Khatab and cover image by Crasianne Tirado; data as of July 2, 2025.