17 Drill Rappers Everyone Should Be Tapped Into: Chief Keef, Ice Spice And More

Drill has never stayed still for long. Chicago’s Chief Keef was the genre's obvious starting point, joined alongside the likes of G Herbo, Lil Durk and many more in the 2010s. Over on the East Coast, Bobby Smurda’s “Hot N**ga” gave drill music legs in New York, followed by Pop Smoke, Sleepy Hallow and 22Gz breathing a second life into the sound. At the same time, U.K. artists like Digga D have taken it in a completely different direction, both lyrically and production-wise.

Its evolution as a category in the early 2020s makes it even harder to define what drill music is supposed to sound like. New York trio 41, like many other Gen Z stars, practically thrive off chaos while Cash Cobain and Chow Lee have pioneered sexy drill, a more sensual take on the gritty genre.

Rap-Up took a detailed look at 17 drill rappers who should definitely be on your radar.

1. Chief Keef

The “godfather of drill music” title fits Chief Keef very well, especially with tracks like “I Don’t Like” and “Love Sosa” opening the floodgates for a flurry of the genre’s mainstays — at least in his native Chicago. Both tracks landed on Finally Rich, a project that, in hindsight, shows just how far he’s come.

2. Lil Durk

Drill music has seen its fair share of highs and lows since breaking through in the 2010s, and somehow, Lil Durk has weathered them all. From early hits like “Dis Ain’t What U Want” to his first mainstream moment with “My Beyoncé,” all the way to taking home a Grammy Award several years later, his staying power speaks for itself. Lil Durk ranks so highly in large part thanks to over a decade of feature work (including Drake’s “Laugh Now Cry Later” and Ye’s “Jonah”), his Only The Family imprint and albums like The Voice.

3. Pop Smoke

If we’re talking about New York rappers who changed rap forever, Pop Smoke would be near the top of that list. He came out, guns blazing, with “Don’t Get Me Started,” and just months later, he and producer 808 Melo recreated that same lightning in the bottle with “Dior.” Everything seemed to be aligning for the drill star, with Meet The Woo and its sequel solidifying his rise, until the musician’s tragic murder in a Los Angeles home invasion. To their credit, his label has done a solid job honoring his legacy with posthumous releases like the lengthy Shoot For The Stars Aim For The Moon and Faith.

4. Ice Spice

Though Ice Spice first took over our timelines with 2022’s “Munch (Feelin’ U),” the string of releases that followed — and co-signs from Drake, Nicki Minaj and Taylor Swift — proved she was far from a one-hit wonder. Her sound is often labeled drill, mostly due to frequent collaborator RIOTUSA’s production. Their chemistry has fueled a handful of hits that helped define the early 2020s, for better or worse, including “Princess Diana,” “In Ha Mood” and “Think U The S**t (Fart).”

5. G Herbo

Speaking of artists who pushed far past their initial breakout, G Herbo is one of the most successful names to emerge from drill music in the 2010s. He made that very clear with Humble Beast, which houses “I Like,” followed by phenomenal albums like PTSD and 25.

6. Cash Cobain

Chances are you’ve already heard Cash Cobain’s production, whether you realize it or not. The Bronx artist has worked with Drake (“Calling For You”), Don Toliver (“ICE AGE”) and plenty of others. However, beyond his beat making chops, the self-coined Slizzy Smalls has a growing catalog of his own, with tracks like “Grippy,” “Fisherrr” and “Rump Punch” under his belt. As one of the pioneers of the sexy drill subgenre — alongside frequent collaborators Chow Lee and Bay Swag — he’s carved out a lane that’s only getting bigger.

7. Central Cee

In 2021, Central Cee told Complex that he doesn’t like being “boxed in as a drill rapper.” That being said, by the time his debut album, CAN’T RUSH GREATNESS, dropped in January 2025, he hadn’t strayed too far from the hit-making formula heard on tracks like “Day in the Life” and “Loading.” True to the latter record’s title, the London-born artist has shown that some of the best music takes time and clever lyricism to build.

8. Lola Brooke

Lola Brooke parlayed her breakout single “Don’t Play With It” into much more than 15 seconds of fame. She enlisted Yung Miami and Latto for the remix, which later found its way to her debut album, Dennis Daughter. Across the project’s 12 sprawling tracks, the Brooklyn stalwart quickly established she’s going to be here for a long time. On songs like “You” and “Don't Get Me Started,” the artist proved she can move between drill and other lanes without losing the fire that got her here in the first place.

9. Fivio Foreign

With a handful of viral singles, “Big Drip” hitmaker Fivio Foreign’s success is anything but accidental. In fact, long before the Brooklyn native popped up on Drake’s “Demons,” he was already signed to Mase’s RichFish Records, an investment the “It Is What It Is” host surely cashed in on. Since then, Fivio has landed verses on Ye’s “Off The Grid,” Nicki Minaj’s “We Go Up” and more.

10. Sleepy Hallow

It’s hard to say how big “Deep End Freestyle” would’ve been without that early TikTok era leak, but it ended up being Sleepy Hallow’s first Hot 100 entry for a reason. Since then, he’s continued to prove himself as one of New York’s most promising voices, whether through the Doechii-sampling “ANXIETY” or his frequent collaborations with Sheff G.

11. 41

Made up of Kyle Richh, TaTa and Jenn Carter, 41 carved out their spot in the genre with tracks like “Bent,” “Duece” and “Victim.” As is typical with most groups, some magic also happens when the members branch out on their own. Case in point: the TikTok-viral “Beckham.”

12. King Von

Another artist whose time was cut short, King Von swept the Chicago drill scene with “Crazy Story” and its later installments, “Armed & Dangerous” and “Took Her To The O.” Each of the aforementioned records painted a vivid picture of the world he came from and the circumstances that shaped him. Tragically, his story was cut short when he was fatally shot in Atlanta on Nov. 6, 2020, at 26 years old. Perhaps if he had survived, he would’ve been just as big, if not even bigger, than Lil Durk.

13. Digga D

London heavyweight Digga D found success with songs like “Woi” and “No Diet.” Mashing together drill music with the U.K.’s grime roots, the Noughty By Nature creator is unquestionably one of the genre’s early pioneers in reimagining what it could sound like overseas.

14. B-Lovee

B-Lovee translated the success of his Mary J. Blige-sampling “My Everything” into a deal with Columbia Records. Under the label, he dropped projects like Misunderstood and Sorry 4 The Wait… in 2022 and 2023, respectively. The former included a collaboration with fellow New Yorker A Boogie Wit da Hoodie on “Boom Boom,” while the latter gave fans standouts like “Act Bad” and “PDL.”

15. STAR BANDZ

STAR BANDZ’s journey speaks to just how young — and fast — stars rose in the 2020s. She broke out with “Yea Yea” at just 16 years old and has since shown that drill is hers for the taking with tracks like “Too many options” and “My Baby” by Sugarhill Ddot, another rapper who started as a teenager before quickly becoming a hot commodity in Hip Hop.

16. Sheff G

It helps that Sheff G is so closely associated with Sleepy Hallow — most notably, “Flow” is one of their earliest wins. However, the Brooklyn rapper has an impressive catalog of his own, too. Projects like T HE UNLUCCY LUCCY KID and One and Only showcase his ability to raise the real-life stakes while chasing the bag (he even has a track called “We Getting Money”). Like many other artists in the genre, though, Sheff G’s rise has been interrupted and, at times, even halted, by legal troubles. In March 2025, the “No Suburban” rapper was sentenced to five years in prison for attempted murder.

17. FendiDa Rappa

GloRilla’s “Tomorrow 2” is what “Point Me 2” is to FendiDa Rappa. While both of their prequels were incredibly successful, their follow-ups became mainstream hits thanks to a surefire guest verse from Cardi B. In the Chicago-raised rapper’s case, she kept the momentum going with “In The Trunk” and “Clock Dat,” the latter of which sounds very reminiscent of earlier drill eras.