7. Watsky
George Watsky first came to light as a rapper when his youtube hit "Watsky Raps Fast" went viral. Before his he made his name as a spoken word poet. He is known for his extremely fast flow and frequent pop culture references ranging from Obi-Wan Kenobi to R.L. Stine, the author of the Goosebumps books. He also often pokes fun at the fact of him being far from your garden variety rapper. Not only tackling humorous subjects like his single "A hundred words you could say instead of swag", he also applies his wordsmith wizardry to topics such as being broke and epilepsy. As the label Watsky is and has always been signed to is his own, the vast majority of his work was originally released as a free download or 'name your price' from his bandcamp website. Sounds like: Cleaner, dorky Eminem played at times 10 speed.
Listen to: Strong as an O.A.K. from Cardboard Castles.
6. Into It. Over It.
Into It. Over It. is the stage name of Evan Weiss. Based in Chicago, Illinois. With solid past experience performing music in bands such as The Progress and Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right B A Start to name but a few. Weiss debut album PROPER under Into It. Over It. was released in 2011 to good reviews across the board. His style of playing sounds like written to be acoustic material and then converted to a full band. With lyrics ranging from topics such as riding his bike to a girls house to tell her how he feels to learning about the murder of a personal friend. Weiss is known for his deeply personal lyrics on top of extremely well written song structures. He is also known for his outgoing personality especially with fellow musician, Andrew Koji Shikari, known simply as Koji (also definitely worth a listen). Weiss is known to be working with another band on top of his work as Into It. Over It. with Matthew Frank from Loose Lips Sink Ships and Mike Kinsella from Cap'n Jazz and American Football called Their/They're/There.
Sounds like: If J.D Salinger wrote thought provoking non-self obsessed emotion pop punk.
Listen to: Fortunate Friends from Proper.