San Diego Rappers:

List of the Top Rappers from San Diego

Despite San Diego rappers having the misfortunes of being in the shadows of larger West Coast markets, mainly overshadowed by the rap scenes of Los Angeles and the Bay Area, there has always been a music scene of talented rappers from San Diego for over the last 30 years.

Historically, the most notable artist to represent the city of San Diego has been Jayo Felony. Starting in the mid-1990s, Jayo Felony would release three albums that reached the charts with several features from top West Coast artists, all while being highly respected within the West Coast music scene.

One of the truest representations of San Diego from a rap artist has been Mitchy Slick. Known for hailing from San Diego’s Lincoln Park neighborhood and for his Wrongkind brand, Mitchy Slick reached nationwide success with his album Trigeration Station in 2001, only to continue his success in music thereafter. There has never been a shortage of rappers from San Diego as artists like Damu, Big June, Black Mikey, Don Diego, Googie Monsta, female artist Kitty, and several others were some of the pioneers and original top San Diego rappers.

Though San Diego is a very diverse city, a city that consists of Asians, Latinos, and African Americans, the urban community is quite small. Regardless of the size, there are numerous talented rap artists within San Diego’s diverse hip hop scene with multiple rappers from various backgrounds and coming from urban sections all over San Diego, like the Southeast, East Daygo, or even in the communities in the North County region.

Today’s Top San Diego Rappers

While artists like Jayo Felony, Mitchy Slick, and Big June represents the original roster of top rappers from San Diego, the emergence of Rob $tone with the classic hit “Chill Bill” fore fathered a new era for San Diego rappers. Not until the last few years has San Diego hip hop truly gained momentum into becoming something special with the hopes of emerging from the shadows of Los Angeles and the Bay Area.

The recent wave of top San Diego rappers is credited to artists like MemoTheMafioso, who emerged on the scene a few years ago with songs like “48 Bars”, “The Race”, and “Doughboy.” Joey Trap, since his first appearances in 2017 has been on an unstoppable grind. The melodic, but raw and uncut, Lil Maru becoming one of the West Coast’s top up and coming artists. Artists like Lil Weirdo, who became known for the 2019 hit “No Cosign,” breaking through barriers. Deezy Hollow, who has been growing in favor among West Coast hip-hop years since his debut during the mid-2010s.

Not to overlook the work the San Diego rappers like Sethii Shmactt, O’Way, KT Foreign, SmokeyGM, Alo Bandz, or JoJo2Faded, all are immensely talented and exceptionally skilled in the culture of hip-hop, while being impactful towards the growth San Diego rap music. As West Coast hip-hop has been making a comeback, San Diego stands to be in the running for the number one spot.