Lil Uzi Vert, Young Thug, XXXTENTACION + More Officially Named SoundCloud Greats

SoundCloud changed the music industry in a way that will go down in history. The platform allowed artists a space to upload their music without the pressures of the industry keeping them from sharing their art. Hip Hop saw an influx of new artists from SoundCloud enter the game and become stars in their own right.

For the newly-minted Hip Hop History Month, SoundCloud pays tribute to the artists who made their names off the popular platform and highlighted their accomplishments.

The first artist to receive their flowers was Lil Uzi Vert on November 1, and Soundcloud showed love to his top track on the platform “XO TOUR Llif3” and his first song upload “White Shit” on Christmas Day 2013. Trippie Redd was highlighted next for his 2015 Soundcloud debut with “Dirty Redd” and his top track on the streaming service “Love Scars/You hurt me.”

Young Thug, Smokepurpp, Ski Mask The Slump God and the late XXXTENTACION were also celebrated for their contributions to the platform, respectively. Thugga had his SoundCloud debut in 2014 with “2 Bitches” while he saw his Slime Season 3 standout “Digits” become his top track. Smokepurpp dropped “Atmospheric Legion” on SoundCloud in 2014 and his top track was “Audi.”

Ski Mask’s first SoundCloud upload was in 2015 with “The Slump God” featuring XXX Broly, and his mosh-pit anthem with XXXTENTACION “Take A Step Back” was his top song. X made his SoundCloud debut a year before Ski Mask with “Vice City” and had his top song with Trippie Redd in “Fuck Love.”

November just started, and there are many more days for SoundCloud to recognize the artists who changed the game for them in terms of streaming. In May, Ski Mask spoke to Complex Brackets about the influence of the SoundCloud era of Hip Hop.

“The SoundCloud era is gonna be remembered for what it did for the people in that era,” Ski Mask The Slump God said. “The people who was actually listening in that era, whether it’s how much it’s helped them or how it affected their life because it really took a big impact on that people that took participation in it.”