Top 15 Canadian Rappers in Hip Hop

This list guide features the top 15 Canadian Rappers in Hip Hop 2019. These are among some of the best hip hop artists in Canada. It includes popular rappers such as Drake and Tory Lanez.

Check out our best picks for top 15 Canadian Rappers in Hip Hop 2019.

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1. Drake

Drake is a Canadian rapper, singer, songwriter, & record producer. In 2007 he released his debut mixtape, Room for Improvement. He released two further independent projects, Comeback Season and So Far Gone, before signing to Lil Wayne’s Young Money Entertainment in June 2009.

Drake released his debut studio album Thank Me Later in 2010, which debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200. His next two releases, 2011’s Take Care and 2013’s Nothing Was the Same, which the former earned him his first Grammy Award for Best Rap Album.

In 2015, he released two mixtapes—the trap-influenced If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late and a collaboration with Future titled What a Time to Be Alive.

His fourth album, Views (2016), the dancehall-influenced album sat atop the Billboard 200 for 13 nonconsecutive weeks. The album’s second single, “One Dance”, topped the charts in several countries, and became his first number-one single as a lead artist. Its lead single “Hotline Bling” received Grammy Awards for Best Rap/Sung Performance and Best Rap Song.

In 2017, he released the mixtape More Life becoming his seventh consecutive number one on the Billboard 200, a year later he released the double album Scorpion, which also broke several streaming records, and featured the number-one singles “God’s Plan”, and the bounce-infused “Nice for What” and “In My Feelings”.

Drake has also won three Juno Awards, six American Music Awards, and fifteen Billboard Music Awards.

Listen to Drake on Spotify

2. The Weeknd

The Weeknd, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, rapper, and record producer. In 2011 he released the mixtapes House of Balloons, Thursday, and Echoes of Silence. The mixtapes were later remastered and rereleased on the compilation album Trilogy (2012).

The rapper has had three No. 1 releases (Beauty Behind the Madness in 2015, Starboy in 2016, and My Dear Melancholy in 2018) and a No. 2 release (Kiss Land in 2013) on the US Billboard 200.

The Canadian artist has won three Grammy Awards, eight Billboard Music Awards, two American Music Awards, nine Juno Awards, and has been nominated for one Academy Award.

Listen to The Weeknd on Spotify

3. Tory Lanez

Tory Lanez, is a Canadian rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer. He received major recognition from the mixtape Lost Cause (2014) and the singles, “Say It,” and “Luv”, which peaked at number 23, and 19 on the Billboard Hot 100 respectively.

Lanez released his debut studio album, I Told You on August 19, 2016. His sophomore album, Memories Don’t Die was released on March 2, 2018. On October 26, 2018, Lanez released his third studio album, Love Me Now?.

Listen to Tory Lanez on Spotify

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4. Nav

Nav is a Canadian rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer from Toronto, Ontario. In September 2015, Nav released one of his earliest songs to his SoundCloud account, called “Take Me Simple”, which has been listened to over ten million times.

On July 2015, Nav contributed production to Drake’s diss of Meek Mill, “Back to Back”. In 2016, “Take Me Simple” and “The Man” were featured on Drake’s OVO Sound Radio on Beats 1.

On September 2016, Nav collaborated with American rapper Travis Scott on Scott’s song “Beibs in the Trap” from his album Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight, which Nav also co-wrote and co-produced. It peaked at number 90 on the US Billboard Hot 100, and by July 2017, had been certified platinum by the RIAA.

In February 2017, Nav produced and co-produced his debut commercial self-titled mixtape “NAV”, which included by the lead single, “Some Way” featuring The Weeknd. The mixtape included “Myself”.

Nav released the collaboration mixtape, Perfect Timing with producer Metro Boomin on July 21, 2017. The lead single from the album, “Call Me”, peaked at 89 on the Canadian Hot 100. Nav later released the single “Wanted You” featuring Lil Uzi Vert on November 3, 2017. The single is Nav’s first as a lead artist to chart on the Billboard Hot 100.

He received a Juno Award nomination for Breakthrough Artist of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2018. In May 2018, Nav released his debut studio album Reckless and in August 2018, Nav feautured on rapper Travis Scott’s album, Astroworld, on the song “Yosemite”.

Listen to NAV on Spotify

5. PARTYNEXTDOOR

PARTYNEXTDOOR, is a Canadian rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer. In 2013 he released his first self-titled EP PartyNextDoor.

He subsequently released PartyNextDoor Two and PNDColours in 2014 and PartyNextDoor 3 in 2016. PartyNextDoor has collaborated with a number of artists, including Drake, Big Sean and Jeremih.

PartyNextDoor has also seen success as a songwriter, having penned “Work”, which was released on Rihanna’s album Anti and peaked at number-one on the Billboard Hot 100, along with more songs such as “Wild Thoughts” which peaked at number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 .

Listen to PARTYNEXTDOOR on Spotify

6. Roy Woods

Roy Woods is a Canadian singer, rapper and songwriter. He is signed to OVO Sound and is also the founder of the collective called Unlock The Underground.

On July 11, 2015, Drake premiered the first song, called “Drama” from Woods’ EP, titled Exis. The song was also premiered on Apple’s Beats 1 radio during the first OVO Sound radio show.

The track also features with the guest appearances from Drake. On July 25, 2015, a second song, titled “Get You Good” premiered on the second episode of the OVO Sound radio show. In July 31, 2015, Woods released his debut EP Exis digitally through OVO Sound.

In October 9, 2015, Woods released his first music video for his song, “Jealousy”. His new EP project Waking at Dawn was released on July 1, 2016, promoted by Woods and other artists, including Drake and Wiz Khalifa.

On December 22, 2016, Woods released his second EP, titled Nocturnal.

On July 20, 2017, Woods released the track, called “What Are You On?” as the lead single from his debut album, Say Less. In November 17, 2017, Woods released the title track, called “Say Less” along with the album pre-order. On December 1, 2017, Woods released his debut studio album, Say Less.

On June 8, 2018, Woods released two new singles, titled “Snow White” and “Russian Cream”.

Listen to Roy Woods on Spotify

7. Belly

Belly, is a Canadian rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He released his debut studio album The Revolution (2007), as well as two collaborative mixtapes, The Lost Tapes and The Greatest Dream I Never Had, with both Kurupt and DJ Drama, respectively.

He secured a recording contract with XO in 2015, (and later an additional contract with Roc Nation) after contributing with co-writing a variety of songs for R&B artists The Weeknd and Beyoncé.

Belly received a total of eleven credits across the former’s latest studio albums, while also providing backing vocals and co-writing the song “6 Inch” from the latter’s album, Lemonade. The artist then went on to release four further mixtapes, and released his second album Immigrant in 2018.

The Canadian rapper was then honored as Songwriter of the Year at the 2016 SOCAN (Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada) Awards for his “significant and outstanding contributions to popular music over the past year”.

Alongside his SOCAN award, Belly has won a Juno Award, three MuchMusic Video Awards, and has twice attained a top chart position in the national Much Music Countdown.

Listen to Belly on Spotify

8. 88GLAM

88Glam is a Canadian hip hop duo, formed in 2017 by Derek Wise and 88 Camino. They are signed to XO Records and Republic Records.

The duo introduced the name “88Glam” on November 1, 2017, premiering their first music video “12” via Billboard which featured a cameo from The Weeknd. This was followed by the release of another music video for “Bali” featuring Nav and the debut of their self-titled mixtape 88Glam on November 7, 2017.

88Glam released 88Glam 2 under XO Records and Republic Records with new features from Gunna on their song titled “Racks”, as well as another feature from Nav on “It’s a Flex”.

Following its release, 88Glam 2 debuted at No. 8 on iTunes All Genre Chart, then at No. 6 on the iTunes’ Hip Hop Chart and also landed itself a top five spot in Spotify’s Canada’s New Music Friday playlist.

Listen to 88GLAM on Spotify

9. Killy

Killy is a Canadian hip-hop artist and rapper from Toronto, Ontario. He is best known for his break-out single, “Killamonjaro” which is certified Gold by Music Canada.

He released his first song in 2016, titled “Big Bux” on SoundCloud and released three more tracks in 2016. The tracks gave Killy local buzz in Toronto which provoked him to record more music.

In February 2017, Killy released “Killamonjaro”, which went viral and was certified Gold in Canada by March 2018. The song’s popularity gathered him an interview on Adam22’s “No Jumper” podcast and a feature on Drake’s OVO Sound Radio.

Killy released his first studio album on March 5, 2018, titled Surrender Your Soul. The album spawned press from Complex and Pitchfork news and “No Sad No Bad” which peaked at number 65 on the Canadian Hot 100 songs.

On September 14, 2018, Killy released his first EP Killstreak, which includes five songs.

Listen to Killy on Spotify

10. Preme

Preme is a Canadian rapper, producer, singer and songwriter. He released his debut solo single in 2008 entitled “You Know I’m Fly”, which topped the PunchMuch Canadian interactive music channel. His follow-up singles are “Money in My Pocket” (2009) and “In My Hood” (2010), produced by T-Minus.

Alyssa Reid’s big international hit “Alone Again” features P Reign. The single was a hit in Canada and many European charts and reached number 2 on UK Singles Chart. Canadian band Hedley’s hit “Invincible” taken from their album Storms features P Reign. The single released August 23, 2011 reached number 9 on Canadian Hot 100 and was certified double platinum.

The EP Dear America was released on September 9, 2014. His song “Realest in the City” featuring Meek Mill and PartyNextDoor reached #1 on Billboard‘s “Emerging Artists” chart.

Listen to Preme on Spotify

11. Jazz Cartier

Jazz Cartier, is a Canadian rapper, singer and songwriter from Toronto. He is best known for his mixtapes Marauding in Paradise and Hotel Paranoia.

Cartier released his first single “Set Fire” in 2014. Performing in Toronto-area music venues, he quickly attracted attention, his track “Switch” was regularly played at Toronto Raptors games by team DJ 4Korners, and at a Toronto Red Bull Sound Select show in March 2015 he was introduced by rapper Kardinal Offishall.

Marauding in Paradise was released in April 2015.

He has twice been a longlisted nominee for the Polaris Music Prize, in 2015 for Marauding in Paradise and 2016 for Hotel Paranoia, and won the Juno Award for Rap Recording of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2017 for Hotel Paranoia. He released his debut studio album Fleurever on July 27, 2018.

On February 23, 2016, Jazz Cartier was announced as one of the performers at the 2016 Osheaga Festival.

He was a shortlisted nominee for the 2016 SOCAN Songwriting Prize for his track “Dead or Alive”. In 2017 he won a Juno Award for his album Hotel Paranoia.

Listen to Jazz Cartier on Spotify

12. Merkules

Merkules is a Canadian hip hop artist who was was nominated for the Western Canadian Music Awards. He released his album, Scars, in April 2015 serving as an inspiration for when he was brutally attacked after a studio session and left scars on his face from the machete and baseball bat attack.

His most recent album debuted at No. 2 on the main iTunes chart in Canada. The rapper has performed at a well-known freestyle battle tournament called King of the Dot.

His style is influenced by artists such as Eminem , Big L and Big Pun.

Listen to Merkules on Spotify

13. Classified

Classified, is a Canadian rapper and record producer. On January 15, 2016, Classified released his fifteenth album Greatful.

Three singles were released: “Filthy” which features DJ Premier, “No Pressure” which features Snoop Dogg (which reached No. 65 on the Canadian Hot 100) and “Noah’s Arch” which features Saukrates. The album debuted No. 6 on the Canadian Albums Chart.

Classified co-wrote and produced Ria Mae’s hit song Thoughts On Fire and raps on the Thoughts on Fire (feat. Classified) version which is on heavy rotation in early 2017 on the CBC Radio 2 network.

On February 9, 2018, Classified flimed a music video for “Powerless” in Nova Scotia, featuring native dancers and musicians and bringing to light the issues surrounding missing and murdered indigenous women and girls.

In May 8, 2018, Classified released another new single called “Changes” featuring Anjulie. May 25, 2018, Classified released another single “She Ain’t Gotta Do Much”. Later that month, Classified announced his new EP Tomorrow Could Be…. The EP was released on June 29, 2018.

On September 14, 2018, Classified announced that his new album Tomorrow Could Be the Day Things Change would be released on October 12. The first single off the album “Cold Love” featuring Tory Lanez was released the same day.

Listen to Classified on Spotify

14. Ramriddlz

Ramriddlz, is a Canadian singer and rapper, from Mississauga, Ontario. He gained recognition when he released his single “Sweeterman” and got attention from Drake who premiered his own remix to the song on OVO Sound radio.

In Summer of 2015 he released P2P EP which was produced by Jaegen. He then went on to release his other EP Venis in 2016 and and featured the hit song “Bodmon”.

In 2017, he released his debut studio album Sweeter Dreams.

Listen to Ramriddlz on Spotify

15. Madchild

Madchild is a Canadian rapper. He is part of the Vancouver-based hip hop group Swollen Members. In 2009, he released a solo EP entitled The Madchild EP.

In August 2011, he returned to his roots by taking part in a rap battle for King of the Dot, an Ontario, Canada-based battle league. He went up against Dirtbag Dan and won on a 3-2 decision.

In 2012, he released his first album, titled Dope Sick followed by Lawn Mower Man in 2013 and Silver Tongue Devil in 2015.

His fourth studio album The Darkest Hour was released in 2017.

Listen to Madchild on Spotify

Bonus Feature: Sean Leon

Sean Leon, is a Canadian recording artist and record producer from Toronto, Ontario. He is the founder of the IXXI Initiative, formed in 2012 in Toronto.

In July 2013, Sean released his debut mixtape Ninelevenne, the Tragedy followed by his second project Narcissus, the Drowning of Ego on January 22, 2014.

Shortly after the release of Narcissus, Sean began the year-long roll out of the compilation King Of The Wild Things. That same spring of 2014 he introduced us to and began campaigning for the highly anticipated Black Sheep Nirvana.

On November 29, 2017, Sean released an audio-film entitled “C.C.W.M.T.T” and in 2018 released the album Sean Leon (The Death Of).

Listen to Sean Leon on Spotify

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