Silentó

Atlanta-based rapper Silentó broke out of the underground as a teenager in early 2015. That's when his single "Watch Me" -- recorded the previous December and released independently a month later -- inspired a wave of fan-made dance videos due to lyrical references to the whip dance, the nae nae, and the stanky leg. Over the course of one week, the single, made with Bola da Producer, racked up over two-and-a-half million U.S. streams. The spike sent it to number 33 on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The following week, the song crossed into the Hot 100 chart at number 86. By the end of April, the rapper had signed to the Capitol label. ~ Andy Kellman, Rovi