Ten Artists You Need to Know for Black History Month 2025
Downtown Dion
Hip-hop started in the Boogie Down Bronx when DJ Kool Herc brought two turntables to an apartment party. Since Downtown Dion’s from the Lower East Side, he automatically continues rap’s legacy.
What’s amazing, though, is that the emcee’s music incorporates every sound that’s mattered in the genre for 50-plus years.
On “Right Now,” Dion rides a Motor City beat with a modern song-song flow. His hard-nosed attitude? Classic, old-school New York. But Dion’s music never feels like an aural travelogue – instead, it’s the pure and joyful expression of an emcee making an entire genre his own. Hear him do so now.
Avery*Sunshine
The roots of progressive R&B trace back to the most forward-thinking sub-genres black artists spearheaded. Think black prog. Think future soul. Avery*Sunshine puts her own Grammy-nominated spin on these sounds, and yet the list of musicians she’s worked with is as impressive as her tunes.
Tyler Perry. Jennifer Holliday. Michael Bublé. These are only some of the titans who turned to Sunshine over the course of their careers, and with good reason. Sunshine fuses gospel with R&B to create a fusion other artists want to dabble in. It’s little wonder the Grammys nominated her most recent release, So Glad To Know You, for Best Progressive R&B Album – Sunshine is showing her peers and the public how forward-thinking and powerful music can be.
Period.
Dayna Madison
Danya Madison’s “Light A Fire” seems like it’s going to be a slow-burn jam. The key word is seems: twenty seconds in, “Fire” drops steel-drum driven beats, twisty bass lines, and ecstatic backup vocal chants. The song is surprising and endlessly replayable. That’s Madison’s MO.
Whether she’s crafting club-worthy bangers like “Light A Fire” or global-pop anthems like “Medicine”, the LA-based recording artist zigs when you expect her to zag. Recent releases don’t suggest that will change any time soon, so if you like R&B music that’s crafty and catchy, start putting her on repeat now.
It will light a fire in you for certain.
Caleb Gordon
Basketball is a vital chapter of black history that continuously crosses over with hip-hop (see: the recent success of G3’s “Tweaker.”) Caleb Gordon’s “Championship Ring” adds another element to the fold – faith.
Gordon’s spiritual rap jams are a refutation to anyone who thinks belief-based music can’t slap. “Championship Ring” roars out the gate with a thunderous beat and Gordon dropping bars about believe that still hit like sucker-punches. It’s transcendent music, full-stop.
Catch up with him now and don’t sleep on future releases.
CupcakKe
Throughout history, black entertainers have spoken truth to power by pushing the boundaries of “good taste.” Richard Pryor practically invented "Not Suitable For Work" stand-up. Billie Holiday’s “Strange Fruit” still feels searing and provocative today.
For our money, no one does “NSFW” or provocative like CupcakKe.
That’s the highest level of compliment. The Chicago-based emcee is the poet laureate of obscene rap bars, whether their the unprintable couplets in “Grilling…” or the even more unprintable gems from her recent record Dauntless Manifesto. There is art to CupcakKe’s obscenity, and it must be heard to be believed – especially since her flows and ear for beat selection are peerless.
Check her out, stat (but definitely not at work).
MERLOT
The New York club scene has been a decades-long hotspot for black excellence. The Harlem Renaissance evolved into black-owned discos which transformed into the modern-day nightlife circuit.
In this way, you can trace MERLOT’s sparkling “Bad For You” all the way back to the Cotton Club as an exemplary piece of brave, forward-thinking dance music. You could also revel in how hard it makes your hips shake. The Berklee-trained vocalist-saxaphonist creates jams that are smooth as a jazz solo and propulsive as anthems that keep the evening going.
MERLOT exemplifies black excellence through and through; stream them now.
Melvin Riley
Funk-pop legends Ready For The World (“Oh Sheila,” “Tonight”) sounded like world-beaters from the moment their debut dropped. That was thanks in no small part to Melvin Riley’s elastic vocals, which struck the exact midpoint between lavacious and restrained.
Riley’s still hitting that target forty years later as an independent artist. His cross-generation collaboration with J-Wonn, “Love You Down,” folds decades worth of smooth crooning skill into one timeless package. That goes double for the recent release “Talkin in My Sleep,” which is as affecting as R&B jams get.
If you haven’t checked in with Riley since Ready For The World, it’s time to remedy that now.
Miko Marks
Black History Month is an ideal time for listeners to discover American country’s roots in black hymnals and field songs. The connections run deep: the banjo is derived from the West African lute; “Carry Me Back to Old Virgina,” a genre staple and the state song of VA, was written by James Bland, an African-American songwriter.
Miko Marks music plumbs the ancient beginnings of both country and soul to unearth aural gold. Named one of CMT’s Next Women of Country in 2022, Marks’ songs are both stirring and soothing. Witness her recent performance at Feldman’s with backing band The Resurrections, which is a marvel of lush instrumentation and S-tier vocalization.
Country is not a monolith and Marks is chipping away at the idea it is, one barnblazing track at a time.
Justin Radford
The visualizer for Justin Radford’s “Heal The Land” opens with a warning: “This video contains footage some viewers may find upsetting.” Disclaimers aren’t rare in hip-hop music, but they're less common for faith-based hip-hop clips.
That’s part of what makes Radford so special.
“Heal The Land” doesn’t lose faith so much as risk testing it through a clear-eyed look at the world today. It’s sobering. It asks for its listeners to find empathy. Radford’s expressive vocals are compassionately sermonizing and never sanctimonious. It's a tricky balance to strike; Radford does so expertly, on both this track and his latest EP Soul Revival.
It’s a must listen for fans and skeptics of faith music alike.
Syleena Johnson
Syleena Johnson is proof you can live up to the hype and then some.
She began her career by singing the hooks on multiple charting rap hits. A Billboard Music Award nomination for Best Adult Contemporary New Artist Clip of the Year followed. It’s impossible to have a hotter start than that; Johnson’s never cooled off.
Her latest record, 2024’s Legacy, looks back both lovingly and bracingly on her and her musician father’s sterling recorded outputs. “Monsters In The Crowd” eviscerates the music industry’s worst tendencies with vulnerability and vigor. It and Legacy as a whole push Johnson to new vocal heights and keeps her career skyrocketing forward.
We recommend you do so now.