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Show & Prove is our section in the magazine where we highlight which rappers are hot in hip-hop now. Many who have appeared in S&P have gone on to launch successful music careers. With the goal to bring our hand-picked selections online, here are excerpts of the stories from Sage The Gemini, Isaiah Rashad and Deniro Farrar, as well as their entire mixtape discography. Our December/January issue celebrating 40 years of hip-hop with five collectible covers is available on newsstands.

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Sage The Gemini

The organic buzz is the Holy Grail for an aspiring artist. With the help of his real fans, Bay Area native Sage The Gemini already has two singles that have hit the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 2013, and he doesn't even have an album out yet.

"Gas Pedal" peaked at No. 29, and its follow-up, "Red Nose," hit No. 52, and both garnered new attention for the 21-year-old rapper/producer. The records also caught up with California club kids and inspired fan-made viral dance videos that were posted on Vine and YouTube. "It got out there by itself," Sage explains. "'Gas Pedal' got a million views in a few months."—B.J. Steiner

Gas Pedal EP

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Isaiah Rashad

Chattanooga, Tenn. isn't known for its hip-hop talent, so Isaiah Rashad is the first MC to get a real chance at putting his city on the rap map. The 22-year-old rhyme-slinger has kept a low profile since rumors swirled this past March of Rashad inking a deal with Top Dawg Entertainment, home to Jay Rock, Kendrick Lamar, ScHoolboy Q and Ab-Soul. The signing was confirmed in September when TDE premiered Isaiah's "I Shot You Down" video on the label's YouTube page. Since then, the Southern spitter is adjusting to his new home and focusing on earning his keep.

"I feel like I have to show and prove more than anybody else because I got signed," he says. "I gotta live like this is my first project, but I gotta behave and understand that it comes with a certain weight."—Eric Diep

Welcome To The Game (Unofficial Mixtape)

Deniro Farrar
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Deniro Farrar

For a new rapper, it used to be about getting hometown love, but these days it's often more important to have a buzz online. So is the case for Charlotte, N.C.'s Deniro Farrar, who turned to the Internet to build a fan base after struggling to make headway as an MC in a city lacking a serious hip-hop scene. Merging the harsh realities of his city with the blissful sounds of electronic music, the aspiring artist has garnered significant buzz this year with his two self-released, positively received mixtapes, The Patriarch, which dropped in January and was followed by The Patriarch 2 six months later.

"I felt like I saw the growing hunger in my fans, so I put those out," Farrar says. "That was just to feed the demand I had on the Internet."—Dan Jackson

Feel This

Destiny. Altered

Cliff Of Death With Blue Sky Black Death

Kill Or Be Killed (The Prequel) With Shady Blaze

Killed Or Be Killed With Shady Blaze

The Patriarch

The Patriarch 2

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