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Show & Prove is our section in the magazine where we highlight which artists 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 the stories from Bishop Nehru, TeeFLii and Rae Sremmurd, as well as their entire mixtape discography. Our August/September issue featuring Lil Wayne is available on newsstands now.

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Bishop Nehru

New York hip-hop heads are always looking for the next rapper to revive the city’s classic boom bap sound, and in 17-year-old Bishop Nehru (born Markell Scott), they may just have found one. The teenager from Rockland County, N.Y., has already toured Europe with the Wu-Tang Clan, grabbed a co-sign from Kendrick Lamar and been called the “future of music” by Nas. Not bad for a kid barely old enough to drive.

Hip-hop wasn’t the first passion for Nehru—poetry was—but as a seventh grader at Chestnut Ridge Middle School in 2009, he began hopping into cyphers with eighth graders and collecting scalps with ease. Nehru sold his Rock Band video game and bought a laptop to teach himself production and by 2011, at age 14, started uploading his music onto Mediafire, posting links on forums around the Internet. After a fan posted a video to WorldStarHipHop of Nehru freestyling over Mos Def’s “Mathematics” in mid-2012, the aspiring MC was named the site’s Youth Rap Talent Of The Week, and the video started making the rounds.

“I wouldn’t have even put out [my mixtape] at that time if the WorldStar video didn’t happen,” says Nehru. “I felt because that happened, I had to put something out, and that’s what I did.”

Capitalizing on the sudden momentum, Nehru dropped his first mixtape, Nehruvia, in November 2012. The positive reaction to the up-and-comer’s smooth flows over Golden Era beats caught the ears of Converse, and the brand placed him as the opener on a bill in London that also included Ghostface Killah and MF DOOM. Shaolin’s finest liked him enough to bring him along on Wu-Tang’s 20th anniversary European tour, and DOOM was so impressed that a collaborative project, NehruvianDOOM, was announced that August. A short time later, Peter Bittenbender, cofounder of Nas’ new Mass Appeal Records, introduced Bishop to the Queens OG, and Esco announced his intention to sign Bishop to the label this past May.

“His music is so reminiscent of that OG New York feel,” says Nas. “I appreciate that he’s bridging that old school vibe with a current sound.”

Now that NehruvianDOOM and a new, as-yet-untitled EP are on the way, Nehru’s main focus is expanding his skills. “I’m finally going to get on the production, rapping and mixing side,” he says. “I’m going to do it all.”

Always improving.—Emmanuel Maduakolam

Nehruvia


Strictly Flowz

Brilliant Youth EP

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TeeFLii

Following the ratchet sing/ rap West Coast sound redefined by Ty Dolla $ign in the past year, up-and-coming singer/producer TeeFLii is crafting his own brand of raunchy R&B. After breaking out with the DJ Mustard- produced “This D” in 2012, FLii’s sleek and foul-mouthed style has been gaining traction on radio and in clubs around the country. FLii and Mustard struck gold again this March with “24 Hours” featuring 2 Chainz, which brought FLii right back to the charts.

Born Christian Jones, TeeFLii, 27, grew up in a musical family in South Central, L.A. As a teenager, he was a krump dancer, landing roles in Chris Brown videos and David LaChapelle’s 2005 krump documentary, Rize. TeeFLii’s transition from dancer to singer over the past two years was triggered by a desire to expand his repertoire. “I just see myself being the best TeeFLii I can be,” he says. “The music can speak for itself.”

When “This D” first appeared on his debut mixtape, AnnieRUO’TAY, in November 2012, the record caught the attention of Los Angeles’ Power 106 DJ Carisma, who placed it into regular rotation. Mixtape cuts with Nipsey Hu$$le, Problem and Skeme then led to cosigns from E-40 and YG the following year. “I think that a lot of already established R&B singers started patterning their style after him,” says E-40, who DJ Quik introduced to FLii in late 2012. “He’s an innovator.”

As “This D” kept building regionally, Epic Records came calling. FLii signed in July 2013, and the label re-released “This D,” helping the record open at No. 38 on Billboard’s Rhythmic Songs chart. A remix by Jadakiss and Tyga and a track with Snoop Dogg capped a banner year.

Now that “24 Hours” has given FLii an even bigger look, he’s prepping his debut album, Starr, due out this January. And his sights are set high. “I want a Grammy,” FLii says. “I want to get three Grammys. I’m in a different world now. ”

A league of his own.—Eric Diep

AnnieRUO'TAY

AnnieRUO'TAY 2 (The TakeOver)

AnnieRUO'TAY 3 (Who The F*ck Is Annie?)

Fireworks

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Rae Sremmurd

David Banner and Big K.R.I.T. aside, Mississippi is hardly known for churning out hip-hop stars. But The Magnolia State has another two on its hands with Tupelo’s upbeat brotherly duo Rae Sremmurd, whose Mike WiLL Made It-produced banger “No Flex Zone” has taken them from a small city in the Deep South to some of the biggest stages hip-hop has to offer.

Swae Lee, 19, and Slim Jimmy, 20, may be young, but they aren’t new to the game. After moving to Tupelo in middle school, the siblings began writing, producing and recording original songs in their early teens, building a fan base by uploading their music to the Internet and performing everywhere they could. In 2012, they moved to Atlanta to further their careers and began living and recording with Eardruma Records producers P-Nazty and Marz. The beatmakers played Swae and Slim’s music for Mike WiLL soon after, and the superproducer signed the brothers as the first artists on his Eardruma Records imprint in a joint venture with Interscope within months. “These kids are natural born stars,” Mike WiLL says. “The way their voice cuts through the beat sounds amazing. [They’re] like the new school Kriss Kross.”

Rae Sremmurd took their current name (Ear Drummers spelled backward) as a tribute and released their first single, “We,” on WiLL’s 2013 #MikeWillBeenTrill mixtape. WiLL’s support resulted in performances at SXSW and, later, at the BET Experience, opening for Future. When “No Flex Zone” dropped in March, it catapulted the duo to No. 1 on Billboard’s Bubbling Under R&B/Hip-Hop songs chart, while the music video grabbed more than 11 million views on WorldStarHipHop in just two months.

Meanwhile, the buzz from “No Flex Zone” landed them remixes by Pusha T, Nicki Minaj and Busta Rhymes, and the duo is now prepping their upcoming SremmLife EP, featuring both Big Sean and Juicy J. And while some have been quick to dismiss the brothers as one-hit wonders, they know better. “[People] are going to say that about anyone that just comes out,” Slim Jimmy says. “Especially when they come out this hard,” Swae Lee adds.

Flexin’ and finessin’.—Max Bell

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