COMPTON'S NEW BLOOD

You know the superstars, but who are the rising stars on Dr. Dre's stunning new Compton set? We're glad you asked.

King Mez

The 24-year-old rapper from Raleigh, North Carolina, has released three mixtapes; his latest album, Long Live The King, came out last year. Mez cites Nas and MF Doom as influences and has previously collaborated with hip hop royalty like J. Cole and 9th Wonder, so he was clearly ready to step up to the mic and give some thoughtful insight from a young generation’s perspective.

Justus

Justus aka Love, JT, whose real name is Justin Mohrle, is a white rapper from Garland, Texas who was part of a hip hop crew called the Brain Gang. He got connected to Dre by Dallas-raised legend and former N.W.A. collaborator The D.O.C., who came across one of his demos and arranged an introduction.

Candice Pillay

A singer/songwriter from Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, she was first put on as an artist by producer Bangladesh (of Lil Wayne “A Milli” fame) but found bigger success as a writer behind the scenes. She most recently worked alongside Alex Da Kid, co-writing Rihanna’s “American Oxygen” with him and X Ambassadors' Sam Harris. The 34-year-old has tons of placements, having penned material for Kelly Rowland, Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears. Her debut album, The Mood Kill, which she describes as “very hood R&B” was just released this past January.

Jon Connor

Hailing from Flint in Eminem’s home state of Michigan, Connor is a regular on hip hop blogs like Nah Right, having dropped several mixtapes. He's best known for announcing that he had signed to Aftermath in a “BET Cypher” freestyle back in 2013. He’s been pretty quiet since, but now we know why.

Asia Bryant

Already an incredibly successful songwriter, Bryant has written for Jennifer Lopez, Miley Cyrus and DJ Mustard, to name a few. Bryant was born in New Jersey but her mother moved the family to South Carolina to get away from the crime and violence of the inner city. She’s been mentored as a solo artist by both Ludacris and Young Jeezy, and put out the single “I Had A Dream” in December of last year.

Anderson .Paak

Born in Oxnard, California, Paak—aka Breezy Lovejoy—is the most musically adventurous of the bunch. A singer-songwriter, rapper and drummer, he’s made a wide variety of experimental music in several different incarnations, heavily influenced by the Low End Theory experimental beat scene that brought us mind-expanding music from folks like Flying Lotus. Paak after all, hails from the same town that sprouted underground heavy Madlib. His debut album Venice dropped last Fall.