EarlWolf: Call it the duo version of Los Angeles' juvenile (and frequently delinquent) Odd Future crew, starring its second- and third-best-known names, Tyler the Creator and Earl Sweatshirt. Tyler was a dud onstage during the crew's obnoxious First Ave show, but Earl broke out of the pack last year with his surprisingly semi-serious album "Doris."
Chance the Rapper: As young as the Odd Future fellas at 21, the Chicago rapper made Rolling Stone's and Pitchfork's best-albums-of-2013 list with "Acid Rap" — technically a mixtape but epic like an album, with as broad a range of hip-hop styles ever crammed into one collection.
Flatbush Zombies: The weedy, woozy-sounding trio from Brooklyn's Flatbush neighborhood have collaborated with Joey Bada$$ and ASAP Rocky and are coming into their own with such recent viral singles as "Red Light, Green Light" and "Thugnificense." Wigged-out stuff, but not brain-dead.
K. Raydio: Soundset has a record three female rappers this year, counting Texas' bilingual star Snow Tha Product, Lizzo and this other local talent, whose positive, mindful vibrations with DJ/producer Psymun will be a sharp contrast to all the aforementioned young men.
Dem Atlas and Allan Kingdom: Though different musically, each of these young east-metro Twin Cities rappers has a soulful style and a lot of hype going into their biggest gig to date. Dem Atlas is working on his Rhymesayers debut while Kingdom has been recording with Ryan Olson (Poliça, Marijuana Deathsquads).
Dosh: He's not new to Twin Cities music lovers, but master drummer and keyboard looper Martin Dosh is a completely new thing to Soundset, the first truly non-hip-hop act to play the fest.
CHRIS RIEMENSCHNEIDER
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