The best rapper from all 50 states

New Hampshire

Artist – Roots of Creation

Years Active – 2014?

Notable Track – “Summer in the 603”

Sample Rhyme:

“When the sun is blazing and the summer gets hot

We don’t take it for granite that our home state rocks

You got the drive-in in Milford

Meadowbrook up in Gilford

Damn I miss Benton’s animal farm, that place was the illest”

—

This humble writer admits to not having much pride in his home state. Yes, it’s quite beautiful, and the wineries and hiking trails and, increasingly, breweries are all wonderful, but nothing about Virginia has ever really compelled me to want to break into song.

If the rap scene serves as any sort of barometer, then it can be said with some confidence that — contrary to this writer’s attitude — state pride is at its highest levels since the Civil War.

While your more mainstream rappers — your Lil Waynes and your Kendricks and your Outkasts — are more global, many rappers from smaller markets don’t have the luxury of speaking to a wider audience. They have to rap about what they know to people who also know what they know. Hence the preponderance of rappers on this list who have a lot to say about the virtues of their home state.

New Hampshire’s Roots of Creation really get into the minutiae of what makes the Granite State so wonderful to them, and to outsiders it all comes off as something close to gibberish. Hopefully making songs like this gets them the local press they need to eventually be able to rap about wider, more universal themes.

Next: New Jersey