Jeff Weiss

For the past quarter-century, L.A.'s hip-hip history could practically double as a Dr. Dre biography. His imperial co-sign and indelible beats helped launch the careers of N.W.A. and Snoop Dogg, Warren G and Tha Dogg Pound, the Game and Kendrick Lamar. His latest protégé, psychedelic rap and soul fusionist Anderson .Paak, might be the biggest breakout star of 2016—pretty good for a headphone billionaire who's about to blow out 52 birthday candles. In recent years, however, there are signs that Dre's monopoly is slowly dissolving. A new generation of artists has absorbed the street wisdom and hydraulic bounce of its predecessors, but pushed the sound forward to match today's eclectic, social-media-obsessed era. There's Dre's fellow Compton native, YG—the Snoop of the Snapchat era—who released this year's most scathing political anthem, "FDT (Fuck Donald Trump)." There's Long Beach's Vince Staples, arguably the greatest chronicler of inner-city rivalries since Ice Cube. Meanwhile, TDE remains the most influential West Coast independent label since Death Row. And you can't forget Interscope gangsta-rap pragmatist and Rihanna favorite, Boogie, or Odd Future, who built a fluorescent carnival empire on the fringes of rap and skate culture. Here we highlight the rising stars next in line: artists beloved on blogs, in pop-up shops on Fairfax Boulevard and on the grittier expanses south of the Santa Monica Freeway but who have yet to infiltrate the mainstream. They're different ages,