Every Friday, Ones to Watch rounds up the breaking artists your sets need before everyone else catches on. This week: a Los Angeles rapper cashing in a Warner debut with Tyler, The Creator in his corner, a Delaware-raised disruptor turning a viral freestyle into a national tour, and a South Side Chicago rapper running the Midwest through Geffen Records. Three states, three sounds, three records you can play tonight.
AZ Chike — Los Angeles, California
Record to play: "Look Like My Mama"
AZ Chike just made the leap. The Los Angeles native's Warner Records debut album, No Rest for the Wicked, arrived September 18, 2026 — fourteen tracks with production from Tyler, The Creator, Pharrell Williams, Hit-Boy, Sounwave, and Terrace Martin. That's a heavyweight room for a debut, and Chike earned the seat: his standout verse on Kendrick Lamar's "peekaboo" from GNX put the industry on notice, and a 2026 BMI award sealed it.
The DJ record is "Look Like My Mama," the Tyler-produced lead single whose video cleared five million YouTube views in two weeks. The alternate play is "Packed Up," the Hit-Boy-produced single that started moves a fl the Warner run back in June. Either oneoor.
The momentum doesn't stop at the album. Chike's first solo headlining run, the Monster Energy Outbreak tour, kicks off October 5 in Houston with a sold-out Los Angeles stop already on the books. Catch the wave now — by November, everybody's booked him.
Cortisa Star — Delaware
Record to play: "FUN"
Cortisa Star is the kind of artist who makes the "breaking" label feel literal. The 19-year-old Delaware-raised, Baltimore-based trans rapper went viral off a From The Block performance, and her single "FUN" — thrown together in under an hour, by her own account — has pulled over five million global streams independently.
The co-signs read like a group chat you wish you were in: Charli xcx, Doechii, Kim Petras, Lil Nas X, Rico Nasty. Wonderland Magazine put her in their Summer 2026 issue, guest-edited by Miley Cyrus, where she talked about growing up in Sussex County, Delaware, and her debut EP E.M.O (Evil Motion Overload). A debut album is in the works, and the its the road in October with dates in San Diego, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Chicago.
