Stevie Stone, TeeJay3k, and Pynt

I’m not entirely convinced about the amount of effort that Stephen Williams put into his stage name - Stevie Stone, after all, could just as easily be some country star as a no-nonsense rapper - but it’s to his credit that he’s not relying on novelty or gimmickry and, instead, letting his music do the talking. His no-frills style of hip hop has seen him do things very much his own way these past few years, with his three full-length records to date all having been released by major label backing. No surprise, then, that a major factor in building his ever-burgeoning fanbase has been his live shows, as well as his frankly prodigious rate of touring. Stone takes the stage with minimal backing - just a DJ dropping beats - and his flow is sharp enough to ensure that the security of a hype man is an unnecessary luxury for Stone; instead, he captivates crowds at packed-out, intimate clubs with his intricate rhyming and irrepressible energy, as was the case on last year’s 2 Birds 1 Stone tour.