Rise Up Music Group’s New Class Has Our Attention

We’ve been watching Rise Up Music Group since the mid 2010s, and we’ve seen several different eras of the movement. Different artists, different sounds, different lineups. Some artists arrived with motion already behind them, while others grew right in front of us. That has always made Rise Up pretty interesting to watch.

The CEO behind the movement, Kendall “JuiceKarter” Walker, has evolved in front of us too. We first knew his name through his work as an executive producer out of the Carolinas, long before Rise Up grew into the platform it is today. More than a decade later, the company has accumulated global press, radio charting success, and one of the most innovative independent infrastructures we have seen in the modern era catering to independent artists and ownership. In 2023, The Source Magazine even featured Mr. Walker analyzing whether he could become the music industry’s “next L.A. Reid.”

To be fair, he’s been pushing the case for years now. So when another Rise Up lineup starts taking shape, we the people listen!

ICEY LLC: NEW YORK’S “CHAMPAGNE MUSIC”

Icey LLC might be our favorite discovery of the bunch.

The New York rap duo consists of Sone and IceyRellz, who aren’t two artists somebody randomly put together; they’re actually blood brothers that are actually very dope equally. You can hear their chemistry naturally in their music, which carries a gritty underground New York type of feeling without sounding like they’re trying to recreate another era.

Their newest single, “Moneyball,” is a good introduction, but our personal favorite is “One Side (Reruns).” When we reached out to Rise Up CEO Kendall “JuiceKarter” Walker, he had his own name for their sound: “champagne music.” We laughed, but after another listen, we understood exactly what he meant. Imagine leaving a New York stairwell and ending up at a table with a bottle on ice. It isn’t flashy luxury rap. It’s gritty music with expensive taste. New York has enough rappers to fill several states, so simply being good isn’t enough. Identity matters. “Two blood brothers who rap, produce and already have their own atmosphere? That’s something worth signing”; in the words of Rise Up Music Group’s CEO.

And seriously, go play “One Side (Reruns)” lol.

APAHLO: PUT THIS MAN IN FRONT OF A CROWD

Apahlo might be one of the most slept-on artists on Rise Up’s new roster. The Atlanta-based singer, musician and live performer pulls from R&B, soul and pop without sounding like he’s trying to squeeze himself into one genre. There’s a vocal presence that brings Luther Vandross to mind, mixed with the musicianship of piano-playing performers like Stevie Wonder and John Legend. Those are big names, but the comparison makes sense when you hear the warmth in his voice and the old-school appreciation for real singing in his music.

What makes Apahlo interesting is how naturally those older influences live inside a more modern sound. His sound is soulful without feeling dated, smooth without becoming predictable, and there’s a maturity to it that separates him from a lot of what’s happening in R&B right now. Rise Up describes him as eclectic, and that might actually be the best word for it. You get the feeling his musical taste goes far beyond whatever happens to be moving on playlists at the moment.

That range carries into the live show too. Apahlo can sit behind a piano in an intimate setting, perform his own records, move into recognizable covers and classics, or take the same musicianship onto a bigger stage. But the live side is really just another extension of what makes him as both an artist and musician interesting in the first place: this is somebody who can actually sing, actually play and doesn’t need to be boxed into one sound.

BIGCINCO2X: PAIN BEFORE FAME

Then there’s BIGCINCO2X, coming out of West Tennessee with a sound that immediately feels connected to where he’s from. There’s plenty of melodic Southern rap around right now, but Cinco has something more country and soulful underneath his. His “Pain Before Fame” phrase makes perfect sense once you hear the music. The struggle isn’t something he’s trying to clean up or leave out of the story. It’s what gives the story its character. We were curious about Rise Up signing an artist from a smaller West Tennessee market, so we asked their CEO Mr. Walker what caught his attention. He laughed and told us, “I’m from the country myself. He has that soulful country blues mixed with the streets and that’s the kind of music people like myself grew up listening to. We got some big plans for Cinco.”

BIGCINCO2X signed with Rise Up in 2026 and kicked off this new chapter with “Goin Crazy,” his debut release with the company, and now we’re curious about those “big plans” Rise Up Music Group discussed with us. The country soul, pain and small-town perspective are what make Cinco interesting in the first place, and in a rap landscape where artists from completely different places can somehow end up sounding exactly alike, sounding like home might be one of his biggest advantages.

ANOTHER RISE UP ERA

After watching Rise Up for more than a decade, this feels like another era beginning.

We’ve watched enough Rise Up lineups to know the interesting part isn’t necessarily where these artists are standing when they first arrive. It’s seeing where they end up once the company has had time to work.

For now, we already have “One Side (Reruns)” in rotation, we want to catch Apahlo behind a piano, and we’re curious to watch those “big plans” for Cinco turn out to be; especially if a CEO like Juice stamps it!

#bigcinco2x #riseupmusicgroup #iceyllc #apahlo