DMV Rap

DMV rap is hip hop from the Washington, D.C. area, DMV standing for the District, Maryland and Virginia.

The region's rappers grew up around go-go, D.C.'s percussion-heavy funk, and it shows in the music of Wale, the first local rapper to break out nationally. Later names including GoldLink, Shy Glizzy and Rico Nasty range from electronic-leaning rap to punk-edged trap. A newer street style, the DMV flow, has rappers punch in line by line so that rhymes land slightly off the beat.

Artists it is known for: Wale, GoldLink, Shy Glizzy, Rico Nasty.

Family: Hip-Hop & Rap
On Spotify: No longer returned by Spotify’s API
What it is: A scene
From: Washington, D.C. area
Also called: dmv hip hop, dc rap
Trackify listeners who play it: 8%

About 6,500 of 83,000 Trackify listeners with public profiles have dmv rap among their top artists of the last four weeks. Rounded; updated 13 November 2026.

DMV Rap artists

The dmv rap artists most Trackify listeners have in their top fifty. Each opens on Spotify.

Sources

The definition is written for this site from open sources, and was checked against them on 13 November 2026.