Max B Aside, Get to Know the Rest of MIKE's Young World Fest Lineup

This weekend, MIKE‘s Young World Festival returns to New York City once again. Spearheaded by the Brooklyn-based rapper and his 10k record label, the 2026 edition of Young World marks the fifth installation of the fully free, all-ages event, set to go down on Saturday, July 11, at Bedford-Stuyvesant’s Herbert Von King Park. Billed “Young World V,” this year’s lineup is headlined by, of course, MIKE himself and his Band of the Century for the group’s festival debut, and, in a true convergence of the New Guard and Old Guard and New York hip hop, none other than fellow hometown hero, Max B.

Young World, in MIKE’s own words, is “a festival dedicated to rap music,” guided by the rapper’s “mission to celebrate the complexities or, more so, the beauty of this generational community,” and it’s this exact ethos that fuels the rest of the intentionally curated festival lineup. Years past have featured the likes of Earl Sweatshirt, Noname, 454, Jay Critch, skaiwater, Slick Rick, TisaKorean, Sideshow, MAVI, Jadasea, and Pete Rock.

Young World V is no exception to its predecessors, with this year’s slate of talent a perfect encapsulation of the current state of underground hip hop: ERISTHEPLANET, Niontay, SALIMATA, and Thirteendegrees°. Get to know all four of the festival’s non-headlining performers while you still have time. We made it really easy for you.

ERISTHEPLANET

There’s not much ERISTHEPLANET can’t do. The DMV-bred artist got her start on YouTube before pivoting to focus on her music career, which, in terms of genre, is shaping up to be as expansive as her creative capabilities. But ERIS has her vision on lock, her aesthetic palette and visual world both captivatingly colorful and strikingly singular for an artist just getting their formal start in the game. With contagious cuts like “345 (GET IT)” and “DIANA (DNA)” landing her well-deserved co-signs from SZA and Drake, ETP’s artistic world has only expanded in scope this past summer with the release of the “GEEZER”-led IT BE THAT DAMN PHONE. 

Listen if you like: TiaCorine, KARRAHBOOO, Rico Nasty

Songs to start with: “GEEZER,” “DIANA (DNA),” “345 (GET IT),” “2025LOVESTORY (DIGITAL)”

Niontay

If we’re doing our job, you know Niontay. A quiet force in the 10k universe for a few years now, the Brooklyn-via-Florida-(via Milwaukee) rapper has been in the cut with Hypebeast and Hypetrak for a minute now, too. Despite just recently moving back home to Florida, the underground rockstar is sliding back through the city just for Young World V. ” His 2023 debut, Dontay’s Inferno, introduced him properly, followed by a stacked run of EPs and collabs with MAVI, El Cousteau, and Earl Sweatshirt, to name just a few, all setting the stage for his recent biggest year yet, marked by two major releases: Fada<3of$ and Soulja Hate Repellant.

Listen if you like: El Cousteau, Ovrkast., Zelooperz

Songs to start with:  “Top da Top,” “Da City of a Hunnid Plays,” “MR.HAVEMYWAY”

SALIMATA

Bed-Stuy through and through and raised in a West African household, SALIMATA’s sound is a tapestry of her diverse upbringing: glitch-trap meets jazzy, soulful production meets a hypnotically nonchalant delivery. She got her start posting freestyles online before her “On The Radar” freestyle broke through, and she’s been touring alongside MIKE and rolling with the 10k crew ever since. Most recently, her sharp shone through on studio record The Happening, which leveled up the foundations laid on prior LPs Wooden Floors and Salimata Presents – OUCH without losing an ounce of her raw poetic lyricism on the come-up.

Listen if you like: Noname, reggie, Samara Cyn

Songs to start with: “SWEETTHANG,” “dreamin..,” “Jackpot,” “Moonlight”

Thirteendegrees°

It’s more than likely that you’ve heard a Thirteendegrees°song before; you just don’t know it’s a Thirteendegrees° song. Hailing from Chicago and evoking a nostalgic Swag Era sound, the rappers’ smooth, Internet-apt sonics are far from viral bait. If that’s what Thirteendegrees° cared about, he would’ve peaked ages ago. However, the refreshingly under-the-radar talent is in it for the love of the game, building slowly on his unintentional “Da Problem Solva”-fueled online momentum to expand his carefully constructed catalog which remains predominantly solo, aside from A-list features from Trippie Redd and BNYX.

Listen if you like: ZUKENEE, SahBabii, tana

Songs to start with: “Da Problem Solva,” “LYRICZ,” “CHAMPAIN”