The Loudest Person in the Room

Dominique Young Unique was all over music blogs in late 2011—a rapper from Port St. Lucie, Florida with a delivery that sounded like she was issuing commands to the beat rather than rapping over it. Hype Girl had that energy exactly: staccato, bratty, completely her own. The wider crossover never materialized the way the early buzz implied it would, which is either a story about the industry or about what audiences actually reward when the moment passes.