The Birth of a Genre
Are the new age of ‘rappers’ actually creating a new type of music?
Mumble rappers often call themselves ‘rockstars’…
Lil Uzi Vert, Kodak Black, Lil Yaughty, Migos…
Maybe they have a point.
Anyone that has even a casual, passing knowledge of hip-hop can tell that this new wave of (trap) rap is not the same as classic hip-hop.
It barely follows the verse, chorus, verse formula… or any similar formula.
The reason why many say its not rap, is not just because most people cant understand the lyrics… its because much of the lyrics are somewhere between a chorus and a verse. Not exactly one or the other… Almost like a quantum superposition, an ‘in-between’ state; closer to an incantation or a chant.
Most trap rap repeats the ‘verses’ so often that people have a hard time distinguishing whats supposed to be a verse.
But what’s interesting here is that only a few of these ‘rockstar’ rappers are actually creating a new genre.
Though Lil Uzi Vert might call himself and dress himself like a rockstar… his music is quite clearly more influenced by pop and EDM more than rock.
And HipHop has long had ample pop songs… so this is not the new genre I’m talking about.
This article explains why:
No, I’m not claiming mumble rappers (who cant even respect the history of hiphop)… I mean the dark, edgy, heavily distorted, energetically chaotic, instrumentally varied artists like the (in)famous XXXTentacion.
I mean Trap Rock… Trap Metal…or, as many of these artists label their songs on SoundCloud, ‘Alternative Rock.’
Whatever it will be called… its definitely new.
Just as Blues bred with Country to make Rock and Roll… Hip-Hop is breeding a new age of music by rolling around with Rock, Metal… and EDM.
A brief history of Rock and Roll
As this article points out, the genre started as a re-branding of ‘race records,’ (ie black people music: Blues, Gospel, and Jazz, as well as comedy) for white people. The term ‘rock and roll’ was a term popular in the black community, and had more cross-cultural appeal than ‘the race’.. therefore, the big radio station at the time in Cleveland dubbed what was to be known as ‘Rock and Roll’ as such when they noticed white people buying those records.
Interestingly enough, ‘rock and roll’ was almost like the 1920s’ version of ‘smash’.. ie relating to sex, scandalous dance, and provocative music.
Of course, Im not saying that Rock was completely created by black people. It was also a fair hybrid of ‘rockabilly’ from ‘hillbilly’ music, ie country.
From there, you had Punk Rock and then Metal with darker, more chaotic riffs and ‘emo’ lyrics and screams.
Bob Will said something that I really want to touch on though:
Rock and Roll? Why, man, that’s the same kind of music we’ve been playin’ since 1928!… But it’s just basic rhythm and has gone by a lot of different names in my time. It’s the same, whether you just follow a drum beat like in Africa or surround it with a lot of instruments. The rhythm’s what’s important.
This reflects the new age artists’ philosophy very well. When they are asked about what genre of music they play (and what influenced them) they often say something along the lines of this.
Music is about the energy. Its about how you make people feel; connecting with them. Lyrics arent everything. You just gotta have fun. Have a dope beat, a smooth flow, and get people moving.
And thats what they do.
Just like how Rock and Roll really hit its stride thanks to technology introducing the electric guitar, this new genre is also heavily influenced by technological progress.
Greater distribution aside, EDM plays a role in the evolution of HipHop.
This new genre of music is underscored by impossible heavy (and distorted) bass lines. Beats that basically require a subwoofer to truly appreciate.
This article explains well how this happened:
This was written ‘way back’ in 2012… now, trap(step) has indeed blew up and melded well with trap rap.
You’d be hard pressed to find a trap producer that isnt influenced by trapstep or EDM.
Personally, I am a huge fan of edm trap and have been following it since its inception… when I noticed how hip hop artists started to incorporate it into their beats to make those epic, bass heavy, ‘bangers’ everyone loves nowadays…
I knew sht was gon change forever.
Point is… the addition of bass allows you to feel this music in a very different way than any other genre. It expresses a new emotion. A feeling of energetic aggression similar to that of heavy metal, but far more suave.. a swag… or, more apropos with todays times… its fkn LIT!
Now… with these three pieces… we can finally understand this new genre.
Trap Rap… intimately intertwined with Trapstep… atop varying levels of Rock or Metal to spice it up.
This is not the same as RunDMC’s infusion of rap lyrics into classic Rock and Roll, or anything of the sort…
This is a new genre. With a sound that is not just unique, but viral. It has its own energy.
You’re probably wondering:
So… what exactly is this new genre? If you dont count ‘mumble rappers’ like Uzi Vert or Playboy Carti or Yachty… then who do you mean?? Are there more weirdos like X?
Well… I dont really know what it IS exactly, so I cant give a comprehensive list. But you know when you hear it, and X is certainly not the only one.
The originators, or at least progenitors, of this hybrid beauty of a genre are all popular in their own niche, and deeper than they seem on the surface. They dont exclusively make this type of music, but have either popular tracks or even whole projects that fall under this new umbrella.
Here are a few I know about:
XXXTentacion
Bones
Craig Xen
And probably way more that I dont even know about.
This is a global phenomena.
Scarlxrd is from the UK
KOHH is a Japanese artist
Pharoah is Russian
Honestly… I’m nowhere close to an expert on this.
I think you can also throw more rap-heavy songs into this as well, just because of the way they part from typical rap flows and beats so distinctly:
Im not enough of a music aficionado or anything to tell you the exact samples, influences, and technical specifics of what exactly makes them unique. Nor have I been a big fan of this.
Im coming from the lyrical hiphop scene and the dubstep scene. I also like a good amount of (power)metal, and soft rock.
So I do understand the individual parts… but when it comes to really ‘defining’ what this is… all I can say is that they not only have strange, totally non-rapper names, but also aggressive music… but yet dynamic. They use heavy, distorted bass and chaotic electric shredding showing influences of metal. They have the iconic dubstep-like 808 drops. The angsty lyrics and sexual themes is very punk rock. The use of adlibs and choppy flows is an evolution of club hiphop.
All I know is that its a dope sound and a promising genre!!
I’ll update this as I learn more about the magic happening here. Let me know if you also think this is the birth of a new genre!
What should this new thing even be called?
Trap Rock, Trap metal, TrapnRoll? AyeYuh??… or maybe just #L🔥T?
Here are some articles I drew inspiration from:
