IMO trap music is always unfairly maligned in mainstream discussions outside of the hip hop sphere (i.e. in predominantly white spaces). It’s a broad genre, there’s some low brow trap music, then there’s your Earl Sweatshirts, Jpegmafias, Uzis, etc. who take the genre and do some very interesting things with it. Kendrick has been known to freely take a lot of influence from different subgenres and he definitely also shows that the attitude that a lot of people, especially oldheads, took toward “mumble rap,” was super shortsighted. It’s like dismissing randomness in video games because slot machines exist.
There was a period where everyone was doing the migos flow. ~2017-2022 felt like a relative genetic bottleneck in hiphop structure. I agree there are some trap artists that diverge, and a lot of the vocal anti “mumble rap” discourse is carrying strong racial undertones, but I don’t think crackery is enough to explain the sharp trend towards the Atlanta sound.
It felt like industry was collectively realizing they can capitalize on the triplet flow’s popularity more than artists independently drawing inspiration from it. Message-wise, trap also seems easier for capital to co-opt and commodify than what came before.
It’s possible. I’m a relatively new hip hop fan (started listening in 2018, 2019-ish) and I basically have always heard trap as the dominant subgenre. But I’ve also viewed it as hella diverse because I always stayed a bit closer to the underground, seeing trends of abstract hip hop and some experimental artists taking trap and doing interesting things with it, rather than the commercial trap which skated around the same few flows with nothing much to say. And, IDK, is trap really any worse than bling rap as far as being easy to co-opt?
I may have already heard To Pimp a Butterfly? Not sure. But I will.
But the fact that these were in a subgenre I usually hate is what surprised me here.
IMO trap music is always unfairly maligned in mainstream discussions outside of the hip hop sphere (i.e. in predominantly white spaces). It’s a broad genre, there’s some low brow trap music, then there’s your Earl Sweatshirts, Jpegmafias, Uzis, etc. who take the genre and do some very interesting things with it. Kendrick has been known to freely take a lot of influence from different subgenres and he definitely also shows that the attitude that a lot of people, especially oldheads, took toward “mumble rap,” was super shortsighted. It’s like dismissing randomness in video games because slot machines exist.
There was a period where everyone was doing the migos flow. ~2017-2022 felt like a relative genetic bottleneck in hiphop structure. I agree there are some trap artists that diverge, and a lot of the vocal anti “mumble rap” discourse is carrying strong racial undertones, but I don’t think crackery is enough to explain the sharp trend towards the Atlanta sound.
It felt like industry was collectively realizing they can capitalize on the triplet flow’s popularity more than artists independently drawing inspiration from it. Message-wise, trap also seems easier for capital to co-opt and commodify than what came before.
Not sure I have a thesis here, just my thoughts.
It’s possible. I’m a relatively new hip hop fan (started listening in 2018, 2019-ish) and I basically have always heard trap as the dominant subgenre. But I’ve also viewed it as hella diverse because I always stayed a bit closer to the underground, seeing trends of abstract hip hop and some experimental artists taking trap and doing interesting things with it, rather than the commercial trap which skated around the same few flows with nothing much to say. And, IDK, is trap really any worse than bling rap as far as being easy to co-opt?