Soundcloud Rap Culture
- May 8, 2018
- 3 min read
'Watch me fade everyday in the mornin 2am yeah I'm sippin' and I'm zonin'
'Pop a xanny finna get my hoop back Moon walk through the mall like mike jack'
the above lines are the lyrics from songs 'ProdbyParis- Po'ed Up' and ' Wifisfuneral-It don't matter' , they talk about the influence of Xanax ( Alprazolam ) on their lives, how taking it is decreasing their anxiety and mellowing them down.
Sound cloud Rap is a sub genre of Hip-Hop, this genre originated on a music sharing platform called the 'sound cloud',
the app allows users to listen, share and upload their music. The souncloud rap has become a huge hit on the hip-hop section on this platform , it also goes with other names such as 'sad rap' and 'Xanax rap' because of its sad, slow and xanax influenced lyrics. Generally it has a slow beat playing in the back ground with hazed out or mumble words accompanied by soft patches or instruments.
Soundcloud rap is more than a music genre, it has become a sub culture taking influences from the 'Atlanta trap' and 'Punk rock', the art work on the album covers or the videos are influenced from anime and 80's nostalgia or vaporware inspired. The clothing style of these rappers are interesting as they cannot be classified into anything. Sure there is rebellious attitude bleeding from this particular style of dressing, with their multi colored hairstyles, teeth clips which are made of gold or studded diamonds, a lot similar to present day's street wear but speaking out extremes about one's personality. “Fashion is instant language,” so says Miuccia Prada, this becomes very true in case of these rappers because you sense their personalities the moment you come across a few, it speaks volumes about the present generation i.e. Gen Z and their issues with the society, anxiety and the sense of doom which is most common in them. Most of the soundcloud rappers are nihilistic in nature. They stand out from the rest of the crowd , they have to look as unique as possible in order to make an online presence on platforms such as Instagram. A famous rapper called the Lil Pump had celebrated his hitting one million followers by cutting a cake which was shaped in the form of a Xanax bar. Their news feed them posting about their daily life, the clothes they wear, accessories, art work, video edits and effects. All of them indicate the influence of the drug Xanax and this is not the first time any music genre has associations with a drug or a hallucinogen. The Sound cloud rap can be called as 'punk rock' of hip hop, every major genres will have those movements, it is here to stay for long because it just doesn't gets confined to a sub genre but to a whole generation who is subjected to anxiety related problems.
Facial tattoos are quite notable among these rappers or any one who lead their lives closely to this sub genre. The rappers do this to inspire themselves to make good music, to compete, and come up with fresh content, for most of them its "do or die" because they dont want to fall back into the system which encourages 'the rat race'. Facial tattoos are extreme case of self expression in their case, they possess these loud appearances in order to find inner silence , they achieve that by wearing their thoughts, music and soul.
@xxxtentacion- album covers
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