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Rage (music genre)

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Rage rap
Other names
  • Rage-rap
  • Rage beats
  • rage
Stylistic origins
Cultural originslate 2010s and early 2020s, United States
Typical instruments
Regional scenes
  • United Kingdom
  • Germany

Rage rap, also known as rage-rap,[1] rage beats[2][3][4] or simply rage,[5][6][7] is an energetic[1] microgenre of trap music.[8] Distinguishing features of rage rap include short repeating stereo-widened EDM-influenced[2][6] and future bass-influenced[6] looped synthesizer lead hooks[8][6] and a basic trap rhythm.[8][6] Among the originators of rage rap are rappers Playboi Carti and Trippie Redd,[8] although the subgenre is primarily centered around its production style.[2] Yeat is another rapper closely associated with the genre's development.[8]

Etymology

The name of the subgenre comes mainly from "Miss The Rage" track made in 2021 by Trippie Redd and Playboi Carti, whose name references moshpits during rap concerts that Trippie Redd was longing about during COVID-19 lockdowns.[8][2][6]

In the context of the title, "rage" means "moshpit". The concept of "rages" at rap concerts and the use of the term "rage" in hip hop music predate the rage subgenre itself[2]: the first person to use the term "rage" in context of hip-hop is said to be Kid Cudi, with his "Mr.Rager" alter-ego, which was later adopted by Travis Scott, who made it an important part of his own aesthetic.[2][6] During the 2010s, multiple artists and critics used the word "rage" in context of hip-hop, mostly either referring to overdriven energetic sound,[2] or the moshpits happening at rap concerts,[2] examples being Lil Uzi Vert's Luv Is Rage and Luv Is Rage 2 releases,[6] and multiple sources calling 6ix9ine's and Xxxtentacion's music "rage rap". For this reason, both Lil Uzi Vert and Travis Scott have been repeatedly referred to by such descriptive terms as "rage rapper" or "rage rap pioneer"[9], or "king of rage rap"[10], although it has also been suggested that both Lil Uzi Vert and the sound of Astroworld album actually influenced rage rap subgenre, particularly Yeat's music.[11][citation needed] Lil Uzi Vert has also been important influence to Trippie Redd during his work on Trip At Knight,[12] and to SoFaygo, Travis Scott's Cactus Jack Records signee[7] and the author of early noted rage track "Off The Map".[7]

History

Among the immediate precursors of rage are beats made by Mike Will Made-It, beats made by Dun Deal and C4 for 1017 Thug by Yung Thug and beats by Metro Boomin and Southside from the mid-2010s.[13] Abo Kado, an author for Mikiki music reviewing website, suggested that rage beats primarily evolved from production style of Pierre Bourne, Maaly Raw and F1lthy, all of whom relied heavily on trap music and synthesizer melodies in their beats, had strong video game music influence and also worked closely with Playboi Carti and Lil Uzi Vert.[7] Production style of Pierre Bourne and music of Lil Uzi Vert were, in turn, influenced by music of Wiz Khalifa and his producer Sledgen, who sometimes incorporated videogame samples in their music and were, in turn, influenced by early attempts to fuse European synthesizer-based music with hip-hop and contemporary R&B by Pollow Da Don and others.[7] Playboi Carti has been suggested as either an originator or primary popularizer of rage rap,[14] laying the foundation of genre during his work on Die Lit album in 2018,[8] mostly produced by Pierre Bourne.[15] It's also often suggested that the foundation of rage has been laid with Playboi Carti's Whole Lotta Red album, released in late 2020[5][16][17][18][4] and mostly produced by F1lthy.[7] The genre's popularity breakthrough is also attributed to "Miss The Rage" by Trippie Redd and Playboi Carti, which was recorded in the early 2021.[8][7] Along with "Whole Lotta Red", "Miss The Rage" was influental in the rage subgenre, with multiple producers and rappers adopting the style after the single was released.[2]. Rapper Mario Judah went on to release his re-produced version of "Miss The Rage", since the main loop for the instrumental of "Miss The Rage" was based on a royalty-free melody loop.[2] Trippie Redd later went to on to solidify popularity of "Miss The Rage" and recorded a primarily rage album called Trip At Knight and expressed his fascination with rage rap.[5][6][12][7] Popular rapper Drake, who's tactic is often to showcase little known subgenres and styles in his albums,[19] has also made a rage-influenced track in March 2021, called "What's Next", a part of his Scary Hours 2 EP.[8] The beat from "What's Next", produced by Maneesh and Supah Mario, has been repeatedly likened to tracks from "Whole Lotta Red".[19][20][21] "What's Next" reached top position on Billboard Hot 100 chart.

SoFaygo is another early adopter of rage sound.[14] His late 2020 single "Off The Map", which somewhat predates the rage subgenre hype, has also be described as either closely resembling rage rap or being an outright rage song.[2][6][7] After releasing "Off The Map", SoFaygo went to collaborate with Trippie Red on "MP5" rage track from Trip At Knight and with Lil Yachty on "Solid" rage track.[7]

Later in 2021, thanks to TikTok,[22] underground rapper Yeat started releasing a more chaotic and dark version of rage rap, noted for abundant use of bell samples, after his multiple songs ("Sorry About That" and "Mad About That" among them) became virally popular on the platform.[8][5][14][1] After becoming popular on TikTok, Yeat's music was noticed by the likes of Lil Yachty and Drake.[5][14] After that, Yeat went on to release two rage albums in 2021 and 2022, titled Up 2 Me and 2 Alive, showcasing his signature darker rage sound.[8]

Although rage is rather formulatic and was deemed a "probable dead-end subgenre" and a "formulatic" subgenre by critics,[5][8] a pleiad of lesser-known rappers emerged, using rage in their music, sometimes in experimental fashion, among them being SSGKobe,[23] Ken Carson, TyFontaine, $NOT,[24], Cochise,[25] KayCyy,[25] Ka$hdami,[14] and others.[8] In 2021, Ken Carson, Playboi Carti's protege produced a noted rage album called Project X.[5] KayCyy performed his rage-influenced "OKAY" single to a mere chiptune-influenced synth loop, disregarding trap beat altogether.[8] Matt Ox, an experimental rapper, has also been described as a "rager" for releasing rage tracks such as "Live It Up".[26] Rapper KanKan's RR album from the late 2021 has been described as heavily influenced by rage sound,[23] as has been 2022 releases, such Carnival by Caal Vo,[27] Muddyworld V2 by Muddymya, and others.[24] Yung Kayo, Yung Thug's protege, was noted for mixing rage with hyperpop and pluggnb, along with other influences, on his 2022 DFTK album.[28][29][24]

Rage has also made its way to Europe. Lancey Foux, a British rapper partly influenced by Playboi Carti,[30][3] has released LIVE.EVIL album in late 2021, which contained rage elements mixed with UK hip hop.[31][3] Foux' earlier mixtape, FIRST DEGREE, was also described as containing rage elements.[32] Foux also later went on to collaborate with Yeat on a "Luv Money" track from 2 Alive deluxe edition.[33] In Germany, rage tracks were recorded by rappers such as Peshanim, skrt cobain (with his track "Neue Whip"), Okfella, Dante YN, and others.[8]

Characteristics

Rage sound has been overall characterized as futuristic,[22][25] electric[26] and synth-driven.[14][26][1][34] Vivian Medithi of HipHopDx described rage as a sound rooting in plugg music legacy with more electronic influences.[17] Tom Breihan of Stereogum described rage beats as glitchy and as "a cheap, functional type of beat — the type of beat that seems to spring almost entirely from the “type beats” that have proliferated on YouTube in the past few years — but its cheapness is disorienting and sometimes even psychedelic".[4] Rage is mainly characterized by the use stereo-widened EDM-influenced lead synthesizer patches,[8][35] reminiscent of the 1980s and 1990s game soundtracks and of trance music,[7] used to play short, often emotional,[6][7] melodies arranged in short loops which repeat throughout the song,[8] and a basic, "dull", trap beat, accompanying these melodies,[8] with bouncy, often overdriven,[2] heavy and elastic[35] 808s bass notes. These synth hooks play such a role in rage that the whole sound has been described as a "hybrid genre of trap music and EDM".[2] Synth leads have said to be influenced by a number of EDM and electronic musicians, such as The Chainsmokers, Skrillex, Diplo, Zedd, Rustie[6] and others.[8] It has also been noticed, that oftentimes EDM synth hooks in rage come from pre-packaged EDM melody packs, for instance, a guitar-driven[18] "high-octane"[36] EDM loop from "Miss The Rage" came from the royalty-free[36] EDM sample pack by Cymatics, called Cymatics Odyssey EDM Sample Pack.[2] Yeat has also made it popular to use bell sounds, once popular in earlier trap,[citation needed] in rage beats.[8]

In terms of vocal delivery, many rappers in rage style oftentimes imitate vocal styles of Playboi Carti,[35] although the subgenre is mainly centered around beat production style.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Jason Lipshutz (February 18, 2022). "First Stream: New Music From Jack Harlow, Kid Cudi, Silk Sonic and More". Billboard. Portland's Yeat trades in "rage-rap," a style conducive to head-banging along with the bleary synths and sneering along with every exclamation and ad-lib
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Leon Schäfers (June 21, 2021). "Wie Trippie Red und Playboi Carti Eine Neue Rage-Wave Prägen" [How Trippie Redd and Playboi Carti are shaping a new rage wave]. Hiphop.de [de].
  3. ^ a b c Kyann Williams (November 23, 2021). "Lancey Foux: "I wish the UK acknowledged rap the same way they do punk"". NME.
  4. ^ a b c Tom Breihan (February 23, 2022). "Yeat Is The Future, Maybe". Stereogum.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Alphonso Pierre (September 17, 2021). "Albums: Up 2 Me by Yeat". Pitchfork.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l FNMNL Editorial Board (September 15, 2021). "【コラム】What is "RAGE Beat"?" [【Column】 What is “RAGE Beat”?] (in Japanese). FNMNL.tv.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Abo Kado; Mikiki Editorial Board. "レイジ（Rage）のサウンドはどこから来た?　新たなヒップホップ・ムーヴメントのルーツを辿る" [Where did Rage sound come from? Tracing the roots of the new hip-hop movement] (in Japanese). Mikiki.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Micha Wagner (May 1, 2022). "Rage Rap: Klingt so die Zukunft des Hip-Hop?" [Rage Rap: Is this the future of hip-hop?] (in German). Diffus Magazine [de].
  9. ^ Ulysses Grenot (December 7, 2021). "Is Travis Scott a satanist?". Daily Deli News.
  10. ^ Keith Nelson, Jr. (December 10, 2021). "Travis Scott explained himself, and made everything worse". Mic.com.
  11. ^ Jordan Rose (April 1, 2021). "Listen to Yeat's '2 Alivë (Geëk Pack)' Featuring 2 Songs With Lil Uzi Vert". Complex. Yeat sounds like Uzi's protege in some way, sliding on emphatic trap beats and making his lyrics hit harder than the snare drums.
  12. ^ a b Shirley Ju (February 18, 2021). "Trippie Redd Talks New Project Inspired by Lil Uzi Vert, Memories w/ Juice Wrld & XXXTentacion". Flaunt.
  13. ^ Alphonso Pierre (February 22, 2022). "Albums:2 Alive by Yeat". Pitchfork.
  14. ^ a b c d e f Jessica McKinney (February 27, 2022). "Who is Yeat? Everything You Need to Know About Yeat". Complex.
  15. ^ "Credits / Die Lit / Playboi Carti". Tidal. Retrieved November 17, 2020.
  16. ^ Jordan Darville (February 18, 2022). "Listen to Yeat's new album 2 Alivë". The Fader.
  17. ^ a b Vivian Medithi (Dec 24, 2021). "Playboi Carti 'Whole Lotta Red' is the sound of 2021 whether you like it or not". HipHopDX.
  18. ^ a b Slant Staff (December 8, 2021). "The 50 Best Songs of 2021". Slant Magazine.
  19. ^ a b Jeff Ihaza (March 10, 2021). "Is Drake Trying to Tell Us Something?". Rolling Stone.
  20. ^ Daryl Shulman (March 7, 2021). "Review: Drake's new EP 'Scary Hours 2' hints at an incoming classic". The Diamondback.
  21. ^ Joe Sammon (March 18, 2021). "Drake's 'Scary Hours 2': scarily disappointing". The Boar.
  22. ^ a b Kristian Karl (February 27, 2022). "To nye hiphop-gennembrud viser, hvor genren (maske) er pa vej hen i 2022" [Two new hip-hop breakthrough artists show where genre is (maybe) headed to in 2022] (in Danish). Soundvenue [da].
  23. ^ a b Jon Barlas (December 30, 2021). "Our Generation Awards: OGM's Top 10 rising stars of 2022". Our Generation Music.
  24. ^ a b c Anthony Malone; Lauren Floyd; Vivian Medithi; David Brake; et al. (June 14, 2022). "The best new hip-hop mixtapes and EPs of 2022 ... (so far)". HipHopDX.
  25. ^ a b c Micha Wagner (June 22, 2022). "What's Poppin? Drake ruft auf den Dancefloor – und keiner kommt mit?" [What's Poppin? Drake calls to the dancefloor – and no one comes along?] (in German). Diffus Magazine [de]. SoFaygo, Cochise und KayCyy repräsentieren den futuristischen rage sound [SoFaygo, Cochise and KayCyy represent the futuristic Rage sound]
  26. ^ a b c Tomas Galindo (August 6, 2021). "Matt OX drops new banger 'Live It Up'". Our Generation Music.
  27. ^ Audiomack Staff (March 20, 2022). "10 Rappers You Should Know Right Now on Audiomack". DJBooth.
  28. ^ Miki Hellebrach (June 30, 2022). "10 Underrated Albums In 2022 You May Have Missed So Far". Okayplayer.
  29. ^ Audiomack Staff (Mar 16, 2022). "Yung Kayo Makes Worlds Collide". DJBooth.
  30. ^ Temi Akinyoade (November 30, 2021). "Lancey Foux proves he's more than just a Carti imitator on LIVE.EVIL". WRBB Radio.
  31. ^ Jon Barlas (November 18, 2021). "Lancey Foux finds balance on new album 'LIVE.EVIL'". Our Generation Music.
  32. ^ Fatima Sheekhuna (March 13, 2021). "Lancey Foux Surprises Fans With New Eleven Song Project 'FIRST DEGREE'". New Wave Magazine.
  33. ^ Jordan Darville (April 1, 2022). "The 5 projects you should stream right now". The Fader.
  34. ^ Eric Skelton (February 14, 2022). "The Real Zack Bia". Complex. As Bia describes it, SoundCloud 2.0 is a new wave of artists who are making some of the most urgent, forward-thinking music in rap. Whereas the first SoundCloud rap boom of the mid-2010s took shape in places like South Florida, this new iteration is coming together on the internet through Discord servers and group chats, and a tight-knit community is forming. Rapping over synthy "rage beats," these artists are making raw and frenetic music, pulling influences from OG SoundCloud stars like Playboi Carti, and pushing the sound in wild new directions.
  35. ^ a b c HiTao (July 9, 2022). "现在听New Wave的都是土龙鸣？最新的浪潮又是什么？" [Is listening to [SoundCloud] New Wave a trend now? Who listens to this music?]. www.xihachina.com (in Chinese). XiHaChina.
  36. ^ a b Billboard Staff (December 7, 2021). "The 100 Best Songs of 2021: Staff List: 64. Trippie Redd feat. Playboi Carti, "Miss the Rage"". Billboard.
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