I would say that I know a little bit about music, but there’s a lot of gaps in my knowledge. This isn’t the definitive guide… It’s just John’s Guide.
The cool thing about music is that it can make you feel old even when you are still pretty young. That was my relationship with SoundCloud rap, which, like house or garage, was named after the place the music was incubated. SoundCloud rap wasn’t really a genre but more of a catchall for a bunch of emerging styles of underground rap that existed primarily on the internet starting in the early 2010s (most will agree it didn’t make it into the pandemic). At the time, I was pushing 30 and I was sobering up. I knew this was no longer music for me, but I still liked it. Because my brain ain’t right.
I’m not so interested in talking about the stuff people usually talk about when they talk about SoundCloud rap: the facial tattoos or the streetwear drops or the Sunset Strip-via-Myspace culture. I want to talk about my experiences with the music. Some of that music was really good. Some of it was really bad, but sometimes the bad stuff was more interesting than the good stuff. If there was one thing that connected a lot of the SoundCloud rap universe, it was an eye towards subculture. Nods to emo, punk and goth were thick. After years of worthy experiments–crunk screamo; suburban electroclash; frat rap; Tumblr rap–this shit cracked a few codes. It was Internet Music 2.0, built on top of the failed dreams of Brokencyde and Trinidad James.
That’s only part of the story. Three 6 Mafia, Chief Keef and Lil B all factor into the musical DNA. Tragedy and absurdity equally factor into the cultural DNA. Someone else can do the oral history, though. SoundCloud rap wasn’t my scene. When I look back at old radio shows and newsletters, I was only fucking with portions of this stuff. But you better believe I was listening. Maybe not with the intensity of a 22-year-old, but I was listening.
In the spring of 2017, my friend Travis invited me to a sold-out Lil Peep show at the Webster Hall Marlin Room. It blew my mind. It was the first time I saw kids taking selfies while stagediving. I remember having an embarrassing thought as I witnessed Peep up close: he kind of looked like an alt Justin Bieber. It’s rare that I see a live show and think the artist is going to take over the world, but that was how I felt watching Lil Peep. “Beamer Boy” was the culmination of years and years of cultural R&D: It flips a Pacific Northwest indie song (producer Nedarb Nagrom sampled The Microphones) and combines it with heavy 808s and vocals that are half Chief Keef, half mall emo. But I don’t want to sound clinical. The song transcends its cultural inputs. I’m putting a Lindy bet on “Beamer Boy.” Lil Peep made the world a better place.
Rico Nasty connected the dots between candy-coated Atlanta club rap and pop punk before most. “Hey Arnold” was her first single and she followed that with a series of catchy, tranced-out tracks that sounded like the logical continuation of both “Pretty Rave Girl” by Princess of Crime Mob and “Surf Party” by Fast Life Yungstaz (I recommend listening to both songs if you haven't already). Her music slowly got more aggro and more “punk.” Sick in a different way. Still, Rico’s early pop records hold a place in my heart.
A noise kid from VA pitches his voice down and produces jazzy, tape-dampened Memphis rap music. What could’ve been a one-liner was made three-dimensional by sheer force of execution and imagination. Lil Ugly Mane’s discography is probably the most varied of anyone on this list. His last full-length is a perfect blast of breakbeat pop, like Beck meets Primitive Radio Gods.
Lil Tracy & Lil Uzi Vert “Like A Farmer (Remix)”
Would there be an “Old Town Road'' without this song? Probably. I won’t lie, though, the first time I heard “Old Town Road,” I couldn’t fuck with it completely. I thought it was stolen “Like A Farmer'' valor. Of course, I warmed to the genius of “Old Town Road'' and Lil Nas X in general, but I still think that the “Like A Farmer” remix is underappreciated. Even though it almost has three million YouTube views.
Lil Racecar X Gravelust “Country Sky”
Let’s go deeper into the country end of SoundCloud rap with a song so cutty that it only currently exists as a reupload. Talk about the road not taken! Fiddle sample? Check. Bright Eyes-meets-Peep croon? No doubt. This was no depression music for the Xanax generation.
Amber London “Texas Phonk 1998”
Many SoundCloud rap historians will trace the movement’s beginnings to Raider Klan, a collective that started in South Florida but slowly grew with the help of the internet. There is an entire book to be written about this crew and their extended family, which technically included over 40 members. Raider Klan hybridized many of the darker strains of lo-fi Southern rap and pounded them into a contemporary sludge. It cracked open a lot of kids' brains. At first, modern use of the term “phonk” referred to exactly this kind of shit: screwed samples, smothered 808s, wicked dark clown vibes. Flash forward to 2023 and the genre has morphed, in part due to its popularity in Russia. It is now as detached from Raider Klan as EDM trap is from, say, Gucci Mane. Just a classic quirk of culture. I’ve been told that the current iteration of phonk is a favorite among weightlifters.
It’s funny to think about a time when “Boss” felt blown out and stupid and exciting, but it did, at least to me. In an interesting turn of events, I heard it before I even knew what the man looked like. Lil Pump eventually went full MAGA. Only two weeks ago, he released a metal song called “Pump Rock x Heavy Metal.” I mean, what can you say? He’s from Florida.
Father (Feat. ILoveMakonnen & Key!) “Look At Wrist”
Always liked this 2K14 ATL mumbler. Think it was Travis again (thank you Travis) who invited me to see Father play “Look At Wrist” live during what I believe was one of the final iterations of the CMJ Music Marathon. That room went off! When did they stop doing the music marathon? I’ll never know…
Playboy Carti (Feat. Lil Uzi Vert) “*wokeuplikethis”
The influence of the SoundCloud rap era is still strong. Take, for example, all of Playboy Carti’s output. Carti walked so that Yeat could run and make a song for the Minions: The Rise of Gru soundtrack. About that: I have a vision of Yeat in the studio making “Rich Minion.” First, Yeat enters the recording booth. The Minions-fried beat plays in Yeat’s headphones and Yeat adlibs for about fifteen minutes before declaring that the song is finished. Yeat then exits the booth and is presented with an oversized check for two million dollars. Yeat leaves the studio, returns to his hotel, and eats 10 bowls of cereal.
The moment I knew Juice WRLD was really doing something special was during his Funk Flex freestyle. Because I am a washed elder millennial and I still like Funkmaster Flex. Seriously though: the kid was gifted. Clearly, he had a lot of music in him. Like Peep, he was only 21 when he died. That’s just too young. That’s just too much to process. Juice WLRD made the world a better place.