Chicago-via-Michigan rapper Smba plies pop-punk aesthetics to make hip-hop tracks soaked in melancholy. These songs could tentatively be described as Soundcloud rap, since that term (which took hold of hip-hop four years ago) has already been stretched far enough to include any MC with a Fall Out Boy T-shirt, but they have enough dimensions that […]
Tag: Soundcloud rap
Posted inMusic
City Morgue and Tokyo’s Revenge show the breadth of Soundcloud rap
Update: This show has been canceled to help slow the spread of COVID-19. Tickets will be refunded at point of purchase. About three years ago, “Soundcloud rap” emerged as a catchall for a variety of aggressive, rock-influenced hip-hop made by digital natives operating outside the mainstream. It often felt unhelpful to group together rappers whose […]
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Sunday’s storms actually improved Lyrical Lemonade’s Summer Smash
Lyrical Lemonade’s Summer Smash has grown into Chicago’s biggest rap festival in just its second year, but it needed a nudge from the elements to get its act together.
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Chicago rapper Supa Bwe laps the pack
Supa Bwe brought pop-punk melodies to hip-hop years before the current crop of Soundcloud rappers, and he’s still evolving on the new Finally Dead.
Posted inBlogs
Tracking the astronomical rise of Chicagoland rapper Juice Wrld
Juice Wrld has only played a couple shows and has at best two Soundcloud hits—but he just signed a deal with Interscope reportedly worth $3 million.
Posted inMusic
How Blink-182 gave hip-hop a refreshing Enema
Blink-182 helped connect the mainstream pop-punk of the late 90s to the Soundcloud rap of today.