Trap Music
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About
Trap Music is a music genre known for its use of 808 kick drums, multi-layered synthesizers and generally dark hip-hop sound. Online, the genre gained notoriety with the song Turn Down For What soundtrack, and begun to infect pop culture with hits such as Watch Me by Silento, tracks by Canadian artist Drake, including Hotline Bling, and Fetty Wap with his hit single Trap Queen. and is often featured in montage parody.
History
The word "trap" was originally coined in the 1990s in Atlanta, Georgia to describe locations where drug deals were made. During this time, rappers who often discussed drug dealing were called "trap rappers," including UGK, 8Ball, Three 6 Mafia and Master P.
Second Wave
Trap music gained mainstream popularity when hip hop producer Lex Luger[5] started producing the instrumentals for multiple rappers including Rick Ross, Jay-z and Kanye West, and heavily influenced the production of Waka Flocka Flame´s debut album "Flockaveli" who's second single Hard in Da Paint (shown below) skyrocketed his popularity.
Lex Luger signature production, which includes heavy use of hard-hitting 808's, crisp snares, frantic synth keys, and bombastic orchestration of ominous brass, strings, woodwinds and keyboards[6] was then heavily used in other songs until it became the standard sound for trap music today.
Related Memes
Damn Son! Where'd You Find This?
"Damn Son! Where'd You Find This?" is a popular sound sample or trap music drop used very often on trap musics.[2] The origin sample has been voiced by the 42 year old music producer Shadoehaze[3].
On Feb 6, 2013; the producer Shadoehaze uploaded an introduction video to brief more information behind the popular sound sample made by himself. On Dec 27, 2013 the website Vice has published an article detailing other infos about the Shadoehaze. On Sep 10, 2014 youtuber Nyanners published a rap cover "I am ur leader" featuring the sample at the beginning.
Harlem Shake
“Harlem Shake”, not to be confused with the hip hop dance style, is the title of a 2012 heavy bass instrumental track produced by Baauer. In February 2013, the song spawned a series of dance videos that begin with a masked individual dancing alone in a group before suddenly cutting to a wild dance party featuring the entire group. Despite what the name suggests, the videos present a wide range of hip hop dances, including the Bernie, Twerking as well as improvisations.
Turn Down For What?
Turn Down For What? refers to a popular trap EDM single produced by DJ Snake featuring rapper Lil Jon, which celebrates the state of being "turnt", the single has received a lot of popularity, specially on the internet with the official video receiving over 151 million views and 905,000 likes, as well as spawning multiple parodies.
Airhorn / Airhorn Remixes
Airhorn refers to a sample commonly used in EDM music, although it tends to heavily appear on trap EDM tracks, it has gained infamy among the music community, normally criticized for its annoying sound and heavy use among multiple tracks, it has thus been used as a joke among multiple music remixes on soundcloud or youtube and montage parody videos which frequently uses trap music.
O.T Genasis "Coco"
“CoCo” is a 2014 trap single by Belizean-American hip hop artist O.T Genasis, which has garnered viral attention on Vine and elsewhere in the social media for explicit references to illicit drugs and humorous mondegreens upon its release in October 2014. The song "CoCo," the lyrics of which almost entirely consist of allusions to the cocaine-trafficking business, was written by Odis Flores, a Belizean-American rapper from Long Beach, California (better known by the stage name O.T. Genasis), and first unveiled online as a music video via the artist's YouTube channel on October 13th, 2014.
No Flex Zone
“No Flex Zone” is a trap song released as the debut single for the American hip hop duo Rae Sremmurd. The track was a commercial success, reaching number 36 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart and receiving multiple remixes by notable artists, including Waka Flocka Flame, Nicki Minaj and Pusha T.
Trap Queen
“Trap Queen” is a hip hop song by rapper Fetty Wap about his appreciation for a loyal girlfriend with whom he makes and distributes illegal drugs. Since its release in April 2014, the song has been widely covered, parodied and remixed online. On August 7th, Fetty Wap released the official music video for the track on YouTube, where it received upwards of 237 million views and 76,000 comments in the next year.
Hotline Bling
“Hotline Bling” is a 2015 single by the Canadian hip-hop and R&B artist Drake. Following the release of the song's music video, which features the artist dancing in a color-shifting cube-like structure, it became popular among fans, spawning parodies, remixes, and reaction images.
Search Interest
References
[1] RunTheTrap – What is trap music
[2] Urban Dictionary – Damn Son
[3] Soundcloud – Shadoehaze
[4] Vice (via Wayback Machine) – I found the DSHDYFT Guy
[6] New York Times – Lex Luger Can Write a Hit Rap Song in the Time It Takes to Read This
Top Comments
Island Sun
Dec 18, 2014 at 06:40PM EST
Beeb Hunter
Dec 18, 2014 at 07:36PM EST