If anyone wants any listening practise or to just appreciate some cool Welsh rap, Sage Todz is on IG dropping bars (with transcripts) so have fun! Also Todz is so cool.
Dear listener, I rarely post hip hop, and when I do its usually so deep underground that a brief, intermittent ray from the sun would strike it fuckin’ blind. I like hip hop that is bizarre and experimental and for the last year or so, I’ve been getting increasingly deeper into phonk; a darkly themed and distorted subgenre of trap. The primary reason that I enjoy phonk is because it seems to be a modern worldwide trend for regular people with audio software to create this kind of music from nothing more than disparate samples, which is based on old school Memphis rap and southern hip-hop styles. And while I wish I could tell you a whole lot more about the artist showcased this week, like a lot of other phonk performers, SPYDER550 seems to enjoy his anonymity. Smash play and enjoy GODDD MODE from 2019’s ACID THUG.
As much as I enjoy giving my audience on Tumblr a proper overview of who the artist is, what they stand for, etc… sometimes I can’t dig up anything of substantive value. SPYDER550’s Instagram is here, his SoundCloud is here, his Spotify page is here, and I found a slightly more robust profile that seems legitimate enough here. You, yes you that is reading this, feel free to go ahead and Google this artist for yourself and tell me if you can possibly draw a clearer picture of the person behind the music than I did here. I suppose I should be relieved; generally speaking, there is TOO MUCH information on certain musical acts that I post, and here is a good example of the polar opposite. From what little I was able to ascertain from my research for this post, 550 is very new to the worldwide music scene, having their first album out in 2019. As far as I can tell, they’ve released at least five albums since then, all under 10-tracks at a stretch. I can’t even tell with 100% accuracy where this artist is located on the planet. One profile says they are from Russia, another says they’re based out of Finland, and another says Memphis, Tennessee… which I’ll assume is just a throwback to Memphis rap (i.e. the music his own sounds are based on). I don’t even know if the above picture is really 550, or even what the hell his real name is. But you know what? None of that really matters, because I’ve been bouncing from tune to tune wherever I can find his music online, and I can tell you there’s a lot of noticeable raw talent here. Each individual tune I’ve found by this artist is intriguing, catchy, and thoughtful in its own unique way. His musical arrangements possess a haunting quality that is often repetitive, but repetitive in a good way, all while managing to be enchantingly mesmerizing. Like a lot of phonk artists, you can bet your bottom dollar that 550 ‘chops and screws’ a lot of his tracks together using various samples directly from the internet (including the vocals most likely). Just below is another bizarre banger, Toxic Face from 2021’s SPYDELIC. Enjoy!
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I try to put as much research that I can stand into these musical entries, and sometimes, there’s just not a lot of meat on the bone. That said, if you liked the music in this post, click here, and here, and here for more. It’s just about all I can do to fully inform you of this artist’s existence outside of hiring an internet sleuth to ascertain more. Image source: https://www.viberate.com/artist/spyder550/
What Is It?
The YouTube video Rae Khalil – Crybaby (Audio) by the YouTube channel RAE KHALIL:
Rae Khalil – Crybaby (Audio)
Description:
Stream “Crybaby”: https://RaeKhalil.lnk.to/CRYBABY
https://x.com/raekhalil
Continue reading Rae Khalil – Crybaby (Audio)
If there’s one style of music that manages to go woefully underrepresented on my page, it’s any variation of hip-hop. Well, that and mainstream modern country, and I guaran-damn-tee you’ll NEVER see any of that shit on my page. So, for the next few weeks I would like to focus specifically on deejays, hip hop and trap music. Let’s begin with something of a solo act that hails from France of all places, Soudiere. This French deejay took me completely by surprise recently with his phonk; that being rap vocals on top of chopped and screwed classic hip hop with some light elements of jazz, funk and experimental pop to create a sound you’ll rarely hear outside of a Memphis, Tennessee dance club circa the 1980’s. Often dark in both lyrics and tone, this style of hip hop centers on double and triple time flows, digital snares and booming sub-bass that accentuates Southern-style east coast American hip hop. It’s curious that a fella from Saint-Dié-des-Vosges, who is as white as the driven snow, would or could formulate beats this intense. But you gotta follow your passions, and Soudiere had been listening to trap music since his late teens until he decided to try and create his own soundscapes in his twenties which are largely samples from resources all over the internet and vocalized by gifted lyricists he has met on Soundcloud over the years. I really couldn’t find much additional information on this talent, other than a scant interview here or there that shed light on him being from cities where the music scene is basically dead, he’s a huge cartoon fan, and he just wants to make you dance. So, do yourself a favor dear listener; crank the volume, smash play, and chill out to a tune you’ll likely come across once in a red moon. This is Trap Scholar from 2018’s Young Pirelli, Vol. 5. More exciting hip-hop next week... with a bit of a refreshing vaporwave twist!
They don’t come more talented and/or underground than this in modern music, folks. Image source: https://twitter.com/youngpirelli?lang=en