Trap is dead – long live hip-hop, says Zach Buggy

Hip-Hop has been redefined for an entire generation by auto-tuned, trap-centric bangers popularised by the likes of Travis Scott and Future, not to mention the mass surge in the emo-trap offshoot made notable by the likes of Lil Uzi Vert and the late Juice Wrld.

Behind the scenes, deep in the underground, however, the avant-garde experimentalist MCs and producers have been toiling away on challenging forms of broken beats, chopped and screwed edits and a clear eschewing of standard formulas or even hooks for the most part.

One of the most obvious candidates and an artist who appears to have a foot planted on either side of the fence due to his audacious early entry into the scene is Earl Sweatshirt, who has gone to near excessive lengths to distance himself musically from any forms of easily digestible or accessible hip-hop stylings. 2018’s Some Rap Songs served as the biggest left turn to date, boasting features and collaborations with artists located away from his Los Angeles bubble, down in the east-coast where New York acts such as Standing On The Corner and MIKE are channelling jazz and classic boom-bap techniques into hypnagogic forms of nu/old skool.

All these aforementioned artists have continued to drop sonically challenging projects over the past few years, while even the self-titled Yungwebster LP released via predominantly ambient label Sferic earlier in 2023 showcased an entirely new breed of ambi-trap, far more focused on experimentation and deep listening than Playboi Carti style aggression. The kids are growing up, and seemingly searching for deeper meaning within the realms of hip-hop yet again.

Zach Buggy