Rage (also known as rage music,[1][2] rage rap,[3] or rage beats[4][5][6]) is a microgenre of trap music.[3][7] Distinguishing features of rage include short looping stereo-widened future bass-influenced synthesizer lead hooks and basic, energetic trap rhythms.[4][7][8] Among the pioneers of rage are rappers Playboi Carti, Lil Uzi Vert, and Trippie Redd.[7][4]

Etymology

The name of the subgenre comes from "Miss the Rage", a genre-pioneering track made in 2021 by Playboi Carti and Trippie Redd, whose name references moshpits during rap concerts that Trippie Redd longed for during COVID-19 lockdowns.[7][4][8]

In the context of the title, "rage" means "moshpit". The concept of "rages" at rap concerts and the use of the term "rage" in hip hop music predate the rage subgenre itself:[4] the first person to use the term "rage" in context of hip-hop is said to be Kid Cudi, with his "Mr. Rager" alter-ego, which influenced Travis Scott who later adopted the term "rage" and made it an important part of his own aesthetic.[4][8][9] During the 2010s, multiple artists and critics used the word "rage" in context of hip-hop, mostly either referring to overdriven energetic sound, or the moshpits happening at rap concerts,[4] examples being Lil Uzi Vert's Luv Is Rage and Luv Is Rage 2 releases.[8]

History

The pioneers of rage rap are considered to be (from left to right) Lil Uzi Vert, Playboi Carti, and Trippie Redd.

Among the immediate precursors of rage are beats made by Mike Will Made-It, beats made by Dun Deal and C4 for 1017 Thug by Young Thug and beats by Metro Boomin and Southside from the mid-2010s. Metro produced Future's 2015 song "I Serve the Base", which has been described as an early rage track.[10] Abo Kado, writing for Mikiki, suggested that rage beats primarily evolved from the production styles of Pierre Bourne, Maaly Raw and F1lthy, all of whom integrated trap music and synthesizer melodies in their beats, derived strong influence from video game music, and also worked closely with rappers Playboi Carti and Lil Uzi Vert. The production style of Pierre Bourne and music of Lil Uzi Vert were, in turn, influenced by the music of Wiz Khalifa and producer Sledgren, who sometimes incorporated video game samples in their music and were, in turn, influenced by early attempts to fuse European synthesizer-based music with hip-hop and contemporary R&B during the 2000s by Polow Da Don and others.[11]

Playboi Carti has often been suggested as either an originator or primary popularizer of rage,[12][2][1] laying the foundation of the genre on his 2018 album Die Lit,[1][7] mostly produced by Pierre Bourne.[13] It's also often suggested that the foundation of rage has been laid with Playboi Carti's Whole Lotta Red album, released in late 2020[14][15][16][17][6] and mostly produced by F1lthy.[11] Despite its initially mixed reception by fans, the album would come to largely define the genre, with much of what came after either heavily influenced by or trying to directly replicate the album's style.[1][18]

The genre's popularity and breakthrough is also attributed to the 2021 single "Miss The Rage" by Trippie Redd featuring Playboi Carti.[7][11] Along with "Whole Lotta Red", "Miss The Rage" was influential in the rage subgenre, with multiple producers and rappers adopting the style after the single was released.[4] Rapper Mario Judah went on to release his re-produced version of "Miss The Rage", since the main loop for the instrumental of "Miss The Rage" was based on a royalty-free melody loop.[4] Trippie Redd later went to on to solidify the subgenres popularity from "Miss The Rage", releasing the primarily rage album, Trip At Knight and expressed his fascination with rage rap.[14][8][19][11] Popular rapper Drake, who's tactic is often to showcase little known subgenres and styles in his albums,[20] released the rage-influenced track "What's Next", in early 2021 on his EP Scary Hours 2.[7] The instrumental from "What's Next", produced by Maneesh and Supah Mario, has been repeatedly likened to tracks from "Whole Lotta Red".[20][21][22] "What's Next" reached the top position on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Playboi Carti's record label Opium has been an influential force in the genre, with artists such as Ken Carson, Destroy Lonely, & Homixide Gang signed to the label in addition to Carti himself.[1] The label has had several notable rage releases, such as Ken Carson's 2021 album Project X and Destroy Lonely's 2022 mixtape No Stylist, which have had commercial success and have received a positive reception from fans, as they continue to push the genre to the mainstream.[14]

SoFaygo is another early adopter of the rage sound.[12] His late 2020 single "Off the Map" has been described as either closely resembling rage rap or being a proper rage song.[4][8][11] After releasing "Off the Map", SoFaygo went to collaborate with Trippie Red on "MP5", a track from Trip At Knight, and with Lil Yachty on "Solid".[11]

Later in 2021, thanks to TikTok,[23] underground rapper Yeat started releasing a more chaotic and dark version of rage rap, noted for abundant use of bell samples, after multiple of his songs ("Sorry About That" and "Mad About That" among them) became popular on the platform.[7][14][12][3] After becoming popular on TikTok, Yeat's music was noticed by the likes of Lil Yachty and Drake.[14][12] After that, Yeat went on to release two rage albums in 2021 and 2022, titled Up 2 Me and 2 Alive, showcasing his signature darker rage sound.[7]

Although rage has been referred to as "formulaic" and been deemed a "probable dead-end subgenre" by some critics,[14][7] many lesser-known rappers emerged, using rage in their music, sometimes in experimental fashion, among them artists like SSGKobe,[24] Ken Carson, TyFontaine, Snot,[25] Cochise,[26] KayCyy,[26] Ka$hdami,[12] and others.[7] KayCyy performed his rage-influenced "OKAY" single to a mere chiptune-influenced synth loop, disregarding trap beat altogether.[7] Matt Ox, an experimental rapper, has also been described as a "rager" for releasing rage tracks such as "Live It Up".[27] Rapper KanKan's RR album from the late 2021 has been described as heavily influenced by the rage sound,[24] as has been 2022 releases, such Carnival by Caal Vo,[28] Muddyworld V2 by Muddymya, and others.[25] Yung Kayo, Young Thug's protege, was noted for mixing rage with hyperpop and pluggnb, along with other influences, on his 2022 DFTK album.[29][30][25]

Rage has also made its way to Europe. Lancey Foux, a British rapper partly influenced by Playboi Carti,[31][5] released the album Live.Evil in late 2021, which contained rage elements mixed with UK hip hop.[32][5] Foux' earlier mixtape, FIRST DEGREE, was also described as containing rage elements.[33] In Germany, rage tracks were recorded by rappers such as Pashanim, Skrt Cobain (with his track "Neue Whip"), Okfella, Dante YN, and others.[7]

Diversification

In mid-2023, Harlem-based rapper and producer Lunchbox released New Jazz, a collaborative mixtape with producers streo, mowz and Mr Najibi.[34] "New Jazz" has been described as "Lunchbox’s desire to separate his music from the oversaturated scene of rage-rap" while its sound, and particularly mowz's production, has been described as "offbeat", "inventive", heavily synth-driven and "immediately recognizable".[34] As a critic suggested, "new jazz" title could be an attempt to label mixtape's sound separately from its rage roots.[34]

In July 2023, Russian rapper Toxi$ released "new jazz"-inspired rage[35] mixtape called Jazz Do It.[36] "Jazz Do It" reached number 2 on Apple Music in Russia.[36]

Characteristics

Rage has been characterized as futuristic,[23][26] electric[27] and synth-driven.[12][27][3][37] Vivian Medithi of HipHopDx described rage as a sound rooting in plugg music legacy with more electronic influences.[16] Tom Breihan of Stereogum described rage beats as glitchy and as "a cheap, functional type of beat — the type of beat that seems to spring almost entirely from the "type beats" that have proliferated on YouTube in the past few years — but its cheapness is disorienting and sometimes even psychedelic".[6] Rage is mainly characterized by the use stereo-widened EDM-influenced lead synthesizer patches,[7][38] reminiscent of the 1980s and 1990s game soundtracks and of trance music,[11] used to play short, often emotional,[8][11] melodies arranged in short loops which repeat throughout the song,[7] and a basic, "dull", trap beat, accompanying these melodies,[7] with bouncy, often overdriven,[4] heavy and elastic[38] 808s bass notes. These synth hooks play such a role in rage that the whole sound has been described as a "hybrid genre of trap music and EDM".[4] Synth leads have said to be influenced by a number of EDM and electronic musicians, such as The Chainsmokers, Skrillex, Diplo, Zedd, Rustie[8] and others.[7] It has also been noticed, that oftentimes EDM synth hooks in rage come from pre-packaged EDM melody packs, for instance, a guitar-driven[17] "high-octane"[39] EDM loop from "Miss The Rage" came from the royalty-free[39] EDM sample pack by Cymatics, called Cymatics Odyssey EDM Sample Pack.[4] Yeat has also made it popular to use chiming bell sounds, once popular in earlier trap and drill music,[40] in rage beats.[7]

In terms of vocal delivery, many rappers in rage style oftentimes imitate vocal styles of Playboi Carti,[38] although the subgenre is mainly centered around beat production style.[4]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Nevares, Gabriel Bras (2022-08-26). "The Rise Of Rage Music". HotNewHipHop. Retrieved 2023-02-22.
  2. 1 2 Leight, Elias (2023-02-03). "These Rising Rappers Are Pushing Rage Music Into the Mainstream". Billboard. Retrieved 2023-02-22.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Lipshutz, Jason (February 18, 2022). "First Stream: New Music From Jack Harlow, Kid Cudi, Silk Sonic and More". Billboard. Portland's Yeat trades in "rage-rap," a style conducive to head-banging along with the bleary synths and sneering along with every exclamation and ad-lib
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Schäfers, Leon (June 21, 2021). "Wie Trippie Red und Playboi Carti Eine Neue Rage-Wave Prägen" [How Trippie Redd and Playboi Carti are shaping a new rage wave]. Hiphop.de.
  5. 1 2 3 Williams, Kyann (November 23, 2021). "Lancey Foux: "I wish the UK acknowledged rap the same way they do punk"". NME.
  6. 1 2 3 Breihan, Tom (February 23, 2022). "Yeat Is The Future, Maybe". Stereogum.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Wagner, Micha (May 1, 2022). "Rage Rap: Klingt so die Zukunft des Hip-Hop?" [Rage Rap: Is this the future of hip-hop?] (in German). Diffus Magazine.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 FNMNL Editorial Board (September 15, 2021). "【コラム】What is "RAGE Beat"?" [【Column】 What is "RAGE Beat"?] (in Japanese). FNMNL.tv.
  9. ↑ "Trippie Redd, Travis Scott, Kid Cudi, and the Commodification of Rage in Rap". Pitchfork. 2021-06-04. Retrieved 2023-02-22.
  10. ↑ Pierre, Alphonso (February 22, 2022). "Albums:2 Alive by Yeat". Pitchfork.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Kado, Abo; Mikiki Editorial Board. "レイジ（Rage）のサウンドはどこから来た?　新たなヒップホップ・ムーヴメントのルーツを辿る" [Where did Rage sound come from? Tracing the roots of the new hip-hop movement] (in Japanese). Mikiki.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 McKinney, Jessica (February 27, 2022). "Who is Yeat? Everything You Need to Know About Yeat". Complex.
  13. ↑ "Credits / Die Lit / Playboi Carti". Tidal. Retrieved November 17, 2020.
  14. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Pierre, Alphonso (September 17, 2021). "Albums: Up 2 Me by Yeat". Pitchfork.
  15. ↑ Darville, Jordan (February 18, 2022). "Listen to Yeat's new album 2 Alivë". The Fader.
  16. 1 2 Medithi, Vivian (Dec 24, 2021). "Playboi Carti 'Whole Lotta Red' is the sound of 2021 whether you like it or not". HipHopDX.
  17. 1 2 Slant Staff (December 8, 2021). "The 50 Best Songs of 2021". Slant Magazine.
  18. ↑ Hollomand, Quintin (July 17, 2022). "From Fashion to Live Shows, "Whole Lotta Red's" Early Influence on Rap". Stereovision. Retrieved February 21, 2023.
  19. ↑ Ju, Shirley (February 18, 2021). "Trippie Redd Talks New Project Inspired by Lil Uzi Vert, Memories w/ Juice Wrld & XXXTentacion". Flaunt.
  20. 1 2 Ihaza, Jeff (March 10, 2021). "Is Drake Trying to Tell Us Something?". Rolling Stone.
  21. ↑ Shulman, Daryl (March 7, 2021). "Review: Drake's new EP 'Scary Hours 2' hints at an incoming classic". The Diamondback.
  22. ↑ Sammon, Joe (March 18, 2021). "Drake's 'Scary Hours 2': scarily disappointing". The Boar.
  23. 1 2 Karl, Kristian (February 27, 2022). "To nye hiphop-gennembrud viser, hvor genren (maske) er pa vej hen i 2022" [Two new hip-hop breakthrough artists show where genre is (maybe) headed to in 2022] (in Danish). Soundvenue.
  24. 1 2 Barlas, Jon (December 30, 2021). "Our Generation Awards: OGM's Top 10 rising stars of 2022". Our Generation Music.
  25. 1 2 3 Malone, Anthony; Floyd, Lauren; Medithi, Vivian; Brake, David; et al. (June 14, 2022). "The best new hip-hop mixtapes and EPs of 2022 ... (so far)". HipHopDX.
  26. 1 2 3 Wagner, Micha (June 22, 2022). "What's Poppin? Drake ruft auf den Dancefloor – und keiner kommt mit?" [What's Poppin? Drake calls to the dancefloor – and no one comes along?] (in German). Diffus Magazine. SoFaygo, Cochise und KayCyy repräsentieren den futuristischen rage sound [SoFaygo, Cochise and KayCyy represent the futuristic Rage sound]
  27. 1 2 3 Galindo, Tomas (August 6, 2021). "Matt OX drops new banger 'Live It Up'". Our Generation Music.
  28. ↑ Audiomack Staff (March 20, 2022). "10 Rappers You Should Know Right Now on Audiomack". DJBooth.
  29. ↑ Hellebrach, Miki (June 30, 2022). "10 Underrated Albums In 2022 You May Have Missed So Far". Okayplayer.
  30. ↑ Audiomack Staff (Mar 16, 2022). "Yung Kayo Makes Worlds Collide". DJBooth.
  31. ↑ Akinyoade, Temi (November 30, 2021). "Lancey Foux proves he's more than just a Carti imitator on LIVE.EVIL". WRBB Radio.
  32. ↑ Barlas, Jon (November 18, 2021). "Lancey Foux finds balance on new album 'LIVE.EVIL'". Our Generation Music.
  33. ↑ Sheekhuna, Fatima (March 13, 2021). "Lancey Foux Surprises Fans With New Eleven Song Project 'FIRST DEGREE'". New Wave Magazine.
  34. 1 2 3 Pierre, Alphonso (June 8, 2023). "Lunchbox: New Jazz Review". Pitchfork.
  35. ↑ Studio 21 Staff (July 7, 2023). "Toxi$ выпустил EP" [Toxi$ released EP] (in Russian). Studio 21. Toxi$ сделал ставку на звук в духе Yeat [Toxi$ made his bet on music in Yeat's style]{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  36. 1 2 The Flow Staff (July 8, 2023). "Toxi$ "Jazz Do It"" (in Russian). The Flow Magazine. "Я не могу дать вам шанс, но я могу дать вам new jazz", — читает Toxi$. Шутит, не ждите здесь саксофонных импровизаций, а ждите молодого рэпа, певучего и негрустного, сделанного по последним американским лекалам. ["I cannot give you a chance, but I can give you new jazz", raps Toxi$. He's joking about jazz, as you won't hear sax improvisations on the release, but you will hear "young" rap, melodic and uplifting, made according to the latest american trends]
  37. ↑ Skelton, Eric (February 14, 2022). "The Real Zack Bia". Complex. As Bia describes it, SoundCloud 2.0 is a new wave of artists who are making some of the most urgent, forward-thinking music in rap. Whereas the first SoundCloud rap boom of the mid-2010s took shape in places like South Florida, this new iteration is coming together on the internet through Discord servers and group chats, and a tight-knit community is forming. Rapping over synthy "rage beats," these artists are making raw and frenetic music, pulling influences from OG SoundCloud stars like Playboi Carti, and pushing the sound in wild new directions.
  38. 1 2 3 HiTao (July 9, 2022). "现在听New Wave的都是土龙鸣？最新的浪潮又是什么？" [Is listening to [SoundCloud] New Wave a trend now? Who listens to this music?]. www.xihachina.com (in Chinese). XiHaChina.
  39. 1 2 Billboard Staff (December 7, 2021). "The 100 Best Songs of 2021: Staff List: 64. Trippie Redd feat. Playboi Carti, "Miss the Rage"". Billboard.
  40. ↑ Pierre, Alphonso (November 5, 2021). "Chief Keef's Influence Is as Strong as Ever". Pitchfork.
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