Embedded Files
What is Emo Rap?
Emo rap is a mixture of hip-hop, punk, rock n roll, and R&B. It is particularly demarked by its expressive ideas about suicide, isolation, depression, and drug abuse. It is much more different than traditional hip hop because emo rap is much more lyrical. The artists don't necessarily "rap," but rather sing and mumble. In this sense, it mimics R&B, but it still contains its strong base and rhythmic beats in the background. One example is Juice Wrld's "Lucid Dreams," where he starts off the song with loud beats in the background. He then starts the song with, "I still see your shadows in my room."
There is also strong sampling in emo rap. Many songs such as "Sad!" or "Look at Me!" provide their music with an echoey feel. This technique is used by many R&B artists such as Keshi, Usher, and Joji.
In addition, what makes emo rap particularly unique is the physical appearance of the artists. Emo rappers typically adopt pink hair, colorful clothes, facial tattoos, and a cartoonish look. We can see how this shares features of punk, with the rainbow of bright colors. This differs from traditional hip-hop rappers, who wear baggy clothes, loose jewelry, and necklaces. The stark appearance makes emo rappers distinct. These facial tattoos and piercing almost look like scars, as if it physically symbolizes the pain and agony that these artists have to go through.
Top: Lil Peep.
Bottom: XXX album cover:
What Makes Emo Rap unique?
Emo-rap is distinct through its dark content mixed with its hip-hop style. When listeners listen to its melody, there is a sense of despair. After interviewing multiple people and showing them a clip of emo rap, many people claimed that they would be uncomfortable listening to emo rap at a public party. Emo-rap gives a more intimate feel to the music, allowing listeners to bond with the music privately. Topics such as suicide, depression, and isolation are explicit in their music. In most of their music videos, there are graphical depictions of death and drug abuse.
For example, in "Sad!" by XXXTentacion, the music video depicted the artist talking with a figurative image of death in an alternate universe. Emo rap is a sub-genre as most modern and contemporary music does not go deep into vulnerability.
Scene from Music Video "Sad!" by XXXtenantcion.
Darkness and Themes in Emo Rap
Emo rap is popular due to its lyrical rap melody. Compared to more traditional rap, emo rap is more expressive, rather than more focused on the rhythms and syncopation of the beats. Many listeners enjoy the melodic aspect of Emo rap. Despite its beautiful musical tunes, emo rap is high-intensity. It is also interesting to point out that emo rap consists of dark shades and shadows in the video.
For example, in Li Uzi Vert's "XO Tour Life," the video is filtered with a dark purple and black lens. The artist is trying to depict a darker mode. There is a theme of darkness and encrypting shadow in the videos.
Lil Uzi Vert in XO Tour Life
Emo Rap: Pictures that Capture the Genre
Juice Wrld in "Lucid Dreams"
Lil Peep in "Star Shopping"
XXXTentacion in "Moonlight"
Important Venues and Setting in Emo Rap
Emo rap exploded in popularity due to the rise of Sound Cloud. Unlike other genres, there isn't a physical setting or city that is associated with its origins. Rather, emo rap began through digital media slowly. In the mid-2010s, many heavy metal, dark wave, and indie rock bands began growing in popularity on Sound Cloud.
Initially, emo rap started as a very niche genre, defined by many underground emo scenes on the internet, such as artists like Bones and more gothic bands like GothBoiClique (GBC). However, emo rap began to take its form when Lil Uzi Vert released " "XO Tour Llif3," reaching number seven on Billboard Hot 100. Next, XXX released the album, Jocelyn Flores, which began to congregate many listeners and followers of the genre.
Yung Lean, Juice Wrld, and Lil Uzi Vert
Numbers that Represent in the US
A graphical depiction of how emo rappers rank against other mainstream hip-hop artists. As shown in the figure above, XXXTentacion and Lil Uzi Vert are some of the most popular artists in today's industry.
A graphical figure of popular emo rap artists with their respective songs and Spotify gains since 2009.
Page updated
Report abuse