PART 1 – PART 2

There’s a strange musical landscape to 2016. You never really know what’s going to hop out next as different artists across the spectrum dabble with different styles in their attempts to create new and exciting sounds (which, let’s face it, should be the goal of any aspiring, self-respecting musician). Through this, there have been unexpected shifts in the trap / hip-hop underground leaning some artists in the direction of metal music. In truth, however, bits of our culture have been bleeding over for years now – from mosh pits and headbanging to certain types of percussional delivery and more. Here are four (and a half) recent examples of such artists who have been influenced by a metal sound in one way or another.

First up, we have Bones. Easily with the biggest reputation of the names on this list, Bones has proven to be one of the most prolific artists of the underground in recent history. He’s put out something like 50 releases over the past 6 years… That’s ridiculous. What’s more – he’s thoroughly influenced by metal music without actually being a metal artist himself. This has shown in a number of ways from the surface level band shirts and long hair to actually rapping over metal samples. Maybe the best example yet comes from his latest release “Useless” where he belts out screams on certain tracks. Take the segment around the 1:10 mark in “Rest In Peace” for example…

Next, we have an unexpected metal influence on the guy who’s arguably Japan’s biggest rapper right now – KOHH. In fact, this track being brought to my attention yesterday is what brought up this segment for today. Before this, I don’t believe any sort of metal delivery was in his sound (correct me if I’m wrong). But, slightly after the minute mark on this latest track, the influence becomes clear.

After that, we have a Russian trap artist going by the name of Pharaoh. I don’t know much… But from what I do know, this guy merges his style with Black Metal influence at times. Everything from the forest meandering of the music videos to the screams emerging around the minute mark (noticing a trend here?) point towards this.

Next up, we have an artist with the most flattering name of Lil Ugly Mane (can’t make this up). Besides walking around in Incantation shirts, he has a project by the name of Vudmurk which is straight up Black Metal. This also makes a cut on his Lil Ugly Mane release “Three Sided Tape Volume One”. Despite being completely raw, it isn’t too shabby in the grand scheme of black metallic things.

Finally, here’s the kicker. Did you know Gus Farias from Volumes also goes by the name of Yung Yogi? There’s absolutely no metal influence present here…. But it exists….

And there you have it. This decade is a place where the strangest of musical merges become reality. I’m sure there will only be more of this type and other types of genre blending as time goes on.

Actually, if you want to take a somewhat related step further, Les Claypool from Primus just collaborated with the experimental hip-hop group Death Grips. You can give it a listen by CLICKING HERE.

We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.