PART 1 – PART 2

There’s a strange musical landscape these days. 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 five recent examples of such artists who have been influenced by a metal sound in one way or another.

First up, we have Ghostmane. This Florida rapper takes no measures to hide his metal influence… at all… For starters, just watch this music video below with the corpse paint, metal logos, and the Full of Hell shirt. It’s also not rare for Ghostemane to start belting out screams and growls in the middle of his dark and dissonant tracks. His lyrical themes will often turn dark, dipping into the occult and it’s history among other things. His flows are tight and technical as he channels multiple characters throughout his raps over heavy hitting self-produced beats. In many ways, Ghostemane is the perfect example of a metal guy gone trap.

$uicideboy$ were, more or less, destined to be here. For many studying the metal underground, it’s probably apparent that these guys have been making waves across the genre lines. It’s not rare to see $uicideboy$ being shared into metal groups or even covered by metal bands (reference the bottom of this article for examples). With their heavy style, dark themes, tendency to scream, and technical flows it’s not exactly hard to see why. I know that at least one of the members used to be involved in the Louisiana hardcore scene as well. They currently stand as one of the most popular groups in modern underground music.  I forget who said it but the point was once made that groups like $uicideboy$ are eating up the kind of youthful following that Metalcore bands used to bring on 10 years ago. Assuming that explanation reigns true, it partially explains this musical movement and its current success in 2017.

This isn’t strictly trap music or even metal influenced. However, it’s hard to deny Yelawolf’s place in the style following releases along the lines of “Trunk Muzik”. There’s also the fact that he recently signed DJ Paul (Three 6 Mafia) who’s arguably among those responsible for starting the entire style of music that brings us to this article today. This particular track “Punk” features Juicy J (also of Three 6 Mafia), Travis Barker (Blink 182) and a notable punk influence mixed with both hip-hop and country music to boot. The following music video also features moshing which helps to place it on this list today. Yelawolf is undoubtedly a genre bender. As such, he often tours with metal acts. For example, he just trekked with Korn and Stone Sour this Summer. This Eminem signee also has a new album “Trial By Fire” coming out this month. Stay tuned.

Scarlxrd is an English artist who also had previous involvement with heavier bands. Now, he’s taking on a heavy and very distorted solo career in trap music which involves screaming and an aggressive front. It’s also doing some serious numbers. For example, the video provided below has 9 million views in less than 4 months. He’s quickly rising up as one of the biggest names in the underground. Expect more where this came from.

Finally, we have Omen XIII. He’s mainly here for the Vildhjarta – Längstmedån sample in the following track produced by Grigoryan. That aside, he does have an aggressive style and doesn’t hold back from belting vocals and references to breaking his neck.

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.

Since releasing Part 1 of this series, it has also become apparent that Trap music has also been influencing parts of metal music in turn. For example, last time we mention the vocalist from Volumes making trap music. Recently, Volumes brought on rapper Pouya to do a verse on their latest album alongside moments of Gus Farias rapping as well. You can give that a listen by CLICKING HERE. Also, as mentioned, there have been a number of metal covers for all kinds of trap artists including some on this list. For example, Brojob (among others) have covered $UICIDEBOY$ – CLICK HERE to listen.

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