Tag: hip hop 50 landing page

Rappers Issam, Shayfeen, and More Are Growing Trap’s Moroccan Roots

July 22, 2019

In recent years, trap music backpacked across Puerto Rico, Mexico, and multiple destinations in western Europe. Notably, it gained a foothold in Germany and France where popular artists like Mister You, Soolking, and PNL then helped spread it beyond these borders to their shared region of origin, North Africa, where it is now a staple in the music scene. 

According to Suhel Nafar, Spotify’s Global Lead of Arab Music and Culture, relatability is the reason for trap music’s global takeover. “It connects with a wide range of people because it’s relatable and easy to digest in its simplicity, which is an important aspect of music.”

Today, trap is one of the most streamed genres in Morocco. The popularity of artists like female MC iLY is helping solidify Moroccan trap as an official sub-genre of hip-hop. “I call it Turab—which is a combination of the words trap and to-rap,” Nafar told For the Record. “Turab also means soil in Arabic, which is fitting seeing how we’re witnessing the growth of a new era of music in the Arab world.”

In May, the clearest indication yet of trap’s rising popularity in Morocco occurred when the rapper Issam signed a recording deal with Universal France—which the Huffington Post’s North African arm reported was the biggest contract ever signed in the history of Arab hip-hop. “One day, I picked up a rap playlist and I listened to Young Thug … I was really into him,” Issam told the Paris-based Arab arts collective NAAR last year about his introduction to trap music and his biggest musical inspiration. 

With hundreds of thousands of monthly Spotify listeners and international attention from music publications and labels, Moroccan trap artists are putting their own spin on the ubiquitous subgenre and telling Moroccan stories by mixing Auto-Tuned vocals and Algerian Raï music’s rhythmic drum patterns and flute melodies with trap’s hi-hat heavy beats and dark synth lines.

Issam and iLY are just two of several rappers at the forefront of Morocco’s dynamic trap movement. ElgrandeToto, along with duo Shayfeen and rapper Madd also lead the wave. Other artists making their mark right now are 7liwa, a rapper from Casbalanca who recently signed a deal with Sony, and Lbenj, another Casablanca-based artist whose 2017 release, Galaxy, was well received in both his home country of Morocco and parts of Europe.  

In Morocco specifically, trap’s influence tells a larger story of technology, access, and globalization. In recent years, the internet and smartphones have become much more accessible in the country, providing an infrastructure within which a movement could build and thrive. “Now everybody is connected, everybody can buy a two-quid smartphone … This is why, now, more people are following the movement…. It is more accessible,” Shobee of Shayfeen told NAAR in a recent interview. 

Artists are also experiencing the benefits of access and globalization in the creative process. “I make music for Moroccans and people abroad—I try to make tracks and toplines that will interest people abroad, even if they don’t understand what I’m saying,” Issam has explained. While he makes and mixes a lot of his own music, Issam has also collaborated with American producers 808Godz (Migos, Travis Scott) and BricksDaMane (Young Thug, Drake, and more), as well as producers in Germany and France. 

And yet, his songs retain the perspective of a young man from Morocco who is consistently engaged with the complicated realities inherent to his identity. “Caviar” samples the late Algerian Raï icon Cheb Hasni—known for his love songs and tackling taboo subjects in his lyrics—and tells the story of an immigrant abroad who misses his family and reminisces about life back home every night. “It’s a theme that’s very close to Cheb Hasni and a concept that’s pretty universal across the Maghreb,” (the region of North Africa that includes Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, and Libya) Issam told The FADER last year. 

While certain levels of access have allowed rappers like Issam to take DIY approaches and employ creative agency (in addition to writing and mixing his own music, he directs his videos), the lack of a deeply entrenched music industry infrastructure in Morocco has presented some obstacles. “There is no network to organize concerts, no venue to make your own tours, but musically speaking, we have everything, even to match the American market,” Shayfeen’s Shobee has said. Nevertheless, Issam’s new record deal is an exciting affirmation from the larger music community and proof that, like so many other powerful off-shoots, Moroccan trap is here to stay. 

Check out songs by Shayfeen and 7liwa on our Arab Hip-Hop playlist.

Spotify’s RapCaviar Pantheon Unveils New Class of Honorees with Cardi B, Jaden Smith, Gunna, and Juice WRLD

April 2, 2019

In 2017, Spotify’s RapCaviar created a real-world Pantheon, complete with life-sized sculptures of the three biggest breakthrough artists of the year. Today, RapCaviar is announcing the return of Pantheon, as well as its 2019 inductees—Cardi B, Jaden Smith, Juice WRLD, and Gunna—four cultural disruptors who are making an undeniable impact on hip-hop.  

Through Pantheon, Spotify equates the art form of rap to the origins of art and civilization. Much like the ancient Greeks, rap has a pantheon of icons, names that are forever etched into culture, and songs that no one will ever forget. This year’s honorees will forever be part of hip-hop’s cultural fabric.

In ancient times, when a hero was celebrated, they were solidified in materials like stone, marble, or bronze in positions that embodied their achievements. The four 2019 RapCaviar inductees will be honored similarly, with masterfully crafted, ornate, life-size sculptures that capture their vibrant personalities. The unique structures in our Spotify activation will be on display to the public at the Brooklyn Museum in New York from April 3-7.

“Spotify is committed to supporting young, innovative artists who also have a positive impact on the music industry, culture, and society,” said Carl Chery, Spotify’s Hip-Hop curator and Head of RapCaviar. “These four bold and fearless artists are striving to make changes with their music, and we’re thrilled to induct them into the program.”

Read a little about each of the artists and their sculptures below.

Cardi B has cemented herself not only as one of the top acts in hip-hop, but also as one of the most important artists in all of pop culture. She was the first solo female rapper to win a Grammy for Best Rap Album with Invasion of Privacy, but her work doesn’t just appeal to rap fans. She’s been bridging the gap between two of the fastest-growing genres in the world (hip-hop and Latin), while setting records along the way. This past year, Cardi owned the cultural conversation, and the phone in her sculpture is a nod to her influence going beyond music.

Cardi B

Juice WRLD’s blurring of the lines between hip-hop, pop, rap, and emo makes him a breakout in every sense of the word—not to mention his debut single, “Lucid Dreams,” which has over 700 million streams on Spotify. His sculpture is inspired by the idea of mythological Greek Titan Atlas—who was condemned to carry the universe—at rest, a nod to the vulnerability in his music.

Juice WRLD

Gunna is your favorite rapper’s new favorite rapper. He has emerged as one of the most popular artists in hip-hop today. Gunna has worked with nearly every notable rapper in the genre over the past few years. He’s earned respect from fans and artists alike, and his music has shown tremendous success on RapCaviar. The snake is a nod to the recurring serpent iconography he uses throughout his visual language.

Gunna

Jaden Smith’s artistry defies convention, and the best is yet to come. His statue represents both his highly conceptual music and his unconventional journey from child actor to rapper and artist. The two heads in his sculpture also signify the dueling characters in Jaden’s music. Jaden’s ever stoic personification in SYRE sits atop his body like any normal head and represents teenage emotion and heartbreak. As SYRE, Jaden holds a screaming head, ERYS, a fiery representation of materialism and anger, to demonstrate how light conquers chaos.

Jaden Smith

The inaugural Pantheon included sculptures of 21 Savage, SZA, and Metro Boomin. This year’s inductees are a reflection of hip-hop today and will continue to shape the genre in the years to come.

The Pantheon was created by Spotify’s in-house team. Creative Director Ibra Ake consulted on the project and directed the films.

Celebrate the Ever-Growing, Ever-Evolving Sound of Trap with Trapperz

December 14, 2018

Trap defies definition. The genre, which is rooted in raw hip-hop, originated from the streets of Atlanta with pioneers like Jeezy and T.I., and has since become mainstream, thanks to artists like Future. But one of its branches, trap Latino, has taken a slightly different path.

In less than a decade, the genre has grown from a clandestine phenomenon with Puerto Rican originators like De La Ghetto, Arcángel, and Anuel, to a massive cultural movement with rhythms and lyrics that have found inspiration in hip-hop and reggaeton.

Today, trap is one of the fastest-growing genres in Latin America, crossing borders from the United States and Mexico to Colombia, Argentina (the country which birthed many trap artists), and Brazil. The sound has merged with rhythms wherever it goes, thanks to the work of artists like Bad Bunny, C Tangana, and Cardi B. One thing is for sure: Trap is reinventing itself with each artist who takes the beats, rhythms, and textures from the mainstream and uses their own flow to create something completely different.

To celebrate the creators of this movement around the world, we’re introducing Trapperz, a new playlist that gives voice to the Latin American artists who are redefining the genre.

We marked the power of this cultural force with a three-day studio session in Miami with 22 of the most exciting trappers and producers from Latin America. The first track to debut following the session was “Sin Culpa,” a collaboration between Argentinian rapper Duki and Chilean hip-hop artist DrefQuila.

“[Trap is] a rhythm, an ideology, a religion, and everyone lives it in their own way,” explains Duki, who started his career in the legendary freestyle battles of “El Quinto Escalón” in Buenos Aires. “It has to do with adrenaline, taking a risk, and knowing that it’s worth it, even if you fail. It is the cry from the streets—a genre in which one can say things as they are and as one wants. That is why it is one of the most honest forms of expression. Currently there are no limits. It’s like when rock started.”

At the session, we asked more of brightest and most daring minds of trap to capture  what this new flow means to them.

“It is not about impressing an audience with rhymes, but rather about communicating a sensation, a vibe … At its core, trap is freedom and honesty.” — Mexican duet Vice Menta

“I come from a neighborhood where nobody did freestyle, rap, or trap. If I could make it, anyone can.” — Argentine Lit Killah on the evolution of the beat and rap accessibility

“Trap is pure energy, pure feeling.” — Oliva, from the Colombian musical duet Irie Kingz

“Trap is the sound of rebellion that has emerged with each generation. It is infectious, you listen to the rhythm and automatically you start dancing.” — Colombian artist Jaycob Duque

“The rise of trap has occurred because it is music that transmits the best vibes, it is contagious.” — emerging Mexican producer Beat Boy

“The genre is really a society of creative artists with a different kind of ambition, in which they combine everything: fashion, lifestyle and music.” Puerto Rican R&B artist Rauw Alejandro

Trapperz seeks to become a new way for fans of the genre to connect with their favorite established and up-and-coming artists through music and exclusive visual content. Stay with the beat with the Trapperz playlist.

Soul Music and Sirens: The Story Behind the Wu-Tang Clan’s ‘36 Chambers’

November 9, 2018

With their 1993 debut album, “Enter the Wu-Tang,” the Wu-Tang Clan stormed onto the hip-hop scene with an aggressive message and a soulful sound. They grew up in crack-era New York City, a time and place of widespread suffering and even wider public indifference, with the soul records of the 1960s and ‘70s ringing in their ears. Songs like Booker T. & the M.G.’s “Children, Don’t Get Weary” and Gladys Knight & The Pips’ “I Feel A Song (In My Heart)” promoted peace, positivity, tenderness, and love from their stereo speakers, as violence, discord, and hopelessness spread like tenement fires outside their windows. Out of this surreal and jarring clash, the Wu-Tang built their world.

It was a grimy and mesmerizing one, purposefully dark and dense with inscrutable symbols. They spoke their own language, re-christened their home boroughs (Staten Island became “Shaolin”), and lived by their own mythology, borrowed heavily from kung fu films and Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. For their name, they took inspiration from the Chinese swordsmen of Wudang Mountain, who sought to anticipate their enemies’ movements before they made them. They weren’t a brotherhood. They were a swarm of killer bees.

In 1993, the group was busy pushing copies of their underground hit single “Protect Ya Neck” out of vans when RZA negotiated a historic contract with Loud Records, one that allowed each individual member to sign with rival labels for their solo records. The Wu’s first release for Loud, “Enter the Wu-Tang”, was an enormous success and pushed the band up from hip-hop’s underground scene and into the mainstream. This leap, from underground to mainstream, was amorphous at the time, and the Wu-Tang helped shape what it would look, sound, and feel like. It would feel like a hostile takeover, a regime change. “PLO-style,” the man calling himself Ghostface yelled at the outset of the album.

Photo by Danny Hastings, Courtesy of Sony Music

The Wu might have signed to multiple major labels, but they were “rugged,” “rough,” “raw.” They wanted to look unpolished, unpredictable, unprepared, when in fact they had planned their strategy far in advance — “If y’all give me five years of your life, I promise in five years I’m gonna take us to the top,” RZA told them. In this strategy, they were again turning to kung fu movies by taking a page from the Drunken Master, who throws his opponents off by seeming foolish and erratic.

RZA was not, strictly speaking, the leader of this fractious group, but the vision for their total takeover was his, and, most crucially, so was the group’s sound. He was something completely new to rap: a sonic mastermind who wasn’t fussy about fidelity. Over on the West Coast, Dr. Dre polished every corner of his records until they gleamed like a brand-new Bentley. Sit back, relax, and take this ride, Dre commanded. Sitting back and relaxing in Wu-Tang’s world was not an option: They wanted you wild-eyed and disoriented, fight-or-flight hormones coursing through your system.

To evoke this sensation, RZA savored sounds that felt septic, rusted and roughly used. If that meant he had to take a pristine piece of symphonic soul like The Intruders’ “Cowboys to Girls” and brutalize it until it sounded like it was spilling out of a turned-over garbage can, so be it. (You can hear the result in the sonic melee of “Protect Ya Neck.”) His drum hits sounded like backfiring cars. Tellingly, it was soul music that received the roughest treatment in his hands—it was too beautiful, perhaps, to exist in Shaolin on its own.

Photo by Danny Hastings, Courtesy of Sony Music

The nine MCs each had a distinct style but the group’s larger vision remained pure—to detail an existence ruled by desperation and determination, full of heartbreaks and defeats. Raekwon’s opening verse on the iconic “C.R.E.A.M.” recalls a life of small-time crime, “sticking up white boys in ball courts.” The result? “My life got no better.”

RZA built the beat for “C.R.E.A.M.” from a sample of The Charmels’ Stax/Volt girl group song “As Long As I’ve Got You,” a forgotten almost-hit from 1967. In RZA’s hands, the lovestruck source song was just another broken dream. He snatched up its first two seconds in his sampler and laid those piano notes underneath the track like glass shards crunching under Raekwon’s feet. Nothing in the song is larger-than-life or glamorous. Inspectah Deck opens his verse yelling that it has been “twenty-two long hard years, and I’m still struggling.” Compare that to the cool, laid-back tracks contemporaries like Snoop Dogg were releasing at the time.

The record’s massive, earth-shaking tremors influenced everything that followed. It’s rare that you can say this sort of thing about an album without hyperbole, but “Enter The Wu-Tang” was truly seismic. Before its release, New York rap was drifting into softer, neater, jazzier circles, receding from the national stage while Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg’s G-Funk conquered the country. “Enter The Wu-Tang” rescued New York rap back from obscurity and revolutionized its aesthetic. Now it was dark, frenetic, intricate and full of threats both veiled and open. In the merciless way of hip-hop, every other New York rap record of the time instantly felt pat, tame, and outdated by comparison.

If a pop cultural moment hits with just enough force, at the exact right time, it will inscribe itself so deeply into our minds that it will keep on shocking people, over and over again, as the years mount. Think of Miles Davis’s “Kind of Blue”; think of Led Zeppelin’s first LP. “Enter The Wu-Tang” was so monumental upon release that it now lies in wait, ready for each new generation of converts to come its way.

Whether it’s your first or fortieth experience, listen to and celebrate the legendary album, “Enter the Wu-Tang, today.

– Jayson Greene 

Mystery, Murder, and Storytelling in the World of German Hip-Hop

June 19, 2018

Set against Berlin’s hip-hop scene is a music journalist’s dark tale. Insane interview subjects, artist breakdowns, festival freak-outs and, ultimately, a murder. Intrigued? All this could easily be the premise of the next great action movie, but instead, it’s the newest fictional podcast hitting headphones across Germany: Visa Vie’s “Das allerletzte Interview.”

The podcast, which translates into English as “The Very Last Interview,” is a fictional crime story that draws from the experiences of one of Germany’s most highly respected hip-hop journalists, Visa Vie, who knows the German hip-hop scene from the inside out. Now, she’s turned to podcasting, combining hip-hop with one of her other passions: crime stories.

The whodunit tells the story of a loner named Clara who wrangles her way into the role of a head editor for Germany’s biggest hip-hop magazine. However, Clara has a sinister intention. Her goal is to kill Germany’s most popular rapper—but only after their very last interview.

Visa Vie had been formulating the story for quite some time. Although it was drawn from her own experiences, writing and producing the podcast wasn’t easy. “For me, the whole project was one of the biggest challenges of my career,” says Visa Vie. “I’m just incredibly proud to publish the first hip-hop crime series in Germany on Spotify.”

Visa Vie herself

 

Though modern German music is most commonly associated with rock or techno, the country’s hip-hop scene has grown since the 1980s, evolving into an equally important part of its musical culture. German hip-hop is home to a diverse range of styles that incorporates voices from the Turkish community, among other ethnic groups, that shape modern Germany. The Spotify playlist “Modus Mio,” a playlist for the German rap generation, has a huge presence on the platform, with over 740k followers.

“Das allerletzte Interview” isn’t the only fictional podcast to garner listener interest and streams. The American podcast “Welcome to Night Vale” has hooked its audience on tense and grisly tales of crime since 2012. It’s perhaps the intimate nature of putting in headphones and immersing ourselves in a story that has made crime and mystery podcasts so popular. Listeners are eagerly tearing through entire series as quickly as they can to uncover the truth and discuss their theories with friends.

Now, more storytellers around the world are writing podcasts. The growing number of people streaming (rather than just downloading stories) has helped to make Spotify the number two podcast-listening destination in the world. It means when people tune in, it’s not just music they’re listening to anymore. “Spotify has evolved from a pure music to an audio platform,” says Michael Krause, Managing Director EMEA of Spotify. “Podcasts and audiobooks are streaming a lot, especially in Germany, and have seen a tremendous upswing over the past year.”

Fictional podcasts and other forms of audio storytelling have surged in popularity in recent years. Spotify has even expanded its original podcast offering to help listeners find their new obsession, be it fictional stories, mindfulness tips, or Stanley Cup debates. The allure, says Michael, is obvious. “The fact that we have the hip-hop crime story from Visa Vie on board for the fourth German Spotify Original Podcast is great. Rarely has a thriller been written with so much passion, background knowledge and references to the German rap scene.”

So whether you’re into fact, fiction, or something in between, look out for more and more audio options to take you to a world even beyond music.

“Das allerletzte Interview,” Visa Vie’s 10-part crime/hip hop series, hits Spotify June 19.

The Legacy of Tha Carter III, 10 Years Later

June 8, 2018

It’s been 10 years since the debut of Lil Wayne’s groundbreaking “Tha Carter III,” but that tattooed baby face on the album cover is as fresh as ever. From its first leak until now, the album has paved the way for up-and-coming rappers and left a lasting imprint on hip-hop.

The Grammy Award-winning Best Rap Album, which originally dropped Sunday, June 10, 2008, features the hit singles “Lollipop” and “A Milli,” along with “Mrs. Officer” and Grammy-nominated hit “Mr. Carter.” Lil Wayne had already been on the scene with a long stream of mixtapes, but it was “Tha Carter III”—also known by fans as C3—that secured his legacy.

“C3 wasn’t just an album, it was a moment—that stretch in time where many feel Weezy realized his self-fulfilling prophecy of becoming the best rapper alive,” says Carl Chery, Creative Director and Head of Urban Music at Spotify. “Weezy has since become a benchmark in hip-hop. Every artist aspires to drop Tha Carter III.”

The now-iconic album went platinum only one week after its debut and is featured on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. And the album is still bumping on its 10th anniversary: Streaming numbers have consistently increased on Spotify since “Carter III” appeared on the platform in 2010. According to Chery, the standout album still influences modern rappers.

“Today’s hip-hop landscape is filled with artists with Lil Wayne’s DNA,” he says. “It was special to watch him reinvent himself into a super lyricist, redefine the mixtape grind and give us countless memorable guest verses leading up to ‘Tha Carter III.’”

To celebrate the album’s anniversary and success, we teamed up with some of today’s biggest rappers, including Chance The Rapper, Wiz Khalifa, Migos, Lil Yachty, and Lil Uzi Vert, to recreate Tha Carter III’s iconic album cover art. While the original cover features an image of young Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. (Lil Wayne) fitted in a dapper suit, our rappers pay homage to it by inserting their own personal childhood photos — a testament to its profound influence on their artistic careers.

“With a career as illustrious as Wayne’s, we thought it was paramount to give an artist ‘the flowers’ while they can still smell them,” says Brittany Lewis, Creative Manager, Hip-Hop and R&B.

The musicians also shared their thoughts on how “Tha Carter III” inspired each of them—and ultimately the entire rap genre.

The Swedish Hip-Hop Scene Keeps It ‘100’

June 8, 2018

When non-Swedes think of famous Swedish music, they might think of ABBA and Tove Lo— pop stars who captured and captivated audiences around the world. But they should also tune into Spotify Sweden’s newest playlist, “100,” to experience Sweden’s newest top music: Hip-hop.

To celebrate the June 6 launch of “100” and the Swedish foray into hip-hop, we hosted an exclusive, one-day-only event and exhibit at the Swedish Royal Opera House in Stockholm on Sweden’s National Day. The event featured performances by Silvana Imam and Z.E., as well as deejaying by the trio Ladies Love Hip-Hop.