Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Every Trap at Once: Ten Years in Rap Trends

03/12/2018

Since Spotify launched a decade ago, hip-hop has splintered into countless new directions-and streaming culture has only intensified the process. Streaming platforms have become a core part of the music's story: They're not just shaping the listener's experience, they're informing the sounds and styles of the music itself. But attempting to trace the path of this decade of evolution-in any straightforward way, at least-is enough to give anyone a headache. Hip-hop isn't just one genre; it's hundreds of subgenres, forming one hectic, complicated whole.

The gulf between hip-hop's biggest stars and its lesser-known names has never been wider, yet previously unknown artists can blow up overnight on the momentum of a song they uploaded themselves. Regional rap scenes that were once only for insiders have become the backbone of the mainstream. And thanks to the internet's everything-at-once-ness, trends often seem to shift in the blink of an eye.

It's a lot to process. Enter Glenn McDonald, Spotify's data alchemist ; in essence, his job is to translate a practically infinite set of cold, hard data-millions of streams, saves, playlists, and beyond-into a reflection of the human experience of listening to music. Applying the rigorous approach of a data scientist to the perspective of a music critic, he can not only identify existing patterns, but catch new genres as they emerge.

Behold McDonald's passion project, Every Noise At Once. The site is a sprawling, hyper-detailed index of genres, from massive umbrellas like hip-hop or country to the nichest of micro-genres you never knew existed. (Deep discofox, anyone?) Through a combination of machine learning, Spotify's music intelligence division, and McDonald's own analysis (plus a bit of creative license when it comes to coining new genre names), the site currently identifies and indexes a whopping 2,215 genres. Click on the map for hip hop and you'll find yourself entangled in a dense web of associated artists from across Spotify's database; seen in list form, you can trace the degree of overlap with other genres. You can also branch out into nerdcore or old school nederhop, each accompanied by a representative playlist. It's not just a data map of Spotify users' listening habits, it's a visual deep-dive into how trends emerge and evolve.

Using Every Noise's data-along with some additional information from McDonald, including the rough number of artists per individual genre and the amount of both casual and serious listeners-we've identified the five most significant trends in the past decade of hip-hop, alongside playlists to explore. It's a means of articulating all the subtleties of the ever-changing culture, at least before the next offshoot is born.

Trap Music 350 major core artists, 3500 relevant artists

10 million serious listeners, 40 million casual listeners

Back when Spotify emerged, trap music had just barely begun to cross over into the mainstream. Mid- 00s pioneers like Jeezy and T.I. had made their mark on the charts, but in most parts of the country, trap hadn't had much sway on the sound of popular rap. That'd soon change: Gucci Mane was gearing up to release his breakthrough album, 2009's unexpectedly pop-friendly The State vs. Radric Davis; meanwhile, the popularity of down-South subgenres like crunk and snap music in the mid and late 00s had brought regional rap trends to mainstream prominence. The burgeoning popularity of streaming music doubtlessly played a part in the way the sound of Southern street rap came to influence hip-hop at large: With control in the hands of the users, what was once at the periphery moved toward the center.

As expected, Every Noise At Once shows a significant amount of overlap between what's considered trap music-which runs the gamut from Jeezy to Waka Flocka Flame to Future to BlocBoy JB-and what falls under the similar categories of southern hip hop and dirty south rap. (There are even further subsections of those categories: Deep trap appears to focus on relatively lesser-known artists, like Nashville's Starlito and DC's Fat Trel, where the even more specific deep southern trap skews toward Baton Rouge rappers like Boosie, Webbie, and Kevin Gates.) But it's equally unsurprising that, within the scope of all that's considered rap on the site, trap and its related offshoots take up significant real estate near the top of the list: In 2018, trap music is the sound of popular hip-hop.

Emo Rap / Vapor Trap Emo rap: 250 major artists, 900 relevant artists

280k serious listeners, 6 million casual listeners

Vapor trap: 300 major artists, 2000 relevant artists

1 million serious listeners, 10 million casual listeners

Odds are you've never heard the term vapor trap before. The term is one of many that McDonald intuitively coined in order to more precisely identify genres as they form in real time. (See also: escape room, slow game, electrofox.) But its artist map and associated playlist is immediately recognizable to anyone who's acquainted with the movements often referred to as Soundcloud rap or emo rap that have dominated streaming sites and, increasingly, the Billboard charts in recent years. The artists indexed here have significant overlap with those grouped under Every Noise's emo rap category, though its most central acts-Lil Peep, XXXTENTACION, Yung Lean-do skew further toward guitar-driven interpolations of alt-rock, emo, and grunge than those listed as vapor trap. Still, they are easily understood together-the sound of a new generation of rap forming a newer, more lawless canon.

The burgeoning scene's marquee artists and songs-think Lil Xan, Wifisfuneral, and Ski Mask The Slump God, alongside slightly older internet-rap predecessors like Denzel
LINK: https://newsroom.spotify.com/2018-12-03/every-trap-at-once-ten-years-i...
See more stories from spotify

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

01/06/2026

Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026

January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026 Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...

02/05/2026

Dalet Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Search, Faster Editing, and an AI-Ready Foundation for Modern Media

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

01/05/2026

NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to Integrate Dolby's Full Suite of Premium Picture and Sound Innovations

January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...

01/04/2026

DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION

January 4 2026, 18:00 (PST) DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION Douyin Users Can Now Create And Share Videos With Stun...

27/03/2026

GatesAir Expands AirWatch365 Managed Service

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

27/03/2026

Dejero, Eutelsat, Others to Offer 'Field to Air' Demo at NAB Show

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

27/03/2026

Global NextGen TV Takes Center Stage at 2026 NAB Show

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

27/03/2026

USSI Global Opens Media Transport Solutions Lab

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

27/03/2026

Net Insight Elevates Nimbra Edge to Govern Live Media Sys...

At NAB Show 2026, Net Insight will showcase the next evolution of Nimbra Edge, its orchestration and control layer designed to manage live media services across...

27/03/2026

Harmonic Delivers Winning Live Sports Streaming Innovatio...

Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT) today announced powerful new innovations that further elevate the company's sports streaming solution. The advanced capabilities enh...

27/03/2026

Bitmovin s Player Web X Expands with Performance First Ad...

Bitmovin, the leading provider of video streaming solutions, today announced significant new capabilities for Player Web X, its next-generation web video player...

27/03/2026

CS live Builds Future Ready OB Van With Riedel MediorNet...

Riedel Communications today announced that Czech-based production company CS live has equipped its newest outside broadcast (OB) van with an integrated Riedel i...

27/03/2026

MPTS 2026 Unveils First Wave of Speakers Featuring BBC Sk...

130 Industry Experts Confirmed as Show Celebrates its 10th Anniversary MPTS, the UK's largest and most influential event for the media, production and tech...

27/03/2026

Grass Valley and NVP Elevate LALIGA Broadcast Production...

Grass Valley today announced the successful completion of a major live production deployment with NVP, a leading European media company specializing in live spo...

27/03/2026

Appear Business Momentum Drives Leadership in Live Produc...

Showcases resilient solutions for satellite-to-IP migration, REMI and hybrid live production Appear ASA (Appear, OSE:APR), a global leader in live production t...

27/03/2026

Lightware MX2 delivers rock-solid 4K60 HDMI 10-bit signal...

San Francisco, California, March 2026 - Microsoft Ignite, a major annual conference hosted by Microsoft for developers, IT professionals, partners and business ...

27/03/2026

Clear-Coms EQUIP Wireless System Keeps Youth With A Missi...

Clear-Com is proud to highlight its support for worship teams through professional communication solutions, with the deployment of its EQUIP wireless system a...

27/03/2026

Orban Collaborates with Sage on Virtualized EAS Technology Demo

Orban Collaborates with Sage on Virtualized EAS Technology Demo Brie Clayton March 26, 2026 0 Comments Sage Alerting Systems (SAS), in cooperation wit...

27/03/2026

Berklee Alums Bring GIANT to Broadway

Berklee Alums Bring GIANT to Broadway Brian and Dayna Lee BM '13 met and fell in love at Berklee, and now their production companys first Broadway debut i...

26/03/2026

Audio-Technica and Extron Announce Microsoft Teams-Certified Enterprise Solutions

Extron and Audio-Technica have announced that their Design Solutions devices, Ce...

26/03/2026

SPORTEL Asia Returns to Singapore with 370 Participants from 35 Countries

SPORTEL Asia took place March 24-25 at the Orchard Hotel Singapore, drawing 370 participants representing more than 220 companies from 35 countries. Approximate...

26/03/2026

NAB 2026: LTN to Showcase Satellite-to-IP Migration Solutions

LTN will demonstrate satellite-to-IP migration solutions for broadcasters, cable networks, MVPDs, and station groups at NAB Show 2026 (Booth W2100). The C-Ban...

26/03/2026

Seattle Mariners Upgrade Center Field Video Display at T-Mobile Park with Daktronics

The Seattle Mariners have partnered with Daktronics to install an upgraded outfi...

26/03/2026

Esports Nations Cup 2026 Names National Team Partners Across 100+ Countries

The Esports Foundation (EF) has awarded National Team Partner status to organizations and individuals across more than 100 countries and territories for the Esp...

26/03/2026

NAB 2026: Telestream Expands Vantage Integration with Adobe Premiere, Media Encoder, and Frame.io

Telestream has announced expanded integration between its Vantage workflow platf...

26/03/2026

NAB 2026: FOR-A Brings Nippon TV's viztrick AiDi AI Production Tool to Market with NVIDIA

FOR-A Corporation has announced a partnership with Nippon TV and NVIDIA to distr...

26/03/2026

CBS Sports Reaches New Long-Term Multiplatform Rights Agreement with the WNBA

CBS Sports and the WNBA have expanded their partnership through a new long-term, multiplatform rights agreement. CBS Sports will feature up to 20 regular-season...

26/03/2026

Zac Brown Band to Perform Sunday Night Baseball Open on NBC and Peacock

Zac Brown Band will star in the Sunday Night Baseball show open on NBC and Peacock, NBC Sports announced. The open was filmed at American Family Field, home of ...

26/03/2026

2026 MLB Season Opens With Full Slate of National Games

Major League Baseball opens the 2026 season with nationally televised games across multiple media partners. Fans can visit MLB.com/Watch for a complete schedule...

26/03/2026

DIRECTV Adds Nine MLB Team Channels for 2026 Season

DIRECTV has announced an agreement to carry nine new MLB-operated team channels, covering the Cincinnati Reds, Detroit Tigers (Detroit SportsNet), Kansas City R...

26/03/2026

Nationals.TV Now Available on Charter, Comcast, Cox, DIRECTV, Verizon Fios and More

Nationals.TV, the Washington Nationals' local broadcast channel, is now avai...

26/03/2026

MLB.TV Launches on the ESPN App Starting Opening Day

Starting Thursday, March 26, MLB.TV will be available on the ESPN App, giving fans access to more than 2,000 out-of-market regular season games. Fans can also r...

26/03/2026

What's Next for Spotify and NAVER in Korea After a Stockholm Summit

Spotify's partnership with NAVER, Korea's leading digital platform, is built around one simple goal: making it easier for listeners in Korea to discover...

26/03/2026

EastWest DrumX: Early access

Exclusive to ComposerCloud for first month Sample library and virtual instrument gurus EastWest have announced the upcoming release of a new virtual drum i...

26/03/2026

Dynamic Range Day 2026

Friday 27 March Friday 27 March will mark Dynamic Range Day 2026, the annual day of online activity that was started in 2010 by mastering engineer Ian Sheph...

26/03/2026

ASMR Choir from SRM Sounds

Includes four separate instruments Max Richter's SRM Sounds venture have just announced their fifth release, ASMR Choir. Captured at the main live room ...

26/03/2026

IMPORTANT FEEDBACK: PESP 6

The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture (DSAC), has been tasked with administering the Sixth Presi...

26/03/2026

Why YEP Changed My Career (And Why It Might Change Yours)

By Matt Klein Hello to everyone reading this - whether you're a current YEP, HPA member, or just YEP-curious. I'm Matt Klein, one of the co-chairs of t...

26/03/2026

CBS Sports Inks New WNBA Deal

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

26/03/2026

Apogee Insight Acquires PMA Research

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

26/03/2026

NBC Announces Exclusive Coverage of Sail4th 250 Tall Ships in NYC

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

26/03/2026

UK Group of media tech companies take the spotlight at NA...

28 participating companies, from start-ups to blue-chips, lead the UK Group as part of the GREAT Britain and Northern Ireland presence across all the Halls at N...

26/03/2026

Arkona Unveils BLADE//planner and Major Usability Enhancements at NAB 2026

Arkona Unveils BLADE//planner and Major Usability Enhancements at NAB 2026 Brie Clayton March 26, 2026 0 Comments New graphical configuration tool and...

26/03/2026

Bitfocus showcases complete control at NAB Show 2026

Bitfocus showcases complete control at NAB Show 2026 Brie Clayton March 26, 2026 0 Comments Continuing development drives advances in security, availa...

26/03/2026

Allen Media Group To Deploy Anoki ContextIQ

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

26/03/2026

LG Announces New Premium FAST Channels

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

26/03/2026

IABM to Host Breakfast Event at 2026 NAB Show

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

26/03/2026

Nexstar Defends Tegna Deal in Calif. Court Filing

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

26/03/2026

Nevion introduces powerful new Panel Builder to enhance VideoIPath broadcast control capability

Nevion introduces powerful new Panel Builder to enhance VideoIPath broadcast con...