Photo courtesy of Milo Lee Photography
“Now I do what I want” blasts through the car radio, as the group of friends in the car recite the lyrics by memory at the top of their lungs. The lyrics are from a song entitled “Do What I Want” by Lil Uzi Vert. This particular song has been played 21.7 million times on the music streaming app Soundcloud and countless more on other apps like Spotify and iTunes. Lil Uzi is just one of many young, up and coming rappers who are taking rap and music culture by storm.
Of these new young rappers, students have different favorite artists they listen to the most.
“Lil Yachty [is my favorite],” junior Bayan Daddressan said. “I like him, his hair and his image. Lil Uzi is not bad either; I like the instrumental and beats he puts behind his music.”
Junior Hayden Rapsky believes that today’s rap is more popular because it’s so unfamiliar and different compared to earlier rap.
“They are so different than what we have been hearing for the last however many years of rap,” Rapsky said. “It’s just something different. People want different things, people give different things and people like different things. A lot of people, including me, enjoy 21 Savage because he is different. He’s real, he’s actually done crazy stuff, stuff other people have not. He’s been shot in the neck and six other times. He’s done it all.”
Senior Matt Forbes agrees that people enjoy these newer rappers and the music they create because of how different it is from past rappers.
“I feel like they are changing up the rap game a little bit,” Forbes said. “They are doing it different than previous popular rappers, like Lil Wayne, Eminem and Jay-Z. Their style is different, their beats are different and what they rap about is different.”
Junior Dylan Hamer believes that people listen to these new rappers because of how they portray themselves and the lyrics in the songs they sing.
“It’s out there, they talk about killing people and hood stuff,” Hamer said. “We don’t really get to live that kind of life, so we want to hear about it.”
Science teacher Leanna Sartwell believes that today’s rap is too vulgar and inappropriate, and that earlier rap was better and more appropriate to listen to.
“[In the 80s and early 90s] there wasn’t this overload of angry rap. Other than NWA, most of it you could listen to on mainstream radio,” Sartwell said. “… Sir Mix a lot’s “Baby got Back”, Young MC’s “Bust a Move”, these were fun songs that everybody could sing in front of their kids, in front of their friends, in front of their parents. I think somewhere in the 2000s, rap became more underground, it became something kids could only listen to through their headphones, and I think that says something about rap culture overall.”
The music these rappers produce is mainly listened to in an effort to bond with other people.
“This type of music is meant to be enjoyed loudly in a group of friends,” sophomore Carter Stallings said. “You can listen to it by yourself, but it’s mainly meant to be listened to with friends because people can relate to it, get hype to it and rap along.”
The rappers are also listened to before sports games to act as an adrenaline boost.
“[The music] gets our mind right before the game,” varsity football player and junior Dalton Romagnoli said. “It gets us in the right mental state. The up-tempo beats get us hype and ready to go out there and play our best.”
People have discovered these newer rappers in many different ways, including word of mouth, social media and just looking through music streaming apps.
“[I found these rappers] through my friends and social media,” Daddressan said. “Just hearing it all around, hearing it in peoples’ cars when we are going for a drive.”
One thing that has helped make these rappers become so popular is social media, and their music is easily attainable.
“A lot of the [rappers] are more accessible as celebrity figures than it used to be,” junior Chloe Maynard said. “For some famous people, it was hard to see their concerts because they were so expensive, and it was hard to keep up with them because they were so private. But a lot of new rappers are very open about their lives. You can watch them on Snapchat and Instagram, and their tickets are cheaper.”
These songs are also discovered and enjoyed due to catchy lyrics or dances that go with the track.
“I think that some rap music just gets popular because somebody finds something clever that goes with it,” Sartwell said. “If I had a dollar for every time I saw a kid do this ‘dabs,’ I could retire from teaching right now.”
Another reason these rappers have become such prominent figures in music in such a short amount of time is by being promoted by other big name rappers. They do features with established rappers to get noticed and make a name for themselves.
Overall, the new energetic rap and their particular artists are discovered and become popular because of how well they relate to people.
“They are young, wild and trendsetters,” junior Adrian Page said. “These rappers show how people really feel.”
– By Davis Palermo
