However, the Floridian rapper’s legacy is riddled with multiple domestic violence charges and allegations of homophobia, dimming the success of the music he made. He changed the musical landscape on SoundCloud forever you can’t exclude XXXTentacion from this discussion. ‘Beef’ was always that niche track for the trendy rap fans (until new viral rap sensation Flo Milli catapulted her career with her high-energy 2018 ‘Flomix’ of the track). But many forget that this was actually the Atlantan rapper-producer Ethereal’s track, whose low and mellow raps took a backseat to the raw star power of Carti’s signature babyish delivery. Ethereal and Playboi Carti, ‘Beef’ (2015)įor many rap fans, this song was our first introduction to one of this generation’s biggest zeitgeist stars, Playboi Carti. It arguably wouldn’t have happened without ‘Uber Everywhere’. Seeing how far low-budget singles from SoundCloud were now going in the music industry, many producers received huge career boosts when they shared their beats with successful rappers – just look at what happened to 808melo when the late Pop Smoke used a few of his beats for his 2019 debut tracks ‘MPR’ and ‘Welcome to The Party’. Afterwards, though, so-called ‘type beats’ – where a producer mimics instrumental tracks in the style of another artist – became a hugely lucrative market.
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Before this, not many rappers would admit to using free beats online. This viral track was infamously hooked around a random beat from YouTube ‘Uber Everywhere’ started a phenomenon. Ascending from a booming internet hit to a mainstream anthem, ‘Trap Queen’ helped change the industry forever. This changed the way of A&R forever: label tastemakers no longer had to look for raw talent in acoustic covers – as, for example, RBMG (Usher and Scooter Braun’s label) did when they found Justin Bieber and nurtured him into the star he is now. It’s gained airplay all over radio and resulted in a deal with 300 Entertainment for the star. This is the story of SoundCloud rap in 15 seminal songs Fetty Wap, ‘Trap Queen’ (2014)Īrguably one of the first hits from the soon-to-be revolutionary music platform, 2014’s ‘Trap Queen’ was so infectious that it became a staple track from 2015. As with most scenes, the suits soon moved in, diluting the West West feel it once enjoyed, but there’s still plenty of exciting talent on the app.
During the mid to late ‘10s, increasing in popularity, the app’s rap scene branched off into different sounds and subgenres, causing a mini musical revolution, changing rap forever due to its users’ creativity. Rumors of Soundcloud's death have been postponed, at least for now.SoundCloud is a magical place where, at the click of a finger, you can explore any genre you desire, and even some that haven’t been coined yet. Chance the Rapper and Young Thug teamed up in a valiant effort to help save (or promote) the platform, for a record which ultimately doesn't make this list, but deserves a mention nonetheless.
We saw things begin to spiral when the company let go of 40% of their staff at the outset of July, continuing with reports that they wouldn't make it past 50 more days of activity in mid-July. Alongside, we've seen how the platform has struggled on the business side as of late. If your music was good, people would find it even if you were unsure how exactly it was happening, there was evidently an audience for everything. It also became a place where producers were able to thrive, and still do. Within the Soundcloud community, genre-specific groups made it truly special.įast forward five years, and Soundcloud has become a platform infiltrated by the corporate side of the music industry with artists' connections being more important than the music. What was beautiful about it was how, with little-to-no platform, it was a way to still find an audience. Most of the rap on the site was just kids making music over recycled beats found on the internet with terrible mics. When I first made my Soundcloud account in 2012, there was not much on the site but DJ mixes and a subsection of rap obsessed with Anime. The top 25 Soundcloud rap songs of all time.