In this video essay I talk about how the rap underground in 2023 sucks. Artists like Ken Carson and Destroy Lonely seem to be copying artists like Playboi Carti.
Facts and bro doesn’t even know enough of them to know what he talking about, there are so many mentions that would change his mind that he probably never heard of that are underground and making unique and interesting good shit out there
Riding trends isn't underground. That's why today's "underground" damn near ceases to exist in the rap game. Making underground music is you branching out and being different and doing your own thing instead of riding trends/waves. Ideally it comes down to you having the confidence and not giving a fuck about what anybody thinks of you as an artist. You just gotta be you.
Fr, i always try to listen to unsigned underground artists that bring something new or different to the table Here sum of my favs: Lord gasp, gao the arsonist, funeral, heffy, johnny goth...
Bro said ken and lone are carti clones even tho ken and lone contributed to the rage sound and the newer sounds and since when did autumn or yeat want to be carti?? 😭
i think this guy is a rap caviar fan bc he is so misinformed about music unless he just has the old head mentality or the music is just not hitting for him who knows
you are not educated enough to speak on this topic, as pluggnb was actually created by artists such as autumn, summrs, weiland, kankan, and lil shine. In this video you put a picture of autumn to show a carti clone which simply is not true at all. Never have an opinion on music ever again.
For you to say the underground started in 2016 is fucking blasphemy, JGrxxn, Metro Zu, RVIDXR KLVN, SESHOLLOWATERBOYZ, Goth Money Records, Lil B, MIDNIGHT SOCIETY, A$AP Rocky,$B, Buffet Boys, Schemaposse, and whoever the fuck was a major influence before XXL showcased what they thought would be the underground. I must also say that even before 2008, the 90's definitely carried an underground hip hop scene that birthed a fraction of what artists sprouted in this generation.
Reason why yeat blew up is because he has his OWN sound/Language. He has been making music for literal years nobody was copying carti. A artist named "weiland" gave yeat his OWN presets and mixing so saying yeat copying carti is kinda wild. Reason why he got success early 2021 was because his voice and beats changed. #2 Ken Carson had the "Rage" sound since mid 2020 with his song "YALE" which was a huge success and was a light to Carti to make WLR Ken and even has production credits on WLR. #3 Lone and Ken Sound nothing like carti and its not even close, u must be a average rap caviar fan cause there really is just no way. Why would carti sign them if they were just "Clones" of him? #4 You Put "Autumn" on this list why? he does PLUGGNB Did you put him on this List because of a remix he did of carti's song which was "jump out the house" he sounds nothing like carti on that. "Autmn" and "Summrs" are the pioneers Of the PLUGGNB music they do have their own style, they have been making their music for years i still dont know why autmn was brought into this "Carti Clone" Convo #5 Kinda funny how contradict yourself at @5:43 you named "Midwxst" are u kidding me right now? ur trolling right? bro made countless songs of rage and a FULL album of rage Songs and previous Year ONLY did Hyperpop and Switched his whole sound due to him he being known as Hyperpop kid (all 3 of them btw). and hell even the song "Bastard" by glaive was a 2021 trend of Hyperpop/Rage makes no sense how ur saying the "Underground" is full of people just Copying trends but YET ur artist that you named did the same thing but even worse midwxst is Still trying to find his SOUND after years and dont even say " He's diverse bro" no just no, Eric is trying to become Main stream pop artist and is failing miserably, which is why he is starting to stream more often on twitch lol. Glaive is the only artist i see is to be successful because he's had his sound. Just by those statements you are comparing totally DIFFERENT music artist and why? only god knows.
Cochise sounds like carti lol they don't have to always be signed to them but to his point they be using carti like presets. Cochise ahh does presets and his voice.
@@h3llboyyy407 the thing is Chochise is horrible he took cartis baby voice and did his own thing w it. He blew up off one tiktok song 2019 w carti baby voice. He has his own sound I guess you can say but he is still a carti clone that literally only does ONE version of carti and nothing else. And who is “they” you can mock presets but you can’t sound exactly like them unless you have their presets.
Yeah there’s alot of clones in the underground (especially Lone clones) but it’s always weird bc a lot of artists start out as clones so maybe these ppl will grow. The main people in the scene seem to have there own sound (Summrs,Lone etc) but it is flooded w/ alot of biting
First you say everybody sounds the same in the underground but then you criticize people like Lone and Autumn who helped create underground trends and THEN you hype midwxst and Jeleel for... doing generic rage music?? You definetely said some important things in the beginning of the video about personality, but I really would like to know precisely why Ken, Lone, Yeat and Autumn are Carti copycats.
literally what im saying bro contradicts himself so bad, its obvious he doesnt know what he is talking about. check out my comment from a couple days ago i brought up very solid points
It’s crazy cuz during the old SoundCloud era people were saying the same shit abt how everyone sounds the same, but if you really pay attention only some artists are actually clones and others are just inspired
you definitely gotta tap into artists like smokingskul and thr33. Their use of different type of 808s is insane. prods like tdf, boolymon, and perc40 been goin crazy recently too.
Remember ‘back in the day’ when you’re used to catch flack from old heads. They used to say ‘this shit is wack’ or ‘the new niggas trash’. Guess what you’ve become ‘them’. You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain. It’s not that the music is bad it’s just that you all lost that ability to relate to the new wave. You lost your ear for new music. Now you’re sound has locked in as an old head. There’s no harm in that. It’s gonna happen to these new kids too. They’re gonna get left behind by the new generation after. So on and so forth.😢 You just lost the sauce my boi. Just get used to it😂
The underground doesn't suck right now. Far from it. It's just hard to find. And in many ways it will always be that way. Speaking on XXL, they're only featuring artists that are already signed to a major label (or its subsidiary). It's that way with most publications where people go to find the "up and coming" artists. I think a big part of it is musicians in hip-hop nowadays are getting smarter and are less willing to take a contract with a major. They'd prefer to grind it out, find their niche fanbase, and push in that way because they know the industry doesn't have their best interests in mind. Also, it's getting harder and harder to break through on the algorithms for all the platforms. It takes money now and as an underground, independent artist that money ain't easy to come by. People are working much harder for much less nowadays in this country. Underground artists will always need the platforms and publications to get heard or they need to have sharp business sense which really runs counter to how artists think or even want to exist. Artists like Larussel can be considered underground. He's doing his whole thing independently and building a name but it's taken a lot of grind and a sharp business mind/model for him to make it happen. Operating outside of a major label model that financially controls or heavily financially influences over 90% of platforms artists have access to is a long, difficult road. You gotta have a whole lot of hustle in you. There are people grinding right now independently that we won't see or hear of for a few more years. There are other people working to build the new platforms that will help listeners find the abundance of great talent that is out there. And there will be a resurgence of the presence of great underground hip-hop. We're just in an adjustment period, figuring out the new rules to the game and how we're going to break them to break through.
I like the underground because mainstream rap/hip hop sound the same the underground have different styles and so many sub genres that Mainstream Hip Hop/Rap doesn’t have that’s why it’s growing at a rapid rate then usual
Not gonna lie i don't know if this is a troll video or not but if it isnt, you have no idea what you're talking about. Not tryna hate tho, just know your place
also the whole underground is its own unique sound. like glorytee, natecxo, pheonix, zayskillz, no one aint ever heard beats like that before until the past 2, 3 years
Do better research because Ken is not copying Carti nor is lone, ken was the one to start the rage wavy he was the one to get carti on rage beats he literally has credits on the song beno! On WLR and lone raps on ambient beats Mixed with rock samples and u also said that trip at knight by trippie redd influenced rage which it did not, also destroy lonely is literally on the top of the underground right now, U are just another old head that think the new state of rap is trash cuz u are dwelling on the past bro said JID and ski cypher was better then the 2016 cuz u like hearing the lyrical miracle stuff, I to listen to capital steel, Joey Bada$$ and MF DOOM but that lyrical miracle stuff could get boring sometimes so I listen to new music cuz it’s fun and wanna make me turn up
Every SoundCloud rapper you praised was chief keef clones but yet you criticize rappers for being carti clones. Also there’s plenty of great underground music. Just look at the flint and Detroit wave that’s happening right now. It’s a new flow, tempo, and they have brought lyrics back into rap in their own way.
And shouldn't Lone and Ken be excused from this. I mean they're literally signed to him so Carti and his team. Probably tells them to act the same to fit his label its the label aesthetic.
im thinking is he talking bout soundcloud rap/underground as we know it or in general cuz lil uzi, dex, boat all started the soundcloud "wave" if u know what i mean
@@Awesomebaconman123 well yeah I mostly meant like the ones who came right before so like he said sgp kray lil b i call them the pre soundcloud wave just to be specific
i see where you are coming from Mr. Kyoto but at the same time i must disagree with some of your talking points. i think emulating a more popular artists sound can be a great thing. take for instance, Dro Kenji. an artist i am certain you are familiar with. In his controversial come up he made very juice wrld inspired music. but there was a niche for that sound that had already been heavily saturated he was able to make for himself. then he branched out into his own more unique frequencies. music is all about taking and repurposing sounds and aesthetics. even carti is biting influence off past generations. while i agree that the current underground is a bit convoluted, it is what i would expect. can’t wait to watch more of your videos in the future. -nic
That shits not even really underground. Ken, Lonely, Yeat, Kankan, and other mfs like that are really well known its just a smaller amount of people actually like them.
Destroy Lonely, Summrs, Hardrock, iayze, Tony Shhnow, Lil Shine, Slimesito, Glokk40Spaz, Devstacks, RXKNephew, Duwap Kaine, Izaya Tiji, D. Savage, 10kdunkin I could name a 100 more and all of them get love in the underground without making rage music. You just gotta find the gems.
bro nah trippie nor carti ain’t start hyperpop lmao AND underground started around 2010/2011 with Bones, SpaceGhostPurrp, JK the Reaper, Denzel, Yung Lean, ect. but i do agree w what ya said in regards to mad artists copyin eachother nowadays 🙄🥺 its hella weak
all this video tells me is that people are really out of touch with what the underground actually is. first off the underground did not start in 2016, the underground has always been a thing since the beginning of music and art. there always has been and always will be artists who aren’t mainstream that you have to dig to find, that’s why it’s called the underground. the issue is people don’t want to put in the work to find these artists, they see some shit in their recommendations and think “damn yeat sucks” and think that’s the entire underground, lazy ass music fans. people let social media algorithms create the underground rather than digging for it. if you want good music search for artists in your town, state, country, internationally. if you like a certain beat selection look at the producers and find the other artists they’ve produced for. look at music video director’s portfolios, you’re bound to find some shit you fuck with. look for interviews with artists, a lot of times i’ve found cool artists just by accidentally clicking on a masked gorilla interview with them. if y’all don’t put in the effort to support the underground, the more mainstream portion of the underground will remain stagnant.
exactly bro and thats what all the old heads to, they fall outta touch, hear one artists song and goes damn that sucks, and proceeds to generalise thousands of deferent unique sounds to be the same and all sound like that one artist.
When you say "underground" I think their is different nunaces with that term. You have underground rappers that use more a traditional boom-bap style. Then you have underground rappers with a mainstream style, and underground rappers that can do both.
The fact that people are saying that underground rap sucks now just shows that people who say music sucks now are actually right as the truth of the matter is the people who say that music doesn't suck now and it's just "boomers" who hate modern music always say you can find good music you just have to look for it but if even for the underground, people are saying their music sucks then it shows that music as a whole really is declining so truth be told music as a whole is on the decline which hopefully one day it gets better but for now it truly is not as good as it use to be.
4:31 ken is prolly the only one who is "mainstream" enough that sounds a little like carti whereas the actual underground, like the artists with 10s of thousands of plays or streams or anything probably sound like carti more than any of the artists u listed there. literally not a single person BEFORE yeat blew up sounded like him, after yeat blew up we started getting yeat clones. yeat n bnyx started the whole supertrap wave which is rage influenced but absolutely nun else ab his music is like carti or trippie.
ken is literally part of cartis brand he literally helped produce whole lotta red. whole lotta red is for sure what influenced the underground and if not whole lotta red it was still carti, just look at plugnb rappers like all them slayworld ones.
Lone and Ken are not carti clones, they have their own style, Ken is more hyper and lone is usually more chill, plus they both signed to Carti anyways.
Not Tryna sound corny but I been making music since 2016 and only started getting traction in 2021 all I’m gonna say is I will not disappoint any of you ily all have a good day
Bro check out artists like shed theory, Bby goyard, fax gang and the digicore scene. Plenty of innovation to be found but you’re right the upper echelon of the underground is full of carti clones. I don’t agree that yeat is though, I think he has done enough to carve out his own sound at this point. Unfortunately artists like Ken and lone are dominating the underground because it’s what’s most familiar to carti. That’s what most people look for.
Maybe people don’t have as high standards for rarity. They don’t care for the artists so much just the quality of music so if they all sound similar it’s okay as long as it’s the same type of music they like to engage with.
I was homies wit another artist, but after he dropped a certain like 4 songs, I realized he’s deadass just copying Yeat’s popular songs(I didn’t really listen to Yeat before so I didn’t realize)
cant beleive bro said lone and autumn are a carti clones. listen to any song of ilck and then listen to wlr and tell me one similarity. not to mention the fact that autumn is a pluggnb rapper which is entirely different to rage. bro probably only listened to no stylist by lone and nina or the song where autumn sampled jumpoutdahouse, which are his only songs that are somewhat rage. its so embarrassing listening to old heads who have no knowledge on the new scene and will listen to one song from an underground artist, doesnt like it, and proceeds to generalize thousands of artists with unique sounds that they have never heard before.
Yeah facts, that’s more rage. Hyperpop is like 100 gecs and midwxst. But I see those two albums and Rage as a gateway to Hyperpop. A lot of people got put on Hyperpop from Rage
So we are just gonna not mention how that guy said the n-word at 6:08 ? I mean yeah, the video was dogshit but that's like the cherry on top of the cake. tf dude?
Yoooo I know a artist that’s gonna reignite the underground his name is Jo look up to all my brothers - Jo I wish I wasn’t promoting a random artist but he’s actually good
underground music isn’t bad your really talking bout just one specific section of rap music on the underground level they didn’t start or popularize it it’s always been around it’s just since the SC one blew up so much you see a lot of people trying to emulate that and call it underground which it is not
Bro what r u saying, it’s so much talent in the underground u just don’t understand the appeal, nd yeat is basically mainstream now so idk why u have him in the underground nd Ken Karson also basically mainstream,every rapper was influenced by someone else so they’re gonna have similarities in their music alth I do agree majority of the underground is influenced my carti or thug etc.
