Ksi & Lil Wayne

Biography & Overview

Trap music, also known simply as trap, is a subgenre of hip-hop music that originated in the Southern United States. Lyrical references to trap began appearing in 1991, while the modern sound of trap emerged in 1999. The genre takes its name from the Atlanta term "trap house", a drug house. Trap music features simple, rhythmic, and minimalistic production that uses synthesized drums. It is characterized by drum beats with complex hi-hats, snare drums, and bass drums, some of which are tuned with a long decay to emit a bass frequency, originally from the Roland TR-808 drum machine.
Pioneers of the genre include producers DJ Spanish Fly, DJ Paul & Juicy J, Kurtis Mantronik, Mannie Fresh, Shawty Redd, Fatboi, Zaytoven, DJ Screw, and DJ Toomp, along with rappers T.I., 2 Chainz, Jeezy, and Gucci Mane. The style was popularized by producer Lex Luger, who produced the influential Waka Flocka Flame album Flockaveli in 2010 and co-founded the prolific hip-hop production team 808 Mafia.
Trap became mainstream in the 2010s and has since become one of the most popular forms of American music. Drake, Kendrick Lamar, Future, Playboi Carti, 21 Savage, Migos, Lil Uzi Vert, Post Malone, XXXTentacion, Roddy Ricch, Young Thug, DaBaby, and Travis Scott have all reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 with songs made in the trap genre. Trap has influenced pop and contemporary R&B artists, including Ariana Grande, Beyoncé, Miley Cyrus, Rihanna, the Weeknd, and Sabrina Carpenter. It has also influenced reggaetón and K-pop. In 2018, hip-hop became the most popular form of music for the first time ever, according to Nielsen Data, coinciding with the rise in popularity of trap. In 2019, trap-influenced hits such as Ariana Grande's "7 Rings" spent eight weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, while the country trap song "Old Town Road" by Lil Nas X (featuring Billy Ray Cyrus) broke the record for the most weeks spent at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and became the fastest song to receive a Diamond certification.
Since the late 2010s and early 2020s, the rage subgenre of trap has emerged, spearheaded by Playboi Carti, Lil Uzi Vert, Trippie Redd, and Yeat.