Five days after hip hop megastar Travis Scott headlined Rolling Loud Miami, he released his follow-up to 2018's chart-crushing album Astroworld, Utopia. With the help of Travis's genre-blending hip-hop, many other mainstream rap stars have begun experimenting with similar genre-fusing ideas. In 2020, Playboi Carti dropped his angry, angsty, more punk take to trap and roll, Whole Lotta Red. Earlier in the summer, Lil Uzi Vert put out his first full-length EP since 2020 with Pink Tape, which had a more pop/nu metal blend to rap, complete with an uncomfortable rendition of Chop Suey. Not only does rap sound edgier, but it looks it, too. Travis raged atop a beige crater mountain for his final set promoting Utopia, an album with dark artwork and dark sounds. Playboi Carti has been hiding his face, wearing all black, and calling his fans vamps for three years. Even pop-rap superstar Doja Cat is attempting the punk aesthetic on her album later this year. If the idea of dark punk rage music about partying is congruent throughout the hip-hop underground and its biggest mainstream influencers, then what is next for the genre? Modern hip-hop has been the byproduct of some incredible art. Jay-Z had his post-9/11 transition from hardcore coke brag rap to flowing on some of the biggest radio hits of the 21st century. Kanye had his revelation from a pink polo-wearing pop star comparing himself to Pablo Picasso, Escobar, and Saint. Even Kendrick went from a Compton crip to King Kenny, who took the crown off his own head. The earth-shattering hip-hop art has seen its brightest days in the mainstream. The rappers at the forefront of the culture are pursuing the right ideas, but something needs to be clicked.
A$AP Rocky made a slew of incredible rap records in the 2010s. The rapper blended Atlanta Trap, New York Drill, and elements of Memphis Cloud rap to create some of the most influential hip-hop ever. Rocky hasn't released an album since 2018's Testing and has been teasing his newest record, Don't Be Dumb, for some time now. I saw Rocky's work intimately, and the presumed concept for the album is very similar to that of Travis's Utopia. The idea of traveling around the world causing a "Riot" was discussed at length and is on the same track as Travis Scott's search for utopia worldwide. The metamodern ideas of modern civilization reuniting together again from their left and right-sided echo chambers to work towards a common goal is recognized by Travis and A$AP but doesn't have a smooth landing. On Utopia, Travis acknowledges the current state of the world and modern culture but doesn't know what to say about it. Travis knows that we're fucked, and we need to come together to do something about it, but he doesn't know what to do once that happens. Scott seems like his only solution is to "Turn Up Now" or to get incredibly fucked up, have sex, and blow his money. How can someone with a massive platform like Travis get everything right but the message that's supposed to be the most crucial part? Seeing Rocky's work behind the scenes, I spotted the red flags of this missing piece.
Growing up in the second half of the 2010s, I grew up in the SoundCloud rap era, and I wouldn't say I liked it. I was better than everyone for listening to real music, not trash-ass Xxxtentacion. As I grew, so did my appreciation and admiration for the lessons of hip-hop. The 2010s was the rise of social media, which created a generation of mental health issues. Rap music is one of the most significant vessels for mental health awareness. Whether it's their responses to mental health issues with coping mechanisms like excessive sex and drug use or a brag rap about their swagger and jewelry, 2010s Rap music's message lies in its lack of one. Modern Trap is a voice to a generation of kids that grew up with no confidence, poorly copped trauma, and were surrounded by a world moving faster than it ever had before. Those kids are grown up, and the world is still changing, but the art hasn't yet. The same artists who spent their entire careers making music about themselves, their glories, their faults, and their swag are now making music about the world, and it's forced. As an artist, who that person is and how they see the world is expressed in their art, and if their art is constantly based around aesthetics, swag, and partying, then it will reflect that artist's personality. So if an artist tries to make something that isn't actually reflective of their own self, the art isn't genuine and doesn't have the impact it was intended. A rapper like A$AP is a creative genius who radiates confidence, swagger, and leadership. All of those things that are evident in his music are true in his real personality, but Rocky is also extremely cocky, arrogant, and short-tempered. Although he seems to have the future creative ideas on the right track, he's too caught up in his own world of ego for those ideas to stick. There lies the essential problem of modern rap and roll and why it has reached the end of the road for its cultural domination. Aesthetically A$AP, Travis, and Carti have the right look and ideas, but they don't know what the fuck to say. This state of modern rap is even evident in its biggest festival, Rolling Loud. Rolling Loud Miami has the best lineup of all hip-hop festivals across the globe every year. They do an excellent job of promoting the event and its artists, making it one of the more affordable festivals. From the outside, Rolling Loud looks like a hip-hop head's magnum opus, but much like the state of rap, it isn't that at all. Rolling Loud is a dirty festival on asphalt in the scouring heat of the South Florida summer. The space needs to be more significant for as many people as possible. The sets are always too short, and there is never enough time in between to see other artists. The crowds need to be regulated and become hostile too often. Rolling Loud is a dark place that looks really cool from afar but doesn't have much to offer from the inside. There couldn't be a more perfect mirror of reflection to its subject matter. Modern culture is in limbo, and because rappers are the new rockstars, they are at the forefront of music culture without a clue where to go. The lack of cultural identity is frightening, and it's clear that artists are trying to make sense of it, but they aren't the right people for the message.
These artists have paved the blueprints for the future of music and culture, but they aren't the vessels for the message. The genre-fusing sounds of the last two Travis albums, the dark punk aesthetic of Carti's vamps, and Lil Uzi's bass-shaking rage music are all bound to be cornerstones of the future of music, but not from rap. A new sound is buried deep within the modern heartland, one that isn't quite rock and isn't quite rap. A sound that takes the best from both sides and fucks out the world's next big prodigy. Whatever that musical prodigy is will take the unfinished messages of rap's reign and tell them how they were meant to be. This isn't to say that rap music will completely evaporate. When rap overtook rock as culture's premiere genre sometime in the early 00s, rock and roll didn't wholly phase out; it divided into various subcategories and stepped out of the limelight. The original rock and roll grit of the Stones and Zeppelin didn't go away; it started coming from inner-city black men instead of British white guys. Artists like JPEG Mafia and Danny Brown have helped bring alternative rap more to the mainstream, much like Mudhoney and Sonic Youth did for their respective genres in the late 80s. Rap is currently around 30 years removed from its initial big hit group, NWA; this is a similar gap between the Beatles' earliest fame and Nirvana's Nevermind. All history repeats itself, whether it's world history or music history. Now is the time that it comes full circle again, and modern culture gets a fresh start.