People often don’t understand why I think EDM “Trap” is not only dumb, but totally offensive. In 2007, I was in a legit “Gangsta Rap” or “street rap” or just “rap” group in Saint Louis. A lot of the subject matter of the songs were typical of the genre—guns, drug dealing, other violence etc… although I was taking college courses at the time, and living with my mom in the suburbs, for the majority of the group most of the stuff in these songs was real enough. Real enough, in fact, that the dude who kinda held our clique together went to federal penitentiary after being snitched on and caught in the act cooking crack and in possession of an unregistered firearm.
After that happend, I realized I needed to distance myself from that lifestyle and I wanted to make music that was more “positive” and didn’t glorify the kind of life where you end up dead or in jail, especially when I had other options.
Fast Forward to sometime in 2012 and white dance music producers are making “Trap” music. “Trap” being a term appropriated from Southern Gangsta rap, having it’s origins in Southern and Mid-Western street slang for a place where you sell drugs. See, because when you sell drugs in the hood you are in “the Trap” because your literally trapped with the options of where your life is headed—- you will likely end up in jail or dead. That is the “Trap”
But all these dance producers aren’t talking about that lifestyle—even though they fill there tracks with drops like “Real Trap Shit” and litter them with gunshot sounds. Actually, these songs are about absolutely nothing because they have no lyrics in them. They took they rapping out of rap music. So this way there is no talk of “the trap”—either glorifying it or condemning it.
So this is great for kids who like the “beats” of rap music but don’t want to hear about for example: the harsh realities of the ghetto or street life or whatever. It’s just hard beats without the hard life. Rap music is already our modern folk music—the popular music of our day, but by removing the rapping from rap music and replacing it with dubstep lazer sounds it’s destined to be bigger than ever because it’s not as unpleasant or scary to parents or yuppies or children or whoever. I do not believe like a lot of people do or did that this is going to be a trend. Instrumental rap beats made by white producers who in past years would have been making some sort of EDM has the potential to be a huge genre for a while.
So what’s wrong with this EDM “Trap” music is there’s all these gross left-over things from rap music (The term “trap”, gunshot sounds etc) terribly out of place with no explanation for them. Forget any “authenticity” issue—it’s not what I’m talking about. But there is something seriously wrong with 14 year old kids in Australia making tracks with gunshot sounds and “real trap shit” drops. Right? Shouldn’t we all just listen to Macklemore?
I don’t fucking know. Felt like I had to say something tho. I will never have to say anything like this again.
