Drill-Adjacent Trap
tagStarted 2014Peak 2016-2023Last big hit still active
Located in 1 route
Trap that borrows drill's menace: sliding, pitch-bent 808 basslines, syncopated dark hi-hats and ominous, sparse minor-key melodies, but with trap's looser swing and melodic hooks rather than strict drill cadences. Cold, street-narrative vocals ride beats sitting between trap bounce and drill grit.
History
As Chicago drill crossed with Atlanta trap in the mid-2010s, artists like Future and Lil Durk fused trap's melody and bounce with drill's sliding-808 darkness. Through the late 2010s the hybrid spread as drill's hi-hat rolls and bass slides bled into mainstream trap, yielding a menacing middle ground that dominated US street-rap into the early 2020s.
Defining artists
Essential listening
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backdoor_(song)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Lot_(song)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wicked_(Future_song)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pop_Out