Our research focuses on trap in Spanish, including artists from the northern hemisphere (such as Los Santos, Cecilio G., Pimp Flaco, Fuete Billete and Anuel AA), and from South America (such as Malandro Malajunta, Trap Drillers, Lastre, Zeta Drew, Lil Jer, Nueve9tres, Pvblo Chill-E, MC Guime, and Cachorro Gordo). A “do it yourself” ethos and a conflicting relationship with the recording industry are clear features of the genre.
The producers and/or singers are in charge of circulating their songs via Facebook, YouTube or Soundcloud, where they can also get in touch with each other and receive support or critique. The voices of singers are added, often heavily manipulated by the producer, who stands out as the real driver of the whole process, using filters and adjustments.Ī trademark of the trap genre is how it is consumed, produced, and broadcast. Similar to rap, but differing from it musically and conceptually, trap sustains itself outside of the commercial market as bands choose to operate underground, using social networking websites and online platforms for music and video circulation. Most of those who make and listen to trap find in the internet not only their main source of information and music storage, but also a way to obtain music production software, promote their own music, and carry out collaborations, without the need for travel. Its base is programmed from the sounds of an 808 (a 1980s beatbox deemed obsolete due to its artificial sound quality, in contrast to subsequent models) and completed with a strong bass line, effects, sampled fragments and different layers conceived as modules combined, overlapped or silenced throughout each song. Trap is a slow-tempo music, with a stable pulse.
The few press articles commenting on the phenomenon-usually based on the notoriety reached by some bands, and always linked to shocking discourse or events involving the artists-describe it as “nihilistic, sexual and narcotic rap” or, referring to the generational profile of its followers, “the music parents hate.” The only academic work that takes trap as its object of study is Alexandra Baena Granados’ doctoral dissertation (2016) on the trap scene in Barcelona. Its origins can be traced to the suburbs of Atlanta, in the United States. Trap is a music genre (or sub-genre) in high circulation since 2012, when its presence in social networks and the rise of scenes or communities around the world became evident.
0 kommentar(er)
