Trap In The Veins

If you’ve come looking for a dose of trap, you are in the right place. Do not worry, getting the term wrong is very common. The so-called Trap has become an artificial label that has defined new urban sounds. This genre includes musicians and rhythms with a personal identity. It is an individualistic and very heterogeneous lifestyle impossible to summarize in one word. But what is behind the so-called trap?

A new musical substance is taking to the Spanish streets. Their musicians dominate social networks and YouTube, their natural habitat. A new generation of artists connects neighborhoods with the most global trends and they get it with a particular style, a lot of talent and an esthetic sound. The misnamed trap is a musical preview of the future. That’s why it’s so fascinating. We increase our trap dossage to understand this movement that promises to dominate the underground scene in the coming years.

The real trap

The original trap is not a new sound. It was born in the late 80s and early 90s in the ghettos of Atlanta, where the crack, the cocaine and the heroine was sold. Its name reveals its origin. It refers to the trap house, where many people left their souls and wallets for a dose. Master P, Goodie Mob  and UGK were the pioneers of that southern rap once called Dirty South which continued with Gucci Mane, Waka Flocka and even Rihanna.

At the beginning of this decade, trap arrives to Spain with Wase & J. Sanchez, Torrico, Daviz Logic, Trad Montana and Ettilic Maffia. Between 2008 and 2012, a powerful movement is created in the the space left by rap and hip hop that began to decline in the underground scene. However, these trap artists had very different styles and personalities.

But how should the trap sound? There is no established standard. The genre is a new way of understanding urban rhythms such as rap, hip hop, and in some cases, the reggaeton. Actually, there are no established rules. It is a movment very linked to new technologies and home production. The auto-tune is not something negative, but a tool to achieve a different esthetic. The songs are created with computer software. The synthesizers are again the protagonists of this new movement with references in the nineties and the 2000s.

Hi-hats and electronic basses create elaborate rhythms and melodies based on the sounds from the Roland TR-808 Rhythm Composer. The rhymes talk about the streets, about the harsh reality of the crisis generation, dreams, sex, money and drugs without taboos. Political contents or philosophies are usually omitted. The new urban rhythms seek hedonism and escape from the harsh daily life of the neighborhoods.

Street style

The faces of this scene are spread out on the Spanish geography. There are trap centers but diffusion in social networks causes artists to live at different cities although Madrid and Barcelona agglutinate the headliners. The major record companies have already signed most of these new stars.

These musicians don´t run away from fame or the exposure of their money, or jewelry. Most of them are young people, living in the neighborhood, who try to escape from a complicated situation, from shitty jobs and miserable salaries, from drug histories and disappointments. No fear of showing off. Everything is very fresh, the sensual dances like the twerk or the perreo are part of their parties.

The new urban artist has a powerful image that connects with thousands of followers through social networks and  YouTube. They speak the same language as their followers through a brilliant use of the social networks. That is the great merit of all of them: creating brands that can be easily recognized. It includes lifestyle, fashion and music. A cocktail that makes many young people follow them in search of answers.

The artists of so-call trap sing about cannabis, sexual messages, self-affirmation or social aspirations. You can find a personal message almost on demand due to the great variety of different artists that have emerged at the same time.

They are influenced by the rhythms that have dominated the streets during the last decades and from them their esthetic has emerged. Like their sounds, it’s very eclectic. Brands with 90´s connotations such as Ellesse, Sergio Tachini or Fila join Obey, Adidas Classic and Nike in their garments. Designers like Alexander McQueen, Gucci or Calvin Klein are the favorites of this generation.

Yung Beef himself posed in a campaign of the American designer Calvin Klien. Sportswear as well as soccer jerseys are part of the outfit but imagination is a powerful part of it. It´s difficult to establish a uniform like the rockers or punks.

Crews As Meeting Points

The so-called trap inherits from hip-hop or b-boying its organization in crews. You can enter in a crew due to affinity with their lifestyle and friendship with any of its members. Many of them work as producers, launching artists in a homemade way and with a lot of ingenuity. There is usually no bad vibes among different crews. Feed back among them generate focus on the scene.

One of them was PESI that had artists like its founder, El Mini, the iconic Zowi, the pioneers Yung Beef and Khaled and Toxic Widow. Many of them have enrolled in La Vendición, a production company headed by Pxxr Gvng.

The Pxxr Gvng themselves began as a kind of crew that established itself as a successful band. Takers is the quintessential Madrid crew twinned with Los Pobres, as they were called the Pxxr Gang before. They continued the work of the successful Uglyworkz Entertainment, led by Trad Montana from 2003 to 2012. Pioneers that the crisis was ahead.

The Burlaos, with Edu García in command, formed LFAM. This crew´s rhymes attacks the problems in society and in mass media while they smoke joints. They also denounce the miseries of fame.

Another of the most imaginative crews is LaDroga Lab, created by Pedro LaDroga and his endless wit to create urban hymns. Many of them interpreted by himself. Others, perform by artists who come to their home studio to create a different sound.

On the other hand, Konami Mafia defines the Balearic sound. There lyrics talk about streets and money.

The Queens

The new urban sounds have crowned different queens,. They don´t like the trap queens label but they are the powerful feminine side of this movement. Authentic urban warriors. They are the icons of the women empowerment.

Bad Gyal is one of the female icons of this scene although she rejects the label. Nor is it positioned as a feminist. Her music, closer to dancehall or reggaeton, is in a moment of international expansion that has led her to stand out in the South By Southwest Festival (SXSW) supporting people like Pussy Riot.

Her latest mixtape mixed by El Guincho and produced by Vlado Meller in NYC puts her at the forefront of the new Latin rhythms. The Barcelonan shares the forefront with two other neighbors who hit on the Internet.

Blondie represents freshness, She is the trap smile. Although in her lyrics she shows a combative attitude, she has a special tenderness. We discovered it in the interview that she granted us a few weeks ago. We invite you to know it better.

Zowi bitch! Zowi shouts in one of her songs. Her art and her explosive lyrics has taken her to the stardom while her cuddles with Yung Beef have become the soap opera of this movement. She hits on the Internet, showing herself like a star, being born in Paris and  has lived in Granada, Marseille, London and now Barcelona.

Somadamantina is the most mystical Barcelonian despite being born in Madrid. She is into the Japanese Kawaii culture and has a positive and tender attitude towards life.

I am the queen rhymed Chanel in one of her viral videos. Her song Rihanna refers to an obvious reference among the women of the scene. Bad Gyal also used Rihanna to raise the fame with her Work cover by the Caribbean artist. Tania Chanel is from Jerez but has turned Mallorca into her base of operations. She started over at home and she got Khaled, Ikki and Trigger Tracks´s attention at just 16 years old. In her lyrics, the love for fame and fashion predominates.

The last queen is Ms Nina, an Argentine emigrant based in Madrid who provides humor and Latin rhythms to the movement. Her claro que si, guapi  is already one of the tag lines of this generation. Her collaborations with Ikki, show that Ikki´s a mine of authentic rhthms. Her sounds enter in the ears like ambrosia. Joy and danceable and sensual rhythms make Ms Nina an real reference of the faction closest to reggaeton.

Live Fast, Compose Quickly

They are the kings of the neighborhood. They have lived fast, they have trafficked with drugs or they have smoked joints at dawn. Many of their lyrics revolve around imagining a bright future. Their nights are long and they show the topics of this generation are false. Many of them work and spend their few hours of leisure creating sounds. Effort and imagination do not lack.

Barcelona is a key place to understand the explosion of this scene. In the beautiful Catalan capital, very particular urban sounds have led to this new rhythm. Perhaps Los Pobres, now called Los Santos, is the most symptomatic crew in the city because of its longevity and its influence.

Cecilio G was one of its founders and one of the most recognizable faces of the so-called trap, although after various disputes with colleagues, Yung Beef, Khaled and Kaydy Cain decided to start a solo career. The crew in 2013 was big enough to settle in Barcelona and split into two bands: Pxxr Gvng and La Mafia del Amor, one of them, more urban and another one, more reggaeton style.

Over time they have managed to establish hymns as Perros Callejeros and placed Yung Beef as one of the absolute referents of the scene. Now they call themselves Los Santos and have created a universe of urban sounds from the production company La Vendición Records.

Pimp Flaco and Kinder Malo have come together to create a more mature and philosophical style related to the Spanish 90s hip hop. Both are able to overcome C. Tangana and the Pxxr Gang as the viral phenomena of the moment on YouTube and Spotify. Terremoto Turquesa uploads the quality demonstrating the maturity of the phenomenon in Spain.

On the other hand, Los Sugus make a different reggaeton from Barcelona. Their fusion works and their hot rhythms are part of the select catalog of La Vendición, where Yung Beef, La Zowi or Jamal Trump, and his trap about Trump, shine.

Trails Of Trap In Madrid

Madrid is addicted to this new urban rhythms, with places like the Ocho y medio Club. One of its stars is C. Tangana. His career began long before the so-called trap exploded and for that reason he doesn´t like the trap label. This rapper from Madrid shook the rudeness of Spanish hip hop with a more melodic style with influences such as Beastie Boys, Drake and Kanye West. His recent success has made him a reference of Spanish music.

Madrid receives a lot of urban talent, as Bejo. This self-taught Canarian is a self made producer trying to make his mark on the streets sound. Le Fay also left her land, Valencia, to try her luck in Madrid. Her sophisticated and committed lyrics make her into an artist to keep in mind.

Afrojuice 195 hit France with as much force as in Spain. Their fusion of Atlanta rap and European soocer had them become a underground celebrity with songs about Karim Benzema, José Mourinho and Paul Pogba. From Fuenlabrada to the neighborhood, making metaphors between their lives and those of the great soccer players, and having their music based on African rhythms designed to jump without rest. A demonstration of the relevance of the european football in this new scene.

Sounds From The South

From the south come fiery rhythms where the aggressive trap basses merge with flamenco spirit. The art of the south of Spain has submerged in the new street wave with a spectacular naturalness. In Andalusia, there is a lot of musical diversity with a nerve center like Malaghetto.

Malaga, the capital of the Costa del Sol, is producing some of the most interesting talents of the scene. One of them is Elegángster, an MC who has collaborated with the main names of the movement. His style is pure Atlanta. A different trend is symbolized by Petit Ribery with his lyrics about bad boys and his dark sound. His rhythm and rhymes in French are related to the Marseille rap. He is the face of the Malaghetto scene.

In Malaga, Stanpida also rhymes as part of Dope Dealers, crew and producer that come together many of the new emerging artists from the Andalusian city.

Granada is a usual refuge for crews from where the great b-boys, urban artists and musicians have succeeded. From there comes Dellafuente, a rapper more akin to hip hop than the trap, that has created a great community united by his project Dellafuente FC. A very creative way to unite music and fashion that anticipates many of the undeveloped concerns of this generation of artists.

It´s usual to see him composing with C. Tangana. Another of the representatives of this Granada scene is Toxic Widow, very active part of the collective PESI. His creativity flies now from Barcelona.

In Seville an acoustic drug that comes from LaDroga Lab has been extended. This company launched by Pedro LaDroga has created produce some of the most interesting Andalusian artists. His art has crossed borders and he has settled in Madrid. There, he continues developing a home style but tremendously imaginative that makes you listen to his songs again and again. Stay tuned for the interview he granted us.

Single Verses

Another of the capitals of the new scene is Baleares. Two big crews form the Ibiza sound that has created a unique sound universe. Cristo Corona makes a protesting rap that criticize some of his fellow generation. He is part of the Ibiza Hip Hop Players crew where you can find the combative hip hop of Toni Plana, Daniel Wave, JBC and Pablo Rosso.

Another referent of the island is the Konami Mafia, where Hwoarang stands out, a guy who spits rhymes with no fear about the consumerism, pretensions and evasion of tough realities. His rhythms have an Asian influence that makes it unique.

From Ceuta comes ardent sounds related to reggaeton. Soto Asa imagines the future of the Latin rhythm with much experimentation. In the north reigns Kaixo and his playful productions where electronics decorate witty lyrics about nights, street and drugs. He is one of the representatives of this batch of urban talent that includes in his songs critical rhymes with the system. Something that Lory Money also does in a different tone.

The trap outside the label is much more than a sound. It is a whole philosophy of life, daughter of a harsh social reality. Where is it going? We will see it in Showmoon Magazine and in our neighborhoods when night falls.