[Music Genre] What is Cloud Rap? An Easy-to-Understand Guide to Its Characteristics, History, and Recommended Songs

It's rap, yet somehow it's so soothing it makes you sleepy. The beats are hazy, and the vocals melt deep within the reverb. When I first heard Clams Casino's "I'm God," I was confused, wondering, "Is ...
The Source Magazine

Exploring the Influence of Hip-Hop on Other MusicGenres

Hip-hop, which emerged from the streets of New York City in the late 1970s, has grown into a global cultural phenomenon. Its influence extends far beyond its own genre, permeating various musical ...
techtimes

SoundCloud Rap Producers Guide: Type Beats, Auto-Tune & Viral Track Culture

SoundCloud rap producers play a major role in shaping the modern underground rap scene, creating beats that help unknown artists gain massive attention online. With tools like FL Studio and auto-tune ...
Westword

Beats Bodega and River Are Building Up Denver’s Hip-Hop Scene

“I feel like a lot of business owners talk about community, but I don’t think they even know what community is. It’s just the trend where they’re like, ‘We have to say this, because it’s going to make ...
The New Yorker

For Elias Williams, the Hip-Hop Beat Machine Carries the Soul of Community

Hip-hop beat-makers are usually unseen. Not all sample-based producers are as reclusive as the torch-bearing loop artist Madlib, but even the most prominent among them are part of the backdrop. After ...
HotNewHipHop

Driven By The Beat: 10 Hip-Hop Songs That Were Made To Be Played Loud On The Road

Graphic created by HotNewHipHop. (Credit - Rachel Murray/Getty Images for Pandora, Paras Griffin/WireImage, Andy Abeyta/The Desert Sun / USA TODAY NETWORK) Link Copied to Clipboard! In honor of Black ...
Pitchfork

The Most Exciting Beats in Underground Rap Can Be Traced Back to Chicago’s Heyday

The best rap beats are nerdy as hell. Every drum placement, every melody, every chopped-up sample sends me down a YouTube rabbit hole trying to piece together the way a producer contorts and dissects ...
Shockya

From Drip to Rap: How Urban Streetwear Became the Soundtrack of Chinese Hip Hop

Explore how streetwear and hip‑hop culture in China feed each other, shaping youth identity and legitimising a once‑marginal ...
The Conversation

From breakbeats to the dance floor: How hip‑hop and house revolutionized music and culture

There was a time when artists representing two of America’s biggest homegrown musical genres wouldn’t get a look in at the Grammys. At this year’s awards, taking place on Feb. 2, hip-hop and house ...
CNN

Digging up rap’s roots: How African rhythms birthed American hip-hop

Osmic Menoe was a young kid in South Africa when he first fell in love with hip-hop culture during the late 1980s, at the height of the country’s anti-apartheid movement. But like so many, at first, ...

Why Is TikTok Full Of AI Viking Rappers? The AI-Generated Music Slop Trend Of Viking-Themed Hip-Hop Explained

Since the beginning of 2026, a flood of AI-generated music and videos built around Viking and Norse mythology aesthetics has swept social media. Here's how the AI Viking rap trend spread across ...