Spooky Season Holy Trinity: Drift Phonk, Shadow Rap And Dark Trap
Photo by Theo Moine on Unsplash.
It’s been a hard summer for me.
This is not to say there hasn’t been wonderful things happening this year, either. My professional life has been flourishing — I got a raise and promotion right before a new job that doubled my salary, and my music network has been very kind and supportive and generous with their resources. I’ve reached out to mentors for advice into some of my future endeavors and investments I’d like to take on, and I’ve even been a professional mentor to others this season, sharing my knowledge and experience with college students who may need the insight. All of this feels great, but with the undertone of no established friend group to call my own, this can get pretty lonely despite the hustle and bustle.
I hate to be a complainer, but my household has endured an endless strain of financial burdens, unfortunate series of events out of our control and the strangest of all: people showing their true colors. I thought with 30 around the corner, I would have a healthy community of friends by now, but as I’ve made more steps in my healing journey, the less people I have in my close circles. I’ve become more self-aware and cognizant of my own flaws, but I gotta say — never have I experienced so much petty drama, immaturity and backstabbing than in the years during and post-pandemic. 2020 to 2022 has been some of the most difficult years of my life internally, but this summer my eyes have been opened to who my real friends are. They are few and far in between, but the ones that I do have I am incredibly lucky to maintain.
Whenever I’ve found myself in a depressing place, music has always been my saving grace. My playlists are as varied as human emotions. I have a track for every kind of day and every mood. This summer I’ve found with all the negative things I’ve experienced, there are three genres I’ve reached for over and over: drift phonk, shadow rap and dark trap.
Wikipedia, Urban Dictionary and Reddit defines each as:
Drift Phonk: “Popularized by TikTok and the drift community in social media, "drift phonk" is a subgenre of phonk which emerged in Russia; its main features are the use of cowbells and high bass. It is generally used in lo-fi videos showing drifting cars.”
Shadow Rap: “Shadow Rap refers to a form of hiphop, whose distinguishing features include generally shorter track lengths (usually 2 to 4 minutes), and very aggressive and in-your-face lyrics. The beats are usually spacey and dark sounding, and have samples from obscure sources (Windows 98, old sitcoms, anime).”
Dark Trap: “a form of trap music that combines very heavy sample use, glitch effects, combinations of slow and rapid melodies, and intense bass in order to create a chaotic, creepy, or even demonic vibe.”
I cannot control other people’s actions, but I can control what I allow myself to be influenced by, and what disturbs my peace. Being able to use these genres to vent some of my frustrations at my current situation has been a part of my therapy. I’ll put on Spotify playlists within these categories while I’m working out or commuting to my job or appointments. Over the past couple of months, I’ve identified a few big names in the craft that have quickly risen to my ‘favorites’:
Lil Darkie
I’ve mentioned this guy before in my previous blogs, but we can’t talk about shadow rap without giving Lil Darkie a nod of recognition. He rose to fame on Tik Tok with some viral hits and since then, he’s been spearheading the genre and serving us guttural, screaming bars that are enough to melt your face off. If you feel like punching something, give him a try first.
Favorite Tracks: AMV, Batshit and Kali Ma!
Sxmpra
Swiftly becoming a contender in the craft, Sxmpra has been my go-to artist for lifting weights, anger venting and stoplight karaoke… if I can keep up. Characterized by lightning-speed stanzas, spooky vibes and lyrics often calling out haters, nothing makes me feel better after a bad day than by blasting a few of these guys’ songs. Challenge for you: see how quickly you can memorize the words! You’ll know what I mean when you listen through.
Favorite Tracks: Step Back!, Holy Smokes and Rampage
Istasha
One of the first artists besides Lil Darkie that I discovered as I dug into these genres. Probably the weirdest on my list aesthetically, Istasha is creepy, otherworldly and a whole ass vibe. Rocking the raspy-deep-voice trend made famous by Corpse on Tik Tok, I would say he’s one of the more poetic of this bunch, with lyrics you have to dissect, which I love. His music makes you think, and makes you want to dance at the same time.
Favorite Tracks: Fever Dreams, Dried Out Feathers and Squishy Caterpillars Riding On Bullets
Kamaara
When I’m in the mood for something a little more… risque, this guy is the one to pick. With a very dance-able style, Kamaara’s beats are fun, while maintaining the dark, chaotic themes that make Dark Trap what it is. While I will admit, his lyrics are sometimes on the vulgar side for me, I still find myself wishing someone would play his songs in the club sometime.
Favorite Tracks: Techo Thot!, MoodSwings and I Wanna Bitch Like Dillion Harper
Dxrk
We can’t talk about genres like Drift Phonk without giving credit where it’s due, and Dxrk was truly the one that launched this style of music into the mainstream. After going viral on Tik Tok, it’s almost impossible not to scroll through the For You Page without one of his tracks coming up. Really embodying all that is phonk, his music is characterized by obscure sources (including some animes), lo-fi beats and spooky undertones and themes.
Favorite Tracks: Rave, Cloud and Phonk Web.
Honorable Mentions I Can’t Ignore:
$uicideboy$, Ghostmane, Nascar Aloe, Kordhell, OmenXIII
I could honestly write novels about each separate genre and their differences, but if you’re going through shit too, I highly recommend using music as a form of release. On this blog I talk about joyful sects of the art a lot, like EDM, bluegrass and funk, but I can’t hold space for these without also holding equal space for the darker sides of life. Sometimes we go through periods of calm, and sometimes there are storms. I remember more of the songs that got me through gloomy times than the ones I cruised through, and that’s got to mean it’s something special, in its own way.
As I go through this transitional phase of my life, I hope to gather more friends into my community that can appreciate all genres, from the happy ones to the sad ones to the fun and back again. I’ve always said music is the most raw expression of the human experience I could possibly imagine, and I’m thankful I have access to the resources of drift phonk, shadow rap and dark trap to help me through these difficult intervals.
