TRXP METXL
One of the silver linings to getting older—at least while being a music culture enthusiast—is getting to experience the birth and, sadly, sometimes the death of some pretty important (most often underground) musical movements. My major in school was Political Science, so I have respect for written history and all that can be learned from a book, but there really is such a unique and rich understanding to be had from experiencing something firsthand. Trap metal is one of the genres I'm most glad to be here to experience firsthand—getting to watch it grow from its nascent stage of a myopic sound and often pastiche collection of songs to a full-blown, diverse micro-genre with several style variations for fans to enjoy.
I grew up in a punk rock and heavy metal household and often think of myself as "second generation alternative." I'm also the middle child to two siblings who both blast heavy and hardcore music. So truthfully, I'm the last person who wants to contribute to any of the negative stereotypes that normies have about the scene, but at the same time, it wouldn't be very punk rock or metal of me if I didn't keep it 100 and tell it like it is. Widely accepted and tolerated racism—both explicit, in the form of openly racist bands with hate lyrics that use swastikas and other Nazi symbols, and implicit, in the form of regularly used racial slurs at pretty much any show or party—are some of the things you can expect in the scene. Thankfully though, to every action, there’s a reaction, so we’ve been blessed with some very progressive and fully inclusive rocker scenes to make up for it.
The other side to the punk rock and heavy metal scenes are some of the most progressive, post-racist, post-classist communities you can find out there—and that's where you'll find the new genre of Trap Metal firmly planted. It's approachable and richly diverse in its demographic. It's such a "zoomer" scene in the sense that it's serious about the things in life that really matter but doesn't take itself so seriously that it ends up policing you into uniformity. Gen X was too nonchalant; Millennials are too self-righteous—Gen Z behaves like they care but talks like they don't. They live in and create nuance.
Trap Metal has successfully done what Nu-metal "tried too hard" to do in the late ’90s. The Nu-metal scene was mostly made up of "rocker bros", and some POC folx cracking forced smiles through all of the cringe shit that pampered Gen X'ers would say. Turns out we needed the maturity that came with a "post-bro" culture to successfully hybridize Hip-Hop and Rock in a way that isn't cheugy af.
This playlist gives you a sample of the variety of artists currently out here making Trap Metal music. List is updated bi-weekly.
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TRXP METXL playlist
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