1990s–2003: origins As hip-hop grew, it created many forms such as
gangsta rap, which shone more of a light on the dangerous lifestyle of those in impoverished American neighborhoods, and on political issues. As hip-hop mutated into gangsta rap, gangsta rap would then transform to trap, a new form of music, that followed a different thought process and different tones. Early producers creating trap music included
Lil Jon from
Atlanta,
Georgia, where the term originated as a reference to places where drug deals are made. Lil Jon, along with
Mannie Fresh from
New Orleans and
DJ Paul &
Juicy J from
Memphis, Tennessee worked with local acts in Atlanta including
Dungeon Family,
Outkast,
Goodie Mob, and
Ghetto Mafia. In 1992, one of the earliest records to release was
UGK's "Cocaine In The Back of the Ride" from their debut EP,
The Southern Way. Later in 1992, they released the popular "Pocket Full of Stones" from their major-label debut album
Too Hard to Swallow. It was also featured in the 1993 film
Menace II Society. In 1996,
Master P released his single "
Mr. Ice Cream Man" from his fifth studio album
Ice Cream Man. Fans and critics started to refer to rappers whose primary lyrical topic was
drug dealing as "trap rappers". David Drake of
Complex wrote that "the trap in the early 2000s wasn't a genre, it was a real place", and the term was later adopted to describe the "music made about that place".
2003–2015: rise in mainstream popularity During the early- to mid-2000s, trap music began to emerge as a recognized genre after the mainstream success of a number of albums and singles with lyrics that covered life in "the trap", drug dealing and the struggle for success. Since the 2010s, an array of modern trap producers have gained industry popularity, most notably
808 Mafia's
Southside and
TM88,
Sonny Digital,
Young Chop,
DJ Spinz,
Tay Keith and
Metro Boomin. Some producers expanded their range to other genres, such as
contemporary R&B (
Mike WiLL Made It) and
electronic music (
AraabMuzik). Future's single, "
Turn On the Lights", was certified gold and entered at number 50 on the
Billboard Hot 100 and Keef's "
I Don't Like" and "
Love Sosa" generated over 30 million views on YouTube, spawning a new subgenre within trap called
drill, or later called Chicago drill following the rise of the less-trap oriented,
grime-influenced UK drill. Music critics called drill production style the "sonic cousin to skittish
footwork,
southern-fried hip-hop and the
808 trigger-finger of trap". Young Chop is frequently identified by critics as the genre's most characteristic producer. and Young Chop identified Shawty Redd, Drumma Boy and Zaytoven as important precursors to the drill movement. "I Don't Like" inspired fellow Chicago native, notable hip-hop producer and rapper
Kanye West to create a remix of the song, which was included on his label
GOOD Music's compilation album
Cruel Summer.
Stelios Phili of
GQ called trap music "the sound of hip hop in 2012". In September 2013, American pop singer
Katy Perry released a song titled "
Dark Horse" featuring rapper
Juicy J, from her 2013 album
Prism; the song is credited with cementing trap music's place on the
Billboard charts. The song reached number one on the
Billboard Hot 100 by the end of January 2014.
2015–present: mainstream popularity in August 2015 In May 2015, trap music once again surfaced to the top of mainstream music charts as New Jersey rapper
Fetty Wap's hit single "
Trap Queen" peaked at number two on the US
Billboard Hot 100 chart. Fetty Wap's subsequent singles, "
My Way" and "
679", also reached the top 10 of the
Billboard Hot 100 chart. Brooklyn-based rapper
Desiigner gained major recognition in 2016 upon the release of "
Panda" as his debut single which topped the US
Billboard Hot 100 chart. The commercial success of trap songs also began to be assisted by
Internet memes, as was the case with
Rae Sremmurd and
Gucci Mane's 2016 song "
Black Beatles", which reached number-one on the
Billboard Hot 100 chart after exposure through the
Mannequin Challenge Internet phenomenon. Similarly, in 2017 the collaboration between
Migos and
Lil Uzi Vert "
Bad and Boujee", with the now popularly spread lyrics "Raindrop (drip), Drop top (drop top)" reached number-one after internet meme exposure.
2 Chainz released his fourth studio album
Pretty Girls Like Trap Music in June 2017. Rapper
Cardi B became extremely popular with her song "
Bodak Yellow", which topped the
Billboard Hot 100 in 2017. In 2013,
trap-influenced EDM came into the mainstream, popularized by producer
DJ Snake. In 2015, a new fusion of trap music named
Latin trap began to emerge. Spain was the first Spanish-speaking country to make trap music, with performers as the music group PXXR GVNG, formed by
Yung Beef,
Kaydy Cain, Khaled and the producer Steve Lean, who was a part of
808 Mafia. Latin trap is similar to mainstream trap in its themes of (the streets), hustling, sex, and drugs. Prominent artists of Latin trap include Bryant Myers,
Anuel AA, Miky Woodz, Almighty,
Maluma and
Bad Bunny. In July 2017,
The Fader wrote "Rappers from
Puerto Rico have taken elements of trap—the lurching bass lines, jittering 808s and the eyes-half-closed vibe—and infused them into banger after banger." Elias Leight of
Rolling Stone noted "[Jorge] Fonseca featured Puerto Rican artists like Anuel AA,
Bryant Myers and
Noriel on the compilation
Trap Capos: Season 1, which became the first "Latin trap" LP to reach number one on
Billboards
Latin Rhythm Albums chart." A
remixed version of Cardi B's single "Bodak Yellow" (which had previously reached number one on the US
Billboard Hot 100 chart), dubbed the "Latin Trap Remix", was officially released on August 18, 2017, and features Cardi B
rapping in Spanish with
Dominican hip-hop recording artist Messiah contributing a
guest verse. In November 2017,
Rolling Stone wrote that "a surging Latin trap sound is responding to more recent developments as it fuses with Reggaeton, embracing the slow-rolling rhythms and gooey vocal delivery popularized by Southern hip-hop". It is also described as "ushering in a new wave of
Internet-born music stars". On 5 May 2018, rapper and musician
Childish Gambino released "
This Is America", which is "built on the sharp contrast between jolly, syncretic melodies and menacing trap cadences". It debuted at number 1 on the
Billboard Hot 100 and was streamed over 65 million times in the first week of its release. In 2018, in promotion for his album
Dime Trap, T.I. opened a pop-up Trap Music Museum in
Atlanta: "We curated it from conception. The purpose of it was to acknowledge the most significant contributors to the culture. Secondly, inform those who may be least knowledgeable about the genre. And inspire those who are in the environment that inspires the genre." The museum also includes an
escape room entitled 'Escape the Trap'. In 2018, American pop-R&B singer
Ariana Grande incorporated trap elements in her fourth studio album,
Sweetener, while maintaining her signature pop-R&B sound. She furthered trap experimentation in "
7 Rings", "
Bad Idea", "
In My Head" and "
Break Up with Your Girlfriend, I'm Bored" from her fifth studio album
Thank U, Next. Both
Sweetener and
Thank U, Next were critical and commercial successes, with the former winning the
Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album, and the latter breaking numerous streaming records and spawning two number one singles on the
Billboard Hot 100. Grande's sixth studio album,
Positions, is largely a trap-inspired R&B-pop album. In 2019,
Lil Nas X's "
Old Town Road" crossed trap with
Western and
country music. In March 2019, the song debuted at number 19 on the
Hot Country Songs before being removed from the chart a week later. A
remix with
Billy Ray Cyrus was released on April 5, 2019, and later became the longest-running number one hip-hop single of all time and the overall longest consecutive number one single of all time on the
Billboard Hot 100, at 19 weeks, surpassing the record set by
Mariah Carey and
Boyz II Men's "
One Sweet Day" and
Luis Fonsi and
Daddy Yankee's "
Despacito" featuring
Justin Bieber. ==References==