We believe the use of relative metrics like listener to follower ratios, “ event decay” or less familiar data sources like Wikipedia help get to what is really the most bankable of variables: curiosity/love of the artist and true fan engagement with their content.
Most of the time, it’s just a “who’s got the most” game.Ī major focus of Chartmetric is looking for Music Analytics 2.0…or what we believe will be the next level of our industry’s business intelligence. In the modern music business, professionals are deluged with key performance indicators (KPIs) like Spotify spins, Apple Music playlist placements, Instagram followers, YouTube views…the list never ends. If you’re enjoying, check out our 3-minute podcast, the “ Daily Data Dump ”, available on all major platforms. With such non-mainstream sounds and dark themes, it’s less likely that “emo rap” will ever eclipse the power of wedding-friendly Ed Sheeran ballads or clear-the-dance-floor Bruno Mars party joints…so searching for who has the most followers/streams/views might not be the best way to gauge such content. “I’m in pain, wanna put ten shots in my brain / I’ve been trippin’ ‘bout some things, can’t change / Suicidal, same time I’m tame / Picture this, in bed, get a phone call / Girl that you f*cked with killed herself” - Jocelyn Flores by XXXTentacion All are empowered with social media reach.
Some are completely independent artists, some with a label. Many of them draw influence from early ’00s punk and alternative rock bands- Foo Fighters to Chief Keef and Kid Cudi (Chicagoland’s Juice WRLD), as well as Nirvana, Papa Roach and the Fray ( XXXTentacion).
Its artists typically make beats with software and upload directly to sites like SoundCloud or YouTube. Genius’ breakdown of “emo rap” (Sept 2017), here focusing on the late Lil PeepĮmo rap, SoundCloud rap.
But references to Notorious B.I.G.’s 1994 “Suicidal Thoughts”, Tupac’s or Eminem’s frequent themes of dark introspection in the 1990s/2000s, or large swaths of Kid Cudi’s work in the late 2000s/early 2010s would surely refute that idea.īut what does seem to be unprecedented is the high-profile commercial success of several male rappers in a machismo-laden genre that don’t just dip their toes in such taboo topics such as depression, anxiety, and suicide: it’s their signature. Unless you’ve been a decades-long rap fan, it’s tempting to say that their emotionally-raw and vulnerable rap lyrics are a new thing. But the youthful malaise and diversion from the mainstream is timeless: they echo the spirit of Sid Vicious and Kurt Cobain more than they do today’s Jay-Z or Cardi B. With a steadily growing following, brash yet introspective “emo rap” artists such as Juice WRLD or Lil Uzi Vert could be seen as one of music’s newer trends. By Gillian Robins, David Choi and Jason Joven