Sex, drugs, violence and face tattoos: mumble rap explained

Also known as SoundCloud rap or emo rap, this new sub-genre of hip-hop mixes melodic tunes with slurred misogynistic lyrics about prescription opiates, pornographic sex, anxiety, loneliness and depression

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6ix9ine was charged with ‘the use of a child in a sexual performance’.

Published: 8:33pm, 9 Apr 2018Updated: 8:33pm, 9 Apr 2018

Some will tell you adulthood starts at 18, others 21, but actually it’s when you come across some pop music that you can’t comprehend on any level. From Elvis Presley to Miley Cyrus, every generation has musicians who have adults harrumphing under baffled brows as teenagers gleefully proclaim their genius, and the current example is mumble rap.

Also dubbed emo rap or SoundCloud rap, this is an offshoot of mainstream hip-hop characterised by quietly mournful or noisily distorted production, rapped over by pan-racial MCs with an upscale skate punk aesthetic.

Face tattoos are de rigueur – one minor rapper in the scene, Arnoldisdead, has one of Anne Frank covering his entire right cheek – and the lyrical fixations are drugs and coldly pornographic sex.

Xxxtentacion’s mugshot after his arrest for domestic abuse.

These are topics covered in rap since day one, but are now also paired with an awareness of the spiritual vacuum in these pursuits, as rappers reference anxiety, loneliness and depression, before self-medicating again.

The amorality isn’t necessarily just a pose: XXXTentacion, whose new album reached No 1 in the US last month, will soon be tried on domestic abuse charges of sickening violence, while 6ix9ine, whose rainbow-coloured teeth make him look like a poorly storyboarded slasher film protagonist, has pleaded guilty to the “use of a child in a sexual performance”.

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