The last decade has seen a lot of rap move towards a darker and introspective sound. Major players such as Kanye West, Drake and Kendrick Lamar have taken on topics such as their own mental health, while dominant scenes such as drill in Chicago have reflected the violence in the city in which it was invented. In 2016, though, there has been a slight realignment towards fun rap that channels happiness above all else, something Chance the Rapper tagged #BlackBoyJoy, encouraging others to participate. A crop of new young rap stars hope to turn the tables toward euphoria, and flip rap classicism on its head.
Chance is the artist at the epicenter of this mood shift; critically lauded and liked within rapper circles and without, his latest mixtape, Coloring Book, was an expansive playground with enough room for Lil Wayne and Lil Yachty, and it united Kanye West with the Chicago Children’s Choir, T-Pain with Kirk Franklin. Chance’s music, and the sound of those in his inner circle – Noname, Jamila Woods and Saba – is joyful. It’s hopeful. It’s optimistic. His delivery is animated; his demeanor is excitable. He raps about love, drugs, faith and finding solace, and coats it all in optimism.
Chance has become the posterboy for a very particular kind of black joy in rap, but there are a handful of others doing similar work. Among the most popular of them is Lil Uzi Vert, a Philly rapper whose frolicking half-ballads only see teen romance through the dizzying frames of rose-colored glasses. Since breaking through in 2015, Uzi has been prolific, releasing a trio of doe-eyed, love-centric mixtapes – Luv is Rage, Lil Uzi Vert v the World, and The Perfect Luv Tape – and a collaborative project with Gucci Mane, 1017 v the World, before recently teasing Luv is Rage 2. His singsong is infectious (as on Scott & Ramona) and often even cheery (as on Ronda (Winners), and when he isn’t rapping, he’s dancing around hotel rooms.
A single degree of separation from Uzi, there’s Lil Yachty, the bubblegum rap star that’s a self-proclaimed King of the Teens. As if proving the very utility of his raps, Lil Yachty first became popular when his SoundCloud track, 1 Night, scored a viral comedy video. He makes fun, hook-first pop rap oblivious to songcraft and structure that doesn’t take itself too seriously, with very little interest in legacy and even less in rap canon. His production, which is mostly handled by friend Burberry Perry, evokes clouds, cotton candy and Super Nintendo. Many of the strongest moments in Yachty’s digital discography are distillations of cut scenes from Pixar and Super Mario that make it feel like you’re taking the scenic route through the early 00s on a Flying Nimbus.
On the opposite end of the spectrum from Yachty is DRAM, who recalls entire swaths of R&B history, both recent and distant. DRAM’s happy rap isn’t a far cry from Chance’s, warm and refreshing. But it has an added layer of soul and richness. In a recent interview on the Rap Radar podcast, Erykah Badu said DRAM is what would happen “if George Clinton, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, and D’Angelo had a baby”, and it’s easy to follow the lineage. There’s something distinctly neo-soul about his vocals, but there are traces of feel-good funk and manic ODB enthusiasm, too. It’s his ability to be so many different things at once that makes Broccoli, his sleeper hit with Lil Yachty, work so well and it’s why the song shot up the charts: it’s brazenly jolly.
In a different realm, but sharing a similar spirit, is Rae Sremmurd, the Mississippi party rap duo of brothers Swae Lee and Slim Jxmmi. Their music doesn’t have the effervescence of Yachty’s, and it isn’t imbued with positivity in the way that Chance’s is, but it’s a similar kind of carefree. Their glee is implicit in their energies, their youthful exuberance. The SremmLife credo is basically have as much fun as you can, as safely as you can, and it permeates their shows, their interviews, and, obviously, their songs. The smash single, Black Beatles, which rocketed up to the top of the Billboard chart, is Peak SremmLife – they’re young bulls living like old geezers with so much money on the floor that “they’re buying school clothes”. They’re young, rich and free.
These are just some of the primary voices helping bring balance to rap’s tone, adding some levity where there was mostly myth-making and legacy-building before, humorlessness and sedation. There is more than enough space for both to flourish, but it is crucial, especially in times like these, that feel-good music brings a little light to our lives. Rap, go forth and be merry.
