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A Look Back at Meme Rap

Started by 1999, Feb 20, 2021, in Music Add to Reading List

  1. 1999
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    1999

    Feb 20, 2021
    Remember when it seemed like all these meme rappers were actually getting careers off bs music? If you didn't support it it you were labeled an old head. Nowadays these artists are doing whatever they can to remain remotely relevant, even going as far as botting their streaming numbers. Guess they were just a product of the Trump years, where acting stupid and controversial netted you social media worth.








    These artist didn't seem to understand that those who used memes to further push their music did so with actual music. These manufactured meme stars put the jokes, antics and gimmicks up front and made the music secondary. Very few artists actually capitalized off their 'clout' and everybody that did went on to make good music, but not everyone can be Based god.

     
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  2. Michael Myers
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    Michael Myers Moderator

    Feb 21, 2021
    Was Pump considered meme rap with that gucci g--- song ? Or one hit wonder

    I kinda liked harvard dropout tbh. Not sure if he actually made another huge song after though
     
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  3. Chrollo
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    Chrollo ♱ كرولو

    Feb 21, 2021
    Ugly God is actually a pretty good artist who just happened to be a meme enthusiast also. He just rarely drops new s--- but Bumps & Bruises was a good album. Also this:

    I think Ugly God produced it too.
     
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  4. RetiredAccount
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    RetiredAccount Big Time Stuntin Like My Daddy

    Feb 21, 2021
    Lol Rich Brian is not a meme rapper
     
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  5. Antman
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    Antman No Cap

    Feb 21, 2021
    645ar is apart of the SOS Crew, and collectively, they make dope music. Idk how y’all can listen solo tho
     
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  6. Sav Stanfield
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    Sav Stanfield

    Feb 21, 2021
    ban-able offense tbh
     
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  7. 1999
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    1999

    Feb 21, 2021
    I could be wrong but I think pump is probably the biggest catalyst along with --- for a bunch of these young kids getting into silly music

    I think he was having label issues right? Either way I know he tried to make more serious music many people didn't cross over
    I actually didn't know he still made music until I came across the video last night, Ill check his stuff out sometime
     
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  8. 1999
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    1999

    Feb 21, 2021
    Yeah some of his older s--- is cool

    :AK47:
     
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  9. Chrollo
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    Chrollo ♱ كرولو

    Feb 21, 2021
    d--- that Doja song slaps
     
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  10. Ricky
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    Ricky Hip-Hop CEO ™

    Feb 21, 2021
    Where's

     
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  11. 1999
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    1999

    Feb 21, 2021
    [​IMG]
     
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  12. 1999
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    1999

    Feb 21, 2021
    that's actually the entire reason I made the thread lmao

     
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  13. RetiredAccount
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    RetiredAccount Big Time Stuntin Like My Daddy

    Feb 21, 2021
    His 2019 album The Sailor is really good and was reviewed quite well by critics
     
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  14. DKC
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    DKC hank trill

    Feb 21, 2021
    Out of the ones you posted, Bhad Bhabie and 6IX9INE are the biggest offenders imo.

    I wouldn't consider Ugly God meme rap—he's funny, a pretty proficient rapper, and produces his own s---. He did unfortunately get grouped in with that crowd.

    Dat $tick is definitely meme rap but from what I understand Rich Brian always wanted to be a rapper and he successfully used this build himself up.

    Pump only started rapping because people thought he was funny and smokepurrp told him to. I'm not saying dude is Einstein or anything but his whole schtick has always been the idiot savant who somehow failed upward to the billboard charts. I'd say his later career stuff is much more desperate and meme rap-like—some of his soundcloud stuff and early major label stuff I think is genuinely funny.

    I discovered this existed the other day and it makes me feel insane: on one hand, it seems like it was genetically engineered in a lab to go viral on rap twitter + be a tiktok dance...on the other, it's kind of a bop so maybe they succeeded?


    And then Toosie Slide is basically the TikTok Hokey Pokey. The lyrics might as well be:
    It go right foot up, left foot, slide
    Left foot up, right foot, slide
    Basically I'm sayin' this is how you do
    The TikTok Dance
     
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  15. RetiredAccount
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    RetiredAccount Big Time Stuntin Like My Daddy

    Feb 21, 2021
    I wouldn't call dat stick meme rap. Originally he thought that style would give him the most success , but was able to venture out. Its mostly a meme track because he was asian, unfortunately.
     
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  16. DKC
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    DKC hank trill

    Feb 21, 2021
    I also think we need to be clear that "being funny" isn't the same as being a meme rapper. One of my least favorite things is that hacky-white-comedian-at-open-mic-night joke archetype where they either willfully misunderstand a rap lyric or are too dumb to understand that a rapper is making a joke.
     
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  17. 1999
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    1999

    Feb 21, 2021
    I think meme rap is simply just rap that capitalizes on its or its video to be joked about. Lil Dicky isn't meme rap just because he's funny (not really but yknow)
     
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  18. DKC
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    DKC hank trill

    Feb 21, 2021
    You're right!
    "I think I wrote this in 2015, actually. I used to do a lot of comedy rap type stuff, and I just did it for fun. And then one day I was like, “Wow. What if I actually go in on this s---?” Because a friend of mine was a producer and he was like, “Let’s do a song, man!” And then I just went to his studio, he made a beat and I recorded to it. I was just wondering what would happen if I actually was serious on a song."

    For some reason I thought I remembered him saying the opposite basically. I think part of the reason it's considered meme rap is because of the music video, where he's dressed with a fanny pack with Hennessy and stuff—they sorta embraced the "a kid from Indonesia wouldn't normally make this type of music" thing.

    I'm not the hugest fan of his music (haven't heard his second album tho) but I've always thought he seemed like a genuinely good dude from the interviews I'd seen.
     
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  19. mow
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    mow long live flippa

    Feb 21, 2021
    Yung Lean is a p good crossover between memey and serious music
     
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  20. Pandemic
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    Pandemic

    Feb 21, 2021
     
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