Who invented the trap beat?
The evolution of hip-hop has seen it fluctuate from the slower drum patterns of the 1970s, inspired by funk and disco, to the faster-paced product, known as trap, that we have today. We can trace specific inflexion points where there has been a shift in the purpose of the music that artists have created in the genre, spawning sub-genres along the way.
Traditional hip hop, arising from the ghettos in the Bronx, saw artists such as Grandmaster Flash, Kool Herc, and Disco Wiz popularise the genre. As the music disseminated into the mainstream from the ghettos during the 1980s, artists such as Public Enemy, KRS-One, and Rakim ushered in the New School, which leaned towards a poetic approach with the aim of social change.
In the 1990s, hip hop evolved again with the birth of Gangsta Rap, pioneered by artists including NWA, Three 6 Mafia, and Dr. Dre. This strayed away from the music produced in the decade before by focusing on the harsh realities faced by those who lived in the lower socio-economic cities of America, often referring to gang-related violence.
Trap serves as an offshoot of Gangsta Rap and tends to revolve around themes that would be foreign to listeners of the sub-genres of hip hop that came before it. The word ‘trap’ comes from the places where drugs were made and sold in Atlanta, “trap houses”. It can be characterised by its use of crisp, fast-spaced snares, 808 kick drums and high hats, which may be played in double or triple time. Since its creation, trap has spread from the Southern United States, through Latin America and into Europe and Asia, where it has been infused with other genres of those regions.
Doctor in linguistic, literary and cultural Studies and co-author of the book Trapalogia, Max Besora, elaborates on why he believes the genre is so successful in the modern age: “Unlike hip hop, the global success of trap music has, among others, two possible explanations: firstly, it is very much related with the development and accessibility of technology and the social networks. It could be affirmed that trap is the first musical style where people without a discography or money to pay for a demo could make music from their computers. Posting these songs/videos onto digital platforms has become a revolution with the way of making, thinking and communicating music.”
Adding, “Meanwhile, its global success is directly related with the fact that many of the words of this type of music are generally aimed at social classes disadvantaged by the economic crisis and unemployment, independently of their place of origin. Thus, young people from all over the world, foreseeing a black future for themselves in the face of an unequal social system, feel this music like a prophecy that illustrates the path for them to follow.”
Who invented the trap beat?
But who can lay a claim to have been the first to produce a trap beat? Jon I García, in the 2018 book Historia del trap, traces the beginnings of the genre empirically to the United States. Noting that it subsequently spread into Latin America and Spain from there. Atlanta rapper, TI, claimed to have created the genre in an interview with Funkmaster Flex on Hot 97 FM.
Explaining, “With the exception of Outkast, let me think, Goodie Mob… with the exception of that, before I came in the game, it was Lil Jon, Outkast, Goodie Mob, OK so you had Crunk Music and you had Organized Noise. There was no such thing as trap music, I created that, I created that. I coined the term, it was [my] second album, it dropped in 2003.”
Adding, “After that, there was an entirely new genre of music created. An open lane for each of you to do what you do, and live your lives, on TV, and be accepted by the masses. The masses have accepted you ’cause I opened the door and you walked through it. Don’t forget who opened that door, cuz.”
While listening to the album, it may resemble what we know as trap, but it does not seem to hit the mark. The title track ‘Trap musik’ may claim, through repetition, that “This is trap music”, yet it lacks any conviction other than that. ‘24s’ is full of braggadocio, and ‘Rubber band man’ fails in the same way. The album is just too jovial, too similar to the hip hop of old, to be considered trap music.
Across town, a producer named Shawty Redd claims to have been the originator of the genre, creating beats characterised by their sinister nature. Influenced by the music composers created for horror films, Redd, aka Demetrius Lee Stewart, contributed to the production of and wrote the title track of Gucci Mane’s 2005 album Trap House. His version of trap is much closer to what we have today.
While it may be impossible to understand who the actual creator of the trap beat was, given hip hop’s propensity for evolution and mutation. It is certainly possible to appreciate what has come from those who are willing to explore the unknown. Who knows in which direction hip hop will evolve next?