Scream Rap

Scream rap is a microgenre of hip-hop defined by shouted, screamed and heavily distorted vocals delivered over blown-out trap production. Emerging from the *SoundCloud* rap underground in the mid-2010s, it draws as much on hardcore punk and metal as on Southern trap, with performers such as *XXXTentacion*, *Scarlxrd* and *ZillaKami* pushing their voices into clipping and rasp. Beats favour crushed 808s, lo-fi recording artefacts and abrupt dynamic swings between numb melodic passages and full-throated choruses. Lyrically it centres on aggression, alienation, mental distress and mosh-pit provocation, and its brevity and volume made it a defining sound of late-2010s underground rap.