The Rage Generation

Rap’s Newest Subgenre is Officially a Full-Blown Movement.

You live long enough to realize that life happens in cycles.

The same trends that once defined your generation become uncool by the time you’re an adult, only to resurge again once you’re a parent looking for cushy shoes and an ergonomic chair.

Same with stars. They come and go. And some experience a resurgence.

The song of the summer becomes a throwback. Then it becomes a sample.

Once a man, twice a child, as they say.

It’s all a cycle.

Hip-hop itself is cycling out of a decade-plus of Trap music and into something that closely resembles its 80s sibling, Punk. The festival circuit already knows it, and the radio is catching up as the stars of this generation start to cement themselves.

And with Complex’s announcement of its most recent ComplexCon lineup, there’s one clear takeaway:

THE RAGE GENERATION HAS FULLY ARRIVED.

Their presence has been growing for a while, but now that we’re halfway through the year, we should take an in-depth look at what Rage is, where it’s headed, and what the subgenre is all about.

I. TRAP WAS ONCE DISRUPTIVE…

Before anything, we have to start with where we’ve been over the past 15-ish years: Trap music.

Trap went from regional slang to a musical sound to a sub-genre of Rap to the standard sound of pop music. To that end, “Trap” has become something that lives completely outside of Hip-hop culture.

Now you’ve even got subgenres of Trap, including “EDM trap” and “dub-step trap”—what are they? Only God knows, but that’s what happens with culture. It starts underground, becomes mainstream, and once it's oversaturated, the youth move to invent something.

As Trap has become commoditized, producers & artists from the SoundCloud era were finding ways to push the sound & aesthetic further. The sounds that defined trap music, like hi-hat rolls and lead synths, became harsher, more electronic, and more frantic than their trap predecessors.

II. PUNK & HIP-HOP WERE ALWAYS SIBLINGS

“Fab 5 Freddy told me everybody's fly" - Blondie, Rapture

Punk Music began its ascent in the mid-70s, with groups like The Ramones laying the foundation, while Hip-hop music entered the cultural zeitgeist in the late 80s.

Rappers like Fab 5 Freddy helped bridge the gap through his event Beyond Words, which brought together emcees, graffiti artists, and punk rockers all in one place. The Punk Rock group Blondie even mentioned Freddie in their 1980 single “Rapture” — further showing how tight the two underground communities were.

In fact, just a year after Blondie name-dropped Fab 5 Freddie, a British punk rock band, The Clash dropped “The Magnificent Seven,” inspired by The Sugar Hill Gang’s “Rapper's Delight” (the first Hip-hop single to reach radio play in 1979).

As we get deeper into the 80s, artists like the Beastie Boys, who were originally Punk Rockers under a different name, blended the sounds of Rock and Rap throughout their new work. Rick Rubin, who was also a punk rock kid and equally interested in hip-hop, was at the helm of the production, further blending the two worlds.

Moreover, groups like Public Enemy collaborated with Anthrax, a heavy metal band, on records such as “Bring the Noise.”

Then, as we move into the early 2000s, we see the emergence of Bands like N.E.R.D., who continued the rock-rap wave in the mainstream.

And finally, in the 2010s, Ye dropped Yeezus, which marked another sonic shift in Hip-hop music; The sound was industrial and raw, like an 80s record, with the visuals and overall spirit of a Punk record. From there, we see the emergence of Travis Scott and the very early sonics of Rage start to take form.

III. DEFINING THE NEW SOUND: RAGE

Much of what youth call “Rage” music is what Millennials and X’ers reference as “Soundcloud Rap” or “Mumble Rap.”

This was around 2014 — by then, music production & recording was fully accessible, and the barriers to reaching consumers were so low that one could record straight from their phone and upload to SoundCloud. No mix or master required.

In the years since, Rage has become a full-blown community, much like Trap was, and producers anchoring the sound include F1thy (Carti’s longtime producer), Bnyx, starboy, and more.

The synths are dark & electronic; a derivative of Trap leads and melodies, while the drums are more distorted than their predecessor. The vocals range from muddled and hard to understand to distorted and emotionally charged.

A. THE OVERLOOKED BRIDGE

When asked about the pioneers of Rage, three names usually pop up — Playboi Carti, Trippie Redd, and Uzi Vert. However, before them there was a rapper in Atlanta whose meteoric hit ushered in the genre.

In 2014, OGMaco dropped “U Guessed It” at the tail end of The Blog Era, and it became an instant favorite. It was different - built for moshing and tearing the club up. Maco even took up the moniker Lord of Rage;

Much of what happens with the Rage genre begins after his single cut through on the radio.

B. SOUNDCLOUD TURNS PAIN INTO DISTORTION

Another definitive shift in the space happened when an unknown artist named XXXTentacion (or XXX for short) went viral for the song “Look At Me!” — his rise underscored a shift in Hip-hop towards emo, with rappers rapping about mental health and more.

His music was distorted and harsh on purpose; it was a texture that helped convey the music's emotion — something that often gets lost in the process of mixing/mastering an album.

XXX followed up with his debut album “17,” which was praised by other emcees at the top of the industry, including Kendrick, and though he passed before seeing the full extent of his influence, the mark he left was indelible.

Around that same time, we also see the emergence of Rico Nasty, who deserves her own category because her work predates much of the rage-related conversation.

She was punk. She was Hip-hop. She was something that the game hadn’t seen before. And as the Rage movement began to take shape, she was pushing the sound and aesthetic before they were popular.

By the late 2010s, SoundCloud also gave rise to two other aforementioned pioneers of the genre: Trippie Redd & Lil Uzi Vert.

Together with Playboi Carti, the trio is essentially 'The Big 3’ of Rage music. Trippie dropped songs like “Miss The Rage,” which is a Rage classic, while Uzi’s entire sound & aesthetic embodied the genre. His project “Luv Is Rage 2” was a transitional moment that catapulted him into superstardom.

IV. THE CULT OF CARTI

In the late 2010s, Playboi Carti’s popularity began to grow into a cult-like following — one that hadn’t been seen since the Blog era days. He had formed a strong connection with the A$AP crew in NY and eventually signed to A$AP Rocky’s AWGE, where he dropped his debut album, “Die Lit,” to much acclaim.

As the years progressed, Carti’s sound and aesthetic evolved, and he would even note that much of his artistry was inspired by Punk artists.

As his sound progressed from the Pierre Bourne-produced “Magnolia” back to his roots, the seeds of the Rage movement were being actively planted.

By the end of the 2010s, rumors that he was finally dropping his next project, “Whole lotta Red,” gripped the internet. When it finally dropped, WLR became a definitive moment for Rage Music. An album as important to the sub-genre as Illmatic is to 90s Hip-hop.

With ‘Whole Lotta Red, ’ Carti was no longer just the fashionable Atlanta rapper behind “Magnolia.” He was King Vamp: an elusive, red-haired figure dressed in leather, crosses, Rick Owens, and black nail polish. He became a mythical figure.

The reaction to WLR was polarizing, as it was a complete sonic shift, one that fans of his debut ‘Die Lit’ had never expected. But its success turned Carti into a superstar, and further positioned the Rage movement for success.

Its arrival was only topped by the arrival of his late-2025 project, “I AM MUSIC,” which, despite having no major single on the radio, no album rollout, or music video, still sold roughly 300k in its first week — something that only music superstars across all genres accomplish these days.

V. OPIUM BECOMES AN INSTITUTION

As Playboi Carti ascended, he started his own imprint 00pium (often stylized with two zeroes instead of an “O”), in partnership with Interscope Records.

Many of the artists at the forefront of Rage (Ken Carson and Destroy Lonely, for example) are signed to Playboi Carti’s Opium imprint and have dropped songs and projects considered pillars of the sound. Ken Carson'

To that end, Carti’s fashion also became a fixture for fans who quickly gravitated towards his style, leading to the emergence of “Opiumcore” online. Some loosely refer to the aesthetic as“vamp,” and there’s another imprint associated with the next wave of artists on Opium called “Young Vamp Life.”

Millennials who are befuddled by all this can use Goth as a quick reference. The key difference is that brands like Chrome Hearts and Rick Owens serve as the uniform of this generation’s fashion.

Much like the sound, Opiumcore's clothing is dark, and the hairstyles give off a 1980s post-punk vibe (teased hair, distressed tees, leather jackets/pants, winged eyeliner, etc.).

EPILOGUE

Though 00pium gave Rage a solid foundation, artists like Yeat showed that the sound could survive outside their crew; his run in the early 2020s is often cited as a key part of the movement.

Moreover, there are other acts in the space that should be on everyone’s radar, including SoFayGo, Baby Kia, and Tia Corine, who’ve been putting Punk & Black Alternative culture at the forefront, before there was ever such a thing as Rage.

The Rage scene has been forming for a while, and the Complex Con announcement is the latest indication that commercially this will be (one of) the next waves to hit.

While there are other sounds forming underground, if you’re an older Hip-hop fan and wondering why you’re seeing & hearing some of the names above, hopefully this gives you some context.

If anything, as I get older, I’m always interested in seeing where the next generation takes things.

Rage isn’t my bag, but as long as the youth push the culture forward, that’s really all you can ask for. It’s up to the OGs to guide their steps in the meantime.

One.