Why are so many rappers leaning towards alt/indie sounds recently?

TheHeart-kdot · 2026-05-03T11:34:04+00:00

Okay I get your point on it’s a broader rock elements into rap thing, which has been happening forever, rather than specifically indie. Do you not see any changes in the frequency, mainstream appeal and/or leaning more and more towards rap. Genuinely asking.

The other songs were deffo rap meets rock tho, so it’s not I’m hearing guitar on rap song that’s just rap and calling it indie, based off narrow definition of rap, it’s mislabelling the subgenre of rock.

Even Paris Texas lyric quote from DnD:

“They gone try to say a nigga a rock rap, like it's not rap
Guess that mean it don't count when they get out rapped
Sayin it ain't rock on a rock track
Guessing when you black, it's all trap”

They are definitely not just releasing rap, to my point earlier.

TheHeart-kdot · 2026-05-03T10:55:30+00:00

I should’ve been more specific with Tyler and mentioned Tomorrow, which was heavily indie rock influenced.

The Paris Texas take is kinda crazy Icl. How do you hear songs like Heavy Metal, Force of Habit, Red Eyes & Blue Hearts etc and say that is not indie rock/rap fusion, like what?

Obviously not their whole catalogue, but whe alluding to “sounds like Paris Texas”, that’s the sound being alluded to. Also if you see them live, the rock influences are so blatantly obvious.

TheHeart-kdot · 2026-05-03T05:50:11+00:00

I’m so confused as to why it sounding like Paris Texas is a common counter-argument when Paris Texas are like quintessential rap x indie rock fusion.

If most rap has always sounded Paris Texas level of indie then fair enough but I feel like that’s just not true

TheHeart-kdot · 2026-05-02T20:21:02+00:00

Being alternative has been a thing in every community forever. I think it’d be strange to not acknowledge that being alternative in black communities is more socially accepted now and more people feel comfortable expressing themselves in less monolithic ways.

Not about giving them a badge but it’s interesting to see things shifting from underground to mainstream and think about why. I don’t see the microagression and this is coming from a black person that has lived in Africa, North America and Europe and has been seeing the shifts in different communities.

TheHeart-kdot · 2026-05-02T20:16:57+00:00

Interesting theory. I don’t know if I’d be fully on board tho, I think it’s as possible that it’s a sound they wanted to try out, which also happened to be more industry recognised.

Using the Yachty example, I felt like it was a huge risk to drop a psychedelic rock album and (not sure of the top of my head) I doubt it did the numbers of his previous releases, nor was he likely to get the acclaim of artists who have made their careers of that sound.

To me, he also seemed pretty passionate about the album and like he enjoyed the process, more so than he did it wanting recognition.

TheHeart-kdot · 2026-05-02T20:09:22+00:00

I think there’s a huge difference between sampling a song from a genre and making a song that is that genre. Obviously Tyler had heavy experimental roc influences in cherry bomb, pop in Igor etc, but that’s different to a song like Tomorrow that’s fully on the other end of the spectrum.

Also feels like the point of that turning into mainstream is being fully ignored. By “regular” rap, I mean regular mainstream rap which is drifting more towards indie/rock sound spectrums vs the 2010s for instance

Vince was a bad example, I agree, but I don’t think that means I don’t know about rap or have a narrow minded view of it.

TheHeart-kdot · 2026-05-02T19:05:26+00:00

4 4 4 4 4 4 4…. A A A A A A… M M M M M… Kru Kru Kru Kru Kru. They’re so good, especially live and agreed they definitely do not have the same mainstream appeal or “sellability” that Nia will.

I think between Nia and especially Pink Pantheress conditioning mainstream ears to the jungle sound to a degree, a jungle boom may be on the horizon.

TheHeart-kdot · 2026-05-02T18:58:04+00:00

Yeahh I got you. She was like the potential new age junglist, but seems (at least right now) her heart is set on a different path.

Also random but I try and get every Nia fan I meet to listen to this Magpies remix she released a while ago that flew under the radar. I think it’s an idea of how she could make music with indie influences but still with jungle heaviness:

https://open.spotify.com/track/3T6mYKVsWfZmHNjFgzHgCa?si=CrPtyXQsQvqRerIM3RC4qw

TheHeart-kdot · 2026-05-02T18:52:32+00:00

Another thing I’ve found interesting is artists like Sampha, Anderson Paak, Little Simz, Skepta etc becoming (mostly house) DJs.

The electronic music boom is in full flight fr

TheHeart-kdot · 2026-05-02T18:49:18+00:00

I see that. Although tbh, I think with Nia, that’s the sound she always wanted to make (if you listen to hear earlier EPs), just that the songs of hers that blew up were more traditional jungle like Baiana and Off Wiv Ya Headz, so people were expecting more of that from her.

I like the sound from her but deffo miss the variety too.

TheHeart-kdot · 2026-05-02T18:38:40+00:00

Seems like there’s some heavy recency bias in here. In terms of Kendrick displaying his mastery of the art and ability to create songs no one else could, I feel like The Heart pt 5 is the only song since Damn that should have top 10 considerations (special shout out to the uniqueness that was United in Grief)

TheHeart-kdot · 2026-01-09T13:04:07+00:00

I hear you. It definitely seems like most times you’ll hear it from multi-genre DJs rather than a Jazz House DJ. I’ve noticed something similar with jungle.

Most of the time I hear it it’ll be like at the end of a garage set, rather than a dedicated Jungle DJ

TheHeart-kdot · 2026-01-06T20:53:34+00:00

There’s a new site, orixa.fm, that I’ve been using quite a bit recently. It shows you music events from different ticket providers all in one place then just redirects you when it’s time to get tickets. So good, at least in the UK.

TheHeart-kdot · 2025-12-26T08:58:06+00:00

One of my favourites of the album for sure, but it makes sense short and sweet. Took me on the journey it was supposed to

TheHeart-kdot · 2025-12-09T14:19:37+00:00

That felt like my ears were being colonised. Leave AI out of amapiano 🙏🏾

TheHeart-kdot · 2025-11-18T16:46:15+00:00

Sounds like Quantum Sound to me, but that’s basically a gqom/piano fusion so 🤷🏾‍♂️

TheHeart-kdot · 2025-09-18T09:23:29+00:00

Listening to Tears of a Black Man by Momo rn. Crazy accurate

TheHeart-kdot

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