The Top Five Underground Hip-Hop Styles You've Never Heard Of

Sep 6
20:37

2011

Rob Dabney

Rob Dabney

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While mainstream radio hip-hop can often feel stale, if you scratch below the surface, there's an entire universe of underground hip-hop and its subgenres. Nearly every day a new crazy-sounding one is born.

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Underground hip-hop is a vast musical field indeed. While mainstream hip-hop songs on the radio seem to lack variety,The Top Five Underground Hip-Hop Styles You've Never Heard Of 	 Articles once you scratch the surface, there's an entire galaxy of underground hip-hop waiting to be discovered. 
In fact, the term "underground hip-hop" denotes little in the way of stylistic rules. Underground hip-hop songs can be anything from love ballads, say, to horror movie-style gore fantasies (in the case of the most graphic horrorcore rap songs). 
And while you may have heard of some underground hip-hop artists, there seems to be a new underground hip-hop subgenre every day. Here are five crazy ones you may not have heard of. 
Nerdcore: Who said hip-hop songs couldn't be full of SAT words? Nerdcore is just what it sounds like -- a subgenre in which hip-hop songs use overly literate lyrics and often focus on subject matter like computers and Star Wars. Top artists include MC Chris, MC Frontalot, and MC Paul Barman. 
Crunkcore: This sub-sub-genre is the one with the most tenuous connection to underground hip-hop as a whole. Crunkcore songs are less like straight hip-hop songs and more like serious cross-genre hybrids. 
Crunkcore mixes so-called "emo" or "screamo" rock elements with some of the more recognizeable elements of hip-hop songs, like minimalist Southern-style crunk beats and generic lyrical posturing. The most famous act to grow from this scene is probably 3OH!3, but more extreme ones from the scene include acts like Brokencyde and Millionaires. 
Ghettotech: Birthed in Detroit, this is a hybrid style that began as early as the '80s.  Ghettotech songs are as much dance music songs as hip-hop songs, fusing hip-hop-style vocals with elements of house, techno, and Miami bass music. Probably the most famous ghettotech artist is DJ Assault. 
Bounce music: This is a strictly New Orleans style of underground hip-hop that really first gelled in the early '90s. Based mainly on one specific, sparse beat, these hip-hop songs are driven by Mardi Gras-influenced call-and-response chants. Both the lyrics and the associated dances are often highly sexual. 
Horrorcore Rap: Horrorcore rap gets probably the worst rap because it's largely misunderstood. On the surface, a lot of horrorcore rap seems violent in subject matter. But no horrorcore rap artists expect their hip-hop songs to be taken literally. 
Rather, just like punk rock, the horrorcore rap aim is to be jarring and shocking. But a lot of horrorcore rap lyrical content comes from rather cartoonish sources, like artists' love of shlocky B-movies.

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