Juice WRLD death sends shudder through ‘SoundCloud rap’ world

The shock death of artist Juice WRLD has renewed mainstream focus on the “SoundCloud rappers,” a hip hop subgenre whose angsty, jagged sound has taken the internet — and the charts — by storm. The unpolished movement takes its name from the Berlin-headquartered platform where its artists launched to fame, a streaming site started in 2007 that lends itself to discovery without the traditional gatekeepers. But once seen as hip hop’s disruptors, the scene is increasingly succumbing to a tragic fate: rapper Juice WRLD’s weekend death, causes still unknown, was only the latest to strike the subgenre. The DIY site SoundCloud once was rap’s Wild West, where wannabe musicians uploaded their rough, often emotionally vulnerable music, promoting it to their digitally savvy fan base elsewhere on social media. The movement’s aesthetic fed the music’s virality: neon-dyed dreads bloomed from rappers’ skulls like mushrooming highlighter bouquets, as their signature facial tattoos promoted traction on sites like Instagram.