“This style is very different from other rap, it’s distinct with a punk-rap style,” comments 12th grader Gavin Torrez on Pluggrnb rapper Playboi Carti’s album “Whole Lotta Red,” from 2020.
Despite this modern rap album redefining the boundaries of the genre with unconventional sound effects and production, it was the top album on Billboard’s album chart in 2020.
This sound, which can be described as punk, rap, and rock, is unique to Playboi Carti. However, it is no wonder that his label and other artists that take inspiration are starting to gain new popularity, causing more musicians to explore the genre. This new genre, known as pluggrnb, has emerged from Tiktok as well as Soundcloud, and has since been regarded as one of the most prominent uprising albums.
Other artists known for this style of rap are Ken Carson and Lil Uzi Vert. Ken Carson was signed to Playboi Carti’s record label “Opium Records,” back in 2019 along with Destroy Lonely and Homicide Gang. Carson, however, is regarded more similar to Carti with his high-pitched percussion and heavily autotuned voice, making for an interesting and unique type of music.
Tiktok has especially pushed forth songs from these artists, heavily popularizing the genre. Whether it’s Ken Carson’s “Yale,” which has over 79,000 videos made using this song on TikTok, or Lil Uzi Vert’s “Just Wanna Rock,” with almost a million videos made. It cannot be denied that platforms such as TikTok have encouraged users to listen to these artists, making Pluggrnb more mainstream.
Though the origins of this genre are an unknown fact, what is known is that this genre will continue to be popularized with the influence of the previous artists listed, likely continuing to become what is known as “general” rap.
