| Horrorcore | |
|---|---|
| Stylistic origins | Hardcore hip hop, gangsta rap, death metal |
| Cultural origins | Early 1990s United States |
| Typical instruments | Emceeing - Drum machine - Turntables - Sampler - Keyboard |
| Mainstream popularity | Largely underground, but some groups and artists have received mainstream success |
Horrorcore is a subgenre of hip hop music based in horror-themed lyrical content and imagery. While the style is underground in popularity, some performers have sold well in the mainstream scene.
Contents |
History
The stylistic origins of horrorcore can be traced to a number of artists in the early 1990s. The Geto Boys' fourth album, We Can't Be Stopped (1991), has an album cover that depicts a suicide attempt and includes the song "Chuckie", based on the character Chucky from the horror film Child's Play.[1][2] Ganksta N-I-P's debut album, The South Park Psycho (1992), includes the song "Horror Movie Rap" which samples the soundtrack from the 1978 film Halloween.[1][2] The group Insane Poetry, on their debut Grim Reality (1992),[1][3] and Esham, with Boomin' Words from Hell (1989), both incorporated horror imagery with their lyrics.[1][4] Kool Keith claims to have "invented horrorcore".[5] While there is much debate over who first coined the term, its use did not gain prominence until 1994,[1] with the release of Flatlinerz' U.S.A. (Under Satan's Authority)[1][6] and Gravediggaz' Niggamortis (released in the U.S. as 6 Feet Deep).[7][8]
While the genre as a whole is not popular with mainstream audiences, performers such as Insane Clown Posse, Twiztid and Necro have sold well.[1] The genre has thrived in Internet culture and sustains an annual "supershow" in Detroit called "Wickedstock".[9] According to the January 2004 BBC documentary Underground USA, the subgenre "has a massive following across the US" and "is spreading to Europe".[9] Horror magazine Fangoria put horrorcore in the spotlight by reviewing the top iconic horrorcore albums. [10]
Characteristics
Horrorcore defines the style of hip hop music that focuses around horror-influenced topics that include Satanism, cannibalism, suicide and murder. The lyrics are inspired by horror movies over moody, hardcore beats.[11] According to rapper Mars, "If you take Stephen King or Wes Craven and you throw them on a rap beat, that's who I am."[12] Horrorcore was described by Entertainment Weekly in 1995 as a "blend of hardcore rap and bloodthirsty metal."[13] The lyrical content of horrorcore is sometimes described as being similar to that of death metal, and some have referred to the genre as death rap.[14] Horrorcore artists often feature dark imagery in their music videos and base musical elements of songs upon horror film scores.[14]
Notable representatives
- Blaze Ya Dead Homie [15][16]
- Brotha Lynch Hung[17]
- Cage[18][19]
- D12 and Eminem[20][21]
- Esham and Natas[1][22]
- Flatlinerz[6]
- Ganksta N-I-P[1][2]
- Geto Boys[1][2]
- Gravediggaz[1][7]
- Insane Clown Posse[1]
- Insane Poetry[1][3]
- KidCrusher[23]
- King Gordy[24]
- Mars[25]
- Necro[26]
- Prozak[27]
- Tech N9ne[28]
- Three 6 Mafia[29]
- Twiztid[30]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Hess, Danielle (2007). "Hip Hop and Horror". in Hess, Mickey. Icons of Hip Hop. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 369. ISBN 0313339031.
- ^ a b c d Hess, Mickey (2007). "The Rap Persona". Is Hip Hop Dead?. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 72–73. ISBN 0275994619.
- ^ a b Cordor, Cyril. "Biography of Insane Poetry". Allmusic. http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:jpfixqq5ldke~T1. Retrieved 12 November 2008.
- ^ McLeod, Rodd (March 2, 2000). "The Wicket World of Natas". Rolling Stone. http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5923056/the_wicket_world_of_natas. Retrieved 2008-07-19.
- ^ Kane; QED (July 19, 2007). "Kool Keith Interview". Original UK Hip Hop. http://www.ukhh.com/features/interviews/kool_keith/index.html. Retrieved 2008-08-04.
- ^ a b Passantino, Dom. (07 Jan 2005) Top ten Hip-Hop gimmicks of all time Stylus Magazine. Accessed November 4, 2007.
- ^ a b Fernando Jr., S.H. (September 18, 2007) The Pick, The Sickle & The Shovel Rolling Stone Accessed November 4, 2007.
- ^ Gravediggaz star loses cancer battle. NME (16 July 2001) Accessed November 4, 2007.
- ^ a b Underground USA BBC. Accessed November 4, 2007
- ^ [http://www.fangoria.com/musick/reviews/3552-rapped-and-tagged-horrorcores-iconic-albums.html
- ^ Meyer, Frank. (2004-10-28) Frankly Speaking: Halloween Horror-core Hip Hop g4tv. Retrieved 2008-09-14.
- ^ Darcy, Pohland. (May 19, 2005) The dark world Of Horrorcore music WCCO-TV. Accessed November 4, 2007.
- ^ Browne, David. (24 Feb 1995) Fifth anniversary music Entertainment Weekly. Accessed November 4, 2007.
- ^ a b Strauss, Neil (September 18, 1994). "When Rap Meets the Undead". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/1994/09/18/arts/pop-view-when-rap-meets-the-undead.html?sec=&spon=. Retrieved April 25, 2009.
- ^ Detroit's scariest Rap music [1]/
- ^ Cordor, Cyril. "Blaze Ya Dead Homie > Biography". Allmusic. http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:hnfexq8kldhe~T1. Retrieved 2008-07-14.
- ^ Macias, Chris. (December 5, 2006). The king of gore, Brotha Lynch reigns over local hip-hop movement The Sacramento Bee. Accessed November 29, 2007.
- ^ Faraone, Chris (November 30, 2007). "Shia LaBeouf: Horror-Core MC? Transformers star hopes to play indie rapper Cage in biopic.". Spin. http://www.spin.com/articles/shia-labeouf-horror-core-mc. Retrieved 2008-06-27.
- ^ Montgomery, James (May 18, 2009). "Shia LaBeouf-Directed Video Puts Cage's Dark Hip-Hop On The Map". MTV News. http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1611606/20090518/cage_rap_.jhtml. Retrieved May 26, 2009.
- ^ Reeves, Mosi (July 8, 2004). "World Famous". New Times Broward-Palm Beach. http://www.browardpalmbeach.com/2004-07-08/music/world-famous/. Retrieved 31 March 2009.
- ^ Cohen, Sara (2007). Decline, Renewal and the City in Popular Music Culture: Beyond The Beatles. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.. p. 52. ISBN 0754632431. "The music journalist and author Dan Sicko describes certain strains of Detroit hip-hop as 'an extreme, almost parodied' version of inner city life, which he links to the extremities of urban decline in the city: 'both the horrorcore of hip-hop outfits such as Insane Clown Posse, Esham and (to a lesser extent) the multi-platinum-selling Eminem, utilize shocking (and blatantly over the top) narratives to give an over-exaggerated, almost cartoon-like version of urban deprivation in Detroit' (cited in Cohen and Strachan, 2005)."
- ^ Hernandez, Pedro. "Review of N of Tha World". Rap Reviews. http://www.rapreviews.com/archive/2006_02_nofworld.html. Retrieved 2008-08-04.
- ^ Molgaard, Matt (September 14, 2009). "Rapped and tagged: Kid Crusher interview". Fangoria. http://fangoria.com/musick/musick-news/3890-rapped-and-tagged-kid-crusher-interview.html. Retrieved 2009-09-16.
- ^ Righi, Len. (9 April 2007) King Gordy keeps up lighting up the dark Pop Matters. Accessed November 4, 2007.
- ^ Bulwa, Demian (September 23, 2009). "Bay Area suspect allegedly bludgeoned victims". San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/09/23/BAF619QQT5.DTL&type=printable. Retrieved 2009-09-24.
- ^ Pemberton, Roland (January 24, 2008). "Necro’s live show fails to follow tradition". Edmonton, Alberta: Vue Weekly. http://www.vueweekly.com/article.php?id=7763. Retrieved 28 February 2009.
- ^ McKinney, Devin. (2004-09-14) Real horror show The American Prospect. Retrieved 2008-10-14.
- ^ Varine, Patrick (October 26, 2009). "Album review: 'K.O.D.,' by Tech N9ne'". The Country Gazette. http://www.wickedlocal.com/bellingham/fun/entertainment/x665149474/Album-review-K-O-D-by-Tech-N9ne. Retrieved 2009-11-21.
- ^ Three 6 Mafia at Allmusic
- ^ "Rappers Twiztid bring 'horrorcore' to Cotillion, in concert". The Wichita Eagle. September 30, 2005. http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=WE&s_site=kansas&p_multi=WE&p_theme=realcities&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=10D1DB97B4ACAE20&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM. Retrieved 28 February 2009.
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