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Curated category

21st-century music genres

  • Jerk (music genre)New York City became the birthplace of Jerk in 2021. Rapper Xaviersobased formed a group called 1c34 that same year. This collective reimagined an older…
  • HexDIn 2011, Untranced released a mixtape titled Deleted Seniors. This project featured EDM music mixed with heavy bitcrushing.
  • Punk rapThe year 2013 marked a turning point when the internet began connecting disparate sounds from Atlanta and Miami. Journalist Thomas Hobbs described this…
  • Rage (music genre)The word rage first appeared in hip-hop through Kid Cudi's Mr. Rager alter ego during the 2010s. Travis Scott later adopted this term and made it a core part…
  • DigicoreThe word digicore first appeared in the 2000s as a shorthand for digital hardcore, a distinct electronic music style from that era.
  • Nu metalIn 1987, the thrash metal band Anthrax released an EP titled I'm the Man that combined hip hop and metal. This record laid groundwork for a genre that would…
  • Cloud rapIn 2010, music blogger Walker Chambliss wrote a blog post that introduced the phrase cloud rap to describe the work of Squadda B.
  • CrunkcoreThe mid-2000s marked a collision of sounds that would define a new musical identity. Members of the scene subculture began blending crunk, post-hardcore, and…
  • Jerkin'In the late 2000s, a street dance culture emerged from urban California that would eventually be called Jerkin'. Oktane of Audio Push explained the roots of…
  • Punk rockThe Kingsmen released "Louie, Louie" in 1963, a song that later became known as punk rock's defining ur-text. This garage band from Portland, Oregon, played…
  • Rap metalIn 1987, the heavy metal band Anthrax released their extended play I'm the Man. This record fused hip hop with heavy metal for the first time on a major…
  • Rock musicIn 1951, Cleveland disc jockey Alan Freed began playing rhythm and blues music for a multi-racial audience. He is credited with first using the phrase rock…
  • EmoIn 1983, a band called Rites of Spring formed in Washington, D.C., playing music that sounded like hardcore punk but felt different.
  • VaporwaveIn August 2010, a cassette tape titled Chuck Person's Eccojams Vol. 1 appeared on the internet under the name Daniel Lopatin.
  • HyperpopIn 2013, A. G. Cook launched the record label and art collective known as PC Music in London. This small group of artists laid the groundwork for what would…
  • Trap musicIn 1991, the word trap first appeared in hip-hop lyrics to describe a place where drugs were sold. By 1999, producers in Atlanta began crafting a sound that…
  • Electronic musicAt the turn of the 20th century, a massive machine called the Telharmonium filled concert halls with sound generated entirely by electricity.
  • A cappellaA cuneiform tablet from around 2000 BC contains the earliest known instructions for performing music. This artifact predates the Seikilos epitaph, a Greek…