EVERY GENRE PROJECT - January 18 - Drift Phonk

Genre of the Day - Drift Phonk

Album of the Day - Psychx by Scarlxrd & Kordhell (2022)

No, it’s not screamo. No, it’s not hardstyle. No, it’s not really hip-hop. I guess it’s kinda rap. Yes, it’s edgy. It’s an unholy mix of all of these things. Today’s genre is one that, despite all my exposure to it as a young, chronically online person, never really registered as a genre of its own—a categorization of real music that people stream and sit and listen to. I want to put that in the least pretentious way. But it’s interesting that with more recently developed genres with a relatively high amount of exposure online I come with more preconceived notions, more set in stone sonic expectations, and perhaps more pre-established judgments that blind the neutrality that I aim for in this project. Is it a point of shame for me as a listener to associate such music with the content it’s been co-opted to, or is it an inevitable result of the music itself? That’s today’s dilemma.

Today’s genre is perhaps our most recently developed yet, drift phonk. No, you’re not dyslexic (unless you are, and genuine question, do you have to use that special dyslexic font?), that doesn’t say daft punk. The drift makes sense, and I’ll explain why it is to me at least; the phonk is a little more esoteric. The name phonk isn’t really based on anything other than a prominent DJ of this genre calling it phonk and everyone just kind of took to it. This is a genre developed recently in the late 2010s deeply rooted in a very niche, particular inspiration: 1990s Memphis rap, which put an emphasis on combining rap with soundscapes that were very dark and lo-fi, such as horror movie soundtracks. This dark sound sometimes comes up every once in a blue moon in the mainstream today: think the sample of Princess Loko on Renaissance opener I’m That Girl by Beyoncé.

Okay, so maybe once in a halley’s comet can I actually name an example that comes to mind. But I’ve heard phonk a lot without even realizing. You see, Memphis rap was picked up in the late 2010s by nerdy chronically online hip hop heads who took an interest in its dark aesthetic and saw it as a rife exploration space for mixing hip hop with emo and darker hardstyle music. Thus, phonk was born. It’s no doubt that, even if they’re not truly phonk, I feel like adjacent forerunners of this sort of wave were the late XXXTentacion, $UICIDEBOY$, and early-TikTok-ubiquitous Freddie Dredd. Nonetheless, it feels crazy that I’ve unconsciously witnessed the genesis and rise of this genre, albeit through secondhand or even thirdhand channels.

Memphis rap essentially traveled thousands of miles away thanks to the mystical influence of the Internet, particularly to far eastern Europe where the dark, industrial sounds combined with rap seemed to particularly resonate among producers. This led to the development of drift phonk via SoundCloud, characterized more by the use of heavy electronic synth and bass and a sort of Tokyo Drift-cowbell sounding lead melody. But its story on the Internet only begins there. The genre got its big break on TikTok, where phonk songs were often combined with a certain type of hypermasculine yet online aesthetic such as weight lifting and bodybuilding, ‘sigma’ content (essentially a type of categorization of idealized masculinity popular among semi-incels and many young men), and car content. The genre is thus not just a genre, but also a badge of identification and one sort of synonymous with a movement.

Here, though, I really had to focus to separate my ears from my vast TikTok and of-no-benefit Internet knowledge to truly take in the genre without this context. Today’s top album was technically not ‘true’ drift phonk so I moved on to #2, a collaboration album between British rapper Scarlxrd and anonymous producer Kordhell. This album’s sound was essentially exactly as expected: a primarily homogenic mix of those Tokyo Bell-cowbell melodies with heavy hitting bass and screamo-derived lyrics that often deviate into similar themes. Scarlxrd wants you to know he’s the devil, he’s made in hell (two songs revolving around this), but he’ll luxuriate in braggadocio as well (THIS IS MY LIFE) and go toe to toe with another icon of phonk, impossibly deep voiced online enigma Corpse. Occasionally, a slight pivot occurs, such as the more melodically infused and melancholic JEKYLL & HYDE. This music is fascinating in its own right, both contextually and by itself, and it achieves a lyrical homogeneity and mastering of its genre; however, in an album setting, it does end up feeling a bit one note. Overall, though, I’m glad I had more of a concrete exposure to a genre that’s been percolating in the online ether for years; you really learn something new every day.