Music, like all other art forms, is constantly changing to adapt to modern culture. In music, we have seen the rise (and unfortunate thriving) of modern "arena" country, indie electronica, vaporwave, and other various genres. But nothing can match the overtaking of a genre quite like what has happened with "trap" music.

For people who haven't been awake since 2012, trap is a subset of rap/hip-hop, marked by hard bass, aggressive/druggy/violent/braggadocious lyrics, probable danceability, and is likely what your teenage child is listening to right now. Trap is really fun music, and the simplicity of it's formula is what makes it so massively appealing, and also what can make it meet its downfall.

Trap has been in people's view since the late 2000's, but only really "dominated" rap in the past couple of years. Only a few rappers today don't really release "trap" material, and the majority of them are from a time when trap wasn't prevalent (Eminem, Jay-Z, and even Kendrick Lamar or Kanye West).

I wonder about the state of trap music because I see so many ways in which it could fall or prosper.

I like trap music, and I know why other people like it too. As I said earlier, it's a simple formula to make a trap song. It's so simple that every trap song almost makes you feel like you were listening to your friends make beats on the lunch tables or playground benches back in middle school. There is something very familiar, or even homey, about trap music. This is a big reason why I think it has potential to stick around: a lot of people like it, and it cuts to the core sounds and feelings that people are drawn to.

There is also the fact that some great artists have come from the rise of trap, not to mention the grass-roots movement it's helped spawn. Trap is one of the only genres of the modern age where people can receive a lot of notoriety (usually through Soundcloud). Some of these underground artists, like Lil Yachty, Ski Mask the Slump God, Lil Pump, Rico Nasty, and Ugly God, are some of the most interesting or popular voices in the genre today. Trap has helped to give these younger artists a new voice and a chance to gain listeners.

All of these instances I've just listed are positives for trap, as a genre, but it's also some of the reasons why it could collapse.

Because trap is pretty simple to produce, we have a lot of people that can weasel their way into stardom with no talent and meaningless music. The biggest example of this has to be Bhad Bhabie, a.k.a. Danielle Bregoli, a.k.a the "cash-me-ousside" girl. Danielle Bregoli has no real talent or any real voice. She was brought on "Dr. Phil" to talk about her wild lifestyle, and somehow parlayed that into a record deal.

If someone like Danielle Bregoli can come onto the scene and be held at the same level as people who have been rapping or making actual good trap music for a while, this shows how easily demolished the foundation of trap is.

The familiarity we feel with trap music is one of the things I listed as a positive, but also comes with negative conclusion. We are familiar with it because it all has the same beat structure, with a few variations thrown in. This means that trap really doesn't have any room to evolve. This reminds me a lot of the "crunk" era of rap in the early 2000's. Just like "crunk", I feel that trap music will reach a point where the repetition of the same types of beats will lead the genre to ruin.

Either way, it will be interesting to see the way that rap evolves. Maybe trap will take off and form other genres off it's own self. Maybe it will fall and be replaced with another fad (or a resurgence of "old school" rap). No matter what, I just hope it doesn't include Danielle Bregoli.