Mumble Rap? WTF is it? - Intro to Hip-Hop Part 2

An intro to Mumble Rap and how it can benefit your business

Dec 16, 2021

STOP: Before you continue please have quality headphones and or speakers. This is an audio experience. Also, English is not my first or second language.

Brief History Lesson

Mumble rap is a subgenre of Rap/Hip-Hop that popped up around the 2010s. It’s a style a rap that sounds very unclear and mumbling like if you’re not familiar with the rapper and his vernacular. “I don’t know what the fuck he’s talking about but it sounds good” is a common thing to hear people say and it’s very important. Mumble rappers subconsciously revealed to the world that there was a huge population of people that didn’t listen to music for the lyrics but for the rhythm and instrumentals. It’s very unclear where or who started mumble rap… Most people would say it started in Atlanta with rappers like Future and Gucci Mane. Mumble rap was first shunned by the Hip Hop community until one day they got rugged and this style of rap became the most dominant and most profitable. Careful though, “Mumble Rap” is a derogatory term that’s mostly used by people that hate it and or don’t understand the “why”.

Why?

While it’s only filled with talk about high fashion, sex, cars and drugs. When I’m about to go out on a Friday night or going 95 mph on a bridge there’s nothing else I’d rather be listening to. There’s really nothing in depth about this music it’s just empty calories but its fucking fun!

The first song we’re going to take a look at is “Drip too hard” by Lil Baby & Gunna (pictured above). Why so serious anon? You only live one life, have some fun.

Now let’s go over some of the slang used in this song:

Drip = Style/Fashion

Vibe (in this song) = Girl

Boogers = Diamonds

Now that you got some context. Listen to it again, close your eyes, let the song take you and bob your head to the beat.

Get it yet?

One big reason why people don’t understand this style of rap is because they don’t go to hip hop bars and clubs. If you don’t attend any venues that play this style of music you’re going to miss allot of context. Rappers have the clubs in their minds when making most of this music. For this reason you’ll have to watch this YouTube clip to kind of understand. It’s not about lyrics, it’s about ENERGY.

The Migos Performing in Lagos, Nigeria

How can this knowledge benefit your business?

This style of music is really popular amongst young people. The easiest way to make a product cool is to sponsor one of these rappers. Young people make things cool and this is what young people listen to. Major brands are often scared of these rappers because they talk about explicit stuff. This is an opportunity for small companies to tap into this market and trust me these guys won’t mind the extra money. Find an up and comer with tons of potential and boom you’re off to the races. It’s really not that hard. The only major sponsorships these rappers are really getting are from liquor companies. Theses guys have tons of influence on social media but a good amount of them lack cashflow. That’s your target, tap into that. Hold your horses! Before you can tap into it you have to understand it.

Let the journey begin

Now that you kind of have a feel for what it is, I recommend you begin your journey with the mixtape Drip Season 3 by Gunna. He’s an amazing artist from Atlanta, this mixtape is somewhere on my top 10 and it’s a great introduction to “Mumble rap”. The album cover is trash LOL but the music is quality.