2017 seems to be the year of the emo/rap crossover and I, for one, am loving it. Just a few days ago, Lil Uzi Vert released his noughties emo-influenced video for "XO Tour Llif3", last month saw the release of Brand New-loving Soundcloud rapper Lil Peep's debut album Come Over When You're Sober Pt. 1, and now we have "Love," the Mike WiLL Made It-produced single by iLoveMakonnen (and featuring Rae Sremmurd) which essentially sounds like trap and pop punk had a problem child. That is to say, it's properly incredible.What's special about this recent trend is that it brings together two completely different-sounding genres that work well together because they share a sentiment. Trap, at times, can be just as nihilistic as darkest timeline My Chemical Romance, and bringing the two together is something I'm surprised hasn't happened on a scale this large sooner. On "Love," it's kind of uncanny to hear Mike WiLL Made-It's familiar ident over a surfy, clapping beat and driving guitars – but on closer consideration, when you think about the producer's capacity for innovation, it's not really surprising at all that he would end up on one of the year's greatest crossover bangers sharing a production credit with Blink-182's Travis Barker.Plus, it doesn't really get anymore emo than this hook: "I got my middle fingers up / Fuck love." Fall Out Boy could never. And while this isn't the emo revival we anticipated, it's actually kind of better anyway. Listen above.Follow Lauren on Twitter.
Advertisement