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What is cloud rap?
Cloud rap is one of hip hop’s most influential and controversial subgenres, known for its ethereal, atmospheric productions and largely region-less online origins.
Emerging in the late 2000s, its pioneers combined influences from the 808-heavy Southern hip hop coming out of Atlanta, Houston, and Memphis with the hazy nostalgia of chillwave and witch house. In its heyday, the term “cloud rap” may have been championed more by bloggers and music critics than by any rappers themselves, but the sound nevertheless left a truly lasting impact on contemporary rap and pop music.
In this article, we dive into the history of cloud rap, its pioneers, key sonic characteristics, and enduring legacy. Feel free to use the table of contents below to easily navigate to a specific section.
What you’ll learn:
- The origins and history of cloud rap
- Key sonic characteristics of cloud rap
- The legacy and influence of cloud rap today
Let’s dive in!
The origins and history of cloud rap
Most hip hop scenes have formed around specific regions and cities, but cloud rap may be one of the first to fully emerge from online platforms like MySpace, music blogs, and later SoundCloud. Its artists and producers communicated more over email than in studios, including pioneer producer Clams Casino, who first sent beats to rapper Lil B through an email address listed on his MySpace page.
Early influencers and pioneers
New Jersey producer Clams Casino is often credited as a pioneer of the genre. His early beats would position obscure, psychedelic samples over spaced-out hip hop drums. His collaborations with rappers like Berkeley outsider Lil B and Harlem’s A$AP Rocky have become definitive touchstones of the genre.
Groups like Main Attraktionz and Metro Zu were also important to the early development of cloud rap, introducing new elements such as the more synth-focused production of duo Friendzone.
Developing at the same time, the retro-futuristic aesthetics of vaporwave also played a major influence on cloud rap—and internet-based music in general—as did the early 2010s Memphis revival scene, with artists like Chris Travis, Lil Ugly Mane, and SpaceGhostPurrp shaping the development of both.
Cloud rap’s growth and evolution
Toward the mid-2010s, Bandcamp and SoundCloud became leading platforms for underground rap, and trap music surged in popularity as the dominant sound in hip hop, which started affecting the production and flows of cloud rap.
Closely related Swedish collectives Sad Boys and Drain Gang—which include Yung Lean, Bladee, Ecco2k, and producers Whitearmor, Gud, and Yung Sherman—drew from the detuned synths of trance music alongside earlier cloud rap influences.
Meanwhile, members of American collective Seshollowaterboyz like BONES and Xavier Wulf began to incorporate samples and tropes of emo music into their Memphis-inspired cloud rap, influencing the rise of emo rap, which went on to skyrocket in popularity in the later 2010s via artists like Lil Tracy and Lil Peep.
Key sonic characteristics of cloud rap
Melodies and samples in cloud rap
Cloud rap is known for its obscure sample choices—anything from anime soundtracks to new-age music is fair game, and chopping, pitching, and drenching in reverb are hallmarks of the sound.
For example, Clams Casino’s “I’m God” chops the Imogen Heap song “Just For Now” into a euphoric wall of sound. Female vocal samples like this are a common theme in cloud rap, though there really are no rules.
Many cloud rap songs also use no samples, instead creating dreamy atmospheres and hazy melodies using synths. The psychedelic nostalgia of chillwave music is a major influence, as well as the euphoric melodies and detuned supersaws of trance. Basslines in cloud rap are often trap-influenced 808s, but can also include reese basses and other synth sounds.
Drums in cloud rap
Early cloud rap drums took influence from the Southern hip hop of Atlanta, Memphis, and Houston, consisting heavily of TR-808 drum machine sounds. This was a direct precursor to trap, which continued the use of 808 sounds, resampled and processed as opposed to programmed on the TR-808 itself. Trap and its subgenres like Chicago drill became major influences for cloud rap’s drum programming, particularly in its high-speed hi-hat and snare rolls and heavy use of triplets.
This is by no means a hard rule—many iconic cloud rap tracks used sampled drum sounds and breaks as well, drawing from all forms of hip hop. Hence, there’s no strict cloud rap BPM range, though it often has a slower feel with more empty spaces between hits than trap tends to have.
One common feature of cloud rap drums is a more liberal use of long reverbs and spatial effects on drums, similar to witch house, whereas trap drums are usually dry. This, of course, contributes to the atmospheric and washed-out sound of the genre overall.
The legacy and influence of cloud rap today
Cloud rap’s atmospheric sound continued to influence the SoundCloud-based trap subgenres of the late 2010s like plugg, phonk, wave, and, to a degree, rage in the early 2020s, which was inspired largely by Playboi Carti, whose album Die Lit is currently the top album tagged with “cloud rap” on RateYourMusic.
Early figureheads like A$AP Rocky and Yung Lean have become full-on mainstream stars, and Clams Casino has produced for major pop and rap artists including The Weeknd, Mac Miller, and The Kid LAROI.
Within the internet underground that birthed cloud rap, many artists labeled under similarly catch-all terms for SoundCloud experimentalists (like hyperpop or digicore) can also often trace influences back to cloud rap—especially Drain Gang’s melodic vocal deliveries or Lil B’s eccentrically DIY output and ‘based’ ethos. Whatever you call it, there’s no shortage of ethereal atmospheres enveloping the latest sounds in underground rap, from xaviersobased’s (note: Based) spaced-out jerk beats to fakemink’s new-age sample choices. Artists like smokedope2016 are even explicitly championing a modern-day revival of cloud rap’s golden-age aesthetics and sound.
fakemink’s “Kill Everything” (produced by fakemink)
smokedope2016’s “Foamposite Interlude” (produced by bartesianWater)
While it may have started as a catch-all music blogger term, the legacy of cloud rap continues to be felt across hip hop’s most experimental and hazy underworlds.
What are your favorite cloud rap tracks? What genres would you like to see us explore next? Start a conversation with us and an ever-growing community of music creators via the Splice Discord.
Browse cloud rap samples crafted by leading producers and sound designers:
January 7, 2026
