Ok Cool

Nas

The World Is Yours1994

"The World Is Yours" arrives as a statement of arrival in 1994, following the street menace of "Shook Ones, Pt. II" with Nas's own claim to dominance. Produced by Pete Rock at Battery Studios in New York, the track samples Ahmad Jamal's "I Love Music" and T La Rock's "It's Yours"—a title nod to the Scarface movie that became prophetic for Nas's career. Released May 31, 1994, as the third single from *Illmatic*, the song proved Brooklyn's East Coast boom-bap could match West Coast swagger. Q-Tip's remix became influential enough that JAY-Z sampled it for his 1996 single "Dead Presidents," showing how Nas's 1994 moment rippled forward into the next generation's classics.

Mobb Deep

Shook Ones, Pt. II1995

"Shook Ones, Pt. II" builds on the menacing East Coast sound that Nas would perfect with "The World Is Yours" the following year. Produced by Havoc with additional production from Prodigy, this 1995 track established Mobb Deep as architects of paranoid, hard-hitting boom bap that defined mid-90s New York rap. The duo's trade-mark production—sparse drums, eerie samples, and claustrophobic beats—became the template for countless East Coast acts. Mobb Deep would go on to sell over three million records and cement themselves among hip-hop's most influential East Coast voices. The track's raw energy and street narrative directly influenced the gangsta rap sound that dominated the decade, making it essential to understanding how 1990s hip-hop shaped modern trap and drill aesthetics that artists like Lil Uzi Vert still reference today.

Jeezy

Trap Or Die2005

"Trap Or Die" arrives as Jeezy's defining statement, four years after he launched his career in 2001. Produced by Shawty Redd and featuring Bun B, this track became the anthem that pushed trap music into the mainstream spotlight. Jeezy is credited with pioneering trap for mass audiences, and this song proved why—its minimalist production and survival-focused lyrics set the template that would influence an entire generation of Southern rap. Released in 2005, it paved the way for his breakthrough album *Let's Get It: Thug Motivation 101*, which later peaked at number two on the Billboard 200. From Atlanta, Jeezy established a blueprint that connects directly to how artists like Gucci Mane would refine and evolve the trap sound in the years that followed.

Gucci Mane

Point in My Life2013

"Point in My Life" builds directly on the trap foundation Jeezy laid with "Trap Or Die" eight years earlier, but Gucci Mane's 2013 track shows how thoroughly he'd evolved the sound for the mainstream. Released May 21, 2013, on *Trap House III*, the song finds Gucci reflecting on personal growth while maintaining the crisp, hi-hat-driven beats that made trap essential to hip-hop. Gucci pioneered trap for mass audiences alongside T.I. and Jeezy starting in the mid-2000s, and by this point, he'd cemented the genre as the dominant sound in Southern rap. The track's self-aware introspection set the tone for trap's next generation—Young Dolph's "Trappa" three years later would push the formula into even more minimalist territory, but it owed everything to Gucci's willingness to blend street narratives with personal stakes.

Future

Trap Niggas2015

Future anchors trap's evolution between Young Dolph's street-level "Trappa" and Lil Uzi Vert's melodic reinterpretation. Released in 2015, the same year Future's album DS2 hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200, "Trap Niggas" showcases the Atlanta rapper's command of the genre he helped define. Produced by Southside, the track distills trap to its essentials: synth-driven beats and Future's rapid-fire delivery that would influence a generation of younger artists. Future's work with Epic Records positioned him as trap's mainstream gateway, allowing artists like Uzi to push the sound toward new textures while maintaining its core DNA. The song exemplifies how Atlanta's trap lineage—from its street origins to chart dominance—became the template for hip-hop's commercial future.

Young Dolph

Trappa2016

Young Dolph's "Trappa" from *Rich Crack Baby* (2016) continues the street-level trap blueprint Gucci Mane established in "Point in My Life," bringing Memphis grit to the sound. Dolph, who moved to Tennessee at age 2, built his reputation through relentless independent releases before landing his breakthrough on O.T. Genasis's "Cut It" (which peaked at #35 on the Billboard Hot 100). On "Trappa," he spits hard-edged lyrics over DJ Squeeky's production, capturing the raw energy that would define his run through the late 2010s. This track sits between Future's earlier trap innovations and Dolph's eventual chart success—his debut *King of Memphis* hit #49 on the Billboard 200 just months after this release. "Trappa" shows a regional artist refining trap's sound for a new generation.

Lil Uzi Vert

Erase Your Social2016

Building on Future's trap foundation from "Trap Niggas," Lil Uzi Vert strips back the production to showcase raw emotional vulnerability in "Erase Your Social," from his 2015 mixtape *Luv Is Rage*. Where Future layers synths and 808s, Uzi—the Philadelphia rapper born Symere Bysil Woods—uses sparse beats and his wavering vocal delivery to explore isolation and digital fatigue. This track connects the SoundCloud rap lineage by prioritizing mood over flexing, a shift that would later influence the introspective darkness of classic East Coast boom-bap like Mobb Deep's "Shook Ones, Pt. II." Producers Don Cannon and Lyle Leduff keep the arrangement minimal, letting Uzi's genre-blending approach breathe. The result helped establish him as an influential figure who merged trap's rhythm with rock's emotional directness.

★ CEO Trayle

Ok Cool2020

"Ok Cool" sits at the opening of this lineage, threading forward to Jeezy's 2005 Atlanta street anthem "Trap Or Die" by carrying the same cold, unflinching delivery that defined trap's emotional register. CEO Trayle built his sound in the tradition of Atlanta rap's pressure-cooked minimalism, and here producer Rudynovski strips the beat down to give Trayle and featured artist Gunna maximum room to breathe — or not breathe at all. Gunna's presence connects two generations of the same city's output, his melodic drawl contrasting Trayle's harder edge the same way Jeezy's gravel once sat against slicker collaborators. This track is the starting point: where the lineage's DNA gets established before we trace it back fifteen years.

YNW Melly

Take Kare (feat. Lil Baby & Lil Durk)2021

"Take Kare" continues the melodic trap evolution that Nas pioneered with "The World Is Yours"—trading '90s boom-bap introspection for 2021's layered, sung-rap delivery. YNW Melly, who broke through in 2018 with "Murder on My Mind" (peaking at number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100), teams with Lil Baby and Lil Durk to show how Southern trap rappers now blend vulnerability with trap beats. The track's smooth production and collaborative feature setup bridge the gap between Nas's lyricism about street survival and Roddy Ricch's melodic pop-rap experiments. By 2021, Melly's approach—balancing street narratives with sung hooks—became the template younger rappers like Ricch would refine, proving how trap could absorb melody without losing its edge.

Summrs

bfo22021

Summrs' "bfo2" bridges NAV's melodic trap style with Autumn!'s plugg experimentation, establishing Summrs as a defining voice in PluggnB. Producer 30nickk crafts the track's signature sound—crisp drums layered over atmospheric samples that became the genre's backbone in the early 2020s. Released in 2021, the same year Summrs signed with Victor Victor Worldwide and Capitol Records, "bfo2" showcases the artist's ability to merge rap delivery with R&B sensibilities over stripped-down production. Deante Adam Johnson's approach here influenced how plugg producers balanced minimalist beats with vocal presence, a shift that separated PluggnB from its harder plugg roots and paved the way for artists like Autumn! to push the sound into new territory.

Autumn!

No New Friends!2021

Autumn! reunites with long-time collaborator Summrs on "No New Friends!," released September 10, 2021, building directly from Summrs' "bfo2" earlier that year. The track keeps the pluggnb sound sharp and current—Autumn!, a Lafayette rapper born in 1997, has become known for popularizing this hip-hop microgenre. Here, he and Summrs trade verses over production that matches the braggadocious yet playful tone the song establishes, covering fake love, high fashion, and staying productive. By 2025, when $uicideboy$ drop "Frenzy," tracks like this one will have already cemented pluggnb as a fixture in underground rap. "No New Friends!" shows how Autumn! uses trusted collaborations to push the sound forward without losing the intimacy that defines the scene.

Manny Laurenko

Space Boy2021

"Space Boy" sits between smokedope2016's grounded trap energy and Lil Shine's loser-anthem vulnerability, showing how cloud rap could float between street rap and introspective mood. Manny Laurenko's 2021 track features LUCKI, whose ethereal delivery defined a whole lane of SoundCloud rap focused on atmosphere over aggression. Producer Manny Laurenko built the beat to echo that spacey, almost dreamy quality that made cloud rap distinct from harder trap—reverb-heavy and distant, like rap transmitted from another planet. Mastered by Ryan Schwabe, the track captures that moment when SoundCloud rappers started treating production like a primary instrument, not just a backdrop. For fans tracking how rap's sound got more experimental and less tied to straightforward storytelling, "Space Boy" marks exactly where that shift was happening in the underground.

Lil Shine

Loser2021

Following Manny Laurenko's "Space Boy," Lil Shine's "Loser" continues the 2021 plugg wave with the same dreamy, sample-based production style. Produced by MaliceMoniz, the track showcases Shine's ability to layer introspective lyrics over minimalist beats—a signature move in underground pluggnB. Lil Shine (real name Jasper William Johnson) emerged from Minneapolis starting in 2017 and became one of the scene's most prominent voices by the early 2020s. "Loser" exemplifies why: it takes plugg's floating soundscapes and uses them to explore vulnerability, stripping away the genre's usual bravado. The track sits at the intersection of cloud rap's ethereal production and plugg's lo-fi percussion, proving the style's range beyond just beat-flip bragging rights.

Roddy Ricch

#1 Freak (feat. Ty Dolla $ign)2022

Building on YNW Melly's emotional trap sound from "Take Kare," Roddy Ricch pushes melodic rap further into sing-rap territory with "#1 Freak." By 2022, Ricch had already proven his ear for melody through features like Nipsey Hussle's "Racks in the Middle," which earned him a Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance in 2020. Here, he teams with Ty Dolla $ign—a master of trap soul—to blur the line between rap and R&B even more. The track's layered production from Turbo and Zoo Kids creates space for both artists' flowing vocals rather than hard-hitting drums. This approach directly influences NAV's "Lately," which takes the same melodic-first philosophy into 2023's softer trap landscape.

NAV

Lately2023

Where Roddy Ricch leaned into star-studded features on "#1 Freak," NAV strips things back on "Lately," the February 2023 lead single from his album NAV2. The Toronto producer-rapper—who co-produced Drake's "Back to Back" in 2015—keeps the melodic trap formula intact but sharpens the focus. His production, mixed by Ethan Stevens and mastered by Joe LaPorta, trades Ricch's collaborative energy for something more introspective. NAV's four-minute track sits at the exact center of this sound: cloud rap's floating textures colliding with trap's locked-in drums. It sets up what comes next in the lineage: younger artists like Summrs pushing cloud rap even further into abstraction and experimental territory.

smokedope2016

Frat2024

smokedope2016's "Frat" bridges the aggressive energy of $uicideboy$'s "Frenzy" with the spacious, dreamy aesthetic that Manny Laurenko explores on "Space Boy." Released May 24, 2024 on the album THE COMEUP, this track showcases the Virginia Beach rapper's blend of cloud rap and trap—a sound he's developed alongside producer LIL FITTED CAP. His work has drawn comparisons to Yung Lean and Clams Casino, artists who pioneered the hazy, atmospheric approach to rap in the early 2010s. At 22 years old, smokedope2016 channels that same melancholic cloud rap foundation while maintaining the harder edge of contemporary trap, creating a sonic middle ground between the chaotic intensity of "Frenzy" and the ethereal float of what comes next.

$uicideboy$

Frenzy2025

"Frenzy" continues the cloud rap lineage that Autumn! established with "No New Friends!" four years earlier, but pushes the sound toward darker, more aggressive territory. $uicideboy$, the New Orleans duo founded in 2013 by cousins Scott Arceneaux Jr. and Aristos Petrou, channels horrorcore and Memphis rap influences through their G*59 Records imprint—a label they control completely. At nearly three minutes, "Frenzy" sits as track 8 on their 2025 album THY WILL BE DONE, layering trap and phonk elements over unsettling production by Budd Dwyer and BP da Oil Spill. This bridge between Autumn!'s melodic cloud rap and smokedope2016's upcoming "Frat" shows how the genre evolved from atmospheric to visceral by the mid-2020s.