Underground rap fans often discuss which artist is “next up” in breaking it into the mainstream. In recent years, artists such as Nine Vicious, Nettspend and OsamaSon have taken that leap in reaching broader listeners. However it seems that one artist in particular, 2slimey, has risen among the rest, garnering explosive attention in recent months, suggesting that he is next up in having a breakout year.
2slimey has been growing at a rapid pace, hitting 500 thousand monthly listeners on Spotify which is several times higher than what it was at only a few months ago. The clip of his Underground Sound Cypher Verse has also gone viral on Instagram and TikTok, reaching even non hip-hop listeners and gaining millions of views.
While it is true that the reactions to the clip are mostly negative, it is due to the growing gap between what the general listeners and underground-rap listeners consider to be good music, as shown recently in the vastly contrasting reaction to Playboi Carti’s newest album “Music.” While underground-rap listeners were hailing tracks like “Pop Out” and “OPM BABI” as rage classics, many general music fans just did not find much appeal in the album. The same thing seems to be happening with 2slimey as most people don’t seem to understand what it is that he is achieving.
Since the release of “Whole Lotta Red,” rage music has largely become a parody of itself, with the flow and production becoming extremely repetitive. While there were some novel attempts by artists like Yeat, Lil Uzi Vert or 2hollis, combining rage sound with industrial, metal or electronic music, the vast majority of rage music being released in the underground rap scene between 2021 and 2024 were largely mimicking that of Opium rappers like Ken Carson and Destroy Lonely.
Considering the fact that rage is still relatively a new subgenre, the risk of the sound becoming dull is fatal. One example which clearly illustrates this is drill music, which seemed like it was going to be the next biggest subgenre in hip-hop in the early 2020s but quickly lost its momentum due to repetitiveness in flow and rhythm.
For a genre that thrives on being abrasive and boundary-pushing such as rage, unless the artist is able to craft it in a way that is pleasant to the ears like Slayr’s “Half Blood,” its entire merit depends on being able to provide innovative and experimental sound. While few artists such as Lucy Bedroque and Jane Remover attempted this combining it with hyperpop or digicore sound, many seem to be trying to do this through noisier production.
This was reflected in the trend of the underground hip-hop scene in 2025, loosely defined as Axxcelerationism, with albums such as Osamason’s “Psykotic,” bleood’s “Rascal51” and Che’s “Rest in Bass” being the prime examples. 2slimey and his album “High Anxiety” is a product of this movement. Across the album, the tracks carry anxiety-inducing production with heavy 808s, distortion and high-energy that 2slimey brings. Tracks like “Roc” transcends above the norms of music, bringing a level of aggressiveness unseen in rap music since the trap metal of the mid-2010s with resemblance to XXXTentacion and Ski Mask the Slump God.
It’s hard not to compare this new wave of artists like 2slimey to that of the SoundCloud era of 2016. Despite many people, including old heads such as Snoop Dogg, mocking the “newschool” rappers and the “mumble rap” sound they were bringing to the scene at that time, the 2016 XXL Freshman Class is considered the greatest ever now. Emerging artists like 2slimey have the potential and musicality to go on a similar trajectory. It’s no coincidence that Lil Uzi Vert openly endorsed 2slimey in an interview.
2026 will likely be a career-defining moment for 2slimey, given the volume of attention on him. While they might not be all positive, 2slimey has shown that he has what it takes to turn his haters into his fans and he will be looking to do just that.
*This is an April Fools’ publication. This article is not intended to communicate any true or factual information about the writer’s article except through humor and/or exaggeration. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental or is intended purely as satire, parody or spoof of such persons and is not intended to communicate any true or factual information about that person.
