Everybody loves trap music.
It's been around for decades on the Southern hip-hop scene, but 2012 saw the trap house get raided by electro and house producers. And despite the fact that the EDM trap phenomenon is barely a year old, Ultra Music Festival has already granted the genre its own showcase.
So if you like dirty, aggressive beats, dark melodies, and dancing as if modesty were just some vestigial social trait, don't miss these five shahs of Trapistan on Ultra 2013's Trapped stage.
Carnage. This Los Angeles-based Guatemalan producer is a man on a mission to eat all the world's chipotle and destroy every dance floor. He boasts a violent moniker. And his trap style is equally bloody — hard-hitting textures over lethal doses of bass lean. His EP Bang!, on Fool's Gold Records, has more tinny ticks than a time bomb, and once the drop explodes at Ultra, there'll be nothing left.
UZ. The trap star known as UZ is a real mystery. Every hipster in the trap wants to know who lurks behind the terrorist mask and gold faceplate. Of course, though, it doesn't matter who's at work in the kitchen, as long as (s)he keeps putting out that real trap shit. Each UZ production is darker, grittier, and rowdier than the last. We don't know who UZ is, but (s)he is an absolute professional. This is Grade-A trap steak, served extra-rare.
DJ Craze. Seriously, it doesn't matter what Craze is spinning — trap, moombahton, house, electro — because this six-time DMC world DJ champion is a master. He's been representing for the 305 as one of the best turntablists on the planet since the early '00s, and he's firmly rooted in hip-hop tradition. A trap set from this man in his hometown during the biggest EDM weekend ever seen in Miami will be more than worth an hour of your time.
Baauer. Hold the collective groans. Because there is more to this New Yorker than "Harlem Shake." Even though that song just topped the Billboard charts, the "Shake" has been an anthem for a year, and Baauer has lots of other hits, including "Dum Dum" and "Swerve." He began making music when he was 13, he loves waffles, and he'd go gay for Daft Punk. Plus, Baauer always drops the kind of unleashed trap set that inevitably ends with dry-humping a stranger who's just finished a sizzurp slurpee.
Flosstradamus. Honestly, it's kind of weird that Dillon Francis and not Flosstradamus is headlining Ultra's Trapped stage. Sure, Francis is a huge name, but Floss's J2K and Autobot are the EDM kings of the trap thing. People literally riot when these guys play sets (even if they're prerecorded). They had Grand Central stuffed with freaks like a hood couch be stuffed with paper. These are the true shahs of Trapistan.
