Frat rap is asubgenre ofhip hop music that emerged in the late 2000s. It is sonically easygoing with a straightforward rhyming style and singsong cadence accompanied by a lyrical focal point oncoming of age hedonism, which can includecampus lifestyle, debaucherousparties,recreational drugs, and women. Frat rap quickly became commercially popular among a predominately white, college-aged, suburban male audience in the northeastern United States.Asher Roth's 2009 song "I Love College" is considered to have initiated the subgenre. Notable frat rappers such asMac Miller andLil Dicky later became successful in mainstream hip hop.
The subgenre of frat rap was invented byAsher Roth with the release of his song "I Love College" in 2009.[1][2][3] The subgenre grew rapidly and achieved commercial success within hip hop by 2010. In 2010, 18-year-oldMac Miller released two mixtapesK.I.D.S. andBest Day Ever that made him an overnight success and launched him to the forefront of the frat rap phenomenon.[4] In 2011,Aer's debut EPWhat You Need debuted atop the iTunes Hip-Hop/Rap albums chart, andMac Miller drawing more than 50,000 fans toGovernment Center in Boston.[1]
Hoodie Allen's first two albums,People Keep Talking in 2014 andHappy Camper in 2016, landed at number 2 and number 1 on theBillboard rap charts.Lil Dicky's 2015 albumProfessional Rapper was certified as a gold. By 2015, frat rappers were collaborating with mainstream rap artists such asSnoop Dogg,Quan, andFetty Wap.[5]
Many of the most successful frat rap artists rejected the title and culture of frat rap and went on to release music that departed from the subject matter and sound of frat rap, being commercially successful in mainstream hip hop. Originally starting out in frat rap,Mac Miller later changed his sound and later became the most successful former frat rapper in mainstream hip hop,[3][2][6] with a review of Rolling Stone stating that Miller had shed his frat rap reputation with the release of his albumSwimming.[4]
The name frat rap is derived from a shortened form of the wordfraternity, which is auniversity social club.
Frat rappers and their audience were predominantly white, college-aged, suburban males,[3] with theNew England region of the United States producing the most frat rappers.[1] The songs had basic rhyming style, a sing-songy cadence, and lyrics about debaucherous parties, doing drugs, and women.[4][2]
Frat rap was heavily dominated by white rappers, including Roth,Sammy Adams,Hoodie Allen,Chris Webby, OnCue, Cam Meekins,[3]Lil Dicky,Aer,Mike Stud,Mac Miller,Lil Wyte, and Huey Mack.[2]