| HexD | |
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| Stylistic origins | |
| Cultural origins | Late 2010s to early 2020s; United States |
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| Fusion genres | |
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HexD is amicrogenre ofhip-hop andelectronic music that emerged in the late 2010s to early 2020s, characterized by heavy use ofbitcrushing mixed with sped-up andpitched-up vocals, resulting in a distorted, digital, hazy, andpsychedelic sound.
Notable acts include $pirit Gurlz, Fax Gang, Hexcastcrew, Sienna Sleep, Yabujin, purity://filter, and Reptilian Club Boyz.[1][2]
HexD is primarily characterized by the use ofbitcrushing, a production technique that producesdistortion through the reduction of bandwidth anddigital audio data. HexD artists usually apply bitcrushing to specific instruments or the entire master track, speeding andpitching up vocals as well as overall instrumentation.[3]
The termhexD originates from a style of DJ mixing that makes extensive use of bitcrushing and digital effects, a process described as "hexxing" a song. The phrase is also a play on thehex editor softwareHxD.[4]
The visual aesthetics of hexD draw influence fromanime,internet aesthetics, and earlyWeb 2.0 era iconography and artwork primarily associated with the 2006 onlineGIF editorBlingee.[4] The genre was briefly known as "surge", after the Dismissed Yourself compilation albumSurge Compilation Vol. 1 (2020) but was later differentiated from the label.[5]
In 2011, Untranced released a mixtape titled "Deleted Seniors", which featuredEDM music mixed with heavy bitcrushing, marking one of the first times the extreme use of the effect was incorporated as an aesthetic quality in music.[4] Although the use of bitcrushing intrap music was originally pioneered byWest Coast-based producer she_skin. The term "hexD" was later coined by Hexcastcrew member Stacy Minajj, who released the DJ mixRare RCB hexD.mp3 in June 2019, which samples and remixes songs from the influentialonline rap collective Reptilian Club Boyz.[6]
Subsequently, the YouTube channel andnetlabel Dismiss Yourself, which focused on obscure internet music, uploaded the Stacy Minajj RCB mix to their channel on August 23, 2019, which became instrumental to the wider proliferation of the hexD genre.[7][3] On April 5, 2021, the label released the various artists compilation albumSurge Compilation Vol. 1, which further popularized the movement.[7][8][9][2]
