walking upstream…
A Boogie Wit da Hoodie
photo: the come up show (curtis huynh) · cc by 2.0 ↗A Boogie Wit da Hoodie
Artist Julius Dubose, who performs as A Boogie Wit da Hoodie, is a rapper and singer from the Highbridge section of the Bronx who helped popularize a fully melodic strain of trap — half-crooned hooks over dark, minor-key beats — starting with 2016's breakout single "My Shit" and his platinum 2017 debut album The Bigger Artist. He's carried that sung-rap approach, which he's described as "rapping with a melody," through Hoodie SZN (2018) and a run of Billboard chart-topping albums that made him one of the most streamed voices in New York hip-hop.
the sound in question
2019
Look Back At ItA Boogie Wit da Hoodie
walk the tributaries ↓
Max B2000s · Hip hop / East Coast hip hop
A Boogie has spoken on record about his love for Max B, the Harlem pioneer of 'wavy' melodic rap, and it's audible in A Boogie's foundational move: half-singing a hook instead of rapping it straight.
listen: upstream & heresource: Complex — Everyday Struggle interview on the Max B and Lauryn Hill influence ↗
Porno Music 2Max B
2017
DrowningA Boogie Wit da Hoodie
listen forListen for the loose, half-mumbled melody riding over the beat instead of sitting in a strict rap pocket — the same laid-back crooned cadence Max B pioneered as the 'wave' sound.
Lauryn Hill1990s · Hip hop soul / Neo soul / R&B / Reggae
A Boogie has named Lauryn Hill as an inspiration in interviews, and her genre-blurring move — singing and rapping within the same song, sometimes the same bar — is the direct model for what A Boogie calls 'rapping with a melody.'
listen: upstream & heresource: Complex — Everyday Struggle interview on the Max B and Lauryn Hill influence ↗
1998
Doo Wop (That Thing)Lauryn Hill
2018
No PromisesA Boogie Wit da Hoodie
listen forListen for the moment the flow stops being rhythmic speech and becomes an actual sung melody line, then slides back into rapping without a seam.
Kanye West2000s · Hip-hop / Conscious hip-hop
By his own account A Boogie started rapping at twelve after listening to Kanye West and 50 Cent — early Kanye's soul-sampling, confessional style set an early template for A Boogie's own melodic, emotionally open trap.
listen: upstream & heresource: Wikipedia — A Boogie Wit da Hoodie biography (began rapping after listening to Kanye West and 50 Cent) ↗
2003
Through the WireKanye West
2019
SwervinA Boogie Wit da Hoodie
listen forListen for the moments a warm, soulful sample or piano figure sits under the trap drums, and for lyrics that admit doubt or heartbreak rather than only bravado.