Waka Flocka Flame
photo: max goldberg · cc by 2.0 ↗Juaquin Malphurs split his childhood between Queens and Atlanta before Flockaveli (2010) turned his bellowed ad-libs and Lex Luger's horror-synth production into a new template for aggressive Southern rap. That album's stripped-down menace — especially the single "Hard in da Paint" — is now widely cited as the direct sonic blueprint for Chicago drill.
Waka Flocka has said outright that he wouldn't be Waka Flocka if he'd never listened to Three 6 Mafia — their horror-movie synths and gang-chant hooks are the direct ancestor of the sound Lex Luger built for him on Flockaveli.
listen forPlay "Tear da Club Up" against "Hard in da Paint": same ominous synth stabs, same idea that a chanted hook can be as menacing as any verse.
Waka Flocka has said he owns "all of DMX's shit" and loved him for his creativity and his preaching — that raw, guttural, almost feral intensity is all over Waka's own bellowed delivery.
listen forPlay "Ruff Ryders' Anthem" against "Round of Applause": both push a rough, shouted, adrenaline-first energy that barely qualifies as singing.
Waka Flocka has named Nas among his musical heroes alongside KRS-One and DMX — a surprising pairing with his own bludgeoning trap sound, but it shows up in the vivid, specific street detail underneath Waka's hooks.
listen forPlay "N.Y. State of Mind" next to "No Hands": strip away the tempo and production gap and both are still built on first-person street detail delivered dead straight.