sub-genre /~2010 · houston / new york / online

Cloud Rap

Anchor moment: Walker Chambliss coins 'cloud rap' to describe Lil B and Main Attrakionz — sub-genre gets a name

Musical signatures

Hazy, ambient, often pitched-down vocal samples and washed-out synth pads; minimal trap-derived drum programming; reverb-drenched, dreamlike atmospheres; lyrically introspective, abstract, or flexing — often delivered in a detached, half-sung cadence.

Pioneers

  • lil-b
  • asap-rocky
  • clams-casino
  • main-attrakionz
  • spaceghostpurrp

Associated scenes

  • soundcloud-era

Moments in this sub-genre 1

Notes

Term widely credited to Main Attrakionz and Clams Casino's productions for Lil B and A$AP Rocky circa 2010–2011; the style was incubated on early-2010s blog and Tumblr cultures.

Citations 2

  1. B
    Wikipedia — Cloud rap Retrieved 2026-05-24.
  2. B
    Pitchfork — Cloud Rap Retrieved 2026-05-24.

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