D4L releases 'Laffy Taffy' — snap music goes national

Why it matters

Snap music is one of the more polarizing Atlanta-rap sub-genres of the mid-2000s. The polarization is partly fair: the production aesthetic is, deliberately, minimal to the point of musical abstemiousness, the lyrical content is basic, and the form's commercial peak was very brief. The reason it still matters is what it proved structurally: that an Atlanta rap song built on almost nothing but handclap drums, a chant, and one synth could top the Billboard Hot 100. "Laffy Taffy" is the proof. Dem Franchize Boyz's "I Think They Like Me" had been the precursor; "Laffy Taffy" was the breakthrough. The whole 2010s minimalist-trap aesthetic that dominated commercial rap after 2014 (Migos, Future, the Quality Control catalog) is in some part downstream of the minimalist snap template snap proved was a viable Top 40 framework. You can hear the line. Shawty Lo, who was in D4L, died in an Atlanta car crash in 2016.