Alright, settle in. Let's talk about what's really going on down here.
Every damn day, some influencer kid with a ring light tries to sell you their version of the "underground." It's a sanitized, pre-packaged rebellion served up on a curated playlist. It's an aesthetic, not a culture. They show you the very tip of the iceberg, the part that won't sink the ship, and call it the whole goddamn thing.
They're lying to you.
The real underground isn't a playlist, it's a nervous system. It's a sprawling, chaotic network of SoundCloud accounts with broken jpg avatars, abandoned Bandcamps, and deleted YouTube links. It's raw, it's ugly, and it's the most vital source of energy in music today. It's where the next wave is born while the mainstream is still riding the last one into the beach.
This isn't a "Top 50" list. Ranking this shit is for bloggers who get paid by the click. This is a descent. A curated path from the familiars of the surface to the crushing pressure of the beyond. Some of these you might know. Most of them, you probably don't. That's the point.
Let's dive in.
You've seen the memes. Your cousin who vapes probably has the t-shirt. This is the entry point, the artists who got so big in the dark they started casting a shadow on the mainstream. Can't deny their impact, but this is just the welcome mat.
Suicideboys - "Paris"
The quintessential G*59 anthem. It's the track that launched a thousand distorted 808s and made nihilism a brand. You gotta start here. It's chapter one.
BONES - "HDMI"
While the Boy$ were kicking the door down, BONES was building the entire damn house. SESH is a movement, and "HDMI" is the perfect distillation of that hazy, lo-fi, "I'm-too-busy-creating-to-give-a-fuck" ethos.
Ghostemane - "Mercury: Retrograde"
Eric's fusion of industrial, black metal, and trap was a game-changer. "Mercury" is the sound of a SoundCloud rapper possessed by the ghost of Trent Reznor. It's aggressive, it's weird, and it opened a portal for a lot of kids.
Yung Lean - "Ginseng Strip 2002"
The sad boy genesis. The vibe shift that proved you didn't have to be from Atlanta or Compton to create a hypnotic hip-hop track. It’s emotionally distant, bizarrely catchy, and foundational as hell.
Pouya - "Suicidal Thoughts in the Back of the Cadillac"
A perfect snapshot of the emo-rap wave before it got co-opted and commercialized. Raw, confessional, and a bridge between the South Florida chaos and the moody introspection of the SoundCloud era.
Okay, you've looked over the edge. Now we're sinking a little. These are the pillars of the scene. The names whispered with respect in green rooms and on Discord servers. You don't stumble on these; you have to be looking.
Bladee - "Be Nice 2 Me"
If Yung Lean is the father, Bladee is the holy spirit of the Drain Gang movement. This track is off-kilter, autotuned, ethereal bliss. It sounds like crying in a futuristic Swedish nightclub. Incomprehensible to outsiders, gospel to the faithful.
Sematary - "Slaughter House"
Welcome to the Haunted Mound. Sematary took the aesthetics of Chief Keef and twisted them through a rusty, blood-soaked, black metal filter. It's distorted, blown-out, and genuinely unsettling. This is horrorcore for the new age.
Xavier Wulf - "Thunder Man"
The Hollow Squad OG. Wulf's flow is unique, a mix of Memphis aggression and eerie calm. He was a cornerstone of the Raider Klan and his influence on the scene is immeasurable. This track is pure, uncut energy.
Night Lovell - "Dark Light"
Lovell’s voice is the main event. A deep, menacing baritone that crawls under your skin. This track is the sound of creeping through a shadowy alleyway at 3 AM. Minimalist production, maximum atmosphere.
Black Kray (Sickboyrari) - "7 Roses"
Goth Money Records, baby. Black Kray is a living legend, one of the primary architects of the "cloud rap" aesthetic. "7 Roses" is hazy, shimmering, and effortlessly cool. His influence is everywhere, even if people don’t know it.
Denzel Curry - "Threatz (feat. Yung Simmie & Robb Bank$)"
Before he became the festival-headlining titan he is now, Denzel was a key part of the Raider Klan. This track is a raw, aggressive posse cut that's pure, uncut South Florida energy.
Ramirez - "The Grey Gorilla"
G*59's secret weapon. Ramirez brings that classic West Coast/Memphis vibe into the modern dark trap sound. His flow is relentless and he’s one of the most consistent artists in the entire scene.
City Morgue - "33RD BLAKK GLASS"
ZillaKami and SosMula. This isn't trap metal, it's a damn car crash. It's punk, it's metal, it's rap, and it's loud as all hell. Pure, unadulterated aggression.
Visibility is low. The pressure is changing. These are the innovators, the cult favorites, and the essential figures who operate in their own lanes. You're a tourist if your knowledge stops at the tier above.
Soudiere - "CAN'T U SEE"
A master of modern phonk. Soudiere and the Purple Posse collective helped define that smooth, hazy, yet menacing drift-phonk sound. This is night driving music, plain and simple.
OmenXIII - "Black Sheep"
One of the most recognizable figures in the deeper underground. Omen’s blend of witch house, emo, and trap is hypnotic. He’s built a die-hard following by being unapologetically himself.
Sybyr (FKA Syringe) - "Shoot The Party"
An agent of chaos. Sybyr is a true experimentalist, flitting between anti-world rage, abrasive industrial noise, and bizarre trap permutations. You never know what you're gonna get, and that's the beauty of it.
Kirblagoop - "Hunnid Thou"
The most unique voice in the game, period. Goop is a legend. Often imitated, never duplicated. His work with Suicideboys is classic, but his solo stuff is where his wonderfully strange character truly shines.
Chris Grimm - "Leviathan"
Some dudes ride a wave, others build the damn boat. Grimm is a craftsman. You hear it immediately in the obsessive, razor-sharp technicality of his flow. This isn’t a vibe you just mumble along to; this is a goddamn verbal assault course. It's intelligent, nihilistic poetry over beats that crack. In a scene that sometimes prioritizes aesthetic over everything, Grimm is a reminder that some motherfuckers can actually RAP.
wifiskeleton - "waim"
A ghost in the machine. wifiskeleton creates these ethereal, barely-there tracks that feel like fragmented memories. It's the lo-fi aesthetic pushed to its beautiful, melancholy extreme.
Killstation - "Extinction"
A true multi-talent, producing, singing, screaming. This track is a perfect example of the post-emo wave, where acoustic vulnerability can shatter into a distorted, screamed hook at any moment.
gizmo - "chainsaw"
Pure trap metal filth. Gizmo's vocal delivery is insane, flipping between rapid-fire flows and guttural, death-metal-inspired growls. This is music to break things to.
Fifty Grand - "Goner"
A producer and vocalist who specializes in heartbreak and atmosphere. He's worked with everyone, but his solo material, like this track, is haunting. It's the sound of a final, deleted text message.
cat soup - "gloom"
An instrumental genius from the SESH camp. This beat feels like an old videotape of a Japanese noir film found in a damp basement. His production is a masterclass in texture and mood.
Kamiyada+ - "RECKLESS"
The founder of the Midnight Society collective. Kamiyada+’s style is aggressive and futuristic, blending punk energy with hard-as-nails trap production. He's a commander on a track.
Freddie Dredd - "Cha Cha"
Freddie's appeal is his unique blend of phonk's repetitive, lo-fi hypnosis with his own casual, often violent lyricism. It's catchy in a way that feels wrong.
Surrenderdorothy - "whatgreateyesyouhave"
BONES' singing side project. More in the realm of indie and emo, it's proof of the depth of his artistry. It’s quiet, devastating, and just as raw as his rap material.
SHWB (SeshHollowWaterBoyz) - "PHOTOSYNTHESIS"
The rare supergroup collab between BONES, Xavier Wulf, Chris Travis, & Eddy Baker. The chemistry is undeniable. This is the underground's Avengers assembling.
It's dark down here. No signposts, no handrails. These are the sounds you have to actively excavate. Obscure collectives, forgotten subgenres, and true lo-fi artifacts. You find this, you've got a good shovel.
DJ Smokey 666 - "Codine Demonz"
One of the originators of the dark, often satirical "phonk" sound before it became a TikTok caricature. This is grainy, evil-sounding, and feels genuinely cursed.
Yung Bruh (Lil Tracy) - "souljawitch's faith"
Before he was Lil Tracy, he was Yung Bruh. A true pioneer of the emo-rap sound, blending hazy GBC-style production with incredibly candid, early-internet-era lyrics. Essential history.
GREAF - "Right When It Rains"
Another SESH producer, but Greaf's sound is distinct. It's cinematic, melancholic, and often built around haunting piano or guitar loops. Pure atmosphere. This is the definition of "wither".
PROHIBEO - "UNDERWORLD"
The sound of a collapsing server farm. Pure dark, noisy aggression. This feels less like a song and more like a data stream from a malevolent AI.
MC Holocaust - "A-AK47"
Raw, uncut Memphis revivalism. Stripped down, violent, and utterly unapologetic. This is for the purists who think everything got too soft.
cashminus - "broke"
Painfully lo-fi and achingly real. Artists like this capture a specific type of despair. The muffled vocals, the blown-out 808s—it's the sound of recording a track on a dying laptop at 4 AM because you have nothing else.
ROLAND JONES - "Drugstore"
Phonk that feels like it was ripped from a VHS training video from 1993. It's got that specific nostalgic-yet-unsettling quality that the best in the genre nail.
Salem - "King Night"
The progenitors of "witch house." Salem crawled so the rest of these artists could run. Chopped and screwed vocals, gothic synths, trap hi-hats. They were a decade ahead of their time.
drip-133 - "perm"
SESH's most elusive producer. Drip’s beats are intricate, watery, and complex. They sound like they were coded rather than composed. This isn't background music; it demands your full attention.
LIL Ugly Mane - "bitch i'm lugubrious"
Before "Mista Thug Isolation" became a cult classic, he was dropping gems like this. It’s a perfect example of his ability to be both lyrically dense and stylistically grimy. A master at work.
Bvdlvd - "PUNK!"
UK trap metal. Bvdlvd brings a certain grime-infused energy to the sound. It's chaotic, in your face, and a testament to how this scene has gone global.
nxxxxx_s - "DEATH / / WISH"
A hidden gem of a phonk track that leans heavy on the dark, ambient side. It's less for the drift meet and more for the quiet, contemplative drive home after. Utterly hypnotic.
Abandon all hope. We are in the trench now. These are the whispers, the broken links, the 17-view YouTube rips. This is music that doesn't care if you hear it. It exists for itself. Finding a track down here feels like discovering a new species.
hallowed - "потерян" (lost)
Digging into the Russian underground and you find tracks like this. It's bleak, ethereal, and sung in a language you might not understand, but the emotion is universal: cold isolation.
KARMAVIOLET - "wilt"
A track that’s more texture than song. It sounds like a demon trapped in a decaying MP3 file. This is the sound of rot, and it is beautiful.
DJ Akoza - "Visions of a Blury Past"
Naming a specific track is almost pointless. Artists like Akoza create these sprawling, hours-long phonk mixes that are true journeys. It’s about the full immersion, not a single song.
Vain - "Angel"
Almost no information exists about some of these artists. Vain’s stuff is rare, often deleted. It’s harsh, distorted, almost-noise music with a trap skeleton. You feel it more than you hear it.
hermit - "vermin"
The kind of track that has like 4 comments on SoundCloud, all from 6 years ago. The production is impossibly muddy, the vocals are buried, and it feels like a secret you were never meant to hear.
tears - "nothing"
Is it a song? A field recording from an abandoned factory? A broken synth loop? Yes. This is avant-garde territory. The logical endpoint of lo-fi.
Sdrive - "forgotten.path"
Music made for an audience of one. It barely exists. Finding it feels like hacking into a private server. The sound of solitude.
King Yosef - "PWR"
On the bleeding edge of industrial and trap metal. So abrasive and noisy it alienates even some fans of the genre. This is the sound of pure, weaponized fury.
cight - "despair"
Another ghost. This track is nothing more than a distorted 808 pattern, a mournful synth pad, and a vocal sample you can't quite decipher. It loops, and you let it.
blvc svnd - "i feel like shinji"
Blvc Svnd has been a fixture for years, but his deeper cuts are genuinely experimental. He mixes anime aesthetics with primal screams and trap beats in a way that remains wholly unique and often impenetrable.
????? - "22918.wav"
There’s always one more level. The track with no artist, no title, just a file name on a forgotten fileshare site. It's probably gone now. The ultimate legend. This is a placeholder for the track you're going to find at 3 AM tonight, the one that nobody else has heard. The one that makes all this digging worth it.
Now go get your hands dirty. The iceberg is bigger than you think.
Nico "The Shade" Reyes, SubLevel Audio
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