Feng and the Renaissance of Recession Pop

Kids From the West - Music Video shoot

‘Recession Pop’ is defined by Wikipedia as ‘an informal term used to define a genre of dance-pop music that emerged during the Great Recession and remained popular until the early 2010s. Its sound is often described as "feel-good" pop music, characterized by fast BPMs, high-energy production, catchy melodies, and lyrics centered around embracing hedonism, youthfulness, being carefree, and constant partying in the midst of an economic recession.’

What comes to mind when we speak about recession pop is the big pop stars of the late 2000s - early 2010s, who will be nostalgic for so many of our readers; names like Lady Gaga, The Black Eyed Peas, Katy Perry etc. However, in recent years, there’s been somewhat of a renaissance of this genre of music. It’s no secret that the global economy has been struggling recently, with particularly notable impacts on the major Western powers; the USA, Great Britain and co - which has had notable effects upon culture in the last few years. Politics have shifted notably to the right, with majority voting intention in both the UK and Germany being that of a far-right vote, and recent elections in Italy, the USA and the Netherlands shifting their leaderships further right. Historically, a struggling economy results in more extreme votes - more extreme economical situations result in more extreme votes as right-wing governments tend to do two things to captivate voters in dire need of change; 1) Collectivise against an enemy - create an ‘Us against Them’ scenario and blame their economic struggles on a segment of the population (usually immigrants or members of a minority religious group) or 2) Promise radical economic change though unconventional means, be it tariffs or extreme tax changes. Neither of these methods address the root of poverty, which is overwhelmingly based in income inequality, and are usually marketed by wealthy politicians as a means of convincing much of the population that the root of their is either previous politicians, or their fellow citizen in the same economic bracket (due to a different skin colour, religion or other social factor), rather than the root of their struggle being wealthy people hoarding their money and exploiting the working glasses to increase their own wealth. 

Economic and political conditions worsening also results in a shift in culture - notably, in music. Music has always been an outlet for people to escape the conditions of the real world, but during times of economic hardship, the music that ends up being most commercially successful and incredibly culturally relevant is always a form of escapism. Recession pop in the early 2010’s was all about escapism - colourful dynamic visuals full of fur, shades, and dancing, catchy, electric melodies and lyrics centred around drinking, clubbing, partying all wrapped up into singles and albums of auditory hedonism resonated so deeply with so many people that it became the music of the time. In recent years, a similar trend has emerged - there’s always music purpose-built to escape into at a club, in a car speaker, or at full volume in your earphones as you drown out the buzz of a declining economy and increasing pressure to do more to keep yourself afloat, but there’s been an explosion of music with similar themes to that of early 2010’s recession pop in recent years. For example, London rapper Feng ticks almost every box. He incorporates themes of hedonism and escapism into an evolved kind of cloud rap, utilising A$AP Rocky-inspired beats laced with sparkly vocal samples to rap bars about feeling free, young, and excited. Songs such as Kids from the west perfectly encapsulate this, with Feng rapping about unity, partying, and wanting to live a moment forever over a colourful beat, which can only be described as sounding inspired by colourful hair, bubblegum and balloons. 

So much of his insanely quick rise to fame in the last few months is purely due to his aesthetics, which are inseparable to his music. There’s a huge demand for music that brings people back to a time when things just seemed better. Whether it’s the recent resurgence of the frutiger aero aesthetic (also incorporated in Feng’s music), or the huge growth of now household names such as Sabrina Carpenter, with her barbie-doll aesthetic - people want colourful, nostalgic, and positive. Art is a form of escapism, and the bleaker the situation being escaped, the more colourful and positive the art will become. Not only were things statistically ‘easier’ in the early 2010’s, but most of the audience of artists like Feng would have been kids during the period he is artistically drawing from, and the combination of pressures of both actual adulthood and the added pressures of being an adult in an era of economical struggle makes nostalgia a much more powerful and enticing drug - making the music of artists like Feng that much more potent. The resurgence of recession pop can also be seen in other emerging artists, such as iamawakesorry and shutupdesikidd, who are both making waves in the UK underground by pulling inspiration from similar places as Feng, and other larger artists, such as Fakemink and Phreshboyswag. Regardless of the box you think these artists individually fall into, be it ‘indie sleaze’ or ‘cloud rap’ or ‘jerk’, they are all the faces of the renaissance of recession pop, and the ways they play on nostalgia is making huge waves in culture at the moment.

By Samuel

Conglomerate recapped by sighted

On Tuesday 12 November 2024, the first Conglomerate listening party was held in London. The album surely needs no introduction to the audience of this article, but it marks a stark turning point in the underground (or maybe the end of it in some ways ((?)). It’s one of the first UK ‘underground’ albums to officially chart, debuting at no.1 in the rap category and number 23 on the UK album charts. The release and first performance of the album has an energy around it I’ve yet to see for a project in the same genre, and I feel as though this is the project that lifts the UK underground above the ground and into the ‘mainstream’, due to its insane streaming figures and influx of new fans to the scene.

However, don’t let this fool you into thinking this hasn’t been brewing for a while - the scene has been gaining and gaining momentum for a long, long time and in 2024 it is the healthiest its ever been in regard to spectacle and fanbase. Fimiguerrero, for example, had 300k monthly listeners on Spotify in September - at the time of writing this article, that number sits at just over 759k. All the recent growth artists have received has been authentic too, due to a lack of insanely viral hits or ‘tiktok’ songs - which leads nicely into the state of events in the UK underground right now.

The increase in genuine fans who feel like they connect with the music and artists mean that an artist with 40 thousand followers can sell out 1,500 tickets at a concert, a ratio almost unfathomable to artists in a similar position in the US - the UK’s geography, as well as the sense of community and genuine love means with roughly £20 and a train ticket (usually to London) people can come and see their favourite underground artists almost at their own will.

Events are hosted by many different organisations, all with their own appeal and specialties. @Auxldn have sent a strong message with their consistently unreal headliners, usually from the US, and are the go-to for fans of the US scene. Being able to see Hardrock or Autumn at their own concerts in the UK has been insane, and they deserve their flowers for making events like that go ahead.

@Antagonistsuk, who hosted the Conglomerate listening party, have also left an impression with their events, notably Antagfest. The phrase ‘underground avengers’ is thrown around a lot at the moment - but with a lineup including Len, YT, Skaiwater, Teebofg, Jeffgrv, Pierre, Young Eman, Ohmienn and many many more - its very difficult to find a fault with its use. Other hosts such as Nova and Loccedin have delivered their own experiences with shows in the Midlands and the North, something seemingly unthinkable for this type of music a few short years ago - but they’ve found their audiences and showcase talent across the UK.

The Conglomerate listening party felt less like a celebration of a specific album and more of a milestone for how far the scene has come. The music has reached new heights, and so has the lore around it. It’s almost impossible to know of Lancey, Len and Fimi without knowing about Syd and Osbatt (of which there is a named song on the album). The venue was absolutely electric and entirely packed out - people knew seemingly every word to an album that released just a few days before. The artists are reaching new heights, the fans are invested more and more into their music, the merchandise and surrounding clothing keeps improving and improving - the underground has reached a level difficult to summarise in one article, but I would say there are definitely conversations to be had around what ‘underground’ means right now, and regardless of what it does - music in the UK is in a very good place.

yt, rock and roll, Playboi carti.

YT performing at LoccedIn in Birmingham, early 2024.

On 6th September 2024, Dom Corleo played in Brooklyn for his New York date of the Under My Influence tour. Opening for Dom was underground rapper YT who performed a set of three songs, those being Pocket Full Of Money Got My Trousers Falling Down, the TikTok-viral Black & Tan featuring the ever-present Lancey Foux and the newly-released MVP by Fimiguerrero, on which YT is featured. Building up to the song playing, YT played an electric guitar intro, popularised (and perhaps debuted within the hip-hop scene) by Playboi Carti, which hyped up the crowd for the song to drop. This intro lead me into thinking about the gradual popularisation of electric guitar intros to hip-hop songs at concerts, but more generally about the effects of rap borrowing elements of rock and how that has changed the way modern hip-hop is created and performed.

It’s entirely impossible to dive into this topic without first mentioning (at length) Playboi Carti’s Whole Lotta Red. Released Christmas Day in 2020, Playboi Carti’s third studio album was initially met with polarising reviews, as many fans of his previous work were put off by the aggressive, repetitive and acidic nature of the album. Carti had very clearly drawn strong influence from rock & roll, with the Slash Magazine inspired album cover and electric guitar lead in the album’s first song, Rockstar Made, being a strong indicator of Carti’s artistic evolution since Die Lit and demonstrating where his inspirations lay for this body of work.

The majority of songs (particularly on the first half of the album) are similar, often with electric guitar leads or other rock inspired elements, and are energetic, aggressive, and boisterous. I admit when the album released, I didn’t understand its direction whatsoever, and felt the more typically ‘Carti’ songs were far more enjoyable than the distinctly rock-inspired ones. However, where this changed for most people (and what seems to have lead to the albums vibe being that of a modern classic rather than a failure) is after Playboi Carti’s numerous performances of the album in 2021.

After seeing videos of his King Vamp Tour and Lollapalooza performances I realised what this album was meant to evoque. The piercing warning sirens before songs like Stop Breathing and On That Time and Carti’s energy on the stage created an environment I had never seen before at a hip-hop concert - the expectation was that people would mosh and rage to every song, with far more hardcore and passionate audiences than I’d seen pre-Whole Lotta Red. Of course other artists in the same musical sphere had music for fans to rage to, notably Travis Scott, but Playboi Carti created a whole new type of energy within live hip-hop events.

What really set this apart, for me, was the guitar intros to his hardest hitting songs. His guitarist, Oji Volta, would be beside Carti for a vast majority of his performances, and his electric guitar shredding would seem to pierce through the smoke and sirens in the build up to his songs as moshpits opened and fans prepared for the song to drop. It’s elements like these that combine to authentically combine the hardcore energy and live performance standards of heavy metal and the roster of artists and sounds found within hip-hop, to create what seems to have now become its own genre. Next to use these elements in their music (to my knowledge) were members of Carti’s own label, opium, such as Ken Carson and Destroy Lonely, to similar effect with fans.

Over the last few years, elements like these have become standard in the ‘underground’ among production and concerts, but to see an added guitar intro to a song by YT at that event in New York was a strong reminder of how far the ‘underground’ genre of music has come. The UK has typically seemed to play by a different set of rules and norms when it comes to our underground music and most popular themes sonically, so to see something popularised elsewhere incorporated so seamlessly by a UK-based artist served, to me, as a checkpoint in how underground concerts are evolving internationally.

- Samuel Khan