(Art by: Tyler Farmer)

Mano: If you know where to look, rap artists are doing increasingly maniacal things with 808s—and the masses are increasingly fucking with it. We covered this in our first Nina column, where we talked about the post-rage bass bombs of xaviersobased, Nettspend, and a whole slew of rule-breakers, and again in last month’s essay on the firecracker rapper LAZER DIM 700, who is one of the biggest breakout artists of the year so far. Among these FL freaks, Minnesota producer tdf has emerged as a sonic lodestar and go-to guy for rappers like Smokingskul, wildkarduno, che, and 1oneam. Scope his latest compilation tape love4you and you’ll get a sense of why. Amidst the tape’s blubbering bass, neon melodies peek out like fog lights in a thick haze.

In the wake of tdf’s scorched-earth aural assault, a whole wave of rising beatmakers has emerged. They live in the depths of YouTube, where they share secrets in small livestreams and tag all their shit as a “tdf-type beat.” They devote every day to getting their 808s even nastier than the master’s.

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