{"id":1859317,"date":"2026-04-01T12:00:25","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T09:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1859317"},"modified":"2026-04-01T12:00:25","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T09:00:25","slug":"the-new-faces-of-party-rap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1859317","title":{"rendered":"The New Faces Of Party Rap"},"content":{"rendered":"<article class=\"LOh page-457571161\">.page-457571161{&#8211;slot7:#f6f6f6;&#8211;slot8:#000000;&#8211;slot9:#f6f6f6;&#8211;metaColor:#f6f6f6;&#8211;navColor:#f6f6f6}<\/p>\n<div class=\"cCV\">\n<div class=\"sWr KwQ\">\n<div class=\"Jr2\">\n<div class=\"gsz CfR dsT\">\n<div class=\"d0B\">\n<div class=\"vmZ oL7\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imgix.bustle.com\/uploads\/image\/2026\/3\/29\/0712b2b8\/party-rap_final-v2.jpg?w=414&amp;h=300&amp;fit=crop&amp;crop=faces&amp;dpr=2\" alt class=\"fpC EdX\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"_-P\">\n<div class=\"rkd qoI\">\n<p class=\"QwJ\">NYLON Guys<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"Ckc ZKF\">\n<h1 class=\"aVX doc O2p QZE\">The New Faces Of Party Rap<\/h1>\n<div class=\"r87 y0Q\">\n<p>Acts like PartyOf2 and Joey Valence &amp; Brae are revitalizing that Obama-era blend of hip-hop, pop, and electronic music with an earnest twist.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"mLI Q9a\">\n<address class=\"Fdy\">by <span>Will Schube<\/span><\/address>\n<div class=\"DHw\">\n<div><time datetime=\"2026-04-01T12:00:25.212Z\">2 minutes ago<\/time><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"QVH jU-\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"edE\">\n<div class=\"Yte yjy wVh\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nylon.com\/nylon-guys-spring-2026\" class=\"JVd\">Nylon Guys Spring 2026<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"kCE\">\n<div data-adroot=\"true\" class=\"fxL Afg\">\n<p>We all need to feel good about something. Perpetual war, climate doom, the threat of sentient AI, the hollowing out of the middle class, the crumbling of American democracy \u2014 where else to turn but to music, which has always drowned out our troubles? It\u2019s against this backdrop that party rap \u2014 the raunchy, retro, slightly gimmicky fusion of hip-hop, pop, and electronic music that last peaked between the tail end of the Bush administration and the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis \u2014 has reanimated, with acts like PartyOf2, Thot Squad, Joey Valence &amp; Brae, and Bbno$ taking up the spirit of late-2000s genre-busters. Only this time, they\u2019re shedding the in-crowd mystique and ironic packaging for something a little more honest and vulnerable.<\/p>\n<p>In the mid-to-late aughts, as Myspace and blog culture tore down barriers between the mainstream and underground, artists like Spank Rock, Amanda Blank, and Kid Sister were dropping booty-shaking bass jams inspired by the club sounds of Baltimore, Philly, Chicago, and Miami; DJs like Diplo and A-Trak were bringing indie rock, club music, and rap into one boisterous world with their Hollertronix parties and Fool\u2019s Gold Records, respectively; and mashup artists like Girl Talk and Super Mash Bros were bringing genre lines down with them. The creative freedom the era afforded was not lost on anybody. This was party music made with a wink.<\/p>\n<p>Back then, the Internet made plenty of scenes accessible, but for the most part, you still had to know where to look. Now, perhaps because we\u2019re in a streaming ecosystem where everything is up for grabs at all times, that wink is less of a priority \u2014 something PartyOf2 has made clear.<\/p>\n<p>Jadagrace and Swim, the ex-child stars who make up PartyOf2, used to be in a collective called<a href=\"https:\/\/floodmagazine.com\/139625\/grouptherapy-breaking\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" class=\"T3D\"> Grouptherapy.<\/a> (with former members TJOnline and Rhea). The lineup and name changed, but their playlist-on-shuffle omnivorousness remains, as does a healthy grasp on their feelings: \u201cAnother question from my therapist \/ \u2018Are you good?\u2019 I told her, \u2018Yeah,\u2019 she said, \u2018Hilarious\u2019 \/ I blew a tire on the road to riches I desire,\u201d Swim raps on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=OJotMR3Q9oI&amp;list=RDOJotMR3Q9oI&amp;start_radio=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" class=\"T3D\">\u201cSurvivor\u2019s Remorse,\u201d<\/a> from from last fall\u2019s <em>Amerika\u2019s Next Top Party! <\/em>LP. You can clearly pick out who they\u2019re channeling at any given moment \u2014 a little Tyler, the Creator; a little Doechii; a little Missy and Timbaland \u2014 but what\u2019s striking about the way they put it together is their disregard for corniness. Whereas Amanda Blank once rapped <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=-030xou9JVI&amp;list=RD-030xou9JVI&amp;start_radio=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" class=\"T3D\">\u201cI keep it dirty, I ain\u2019t Fergie, f*ck the Black Eyed Peas,\u201d<\/a> today, PartyOf2 would take such a comparison as a compliment. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.grammy.com\/news\/partyof2-interview-debut-album-amerikas-next-top-party\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" class=\"T3D\">In interviews<\/a>, they\u2019ve spoken of openly admiring the \u201cI Gotta Feeling\u201d stars\u2019 inimitable hitmaking and studying \u201cthe chemistry between Will.I.Am and Fergie.\u201d You can easily picture it on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=53z1XBrbzRY&amp;list=RD53z1XBrbzRY&amp;start_radio=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" class=\"T3D\">\u201cJust Dance 2,\u201d<\/a> an obvious pastiche of dance-rap hybrids of the \u201980s and \u201990s. It\u2019s a little cheesy, but it aims to be undeniable enough that you won\u2019t care either.<\/p>\n<p>Operating in a similar, though more playful, flirtatious space is Thot Squad, the alter ego of rapper Blvck Bunnie, with the assistance of her producer husband, Benny Ari. Thot Squad exists almost entirely in the lane paved by Spank Rock, cooking up songs like \u201cPound Cake,\u201d \u201cHoes Depressed,\u201d and \u201cSuper Soaker\u201d; come-one-come-all is their ethos in more ways than one. Yet their unrelentingly horniness and contagious lack of self-consciousness have found a wide array of fans. \u201cWe\u2019ll get people who are like, \u2018Well, I\u2019m 47 and I\u2019m a mom. I don\u2019t think I\u2019m gonna fit in. Everyone in my crowd is 47 and a mom,\u2019\u201d Bunnie <a href=\"https:\/\/www.iowapublicradio.org\/studioone\/news\/2025-11-13\/thot-squad-demands-your-attention\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" class=\"T3D\">said in an interview last year<\/a>. This is music about loving yourself and embracing the quirks that make each of us unique. In less risqu\u00e9 packaging, it might come across more clich\u00e9 \u2014 but here, it\u2019s both very genuine and an absolute ball.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"rs0 Dhu\"><p>Without an oppressive masculinity coursing through it, there\u2019s something even hopeful about what they\u2019re making at a time when Gen Z men are leaning right.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>If you\u2019re looking for a more straightforward delivery of those messages, Joey Valence &amp; Brae might be for you. The duo\u2019s 2025 album <em>Hyperyouth<\/em> (<a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/album\/3vIpUJFnNJgMwB4nygKtgV?si=XJENV-04StCUBS1hKpAC9A\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" class=\"T3D\">which just came out in a deluxe edition, too<\/a>) has turned them into minor celebrities in the alt-rap world. They\u2019re cool enough to have gotten a cosign from JPEGMafia, who might have punched me in the face if I suggested a decade ago that he would appear on an album from these dudes. And yet, there he is, between features from TiaCorine (on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=hUR6SabLoQc&amp;list=RDhUR6SabLoQc&amp;start_radio=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" class=\"T3D\">\u201cBust Down,\u201d<\/a> which evokes early 2000s Neptunes productions) and Rebecca Black (on the Timbo and Nelly Furtado-inspired <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=pkeD3xHXLzY&amp;list=RDpkeD3xHXLzY&amp;start_radio=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" class=\"T3D\">\u201cSee U Dance\u201d<\/a>). Fueled by a grab-bag of MTV-era references, Joey Valence &amp; Brae blast down the line between goofiness and earnestness with a recklessness that suggests they don\u2019t actually care which side they fall on.<\/p>\n<p>On 2024\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=93OWaGE2EN0&amp;list=RD93OWaGE2EN0&amp;start_radio=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" class=\"T3D\">\u201cThe Baddest,<\/a>\u201d they interpolate \u201cIt Takes Two\u201d by Rob Base &amp; DJ E-Z Rock \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=nmnjL26OBcY&amp;list=RDnmnjL26OBcY&amp;start_radio=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" class=\"T3D\">also a move out of the Black Eyed Peas playbook<\/a> \u2014 and rap like they just discovered Urban Outfitters: \u201cActing goofy, Comic Sans \/ Big in London, big in France \/ Hot like Texas, I got fans \/ BDG overalls \/ Fresh new Vans.\u201d It\u2019s enough to make you swear \u2019em off for good, but then they cook up a song like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=k-vQEYB00o8&amp;list=RDk-vQEYB00o8&amp;start_radio=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" class=\"T3D\">\u201cChanges\u201d<\/a> from <em>Hyperyouth <\/em>and it\u2019s easy to see why \u2014 only so many years removed from the public pummeling of Macklemore \u2014 so many people are gravitating to this movement of unquashable positivity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd I found out what love is \/ And I found out what hate is \/ My parents getting older \/ I look at their faces,\u201d Joey raps. It hits hard. So much of <em>Hyperyouth<\/em> is obsessed with chasing fun, desire, and presence in the moment. When the duo step back and identify the various voids they\u2019re looking to fill, they are instinctively easy to root for. Joey Valence and Brae are both in their mid-20s, having spent some of their most formative years during the disruptive isolation of COVID-19; many of their generational cohort have never known an office job or the usual infrastructure of young adulthood. It makes sense that their music is filtered through a strong desire for connection and mutual understanding. And without an oppressive masculinity coursing through it (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=XgSROUB7Mk4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" class=\"T3D\">\u201cThis DJ sucks, can you play some Gaga? Ah, what happened to the fun?\u201d<\/a>), there is something even downright hopeful about what they\u2019re making at a time when Gen Z men <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/08\/24\/upshot\/trump-polls-young-men.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" class=\"T3D\">are leaning right<\/a>. We take our wins where we can get them.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"rs0 Dhu\"><p>The highs are high, but the lows are right outside, knocking on the door.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Hope is perhaps not the emotion one feels like listening to Bbno$ (that\u2019s <em>baby-no-money<\/em> for the elder millennials). He got his start as a TikTok sensation, blowing up alongside his dear friend Yung Gravy (whose name rolls in like a tumbleweed from an already bygone Internet). Bbno$\u2019s songs rack up hundreds of millions of streams and sound like what LMFAO might have sounded like had they a shred of self-awareness, or even pretended to. If you\u2019re going to be cynical or suspicious of this 2020s class of party-positive artists, it\u2019s probably because of someone like Bbno$, who takes joy in making rap music that proudly embraces the lowest common denominator. With Joey Valence &amp; Brae, Thot Squad, and PartyOf2, the desire to make music they genuinely think is good is apparent; Bbno$, on the other hand, sometimes raps with the detachment of someone doing a performance-art imitation of a rapper.<\/p>\n<p>That was the case, at least, until he released <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=x9VLSIwoTJk&amp;list=RDx9VLSIwoTJk&amp;start_radio=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" class=\"T3D\">\u201cWhy Am I Like This\u201d<\/a> in March, which seemingly asked the question many of his haters were asking while listening to the sexed-up hedonism of previous releases like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=2j8ALtAxOjE&amp;list=RD2j8ALtAxOjE&amp;start_radio=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" class=\"T3D\">\u201cCome to Brazil,\u201d<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=XjNlP3LrFiY&amp;list=RDXjNlP3LrFiY&amp;start_radio=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" class=\"T3D\">\u201cGigolo,\u201d<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=6Ro7NubzE9A&amp;list=RD6Ro7NubzE9A&amp;start_radio=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" class=\"T3D\">\u201c1-800.\u201d<\/a> It\u2019s one of the clearest moments of introspection from Bbno$, and it works precisely because it jars against the nothing-matters nonchalance of much of his discography. \u201cMy parents getting old \/ And I rarely visit home \/ I should get off my phone \/ But I\u2019m scared of being alone,\u201d he sings. (Notice a theme?) It might not be his biggest hit \u2014 though it is inching toward 3 million Spotify streams \u2014 but it contextualizes his work, offering a lens through which his fans can genuinely relate.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s something that each artist plopped into this category of Party Rap 2.0 has in common. The highs are high, but the lows are right outside, knocking on the door. This is music meant for escaping from reality, but it\u2019s all the more effective as a balm if it can also remind us of what we\u2019re healing from. Whether you want to show up and dance, cry, or figure out what the hell is happening all around us, the club is open \u2014 and everyone\u2019s invited.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>.page-457571161{&#8211;slot7:#f6f6f6;&#8211;slot8:#000000;&#8211;slot9:#f6f6f6;&#8211;metaColor:#f6f6f6;&#8211;navColor:#f6f6f6} NYLON Guys The New Faces Of Party Rap Acts like PartyOf2 and Joey Valence &amp; Brae are revitalizing that Obama-era blend of hip-hop, pop, and electronic music with an earnest twist. by Will Schube 2 minutes ago Nylon Guys Spring 2026 We all need to feel good about something. Perpetual war, climate doom, the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,256],"class_list":["post-1859317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nylon-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1859317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1859317"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1859317\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1859317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1859317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1859317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}