In 2023, Alabama-based YhapoJJ (@yhapojj) signed with Simple Stupid Records, a move that by and large thrusted him into the ears of the underground community. A scion of both Southern creatives like SahBabii and the jerk movement, Yhap’s growing clout as an artist has allowed him to satisfy a much-needed experimental niche. With his first merch release centered around the salient phrase, “Not a Jerk Rapper,” Yhap’s newest album with producer Twizzxrd (@twizzxrd) proves his point, its name suggesting the emergence of another major epoch in rap.

The following contains excerpts from an interview done over direct message.

I’ve been watching Yhap’s progression for a year and a half, and his process has never stayed the same. Though he constantly plays snippets on Instagram Live, his beat selection seems to shift each time he clocks in, maneuvering in the same fashion as the timbre of his voice. In recent months, YhapoJJ started to work very closely with Twizzxrd, a producer from Texas with a sound just as distinctive. Their ideas over the last year has seemed to exist in the transient ether of these livestreams: brought out in 8 bit-size chunks, malleable, held behind the curtain. Now that the curtain has been pulled back, what has come of it all? A New Genre.

The duo’s debut release A New Genre dropped December 30, 2023, preempting the New Year by two days, while ironically providing some of the most unique songs of the past twelve months. I got in touch with Twizzxrd, who reflected on his process working with YhapoJJ, the thought behind his craft, and what the future holds.

Pluggvision: When did you and YhapoJJ get in touch, and how?

Twizzxrd: Yhap got in touch with me (if memory serves well) midway through 2022 or a bit earlier than that. He reached out to me and told me my beats were one of a kind and asked if I could send some for recording. Honestly I didn’t know him when he came to me for beats, though I was happy to get recognized for my work by him.

There was a period in time where Yhap would only playback the songs he and Twizzxrd were making. Twizz’s sound is hard to describe: a one-time listener might find an analog comparing it to the music of early Internet flash programs (World’s Hardest Game, anyone?). To be more accurate, Twizzxrd intertwines unorthodox jerk patterns and bubbly plugg melodies to conjure up a fluid, spatial realm that becomes harder to categorize the longer you listen.

PV: What is your favorite beat you’ve produced?

T: Damn, that’s a big one. I’ve recorded over 600 beats but I’ve posted just under 200 of them, but if I had to choose I’d say my third ‘7 Sisters’ beat.

Twizz’s style shows a marked respect for the both the new Internet age and the childhood memories of Gen Z in the early 2000s, the generation he, Yhap, and most young artists belong to. His synths and drums could just as easily belong in Viper’s discography, or on a lost cassette your older brother gave you for graduating middle school. It’s befitting he would work with an artist like Yhap, who has previously defined himself through profile pictures of Courage the Cowardly Dog characters and callbacks to R&B hits like Mariah Carey’s “We Belong Together.”

P: How would you describe the aesthetics of your production?

T: Kind of happy go lucky, with high tone frequency and a touch of nostalgia.

It’s this nostalgic energy that befits Yhap’s introspective, yet at times fearsome, lyrics - and that gives way to the project’s ethos of Renaissance-esque discovery and magic, enshrined by A New Genre’s cover. The album’s artistic framing also falls in line with visual themes present throughout Yhap’s discography, a transition between the underground’s prior medieval simplicity and the ethereal present.

The illuminating potential of Yhap’s voice, seemingly capable of infecting any instrumental he finds, posits an inflection point. Soon to surpass his peer Izaya Tiji on streaming platforms, he has found himself in pole position of a music scene that matured profoundly in 2023. With his prolific output and the newfound inventiveness of Twizzxrd, the rungs of the ladder to superstardom are well within reach.

I first became fascinated with Yhap’s material after hearing When Angels Cry, a 2022 release that put the rapper over a slew of regalia-rage hybrids, highlighting the sanctity of his vocal style. Yhap’s innovation has come full circle; his vocal work has outpaced the beats available to him, and so began his friendship with Twizzxrd.

P: How did you find your relationship with Yhap evolving towards the release of the tape?

T: Our creative chemistry was/is always there, like, I don’t always hop on his lives and such, but when I do it's always the same love given as received. We both know we’re making a new genre, a new wave together, so I think that built a bond.

The tape begins with “I've Seen Them In A Ship,” a ballad that introduces Yhap’s crooning against a trance-like backdrop, periodically accented by the classic ‘woman laughing’ sound bite of Mexikodro’s kit, immediately establishing the project’s peculiar fusion of aged plugg elements and Twizz’s electronic style. On lyrical standout “Man in Middle,” Yhap quickfires absurd bars over Twizzxrd’s addictive high-tone loop, leaving the listener to existentially reflect on lines such as “Got a lil white boy, invite him to the cookout” and “These n***** gay, these n***** RuPaul.”

P: There’s such an incredibly intriguing synergy between your loops and drums that makes this project feel so fresh. How do you achieve this balance?

T: It’s honestly hard to get that synergetic sound like I did for this tape. The drums are the easy part, but the constant change of energy I have when creating makes it hard to stay true to one sound. I guess it balances out through its instability.

The next song on the tracklist, “Meltdown,” is maybe the most purely jerk-adjacent instrumental on the project, but Twizzxrd pulls an ingenious sleight of hand. Using a completely unorthodox perc, the producer evades utilizing the stock jerk clap that would otherwise be expected by the listener. It transforms the song into its own symphonic arrangement, absent the conventions of the genre that Yhap has so carefully strived to innovate in, yet also set himself apart from.

On “My Love,” Twizzxrd’s booming sub-bass dominates a landscape of strumming guitars and fleeting synths, a familiar template for Yhap’s sentimental delivery and raw lyrics: “You’re my love, I’d kill for you.”

All of these little tweaks demonstrate Twizz’s intensive understanding of the needs of his vocalist, their tricks building off of one another in novel fashion. They also key in to the producer’s lived experience building up his work in unordinary circumstances.

P: How long have you been producing, and what got you into it?

T: For the better part of 3 years, coming on 4 and I honestly got into it for the healing perspective. Before I started producing I would listen to beats day in and out [to the point] where it replaced music for me. It helped through hard days and even harder times, but I ended up too depressed and went to a behavioral hospital for a few days. When I got out I had nothing to do, but the idea to make beats to help other people going thru what I did was my original inspiration.

The apex of the duo’s collaboration is found in “The Truth,” an exhibition of both of their rare skills. The instrumental leads in with provocative, plucking strings before Yhap bursts on to it - and Twizzxrd’s melody transitions into squiggly synths, before a gigantic 808 cascades into Yhap’s voice, the sword in the stone, an instrument of its own mythic proportions. Simultaneously emotionally raw and a dreamlike fiction, it feels like a crown jewel in the mythology of Xur, the spiritual wolf hidden but omnipresent throughout Yhap’s projects.

P: How do you feel the release of the project has gone?

T: I feel that it’s going great, we got the most criticism from this one because it’s all produced by me, but like Yhap said they not ready for it, it’s definitely a new genre.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/DFec8NxekUE

YhapoJJ and Twizzxrd both kicked off 2023 in the unknown, yet their debut collaboration was one of the albums of the year, a divine remix of the jerk and deep South plugg that has become so popular in recent years. While clearly influenced by some of the progenitors of these styles, it feels like the duo have unlocked a proverbial achievement: that some sort of Hyrulean plaque will be dropped into their cabinet for venturing into the unknown, for accessing a distant kingdom.

P: Do you and Yhap have further plans to collaborate?

T: We haven’t spoken verbally about any further projects, but I can say it’s gonna be a lot more coming from us, whether it’s constantly or in bits and pieces.

The bits and pieces we see and hear - as quickly or as slowly as they come - will surely provide insight into the next phases of Twizzxrd’s evolution and in YhapoJJ’s artistic progression, the new darling of the underground. How long it takes is none of your business.

Just know you may be asked to listen to a whole new genre, once again.

Thanks for reading this piece! Be sure to follow Twizzxrd on Instagram (@twizzxrd), check out his tracks for sale, and support his work on all platforms. Of course, show love to YhapoJJ too. Free Top Sshotta. Follow me on Instagram @pluggvision for updates on what’s coming next. If you want to support further work, feel free to contribute to my ENS address on Ethereum, deanblunt.eth.

“Hehe, you’re now listening to YhapoJJ.”

In 2023, Alabama-based YhapoJJ (@yhapojj) signed with Simple Stupid Records, a move that by and large thrusted him into the ears of the underground community. A scion of both Southern creatives like SahBabii and the jerk movement, Yhap’s growing clout as an artist has allowed him to satisfy a much-needed experimental niche. With his first merch release centered around the salient phrase, “Not a Jerk Rapper,” Yhap’s newest album with producer Twizzxrd (@twizzxrd) proves his point, its name suggesting the emergence of another major epoch in rap.

The following contains excerpts from an interview done over direct message.

I’ve been watching Yhap’s progression for a year and a half, and his process has never stayed the same. Though he constantly plays snippets on Instagram Live, his beat selection seems to shift each time he clocks in, maneuvering in the same fashion as the timbre of his voice. In recent months, YhapoJJ started to work very closely with Twizzxrd, a producer from Texas with a sound just as distinctive. Their ideas over the last year has seemed to exist in the transient ether of these livestreams: brought out in 8 bit-size chunks, malleable, held behind the curtain. Now that the curtain has been pulled back, what has come of it all? A New Genre.

The duo’s debut release A New Genre dropped December 30, 2023, preempting the New Year by two days, while ironically providing some of the most unique songs of the past twelve months. I got in touch with Twizzxrd, who reflected on his process working with YhapoJJ, the thought behind his craft, and what the future holds.

Pluggvision: When did you and YhapoJJ get in touch, and how?

Twizzxrd: Yhap got in touch with me (if memory serves well) midway through 2022 or a bit earlier than that. He reached out to me and told me my beats were one of a kind and asked if I could send some for recording. Honestly I didn’t know him when he came to me for beats, though I was happy to get recognized for my work by him.

There was a period in time where Yhap would only playback the songs he and Twizzxrd were making. Twizz’s sound is hard to describe: a one-time listener might find an analog comparing it to the music of early Internet flash programs (World’s Hardest Game, anyone?). To be more accurate, Twizzxrd intertwines unorthodox jerk patterns and bubbly plugg melodies to conjure up a fluid, spatial realm that becomes harder to categorize the longer you listen.

PV: What is your favorite beat you’ve produced?

T: Damn, that’s a big one. I’ve recorded over 600 beats but I’ve posted just under 200 of them, but if I had to choose I’d say my third ‘7 Sisters’ beat.

Twizz’s style shows a marked respect for the both the new Internet age and the childhood memories of Gen Z in the early 2000s, the generation he, Yhap, and most young artists belong to. His synths and drums could just as easily belong in Viper’s discography, or on a lost cassette your older brother gave you for graduating middle school. It’s befitting he would work with an artist like Yhap, who has previously defined himself through profile pictures of Courage the Cowardly Dog characters and callbacks to R&B hits like Mariah Carey’s “We Belong Together.”

P: How would you describe the aesthetics of your production?

T: Kind of happy go lucky, with high tone frequency and a touch of nostalgia.

It’s this nostalgic energy that befits Yhap’s introspective, yet at times fearsome, lyrics - and that gives way to the project’s ethos of Renaissance-esque discovery and magic, enshrined by A New Genre’s cover. The album’s artistic framing also falls in line with visual themes present throughout Yhap’s discography, a transition between the underground’s prior medieval simplicity and the ethereal present.

The illuminating potential of Yhap’s voice, seemingly capable of infecting any instrumental he finds, posits an inflection point. Soon to surpass his peer Izaya Tiji on streaming platforms, he has found himself in pole position of a music scene that matured profoundly in 2023. With his prolific output and the newfound inventiveness of Twizzxrd, the rungs of the ladder to superstardom are well within reach.

I first became fascinated with Yhap’s material after hearing When Angels Cry, a 2022 release that put the rapper over a slew of regalia-rage hybrids, highlighting the sanctity of his vocal style. Yhap’s innovation has come full circle; his vocal work has outpaced the beats available to him, and so began his friendship with Twizzxrd.

P: How did you find your relationship with Yhap evolving towards the release of the tape?

T: Our creative chemistry was/is always there, like, I don’t always hop on his lives and such, but when I do it's always the same love given as received. We both know we’re making a new genre, a new wave together, so I think that built a bond.

The tape begins with “I've Seen Them In A Ship,” a ballad that introduces Yhap’s crooning against a trance-like backdrop, periodically accented by the classic ‘woman laughing’ sound bite of Mexikodro’s kit, immediately establishing the project’s peculiar fusion of aged plugg elements and Twizz’s electronic style. On lyrical standout “Man in Middle,” Yhap quickfires absurd bars over Twizzxrd’s addictive high-tone loop, leaving the listener to existentially reflect on lines such as “Got a lil white boy, invite him to the cookout” and “These n***** gay, these n***** RuPaul.”

P: There’s such an incredibly intriguing synergy between your loops and drums that makes this project feel so fresh. How do you achieve this balance?

T: It’s honestly hard to get that synergetic sound like I did for this tape. The drums are the easy part, but the constant change of energy I have when creating makes it hard to stay true to one sound. I guess it balances out through its instability.

The next song on the tracklist, “Meltdown,” is maybe the most purely jerk-adjacent instrumental on the project, but Twizzxrd pulls an ingenious sleight of hand. Using a completely unorthodox perc, the producer evades utilizing the stock jerk clap that would otherwise be expected by the listener. It transforms the song into its own symphonic arrangement, absent the conventions of the genre that Yhap has so carefully strived to innovate in, yet also set himself apart from.

On “My Love,” Twizzxrd’s booming sub-bass dominates a landscape of strumming guitars and fleeting synths, a familiar template for Yhap’s sentimental delivery and raw lyrics: “You’re my love, I’d kill for you.”

All of these little tweaks demonstrate Twizz’s intensive understanding of the needs of his vocalist, their tricks building off of one another in novel fashion. They also key in to the producer’s lived experience building up his work in unordinary circumstances.

P: How long have you been producing, and what got you into it?

T: For the better part of 3 years, coming on 4 and I honestly got into it for the healing perspective. Before I started producing I would listen to beats day in and out [to the point] where it replaced music for me. It helped through hard days and even harder times, but I ended up too depressed and went to a behavioral hospital for a few days. When I got out I had nothing to do, but the idea to make beats to help other people going thru what I did was my original inspiration.

The apex of the duo’s collaboration is found in “The Truth,” an exhibition of both of their rare skills. The instrumental leads in with provocative, plucking strings before Yhap bursts on to it - and Twizzxrd’s melody transitions into squiggly synths, before a gigantic 808 cascades into Yhap’s voice, the sword in the stone, an instrument of its own mythic proportions. Simultaneously emotionally raw and a dreamlike fiction, it feels like a crown jewel in the mythology of Xur, the spiritual wolf hidden but omnipresent throughout Yhap’s projects.

P: How do you feel the release of the project has gone?

T: I feel that it’s going great, we got the most criticism from this one because it’s all produced by me, but like Yhap said they not ready for it, it’s definitely a new genre.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/DFec8NxekUE

YhapoJJ and Twizzxrd both kicked off 2023 in the unknown, yet their debut collaboration was one of the albums of the year, a divine remix of the jerk and deep South plugg that has become so popular in recent years. While clearly influenced by some of the progenitors of these styles, it feels like the duo have unlocked a proverbial achievement: that some sort of Hyrulean plaque will be dropped into their cabinet for venturing into the unknown, for accessing a distant kingdom.

P: Do you and Yhap have further plans to collaborate?

T: We haven’t spoken verbally about any further projects, but I can say it’s gonna be a lot more coming from us, whether it’s constantly or in bits and pieces.

The bits and pieces we see and hear - as quickly or as slowly as they come - will surely provide insight into the next phases of Twizzxrd’s evolution and in YhapoJJ’s artistic progression, the new darling of the underground. How long it takes is none of your business.

Just know you may be asked to listen to a whole new genre, once again.

Thanks for reading this piece! Be sure to follow Twizzxrd on Instagram (@twizzxrd), check out his tracks for sale, and support his work on all platforms. Of course, show love to YhapoJJ too. Free Top Sshotta. Follow me on Instagram @pluggvision for updates on what’s coming next. If you want to support further work, feel free to contribute to my ENS address on Ethereum, deanblunt.eth.

“Hehe, you’re now listening to YhapoJJ.”