Two of hip-hop’s currently hottest — and fundamentally important — cities are undoubtably New York and Atlanta. Spending half of his life in both places, one of the underground’s freshest names has this and many more influences to thank for his come-up.
Rollin Thrax, who was born in the Bronx and moved to Atlanta at the age of 10, began making music in late 2020. Now currently holding over 300,000 monthly listeners on Spotify, the 20-year-old has combined a unique set of inspirations to gain a following among a crop of new wave talent that continuously cranks out plugg and rage beat assisted hits.
What separates Thrax from the pack, though, is an intangible, yet enthralling sound that even he has a hard time putting a finger on. All he knows is that he’s never heard anything like himself before.
“I feel like if it’s new to me I’ll hop on it,” he said. “With me, I really like experimenting. Whether it’s a rock beat, or regular trap 808, plugg, I always want to experiment. I tend to find things that a lot of people don’t hop on. Everybody hops on plugg, everybody hops on drill. With me, I mix it and do kind of a new sound in a way I don’t know how to explain. When you hear it, you’ll hear it.”
Rollin Thrax to OGM
Whether it be free-styling to Pi’erre Bourne and Detroit style beats back in 2018, having his mom play Notorious B.I.G. around him as a youth, discovering Deadmau5 and dubstep via YouTube in the early 2010s, finding an interest in fashion through A$AP Rocky and Playboi Carti, naming his first project after the SSX snowboarding video game series or mimicking ScHoolboy Q‘s quirky beat selection, Thrax’s unique amalgamation of creative references leads to fascinating results.
These results consist of the wildly TikTok viral “Yeaaaa,” whose sped-up version has been used in about 100,000 different videos on the app, as well as the aforementioned ScHoolboy Q-inspired “Nvr2Mch” and 9-song debut project Ssx. Along with Ssx, highlighted by its distorted 808s and distinctive drum bounces, Thrax put out a second tape exactly three months later on his 20th birthday titled 2eZ, making his 2022 truly transformative.
But now, as we head into 2023 and year three of Thrax’s incredibly young career, he is ready to put together his “statement project.” Currently untitled and without a release date, the LP will hopefully help differentiate Thrax even more from his peers, and elevate him to new heights in the industry.
“I just want people to understand that I can differentiate myself from a lot of people that are in the game right now,” he said. “I tend to get a lot of comparisons and whatnot, and I feel like this is my way to prove it.”
Rollin Thrax to OGM
Setting out on his quest to truly be one of a kind, Thrax gracefully took time out of his recent stay in LA to speak with OGM host Hakeem Rowe for the newest Our Generation Music exclusive interview. Throughout their conversation, Thrax and Keem chop it up about his relationships with Southsidesilhouette and Tana, his fascination with architecture and real estate, working with producers like CXDY and Pipes, modeling for the nineteenplus (19+) brand, making the “Yeaaaa” video with DotCom Nirvan and much more.
Check out Rollin Thrax’s exclusive interview below!
