Horrorcore

It has been argued that Jimmy Spicer's 1980 single "Adventures of Super Rhyme" was perhaps the first example of anything that resembled horrorcore, due to the segment of the song in which Spicer recounts his experience of meeting Dracula. Following this were groups like Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde, and songs like Dana Dane's "Nightmares," which spun more frightening, imaginative narratives.[10]

Since 1983, Ganxsta N.I.P. has performed horror-themed lyrics that he described as "Psycho Rap", but was not commonly considered to be horrorcore until the term came into mainstream prominence.[11] Ganxsta N.I.P. has written lyrics for other groups, including Geto Boys who are also an influence on the early horrorcore sound.[11]

In 1988, DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince released "A Nightmare on My Street", which described an encounter with Freddy Krueger,[10] and the Fat Boys recorded the similarly-themed "Are You Ready for Freddy" for the film A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master and its soundtrack. 1987 is also the year Insane Poetry (at the time called His Majesti) released "Armed & Dangerous" & then their debut as Insane Poetry with "Twelve Strokes Till Midnight" [1988], one of the first examples of music specifically made to be horrorcore.[10]

While Kool Keith later claimed to have "invented horrorcore",[12] the first use of the term appeared on the group KMC's 1991 album Three Men With the Power of Ten. Nonetheless, Kool Keith brought significant attention to horror-influenced hip hop with his lyrical content from his group the Ultramagnetic MC's and of course the 1996 release of his horror and science-fiction-influenced, absurdist, trippy, experimental album Dr. Octagonecologyst.

Scarface, of the group Geto Boys, whose violent, horror-themed lyrics have been singled out as the first recorded example of horrorcore.

The Geto Boys' debut album, Making Trouble, contained the dark and violent horror-influenced track "Assassins", which was cited by Joseph Bruce (Violent J of the horrorcore group Insane Clown Posse) in his book Behind The Paint, as the first recorded horrorcore song. He said that the Geto Boys continued to pioneer the style with its second release, Grip It! On That Other Level, with songs such as "Mind of a Lunatic" and "Trigga-Happy Nigga."[13] The Geto Boys' 1991 album, We Can't Be Stopped, was also influential on the horrorcore genre and contained themes of paranoia, depression, and psychological horror, especially in the track "Chuckie," and "Mind Playing Tricks on Me".[14][15]

While rappers in the underground scene continued to release horrorcore music, including Big L,[16] Insane Poetry,[17] and Insane Clown Posse,[10] the mid-90s brought an attempted mainstream crossover of the genre.[10]

In 1994, according to Icons of Hip Hop, horrorcore gained prominence in 1994 with the release of Flatlinerz' U.S.A. (Under Satan's Authority) and Gravediggaz' 6 Feet Deep (released overseas as Niggamortis).[18][19][20][21]

In 1995, an independent horror film called The Fear was released, which included a soundtrack that consisted entirely of horrorcore songs, including Insane Clown Posse's biggest radio hit, "Dead Body Man".[10] 1995 also saw the release of Three 6 Mafia's debut album "Mystic Stylez" which touched on drug use, ritualistic sex, mass murder, torture and Satanism. Bone Thugs-N-Harmony's "E. 1999 Eternal" LP, furthered tales of the occult on songs such as "Mr. Ouija 2", "Mo' Murda", and "East 1999". Tension would soon rise between Bone Thugs and Three 6 over their presumed similarities in style and use of dark imagery.

In 2009, dark music themed website Fangoria named Tech N9ne's 2001 album "Anghellic" as an iconic and influential album to the genre, to the artist, and to hip-hop as a whole.

The genre is not popular with mainstream audiences as a whole; though in some cities like Detroit it is the dominant style of hip-hop and performers such as Insane Clown Posse, Eminem, and Twiztid as well as artists like Necro, from Brooklyn, have sold commercially well nationwide.[18] Horrorcore has thrived in Internet culture and sustains an annual super show in Detroit called Wickedstock.[22] Every Halloween since 2003, Horrorcore artists worldwide get together online and release a free compilation titled Devilz Nite.[23] According to the January 2004 BBC documentary Underground USA, the subgenre "has a massive following across the US" and "is spreading to Europe".[22] Rolling Stone in 2007 referred to it as a short-lived trend that generated more shlock than shock.[24]

In 2019, experimental trio clipping. released There Existed an Addiction to Blood, described as a "transmutation of horrorcore"[25]