It’s easy to fall behind on what’s new in music due to an abundance of artists and subgenres, but SoundCloud has come up with a way to spread the word about what’s next in music and what’s popular on the platform. SCENES is SoundCloud’s music-discovery docuseries which explores rapidly-growing artist and fan communities which are on the cutting edge of what’s next in music around the world.
Since debuting in 2021, SCENES has racked up over a million views on YouTube, earned Webby and Shorty Award nominations, and won an AVA Digital Award for excellence in digital creativity, branding, and strategy. Previous editions have explored emerging scenes such as East African Underground, PC Music, and Digicore. SCENES: Plugg looks at the rise of plugg, one of the fastest-growing hip-hop subgenres on SoundCloud.
The plugg movement originated in Atlanta, first introduced by producer MexikoDro, who created the artist and producer collective BeatPluggz with fellow StoopidXool in 2013. That’s when they began using the “PLUGG!” beat tag in their music. Plugg spread rapidly on SoundCloud as artists and producers were drawn to its aggressive 808s and hypnotic melodies, which were influenced by producer Zaytoven. After gaining ground within Atlanta’s underground hip-hop scene, plugg rose quickly after music from artists like Playboi Carti, Drake, Rich the Kid, and Nebu Kiniza went viral.
Over the past decade, plugg has gone from pockets of Atlanta’s hip-hop scene to one of the defining sounds of current hip-hop.
SCENES: Plugg features interviews with MexikoDro, more established artists like Yung Bans and Nebu Kiniza, and on-the-rise artists such as Bear1Boss, tana, muddymya, Sojabrat, Bktherula, and more as they discuss plugg’s evolution and the role SoundCloud played in its growth.
In the documentary, MexikoDro talks about how plugg took off while he was in jail. Meanwhile, both Nebu Kiniza and Yung Bans explain how their singles “Gassed Up” and “Dresser” racked up millions of views on the platform. A constant theme throughout SCENES: Plugg is the understanding that SoundCloud eliminated a barrier, allowing artists to grow their fan bases organically. “SoundCloud is a pretty tightly-knit community,” says producer CashCache!. “The ability to be in a space with people who think like you and bounce ideas off each other is really healthy for musical growth.”
The documentary explores how the various underground scenes in Atlanta have come together to make plugg what it is today. “Microgenres, that’s what I like to call it,” says Muddymya. “You can hear some R&B shit and then take it and turn it into Plugg & B.” Overall, the documentary reinforces how plugg is a product of mid-2010s Atlanta that has blossomed into something much bigger then what plugg legend MexikoDro ever imagined.
Watch the full episode of SCENES: plugg, and listen to our plugg playlist for more music.
LISTEN TO PLUGG
Credits: Directed by Christian Sutton
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