Rage

History and character

Origins

Rage is a strand of trap born between 2020 and 2021 around Playboi Carti and his album "Whole Lotta Red" (December 25, 2020), initially met with bewilderment and later became a reference point for a generation. The name spread with "Miss the Rage" by Trippie Redd and Playboi Carti (2021), a track that jokes about nostalgia for concerts and moshing during the pandemic.

Scene

Carti's Opium label (Ken Carson, Destroy Lonely, Homixide Gang) and artists such as Yeat, Lucki in part, SoFaygo and Trippie Redd are its faces; producers like F1lthy, Art Dealer, Outtatown, Loukeman and Star Boy established a "video game / arena" aesthetic. Key albums: "Whole Lotta Red" (2020), Ken Carson's "X" and "A Great Chaos" (2022, 2023), Yeat's "2 Alivë" (2022), Destroy Lonely's "If Looks Could Kill" (2023).

Aesthetics

It blends trap, punk and EDM: distorted, bright and repetitive supersaw synths taken from 2000s trance and video game music, saturated and clipped 808s, shouted or "baby voice" vocals, mosh pit energy. It is the bridge between trap and hyperpop and has influenced fashion (dark, punk, vampire aesthetics).

Scales and keys

Natural minor (Aeolian)

• Formula: 1 2 b3 4 5 b6 b7 (2-1-2-2-1-2-2).
• Example in E: E F# G A B C D.
• Chords: Em (i) – F#dim (ii°) – G (III) – Am (iv) – Bm (v) – C (VI) – D (VII).
• Use: trance-style progressions (i–VI–III–VII) arpeggiated by supersaws; riffs built on the Em7 arpeggio (E G B D).
• Characteristic note: b6 (C), which on the VI gives the "epic and melancholic" air of trance.

Minor pentatonic

• Formula: 1 b3 4 5 b7 (3-2-2-3-2). In E: E G A B D.
• Use: 1–2 bar lead riffs, shouted vocal melodies, 808.
• Why: rage riffs are short and repeated: with no semitones, the repetition never becomes dissonant.

Phrygian

• Formula: 1 b2 b3 4 5 b6 b7. In A: A Bb C D E F G.
• Use: i–bII ostinatos for the most aggressive and "evil" beats.
• Characteristic note: b2 (Bb).

Major and Lydian (rare)

Some beats (Yeat, "Get Busy") use major riffs or the Lydian #4 (in F: F G A B C D E) for an almost fairy-tale, video-game air.

How to choose

• Epic energy: Aeolian with a trance progression.
• Obsessive riff: minor pentatonic.
• Maximum aggression: Phrygian.

Common mistakes: riffs that are too long (beyond 2 bars they lose the hypnotic effect), too many notes in the low register under an already distorted 808.

Harmony

Minimal harmony

A 1–2 bar synth riff that arpeggiates 2–4 chords, often with Aeolian trance progressions. No cadences; tonic pedal in the 808. Sometimes a single chord with the melody moving above it.

The riff as harmony

The riff is melody and harmony at once: arpeggios of minor triads or seventh chords in sixteenth notes, often with repeated notes. The harmony "is heard" thanks to the supersaw's sustain and the reverb.

Harmonic rhythm

One chord per bar (at 160 BPM ~1.5 s) or two per bar in the riff.

Voicing

Supersaw with 2–4 notes in octaves and fifths (synthetic power chord) in the C4–C6 register; saturated pads underneath (C3–C5) with HP at 150–200 Hz.

Typical progressions

Rhythm and groove

Grid

Fast (150–160 BPM) in half-time; no swing; sixteenth-note hi-hats with rolls; 808 pumping underneath. Constant energy, with sudden drops and stops to make the synth explode.

Synth as rhythm

The supersaw riff is often in sixteenth notes or syncopated rhythms (3-3-2), and defines the groove more than the drums do.

Flow

Short phrases, shouted or in "baby voice," lots of repetition; ad-libs at every pause.

Drums

Kick

Sparse or absent: the 808 acts as the kick. If present, on 1 and on a few syncopations coinciding with the 808.

Snare / clap

On beat 3 of every bar (step 9), saturated clap and snare. Sixteenth-note snare fills before the drop.

Hi-hat

Sixteenth notes with 1/32 rolls, constant velocity (energy) with accents on the quarter notes; open hat on the offbeat.

Percussion and FX

Crashes and risers before the hook, white-noise sweeps, impacts, glitches and stutters (very short repetitions) borrowed from EDM.

Interaction

The drums are simpler than in drill: the complexity is in the synth. The riff and the 808 must have complementary rhythms (when the riff plays sixteenth notes, the 808 holds long notes).

Sections

• Intro: synth only, sometimes filtered (an LP that opens over 4–8 bars).
• Hook: full kit + distorted 808.
• Verse: synth slightly filtered or lowered by 2–3 dB.
• Drop/stop: half a bar of silence or vocal only before the hook.

Typical mistakes

Drums that are too complex and compete with the riff; clap not saturated enough (it disappears under the synths).

Bass

Distorted 808

Saturated and clipped, often split into two layers: a clean sub (sine wave below ~80 Hz, mono) and a distorted layer above (Decapitator, Trash, OTT). It follows the chord's tonic or the riff's melody, with glide on octave jumps.

Rhythm

Long notes under sixteenth-note riffs, or syncopated patterns that stand in for the absent kick; 808 that "pumps" via sidechain from the kick when there is one.

Register

Fundamental 40–60 Hz; the distorted layer occupies 100–1,000 Hz and must be controlled with EQ so as not to cover the vocal and synths.

Harmonic instruments

• Saw synth leads and stabs with many unison voices (5–9) and wide detune, run through distortion, OTT (multiband compression) or bitcrusher.
• Saturated pads under the lead.
• Synthetic bells and chimes in the more "dreamy" beats.
• Mid-high register (C4–C6), very wide stereo (lead in mid/side with the side louder).

Melody and vocals

• Vocals: shouted, "baby voice" (Carti), mumble, short melodies on 2–3 notes; heavy Auto-Tune and distortion on the voice.
• Hooks: 2–4 repeated words.
• Ad-libs: extreme, shouted, pitch-shifted, panned.
• Effects: distortion (Decapitator, Trash), Auto-Tune, delay, long reverbs on the ad-libs.
• Backing vocals: absent; at most a stack of shouted unison voices.

Instruments

Distorted supersaw synths, saturated 808, hi-hats, claps, snares, EDM FX (risers, impacts, sweeps), vocals with distortion and Auto-Tune.

Drum patterns

Synths and sounds

• Jup-8 V — Supersaw and stab lead: Two saw oscillators with wide detune (15–25 cents), unison in mono/unison mode and distortion afterwards: it replicates the rage lead without a wavetable.
• OP-Xa V — Sharp stabs and brass: The OB-Xa saws are bright and aggressive: short stabs (decay 150–250 ms), then saturation and OTT.
• Korg MS-20 V — Distorted lead and FX: The filter with aggressive resonance adds 'punk' roughness to a repetitive riff; use the HP and LP together for a nasal lead.
• Prophet-5 V — Saturated pads: Supporting pads with the filter halfway, attack 50–100 ms and saturation, to fill the hook behind the lead.
• DX7 V — 'Arcade' bell: Short FM bells for 'video game' riffs; mix under the supersaw to define the attack.

Song structure

Short (1:50–2:40), very repetitive tracks. Arrangement by contrast: half-bar stops, filters and distortion automation.

Mixing and mastering

Sonic goal

Everything saturated and loud, but with a clean sub: very wide synths, clipped 808, distorted but intelligible vocal. References: Playboi Carti "Whole Lotta Red", Ken Carson "A Great Chaos", Yeat "2 Alivë". Balance: vocal 0, synth lead −2/−4 (very loud), 808 −3, clap −4, hats −8.

Kick

If present: HP 30 Hz, punch 60 Hz, clipper.

Clap / snare

EQ: HP 200 Hz, body 250 Hz, crack 2–3 kHz; heavy saturation; clipper 2–3 dB; short room.

Hi-hat

HP 1 kHz; LP 14 kHz; pan ±15; low level (the riff is already bright).

808

• Two layers: sub (LP 80–100 Hz, mono, clean) + distorted (HP 100 Hz, heavy saturation, EQ −3 dB at 2–4 kHz for the vocal).
• Clipper on both (2–4 dB); sidechain from the kick if there is one.

Synth lead

• EQ: HP 150–250 Hz; cut 2–4 kHz with dynamic EQ from the vocal; controlled high shelf (distorted saws are fatiguing above 8 kHz).
• Compression: OTT (depth 20–40%) for density.
• Saturation/distortion: before the reverb.
• Space: hall reverb 2–3 s at −15 dB, 1/8 ping-pong delay.
• Stereo: very wide; lower center (mid −2 dB) to leave room for the vocal.

Vocal

• Chain: Auto-Tune (retune 0) → EQ → FET compressor 8–10 dB → distortion (mix 20–50%) → de-esser → EQ.
• EQ: HP 120 Hz, cut 300 Hz, presence 3–5 kHz.
• Space: 1/4 delay and reverb on the ad-libs, lead vocal relatively dry.

Ad-libs

Pan ±60–90, distortion, pitch, long reverbs.

Buses and groups

Drum bus clipper; synth bus with OTT and glue; vocal bus with saturation.

Sidechain

808 → synth (1–3 dB) to let the sub breathe; vocal → synth (dynamic EQ).

Master

Multiple clippers with EQ in between, then limiter. Target −6/−4 LUFS integrated (among the loudest genres), true peak −1 dBTP (or −0.5). The mix is deliberately "broken" but controlled.

Common mistakes

Saturating the sub as well (muddiness); synths that cover the vocal; distortion on the master instead of on individual elements.

Reference tracks for the mix

• Playboi Carti — Stop Breathing (2020)
• Trippie Redd ft. Playboi Carti — Miss the Rage (2021)
• Ken Carson — Fighting My Demons (2023)
• Yeat — Get Busy (2022)

Reference listening

• Playboi Carti — Stop Breathing (2020)
• Playboi Carti — Sky (2020)
• Trippie Redd ft. Playboi Carti — Miss the Rage (2021)
• Ken Carson — Rock N Roll (2022)
• Yeat — Get Busy (2022)
• Destroy Lonely — if looks could kill (2023)