Modern Furry Rappers Fill Decades-Long Hole in the Community

For years, it was very easy to come to the conclusion that ‘furry rap’ as an idea was dead in the water. Even with the advent of the internet and a new millenium, we had seen very little innovation beyond comedy rap and various coy, ironic or “post-ironic” tracks that never met the art of hip-hop halfway beyond either poking fun at the genre at or furrydom itself. This problem was prevalent in other genres to some extent (see EZwolf’s "All The Single Furries" for a prime example on both audience and artist ends) but it was never quite as poor in representation or as easily dissmissable as the concept of ‘furry rap music’. 

In my sleuthing to find early examples of furry rap music I’ve found parodies of preexisting rap songs, various nerdcore-ish attempts to cater to an audience of predominantly people who do not listen to rap, and sometimes downright racist attempts to play in the genre space while dismissing rap music of the era. This is despite a lot of mainstream hip-hop within the early internet era (when the culture was most blossoming) carrying the aesthetics and weirdness of furry imagery: Snoop Dogg, especially on the album cover for Doggystyle; Quasimoto with his aardvark mascot; and Kanye West’s bear. The lattermost rapper is notable for, in his earliest days, exuding a collegiate, middle-class zeal that resonated with alternative audiences, the type that may also be into saving up for extravagant furred suits. 

Of course, I would be remiss in my duties to summarize the early confluences (or lackthereof) of hip-hop and furry music without mentioning the exception to the rule, Bucktown Tiger. Between 2007 and 2011, Little Rock furry and pianist Josh Hill put out several rap albums under his fursona’s name. A majority of songs from these works were rudimentary, made with the default MIDI presets on his Yamaha keyboard and equipment purchased with scrounged up savings. Nevertheless, it was his passion for the music and its unabashed furry subject matter ("Get Your Yiff On", "Tigers Run the Shop" and "Get Fursuited Up" are among many of his titles) that got him a considerable sense of respect in con spaces. The influence from 2000s rappers was evident.

We got DJ Big Tigger makin’ beats in the booth / We got Kanye West on his albums in a bear suit / We got Snoop Dogg and Bow-Wow, DMX with his dog sounds / […] Why do hip-hop? Why not do hip-hop?

Despite Bucktown Tiger being a generally celebrated musician in the scene when he was most active, his performances often diverged into classical piano tunes. This was not bad on its own, but it demonstrated the lack of a proper audience for furry rap. This hole in the scene was apparent for more than a decade. The biggest instance of furry rap music that people within the furry community listened to actively in the 2010s were often not made by people who listened to rap music, or in some cases weren’t even furries to begin with. Senzawa’s rapped rendition of the “x3 nuzzles! pounces on you” copypasta is still perhaps one of the biggest examples people will point to when they hear of ‘furry rap’, next to other examples that are forever plastered within the cringe compilations and diatribes of bad actors. 

It is not necessarily true that ‘furry rap’ was a blight on the fandom in the 2010s, but rather that the idea of hip-hop was so alien to both it and outsiders that nobody quite understood how to treat it with anything other than irreverence and irony. Most of it wasn’t very good, so it was okay to treat it as the type of thing you don’t approach. EDM, chiptunes, and to a lesser extent rock music were all much more fair game, but if you rapped, you were in danger of ridicule and being seen as a weirdo, even by other weirdos. This wasn’t strictly exclusive to rap music necessarily, but it was the easiest target aside from covers of pop hits and music made by popular furries (see Nos Hyena, the late Hiphop Husky, among others).

Gradually, and with some setbacks, rap music started to get some better footing in the community around the late 2010s. Car Seat Headrest side-project 1 Trait Danger, as a comedy rap outfit, was extremely furry in ethos and aesthetic. Various underground rappers from outside of the fandom either gained an audience in furries or directly partook in furry behavior (the biggest example being Hi-C with his public fursuiting on Instagram). More furries got into hip-hop through the zeitgeist of mainstream rap and vice versa. With this new climate, a new class of furry rappers began to spring up slowly but surely. 

One remarkable feature about this new school of rappers in comparison to the furry-nerdcore of yesteryear is their propensity to explore. When you listen to old furry rap, Bucktown notwithstanding, it never quite comes from a place of fandom for hip-hop itself. This is not the case with modern furry rap. Most furry rappers these days are necessarily rap fans AND furries, willing to represent both with fervor. This leads to an eclecticism within the subscene of 'modern furry rap', demonstrated by the extreme variance of styles at play. It's not uncommon for two rappers in the same clique to resemble completely different ideas of what furry hip-hop could be, which speaks to a profound love for the art form in all its flavors.

To provide an example, while Crash Blossoms (often stylized as Crash Blossoms Money World Suicide Mob) is not in and of itself a blatantly furry collective, it has several star players who use their furriness within the aesthetics of their rap. The Rural Internet outfit comprising three members of Crash have made multiple songs alluding to or outright highlighting their furriness, most notably on their industrial-tinged banger "starving...". Blackwinterwells has used the art of Remy Boydell as a means of introducing its new WELLSY alter-ego. zombAe's discography is plastered wall-to-wall with her fursona, a rabbit with spiraling eyes and a lab coat representing the frenzied, mad-scientist concoctions that she creates alongside collaborators like STOMACH BOOK and FEMTANYL.

Other cliques, such as zinniagarden and M.A.J.I.C Records follow the plethora of styles in modern rap to extreme results. The former is much more concerned with underground sounds, its staple artists like plskilquinn, python bile and twoglitch frequently delving into sounds abnormal at its most familiar. plskilquinn in particular has a tendency to make music that gets drowned in bass to the point of sheer incomprehensibility. M.A.J.I.C. Records is much more accessible in this regard, its stalwart stars commanding a presence with sleek production and hooks I wish I could scream from my rooftop. Their ability to capture audiences with their infectious songs has extended to shows at furcons and, in the case of signee $leazy EZ, a minor hit on furry music Twitter.

Of course, being in a group is not a prerequisite to create good furry rap. A personal favorite artist of mine right now is Zenny, a rapper-singer with impeccable beat selection and vocal command moving between 2000's R&B classics and the heartwarming vocal inflections of modern 'pluggnb' rap. "Need You" and "Break it All" are both extremely simple compositions at heart, but their simplicity leads them to euphoric highs once the vocals kick in. His beats are often picked on the dancier side, his FearDorian-produced "Receive" stopping just short of a jersey rhythm but keeping the bouncy, fun energy and the progressive sheen of modern EDM.

Yet more rappers lurk in modern cyberpunk psychedelia. lil fasty, coyote2 and emogen33 all operate in moody, kaleidoscopic trap beats while keeping chill on the microphone. They all operate in this semi-hyperactive mode, never quite overloading the listener but coming very close. coyote2 in particular has an incredibly noisy style, only tempered by his most recent PAYDAY EP. lil fasty (or their lil toasterz alter ego) instead opts for incredibly fast and dizzying fragments of verses and hooks. Nary a song goes by where the beat doesn't start from the beginning, skipping and slowing or speeding up like a whirling, almost demonic carnival.

One of the more promising voices in furry rap comes from a more 'traditional' drum machine sound, complete with turntable scratches and crispy sample-chopping. Texas-born rapper lulamoon, a member of limewire exclusive (not to be confused with the software) and former member of exceptionally furry shygang, dispenses alternative hip-hop bliss. While her name reps her MLP:FiM fandomship, the unadulterated furry swagger present on her music is nothing short of inspiring. With just an album out under her new alias, opal serves as a beacon of resilience. Her production is crisp and razor-sharp, noisy but never quite abrasive. Her lyrics and samples flip between nerdy show references, toking, and biting commentary on a culture unready to accept her. Many who listen will leave scratching and biting for more.

Evidently, 'furry rap' does not stick to one style or genre of hip-hop. Even the aesthetics are different between artists and cliques: Some artists show their face outright (ilysm, Jaylaflame, $LEAZY EZ, etc.) while others use their fursuits as an aide in creating this 'character' (coyote2, lil fasty/toasterz) that is then plastered in social media posts and promotional art. Additionally, the modern furry rap scene carries over the general queerdom and diversity of the wider furry fandom, which leads to an absolute smorgasbord of backgrounds and perspectives to pick from.

With this abundance breeds desire and visibility in rap and rap-related genres. We're already seeing bigger demand for acts in this sect of the scene, what with M.A.J.I.C and zombAe performing to wide furry audiences live on stage. It also comes with even more furry rappers—art creates desire to create art. This current class of furry rappers is by no means the 'canon', but more a picture of the diversity and love put into the artform of hip-hop by furries and for furries. The future is looking incredibly bright, and some say it's getting furrier.

Thank you for reading!

As a personal aside, this is one of my favorite articles that I've had the absolute joy to bring into this world. It combined all sorts of different research types and helped me reach out to a bunch of insanely cool people. It was nothing short of a privilege to not only be able to create this article but share it alongside the rest of the indieAnthro staff.

Thank you to Will, Ember, Jay aka Noise Artifact, Lurien, Dayton, ceej, Georgia over at Microdose on Cybergrind, koolcat, Bea, Zazie, Roxy, Stalker, ida, PK Shellboy, Ava, Numbers, Patricia, Terezi, MSpaintboi, Chelsea, Starri, Dae, Vivi, A.J., and whoever else helped me find and hone my knack for writing. You are all instrumental.

— Melissa Thyme Monroe