BEATS OF THE DIFFERENT SREMMURD

Right now Taylor Swift and a whole pack of Brits rule the glittering surface of Pop Radio—a trend that shows no signs of letting up. But a sea of change is turning in the streets, clubs, house parties, dorm rooms, Vines, YouTube and Snapchats of our youth tastemakers. They are getting turnt up,ready for the next ratchet revolution: Rae Sremmurd.

It’s the same pulse that producer Mike Will tapped into when he decimated Disney’s carefully crafted Miley Cyrus fantasy, pulling the real country-ass part out of her before the Twerk That Changed The World.

Yeah, Mike Will Made It.

When you’re a producer who knows how to craft some big hits, that’s one thing. But if you’ve got business acumen as well as a keen knack for identifying talent that captures a musical cultural zeitgeist, that’s mogul magic. This is how Russell Simmons, Puff Daddy, and Jay Z did it big. Mike Will is on the same page.

Rae Sremmurd’s debut album, SremmLife (now at 64k album sales, 215k+ with TEA) is the first release from Will’s label deal through Interscope, Ear Drummer Records. The playfully twisted brotherly duo of Slim Jimmy and Swae Lee famously coined their name by flipping the new company’s title backward. These kids are taking youth culture by storm through the force of their own positivity, maintained through extreme adversity—including poverty and homelessness. Their commitment to staying up in a rundown world has struck a major chord.

The music is fun first, with no cussing in the lyrics. "Their energy is so good and their character is so tight that they can cross over into popular culture easily,” Mike Will recently told Rolling Stone, “I look at them like a hood NSYNC.”

Singles sales definitely suggest an impending crossover. Powered by party anthems like, “No Flex Zone,” “No Type,” and the current banger “Throw Some Mo,” Rae Sremmurd has moved more than 1.5 million tracks, growing steadily.

“It’s a bunch of energy that hasn’t been in hip-hop for awhile, but it’s authentic to the street, with some powerful radio records.”—Interscope President of Urban Joie Manda

“It’s a bunch of energy that hasn’t been in hip-hop for awhile, but it’s authentic to the street, with some powerful radio records,” says Interscope President of Urban Joie Manda, “They were named MTV’s Artist To Watch, and ‘Throw Some Mo’ is their third big single at Urban. Rhythm radio is getting excited about them now.”

The foundation to cross over is being laid meticulously; Rae Sremmurd’s latest viral video, “Lit Like Bic” dropped 2/12 and features the ultimate cool-kids party hang. In the clip, Slim and Swae’s peer group includes the elite “it” girl model pack of Cara Delevinge, Kendall Jenner, and Gigi Hadid nodding their heads to the beats—while Miley, Justin Bieber and Jimmy Fallon make appearances as well. Just in case you had any doubt at all that these kids are the hottest new shiznit in town.

“It feels important,” notes Manda. "We just shot the video with Nicki Minaj and Young Thug, the group is being requested for every tour and we're getting early traction in the U.K. Mike, [managers] DJ Mormile, Dan Friedman, Migo and their entire team are building something very real here."