I’m proud to tell people that the first CD I ever got was Big Willie Style by you know who. So, as you might imagine, my interest in hip-hop started from a very early age. In fact, I don’t want to get into the details of my day job, but I’m still very much involved in hip-hop on a daily basis. Before going to Electric Zoo this past weekend, I spent the previous two weekends out in California at Rock The Bells. And while I might agree with some that hip-hop is indeed on life-support, it is far from dead. Hip-hop, no matter what it may seem like as a musical art form as it goes through so much change, represents the voice and the beat of the urban streets. While I can say with confidence that one would never drive through Bed Stuy and expect to hear Tiesto or Skrillex blasting out of a boombox, why is it that trap music has so pervasively influenced the EDM world? Is it because our generation grew up with hip-hop? Is it because both genres sound so good in the club? Are EDM-heads just too ADD and were just ready for something new already? LiveMixtapes.com and Diplo‘s Mad Decent label set out to explore these questions and more in their new Certified Trap series. If you have 20 minutes and are as interested in the recent “wave” of trap music as I am, I suggest you watch it. It’s really well done and gives good insight into what really led to the creation of today’s trap music and sets out to end the argument of what “real trap shit” really is and to encourage fans of both hip-hop and EDM to just embrace the music. #RUNTHETRAP