Scrolling through SoundCloud, and I stumble upon a new track by TroyBoi. Oh. Yes. This is going to be excellent. A DJ from London, TroyBoi sticks out from the house/drum and bass EDM scene over there, as his music tends to be classified as trap, a genre much more prevalent in American/Australian electronic music scenes. However, he defines himself as a “Music Manipulation Specialist” and later classifies himself as a “genre fuser” in his May 2015 BBC Radio 1 Guest Mix. Upon listening to his tracks, one can hear all the sounds and influences of a variety of genres, ranging from electronic to jazz to world; the way he mixes them gives me absolute goosebumps. His solo material is instantaneously recognizable. Rhythmically unique, he creates unparalleled beats with sounds of all sorts – drippy/wet noises, bouncy instrumentation, metallic tones, vocals/vocalizations (although no very structured lyrics). Sometimes he’ll incorporate very percussive noises and rhythms into the song, or steel drums on the upbeats to create a reggae feel in a piece. Hi-hats and basslines are apparent in some songs, displaying his hip-hop inclination. To finally bring one of his pieces together, TroyBoi will incorporate his tell-tale “T-R-O-Y-B-O-I,” each letter falling perfectly in time, somewhere he feels appropriate. Typically, though, his signature will fall right before a fire-starting drop iconic of his style. Some of my favorite tracks of his solo material include “Do You?” “Souls," “OG," and “ili." However, TroyBoi stole my heart when I heard “Pause." In addition to releasing many solo works, TroyBoi has collaborations with many artists from the trap scene in America; for example, Flosstradamus and TroyBoi together composed “Soundclash," a song in which his style is overbearingly obvious and even outdoes Flosstradamus’ influence. Another example is more laid-back number TroyBoi wrote with the help of Diplo and featuring Nina Sky, “Afterhours." TroyBoi is also one-half of a collaborative duo with a DJ called icekream that they’ve dubbed as the SoundSnobz; SoundSnobz is a fantastic representative of the more laid-back aspects of TroyBoi’s sound, as they incorporate aspects/instrumentations of house with some vaguely jazzy/Eastern/worldy influences. A sign of a great DJ, in my opinion, is their ability to create a great mix, whether it be live or for a radio show. Although I’ve yet to experience what I’m sure would be an indescribable live performance, TroyBoi many radio mixes to behold, inclusive of the BBC Radio 1 Mix, a Diplo & Friends mix and a Future Beats radio mix with another DJ, Tyce, to scratch the surface. There’s an undeniable flow as one song is layered over the other; he mixes them in a way that they sound as if they should naturally flow together, never causing a feeling of incompletion or dissonance. TroyBoi labels all of his works under the main trend of “#My Style,” and there’s truly no better way to describe his music. His music and his sounds, layered and composed together, create a style that truly is all his own. I don’t care what anyone says about trap music, TroyBoi is indescribable and unclassifiable; he has a song out there to fit all tastes, one just has to take the time to listen and find his/her niche, and I love his music. But, hey, if you just despised all of the music you heard and all of the things you read, that’s okay! Tune into kanm.tamu.edu and find sounds and songs that you’ll become just as obsessed with as I am with TroyBoi. - Toni Nittolo