On April 9, Gustav Åhr closed his sold-out show at Subterranean with a cover of Blink-182's "Dammit," the bratty 1997 single that became the California pop-punk band's first hit. Shirtless and sweaty, Åhr belted out the lyrics in short, hoarse shouts, duplicating the regimented rhythms of Blink bassist-vocalist Mark Hoppus. Åhr loves pop-punk, and as a skinny white 20-year-old with dozens of tattoos and pink-and-black hair, he looks the part—but if you've heard of him, you probably know him better as rapper Lil Peep.

Peep is one of many young underground rappers influenced by the mainstream rock and punk of the 1990s and 2000s—not just Blink-182 (who headline Lollapalooza's Bud Light stage on Friday, August 4) but also the likes of Marilyn Manson, My Chemical Romance, Nirvana, Alice in Chains, and Disturbed. These rappers don't share an aesthetic, though a few (in contrast to the bygone radio rockers who inspired them) seem to favor lo-fi production that makes their music sound like it's always playing through a broken smartphone speaker. The only other thing they reliably have in common is their preferred streaming service, which might explain why "Soundcloud rap" is an established enough term that the New York Times recently embraced it.

You may have heard that Soundcloud itself is in dire financial straits—on July 6, the company laid off 173 employees, and around a week later an anonymous Soundcloud staffer told TechCrunch that it was fully funded for only 80 more days. But Soundcloud rap is thriving, albeit mostly below the radar. Many of these rappers use the streaming platform's genre-tagging options to cheekily reference their love of rock: in March, when Genius chief content officer Brendan Frederick tweeted a screenshot of Soundcloud's most-played chart for "Alternative Rock," it featured Lil Peep, hip-hop hit machine Lil Uzi Vert, and popular alleged strangler of a pregnant ex-girlfriend XXXtentacion. (Uzi, who headlines Lollapalooza's Pepsi stage Thursday night, is too successful to be considered a Soundcloud rapper, but he drinks from the same well.) Soundcloud has since tweaked its alt-rock chart to exclude rappers, but the point's already been made.

Peep is the new rapper who's most obviously indebted to Blink-182 and their ilk. His tortured, half-sung raps sound more like Used front man Bert McCracken than they do anyone in Migos. Peep's vocal style and appearance tempted Pitchfork to call him "the future of emo" in a January profile, which while provocative basically erases his present artistic choices. That's not to say I think Pitchfork should've ignored Peep's influences—that would mean ignoring the way that he (alongside many others) borrows from pop-punk to push hip-hop in a new direction. But many commentators seem to assume that commercial punk and underground hip-hop are mutually exclusive categories, such that drawing on the former disqualifies an artist from the latter. To the contrary, one of Peep's favorite bands has played a crucial role in bringing them together.

Lollapalooza

Thu 8/3 through Sun 8/6, noon-10 PM, Grant Park, Columbus and Jackson, lollapalooza.com, general-admission tickets sold out, single-day VIP passes $650, four-day VIP passes $2,200, all ages Blink-182, Elohim

Thu 8/3, 11 PM, Metro, 3730 N. Clark, metrochicago.com, sold out, 18+ Blink-182 pop-up shop

The first 182 customers get a free gift bag with their purchase, but please no lining up before 9 AM. Thu 8/3-Sun 8/6, 11 AM-7 PM, Rotofugi, 2780 N. Lincoln, rotofugi.com, all ages

Formed in 1992, Blink-182 didn't hit their stride till Hoppus and guitarist-vocalist Tom DeLonge recruited drummer Travis Barker in 1998. (Hoppus is now the sole original member; Alkaline Trio front man Matt Skiba replaced DeLonge in 2015.) Barker brought musical rigor and professionalism to the band, as well as a deep understanding of hip-hop. As Barker writes in his 2015 memoir, Can I Say: Living Large, Cheating Death, and Drums Drums Drums, he grew up listening to all sorts of music—country singer-songwriter Buck Owens, jazz drummer Buddy Rich, satanic metal pioneer King Diamond—but the Beastie Boys changed his life. As DeLonge told Rolling Stone while promoting the 2011 album Neighborhoods, "If he didn't bring his love of hip-hop into Blink-182 then we'd never have songs like 'I Miss You' or 'Down.'" Blink also wouldn't have had "After Midnight," a Neighborhoods track built on a beat that Barker made for Alabama rapper Yelawolf.

Barker has crossed over into hip-hop more successfully than any other rock musician this century. In 2001 Sean Combs (then P. Diddy) asked Barker to play drums in the video for "Bad Boy for Life." And his collaborations with rappers grew into serious partnerships after Blink-182 went on hiatus in 2005. That year Barker produced his first instrumental for a rapper (Bun B's "Late Night Creepin'") and formed hip-hop supergroup Expensive Taste, which included Houston rapper Paul Wall (who topped the Billboard 200 in 2005 with The Peoples Champ).

Within three years, and especially after Barker's 2007 remix of "Crank That (Soulja Boy)," rap and pop stars practically beat down his door asking for remixes. He launched TRV$DJAM, a dance-forward remix project with former Crazy Town turntablist DJ AM (aka Adam Goldstein), which brought him even deeper into the world of hip-hop—Cool Kids rapper-producer Chuck Inglish recalls meeting Barker through Goldstein. The Cool Kids were among dozens of rappers who contributed to Barker's 2011 solo album, Give the Drummer Some: the others include Lil Wayne, Pharrell, Slaughterhouse, RZA, Snoop Dogg, Bun B, Cypress Hill, Rick Ross, and locals Twista and Lupe Fiasco. Barker has been mentioned in lyrics by Gucci Mane, Rick Ross, and Lil Wayne, and all sorts of rappers have invited him to drum with them onstage—maybe you remember the extra punk punch he gave Vic Mensa's vitriolic "16 Shots" on Jimmy Kimmel Live! the night before the 2016 election.

"Travis has a style, he looks familiar to rap, and more importantly, it's just history—people know your history. It makes you cooler," says Chuck Inglish. He's collaborated with Barker a handful of times; Barker coproduced and drummed on "Sour Apples," from the 2011 Cool Kids record When Fish Ride Bicycles, and he'll be on the duo's forthcoming reunion album, Special Edition Grand Master Deluxe. (In 2012, judging by Inglish's Instagram feed, he and Barker were in the studio working on an instrumental album, but it has yet to materialize.) Inglish says working with Barker is easy, and it helps that they're both drummers. He was impressed by Barker even before they met. "At Guitar Center, in the drum section, they always have videos of a famous drummer doing a live solo set," Inglish says. "It was usually Travis doing a solo."