username and the "new wave" of footwork

the internet kidz have discovered footwork, piecing together samples from recent rap & r&b songs to create a euphoric, headphone-friendly spin on the sound. these new artists are inspired by traxman and dj rashad, but removed from the origin point in chicago, have created a version of the genre that is friendlier to kids sitting on their laptops with headphones lol. it reminds me a little of vaporwave, but instead of the kitschy early digital aesthetic, it uses the last 10 years of soundcloud. jude noel of bandcamp daily wrote a good piece summarizing the scene: https://daily.bandcamp.com/lists/new-footwork-album-guide

my favorite of the bunch is an artist named username, whose album epiphanies was one of my favorite of last year. the title track turns the disclosure-esque garage-pop song "sorry" by joel corry into its own little universe:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AalUEZVjej8

another highlight was "we like her," which does the same thing to the classic "every girl" by young money
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKkJDJYspXQ

"we like her" was produced with marsh crane, another footwork artist, and user and marsh crane dropped a full collaborative album (overtime) earlier this year. "report" was a low-key favorite.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4A1cLyoU8o0

also really like the marsh crane album know what i mean from last year, especially "pause right now and say" which puts brent faiyaz's "all mine" in a blender
https://soundcloud.com/sweb16/pause-right-now-and-say

one more artist i'd like to highlight is auntie, who i don't like as much as the others, probably because they are even further removed from the dancefloor origins of the genre than their peers. this one is worth highlighting tho
https://soundcloud.com/auntieauntieauntie/go-a8m-step-mix

Cool!

yeah just started the first track posted and it's pretty sick

liked the second one even more! thanking u vc

glad you guys like. the username album from last year is ear candy. the jude noel article is very much worth reading imo.

also of note is this twitter post by marsh crane that outlines his ethos (very gen z/rym-coded imo, but still interesting), which acknowledges he and his peers' separation from the original chicago version of footwork

Some notes on the new wave of footwork, footwork vs. stepteam, etc. Lucky to participate pic.twitter.com/OZiuvhq1RM

— Marsh crane (@marshcranefly) January 27, 2026

I'm very unenthusiastic about nu-footwork which seems to trend towards softening the genre it into cloudy/R&B edges and/or filling it with skibidi toilet brainrot. Same thing has been happening to underground rap music, of which I'm also currently unenthusiastic.

yea this stuff is Not For Me

though I appreciate their straightforward transparency that lets me know in advance!

yeah i am sympathetic to that argument, but their twist sounds good 2 me. cloud footwork is a cool idea imo, especially since i don't think these guys are big enough yet to distract from the footwork ogs, and are pointing their fans towards the,

Honestly, based solely on the username album I don't hear a great deal of difference between this stuff and the kind of stuff DJ Earl was doing a good 10-12 years ago, save for some more updated samples and references

*them not the,

xp