As someone who has lived through the prime soundcloud days of XXXTENTACION, the drain gang wave of Bladee and Ecco2K, and the rise of TikTok music, I can confirm that sniper2004 is one of the most promising from the underground scene.
Spencer Dayton is a rap artist out of Tampa, Florida. He formally went by the name Cerr which he repped from 2021-2023. In high school, Spencer would throw concerts for his fellow students which he named “Cerrfest”.
Since he dropped that name, he has rebranded himself as sniper2004, a sort of homage to the days of Faze Clan and quick scoping. His current catalog is fairly small, comprised of a handful of songs from an EP titled “i wanna be a sniperrrrr”. To accompany his songs, he has a couple of music videos, which I’ll link below.
I managed to find sniper2004 through none other than TikTok. At the time, the short was his most popular video and was a visual for his most popular song “rifle crew”. My first perception was that I was getting old and I wasn’t quite gelling with it. That was until I let it loop a few times and it quickly burrowed an earworm in me. After days of listening to rifle crew on repeat, annoying the shit out of my girlfriend on vacation, I did some more research. I found that his combination of obscure sound bites, autotune, and beat selection reminded me of a mix of several different artists. There is a weird concoction of JPEGMAFIA, Danny Brown, Destroy Lonely, Yeat, and other Drain Gang/Opium artists.
Of course with any artist, there is a small polarization factor. From the comments and message boards that discuss sniper2004, there is a mix of embrace and hatred. The pushback seems to come from an older generation that either dismisses him as a plant or has a general distaste for new-gen music. As for those who support him, he is headed on a great projection. With cosigns from larger artists like Lil Yachty and Jean Dawson as well as gaining over 50,000 Spotify listeners since last month, his future is looking bright.
Whether you love the music or can’t stand it, there is no denying that we’ll be hearing more from the sniper crew, give it a listen and form your own opinion, and don't forget to live VASH.
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