Sematary

Underground rapper Sematary stands at the crossroads of numerous different scenes, sounds, and subcultures. From a first listen to any of his projects, you’ll hear influences of 2010s Chicago Drill in the explosive bass-boosted 808s, Shoegaze and Black Metal in the washed out guitars, and Horrorcore in his dark, eldritch bars and ominous album art. Much like artists such as Yung Lean, it’s hard to pigeonhole him into any one genre or subculture — but the hundreds of millions of streams he’s received on Spotify and Apple Music show his mercurial status in the current music scene is a strength, not a weakness.

Growing up in Placer County, California, and beginning his musical career as an 11-year-old playing around on GarageBand, Sematary grew up on a variety of artists like witch house pioneers Salem as well as Chief Keef, Sickboyrari (fka Black Kray), and Yung Lean — whose Warlord tour he saw in San Francisco when he was fifteen, a moment he credits as the impetus for wanting to make rap music. In 2019, after graduating high school, he founded the collective Haunted Mound, a group of rappers and artists who share a love for Sematary’s sound. If Bladee is the ‘CEO’ of his collective Drain Gang, then Sematary is very much the Haunted Mound CEO: every artist attached to the collective was found by him, he does all the artwork for every project, and oversees the production of all the group’s music. In November of the same year, he released his debut mixtape Rainbow Bridge, with its deep-fried, over-saturated artwork reminiscent of old No Limit albums and Chicago drill mixtapes of the time setting the tone for Haunted Mound’s visual aesthetics. Tracks like “Slaughter House” and “Bunny Suit” from the project now sit at 5 million and 3 million streams on Spotify respectively.

In October of 2021, Sematary moved into the ‘Butcher House’, a decommissioned (you guessed it) butcher house, which serves as his place of residence, studio, and base [b] of operations for the Haunted Mound. After two years of making music and growing Haunted Mound, Sematary dropped Rainbow Bridge 3, which garnered attention not only from fans but from bloggers, reviewers, and anyone with their ear to the underground. A surge in visibility brought a number of record labels offering deals, all of which he declined, doubling down on his DIY approach. The combination of Sematary’s commitment to Haunted Mound’s genre-blending sound, his rarefied visuals (he’s sporting a True Religion jacket in every mixtape or album cover to date), and his secluded existence in the Butcher House, have contributed to his online mythos. His merch drops, frequently with 5000 or more items, sell out within minutes, snapped up by diehard fans. The Haunted Mound subreddit dissects each and every Sematary tweet or IG post ad infinitum, and 20 minute YouTube videos analyzing the ‘Haunted Mound iceberg’ receive over 100,000 views. In 2022, Sematary announced a world tour, selling out dates from Melbourne to Poland. There was no slowing down in 2023: In January, Sematary dropped the mixtape Butcher House. From track 1, ‘Haunted Mound Reapers’ (+5 mil streams), it’s a victory lap for the collective and their distinct sound, not least because the project includes a feature from one of Sematary’s boyhood heroes, Sickboyrari, on “Hallowed Be My Wrist”.

Following his latest release, Sematary performed at Lyrical Lemonade's Summer Smash 2023, and collaborated with breakthrough Florida rapper BLP Kosher on the single “Huntin Wabbits” (+1.5 mil streams). Perhaps the crowning achievement of a momentous year was collaborating with Chief Keef for a song, which will appear on the upcoming FTP Records album, masterminded by Zac FTP, creator of legendary underground streetwear brand Fuck The Population. Never one to rest on his laurels, Sematary is recently embarked on the 42date North American Grey Day Tour with $uicideboy$ where he played the biggest venues of his career thus far. With each step forward, however, Sematary remains laser-focused on his own work; releasing EP King of the Graveyard, largely composed of old Black Metal samples mined from the bowels of YouTube, a throwback to the sound of his first mixtape, Rainbow Bridge. On top of that, Sematary is also re-recording his 2020 EP, Warboy, until the songs sound like he wants them to. It’s dedicated gestures like this which hint at how an artist who started out making Garageband tracks in Nowhere, CA could end up making a lane for himself in the rap game and touring the world, all before his 23rd birthday.