Lately, I’ve seen a bunch of viral videos of rapper kllhhr ’s blurry, catatonic plugg music unfurling over DMV werk clips and dance compilations . It’s the strangest microtrend I’ve seen online in a minute, but I stop and stare every time. kllhhr is nestled in a new crop of ambient nightcrawlers–dudes like hunnakay , 22 , and the late tazparis –who’ve emerged in the wake of DPM, the Maryland-based pioneers of the muted arrangements they rap over. Flows are narcoleptic, drums are sporadic, and melodies are soft enough to live in a dollhouse. Not for nothing, we’ve also just witnessed MIKE and Earl go Speakerboxx/The Love Below with a lighthearted take on this sound with Surf Gang . Xang , DPM’s lead flagbearer since 2021, has had more time than anybody to make this niche his own. His latest tape, GroakDontCroak vol. 1 , arrives at an inflection point: As ambient rap develops a tangible identity, he’s well-versed enough to experiment with its contours.…