emo rap departs from the "traditional" tones found in modern mainstream hip hop in favor of more emotional and personal lyrical content, described by the wall street journal as "giving their elders the finger." lyrics tend to focus on topics such as depression, loneliness, anxiety, drug abuse, nihilism, suicide, heartbreak, and self-medication. the genre is characterized by its combination of musical elements commonly found in conscious hip hop with indie rock instrumentals. horse head of the collective gothboiclique has described the music as "...sort of nostalgic, but it's new too...no one's really done shit like this. it's like emo rap and melodic trap". fans and artist of the genre along with the scene that surrounds it are often referred to as "sad boys", in reference to emo rapper yung lean's music group by the same name.