Backpacker Hip-Hop: Friend or Foe

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

Guy comes into the 50 cent thread, seems to wanna say "you ilxors are a bunch of backpacker-lovin' fools." I say "Jesus Christ man ilxor is like John Ashcroft to the backpackers' terrorists." Sterling, he's like "naw dude maybe that was true once but now we have been infiltrated.

So does everybody hate Def Jux? Mr. Lif? Murs? Company Flow? Common? And does an anti-backpacker stance rely in whole or in part on contempt for the perceived existing/intended audience for the stuff? And if so, is that fair/right/moral/aiding terrorists?

― J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Thursday, 29 May 2003 07:29 (twenty-two years ago)

Jason got his golden fleece
New Answers all up in this piece

― J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Thursday, 29 May 2003 07:30 (twenty-two years ago)

And does an anti-backpacker stance rely in whole or in part on contempt for the perceived existing/intended audience for the stuff?

In whole, that's why it's stupid and childish. Suerly it's possible to like Jay-Z and Busta Rhymes as well as Sage Francis and Grand Buffet...

― JoB (JoB), Thursday, 29 May 2003 09:11 (twenty-two years ago)

backpacker-lovin'

Where did the backpack as identification point come in anyway? I never got that... Have Def Jux fans got stuff to carry that Dr. Dre afficionados don't?

― JoB (JoB), Thursday, 29 May 2003 09:14 (twenty-two years ago)

So, does backpacker hip-hop refer to "experimental" stuff like Def Jux then? Because I always thought it referred to conscious stuff, a la People Under The Stairs and so forth.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Thursday, 29 May 2003 09:16 (twenty-two years ago)

Basically it's anything that's not performed by former crack dealers.

Ha! But I kid. Er, actually, I have no idea where the backpacker/mainstream cutoff line is anymore. I've been hearing people call the Roots "backpacker" so it's a pretty fucking useless term in my opinion.

― Nate Patrin (Nate Patrin), Thursday, 29 May 2003 10:09 (twenty-two years ago)

http://www.dangpow.com/~aquakitty/gavin.gif

― brian badword (badwords), Thursday, 29 May 2003 11:08 (twenty-two years ago)

^
"Yo, you heard that new Cannibal Ox record? Wowwee zowwee guy!"

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Thursday, 29 May 2003 11:57 (twenty-two years ago)

(Actually though, I'm planning on taking this "backpacker hip-hop" thing all the way by wearing an honest-to-Gawd backpack on stage. That'll show 'em, humph!)

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Thursday, 29 May 2003 11:58 (twenty-two years ago)

nick is my hero

― J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Thursday, 29 May 2003 12:44 (twenty-two years ago)

I can't answer this question because I'm imagining a hip-hop track that samples "Friend Or Foe" by Adam and the Ants.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 29 May 2003 12:57 (twenty-two years ago)

Kids in the Hall were all about the surf rock instrumentals, and heavey metal stoners.

So calling something backpacker is just a PC way of saying white people might like it?

― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Thursday, 29 May 2003 13:07 (twenty-two years ago)

yeah cuz white people don't listen to 50 Cent or Jay-Z

― James Blount (James Blount), Thursday, 29 May 2003 13:09 (twenty-two years ago)

You know what I meant James.

― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Thursday, 29 May 2003 13:19 (twenty-two years ago)

I can't answer this question because I'm imagining a hip-hop track that samples "Friend Or Foe" by Adam and the Ants.

I was thinking the same thing. Brilliant idea, isn't it? :-) Lance Lockarm to thread!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 29 May 2003 13:35 (twenty-two years ago)

I think the image of a backpacker is of someone who is somehow earnest and collegiate.

i.e., backpacker : hip-hop :: college : rock

― o. nate (onate), Thursday, 29 May 2003 13:36 (twenty-two years ago)

Lance Lockarm to thread!

Kid Koala or Buck 65 will probably beat em to the punch.

― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Thursday, 29 May 2003 13:37 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm open to just about any kind of hip hop, but I really don't like these at all:

Def Jux? Mr. Lif? Murs? Company Flow? Common?

especially Murs. Def Jux has put out some okay things in the past (CanOx was all right, Def Jux released that right? and I thought rjd2 was okay), but by and large this stuff doesn't do it for me.

― adam west (adamwest), Thursday, 29 May 2003 13:39 (twenty-two years ago)

stupid distinction
nowt wrong w/ def jux, mush, lex, blah de blah de blah - all good music.
however worth remembering that eminem out-battled doseone, dre, tim, swizzbeats and neptunes prosuctions are much better to dance to than El-P or Boom Bip's and just as clever...
they're different kindsa music for different purposes and not mutally exclusive... common sucks arse tho' - one good track... the rest stink...

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Thursday, 29 May 2003 13:41 (twenty-two years ago)

Friend. Except for El-P and except for when it gets pointlessly up itself. I was going to say I'm generally not up for the "conscious" sound -- in the sense of the "rootsy" / "musical" / "feel-good" type that Widespread Panic fans enjoy -- but what the hell, I've liked a few singles from that direction.

― nabisco (nabisco), Thursday, 29 May 2003 14:36 (twenty-two years ago)

I don't know, I always think of "backpacker" as pre-Def Jux. Co Flow, Jugganauts, the Roots (not anymore, though), Stones Throw, Spinna-produced, Rawkus 12s, Fat Beats, all late '90s heyday. The backpack was pure fashion. I don't even think there was anything in the backpack. That said: Friend! I love all that stuff. And I love Def Jux today, but I think the backpack(er) is all but extinct.

― scott m (mcd), Thursday, 29 May 2003 14:59 (twenty-two years ago)

Mr. Noodles - actually I don't know what you meant. are you calling undie rappers uncle tom's or what?

― James Blount (James Blount), Thursday, 29 May 2003 15:01 (twenty-two years ago)

there was once a crew called foreign legion, i guess they must be about as terrible as ugly duckling or someone like that, anyway i think one of them used to come on stage in a backpack worn by another guy

― Chip Morningstar (bob), Thursday, 29 May 2003 16:23 (twenty-two years ago)

also backpacker index update: the new rawkus 12 is produced by timbaland. they're very proud

― Chip Morningstar (bob), Thursday, 29 May 2003 16:24 (twenty-two years ago)

also the backpacker/mainstream divide is idiotic; you can find a lex or anticon record in every store. whereas mainstream = you need to listen to the radio, hear the gossip, hunt down them white 12"s. it's like the new keb darge deepfunk collecting

― Chip Morningstar (bob), Thursday, 29 May 2003 16:29 (twenty-two years ago)

haha "you can find a lex or anticon record in any store"--yeah, try it in Kansas, buddy!

― M Matos (M Matos), Thursday, 29 May 2003 16:38 (twenty-two years ago)

well, he's english. everything's smaller over there.

― jess (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 29 May 2003 16:41 (twenty-two years ago)

this reminds me of that idm thread-i think a lot of people's opinions are to do with how artists are discussed in online forums and so forth

i mean,for people directly involved in hip hop,things are different maybe,but i live in ireland and listen to loads of different music,i'm not going to pretend to "keep it real" or tie my music listening into some bullshit,reductive ideology

i have definitely swung from getting into hip hop through the more backpacker-y stuff to listening to more commercial stuff now,but i'm not going to judge anyone on some imaginary distinction

a lot of the people making the distinction obviously feel they have something to prove,and that goes for both sides of the arguement

i don't understand the self-consciousness that would lead someone to dismiss all backpacker rap as music for middle class white people (especially since,based on who buys it,this goes for all hip hop,and it is usually middle class white people who make the distinction)

― robin (robin), Thursday, 29 May 2003 16:46 (twenty-two years ago)

Mr. Noodles - actually I don't know what you meant. are you calling undie rappers uncle tom's or what?

No, I'm wondering if thats what meant by those who use the term in a derogatory sense.

― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Thursday, 29 May 2003 16:54 (twenty-two years ago)

whos been dressing common that way? what is it sposed to be? theres this one neptunes produced track on the common album, its called somethin like 'i gotta right to get high' or somethin? you know that one? it has this overdriven/distorted bassline thing goin on that reminded me of El-P, and that track sounded like a riff on that def jux sound. has anyone heard the Weathermen shit yet?

― Mitchell Saulsberry, Thursday, 29 May 2003 17:21 (twenty-two years ago)

Def Jux is aiiight. Just have to be in the mood. I prefer some of the stuff Madlib is producing these days though like Quasimoto, Lootpack, etc. Slum Village - "Fantastic Vol.2" - is one of my all time hip-hop faves. I also like Dre and Jay-Z.

― Johnny Badlees (crispssssss), Thursday, 29 May 2003 17:25 (twenty-two years ago)

I just checked out the 50 Cent thread for the first time and have a better understanding of what you're talking about. The anti-backpacker stance stems from the the beginng days of indie/underground/backpacker hip hop (Co Flow is a good first; or stretch and bob) when there was a real us vs. them mentality. (I think co flow's motto was Independent as Fuck.) You couldn't like the jiggy and the independent, you had to state your allegiance. Then finally a few years ago there was a real critical backlash -- fueled by better commercial production and a higher level of creativity from Timbaland/Jay-Z et al-- that really took aim at the underground, and frankly called a lot of the indie hip hop out for what it was: uninspiring and stale. Now it's swinging back a little bit where it's critically understandable to like the indie stuff thanks to Def Jux and thanks to a fading of that line post-Eminem and Jay Z (since the two biggest commercial rappers came up thru the independent system and commercial artists more readily mine the underground for talent and work w/ each other, ie nate dogg singing the hook for mos def). Still, there's way more love in these parts for the the crunk like Killer Mike, Freeway, Nas, Jay-Z, Cam'ron, N.O.R.E., Clipse, Missy, Cee-lo, Nappy Roots, Snoop Dogg, Ludacris, etc etc etc. But that might be more a consequence of less exciting "backpacker" records, and more exciting mersh records, I don't know. Anyone have a guess?

― scott m (mcd), Thursday, 29 May 2003 19:38 (twenty-two years ago)

Much as I love you both, Matos and Jess, I put it to you that the "you can find a lex or anticon record in any store" is sarcastic.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 29 May 2003 20:17 (twenty-two years ago)

it's so bloody not!

― Chip Morningstar (bob), Thursday, 29 May 2003 20:24 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm trying to help your case here. ;-)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 29 May 2003 20:25 (twenty-two years ago)

perhaps the format thing is skewing matters; obv comparing lex-style oldskool vinyl artefact fetishism against commercial dj-geared bootlegs is unfair. commercial CDs are rife yes, but unless you guys are talking about supermarkets and stuff then undie cds are still v visible

my point was generally it's very much easier to find a way into well-catered-for supposedly underground stuff than it is to keep up with what's happening on the airwaves

― Chip Morningstar (bob), Thursday, 29 May 2003 20:34 (twenty-two years ago)

it's all as easy to find as say, the new autechre cd. also warp own lex

(and lex's packaging is amazing lovely, esp that new tes)

― Chip Morningstar (bob), Thursday, 29 May 2003 20:36 (twenty-two years ago)

wow the uk really is small

― James Blount (James Blount), Thursday, 29 May 2003 20:39 (twenty-two years ago)

hey blount tell us all about how you live next to bubba sparxxx's trailer again

― Chip Morningstar (bob), Thursday, 29 May 2003 20:52 (twenty-two years ago)

man this one time me and bubba sparxxx were cooking up the bratwurst and he was all 'damn is there ANYWHERE you can't buy anticon in this motherfucker' and I was like 'maybe a supermarket' and he was like 'touche' and we stood there staring at the brats and the corn on the cob, with the unspoken dream of living in the hip-hop knowledge mecca that is great britain filling the air, punctuated only by the occasional bug zapper zap and timba's steve harvey inspired laughter eminating from bubba's trailer. boyeee.

― James Blount (James Blount), Thursday, 29 May 2003 21:04 (twenty-two years ago)

eight years pass...

http://allhiphop.com/2011/11/14/freddie-gibbs-weighs-in-on-fat-joes-gay-mafia-comments-gays-in-hip-hop/

― ah, how quaint (Matt P), Friday, 18 November 2011 23:56 (fourteen years ago)

barf @ freddie gibbs

― the 500 gats of bartholomew thuggins (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Saturday, 19 November 2011 00:06 (fourteen years ago)

thank god, i was waiting for freddie gibbs to weigh in on this subject

― mon/ seeya/ chi 2.0 (k3vin k.), Saturday, 19 November 2011 00:07 (fourteen years ago)

"His thoughts on gays aside, Freddie Gibbs plans to release several visuals for his Cold Day in Hell project in the coming weeks"

― like a musical album. made by a band. (fucking in the streets), Saturday, 19 November 2011 00:49 (fourteen years ago)

not the kind of quality segue i expect from allhiphop

― like a musical album. made by a band. (fucking in the streets), Saturday, 19 November 2011 00:49 (fourteen years ago)

Wonder if thread starter was crowd sourcing for his A3s0p R0ck collabo

― upright shitizen's brigade (Whiney G. Weingarten), Saturday, 19 November 2011 01:31 (fourteen years ago)

years of focus group testing revealed!

― like a musical album. made by a band. (fucking in the streets), Saturday, 19 November 2011 01:34 (fourteen years ago)

New Answers all up in this piece

― I gave your mom morgellons (buzza), Saturday, 19 November 2011 01:45 (fourteen years ago)

yeah yeah

― ah, how quaint (Matt P), Saturday, 19 November 2011 01:47 (fourteen years ago)

http://www.capitolint.com/Fairs/Hip%20Hop%20Harry/HHHcartwheels.jpg

― I gave your mom morgellons (buzza), Saturday, 19 November 2011 01:50 (fourteen years ago)

it's all facebook's fault

― ah, how quaint (Matt P), Saturday, 19 November 2011 01:53 (fourteen years ago)

+ it's hard out there

― ah, how quaint (Matt P), Saturday, 19 November 2011 01:54 (fourteen years ago)

I’m not saying arrest all gays or kill all gays, you ain’t getting that out of Gibbs

oh right

cunt

― tpp, Saturday, 19 November 2011 11:38 (fourteen years ago)

one year passes...

I got an old El-P song stuck in my head yesterday. Is there much going on in backpacker country these days?

― how's life, Tuesday, 25 June 2013 11:35 (twelve years ago)

http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u120/kingkonggodzilla/backpackerrap_zps6832c8cf.png

― how's life, Tuesday, 25 June 2013 11:42 (twelve years ago)

two months pass...

backpacker rap has never been more successful

― rap steve gadd (D-40), Sunday, 25 August 2013 05:20 (twelve years ago)

high sierra hip-hop
eastpack electronica
northface numetal
jansport jazz

― how's life, Sunday, 25 August 2013 10:32 (twelve years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.