Backpack Rap: Writing for the Subculture

Before writing this blog post, I had no idea what backpack rap was or where it fit into hip hop. I was unfamiliar with who these artists were and what they rapped about, until now. A backpack rapper can be defined as a person who is anti-mainstream or dislikes commercial rap. These rappers write about the pain and happiness that can be found in everyday life. Their music is more laid back than commercial rap and usually carries a message that is straightforward. They are creative artist that try to stay true to themselves and share what they have experienced throughout life. Backpack rappers have built themselves a subculture within hip hop that prides itself on being anti-mainstream and staying true to hip hop by not selling out to multinational corporations. This distinct group of rappers is very different from mainstream rappers. Their lyrics are more poetic, clear, and well thought out in my opinion, which makes the songs understandable to the average listener.

For example the artist Atmosphere who is signed to Rhyme Slayers Entertainment has a song called “Sunshine” were he talks about him having a bad hangover and not really paying attention to the world around him. He stumbles outside and starts to notice what a beautiful day it is and starts enjoying the summer. You see his bad day suddenly turn into a good one. Most people can relate to a hangover or having a bad day that ends well. This song has a simple story and beat, which is easy to follow.

Atmosphere - "Sunshine"


Rhyme Slayers entertainment is a successful independently owned hip hop label which was founded in 1995, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Almost all of their artists are backpack rappers and have their own unique creative styles. Their artists rap about their experiences in life, issues in the community, nation, and the world. They have been successful in selling records, growing their fan base, and touring around the world. Rhyme Slayers has a talented roster of rappers who have a big fan base that is mainly white. This could be due to the fact that these rappers write rhymes that are more than just about sex, drugs, and violence. They talk about a wide range of topics from having a wild night to the complications of everyday life like working to make ends meet. Their lyrical content can be easily understood and relatable to others than just people in poverty. Their lyrics are far from the “gangsta rap” that is commercialized today. Some critics even feel that this subgenre of rap is the new school version of “old school hip hop,” because of their creative lyricism and rhymes. Backpack rappers could care less about a club banger or a million dollar lavish lifestyle image. Rhyme Slayers is doing a good job of spreading this underground rap while still staying original and creative in their craft and flow.

One of Rhyme Slayers popular artist besides Atmosphere is Brother Ali. He is a very talented in the way he raps about growing up in the hood and the problems in America. In his song “Only Life I Know,” Brother Ali tells the story of where he is from and the things he has witnessed and been through from drugs and murders to poverty. Brother Ali repeatedly states this is the only life he has ever known, which attests to his life in the hood and the everyday struggles people face while trying to survive. His discussion of welfare and the role the government plays in poverty can be easily understood in this song as well. His message is clear and coherent which I liked and the song has a simple beat which didn’t take my attention away from the words being said. This is different from mainstream hip hop songs, especially those played on the radio.

Brother Ali-" Only Life I Know"



Here is Brother Ali’s new single "Mourning in America" which talks about the current issues that are facing America.



Backpack Rap is subculture within hip hop that is growing and finding its way into the mainstream world of hip hop without the help of commercialism or radio. The subculture is like a movement that is preserving old school rap by not falling into the world of materialism and “gangsta rap” which is commonly given airplay and media attention. I enjoyed listening to this sub genre of hip hop and actually am glad I learned what it was. I find it interesting though that most backpack rappers are white and although they receive a lot of criticism on being “nerdy,” “no hood credibility” and more, they are very talented and artistically gifted with their words. I hope to see more of this type of rap music appear in mainstream hip hop as time goes on.

Here is some more of Rhyme Slayers artists free styling in a radio interview



These videos can all be found at these links
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKHsGh-y8d8&NR=1&feature=endscreen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Owg2ZYnk3SM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ey7WyVCE_w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HwATJMeOYU

What's Diss Got to Do With It?

Disses have been a part of hip hop as long as hip hop has existed. Whether it's calling other rappers soft or insulting their style, rappers haven't been shy when it comes expressing their opinions about their fellow artists. After reading more into this topic of hip hop, I've seen many authors claiming that feuding in hip hop is dead. I disagreed with this so I thought I would illustrate some of the most recent feuds in hip hop music in this blog post.

Jay-Z vs. Noel Gallagher

Jay-Z was set to be the headliner for the Glastonbury music festival in England in 2008. Noel Gallagher, a guitarist in Oasis, thought that having a hip hop artist at the festival would be in poor taste and disgraceful to the event. Gallagher said “People ain't gonna go” and “Sorry...I'm not having hip hop at Glastonbury.” Jay-Z caught wind of these comments and decided to have some fun with this. Jay-Z opened his set with his own sing-a-long version Oasis's hit, “Wonderwall”. In the August following the concert, Jay-Z released the song “Jockin' Jay Z” in which the opening line says “that bloke from Oasis said I couldn't play the guitar, somebody shoulda told him I'm a fuckin rock star.

The intro video to Glastonbury that year: 

Jay-Z's “Wonderwall” cover: 

Jay-Z, “Jockin' Jay Z” (skip to :35 for the line): 

Common vs Drake

Common released the song “Sweet” with the lines “Singing all around me man, la la la you ain't muthafucking Frank Sinatra” which he later confirmed was a diss towards Drake's perceived “softness” because he sang on his tracks. Drake told Common to say it to his face during a show in Las Vegas. But the beef didn't end there, Drake's verse on the Rick Ross song, “Stay Schemin” featured the lines “back when if a nigga reached it was for the weapon, nowadays niggas reach, just to sell they record.” Common responded to Drake with a remix of “Stay Schemin” in which calls out Drake by name and says that Drake only makes “hoe music.” The song ends cleverly with a sample of Destiny Child's “Say My Name” encouraging Drake not be hesitant to call Common out by name.

Common, “Sweet” (skip to 1:20 for the lines about Drake):

Rick Ross, ft. Drake and French Montana, “Stay Schemin” (skip to 1:34 for Drake's verse): 

Common, “Stay Schemin Remix” (3:30 for Common verse):

50 Cent vs Rick Ross

Rick Ross's song “Mafia Music” called out 50 Cent by saying “I love to pay her bills, can’t wait to pay her rent/ Curtis Jackson baby mama, I ain't askin for a cent.” Rick Ross called out Curtis Jackson (aka 50 Cent) for asking for rent from his child's mother. 50 Cent responded immediately the next day with a video response. In 50 Cent's video response, he says “I'm gonna fuck your life up for fun.” 50 Cent later released the song “Tia Told Me.” “Tia” is Tia Kemp who is the mother of one of Rick Ross's children. Tia told 50 Cent that Rick Ross's rap career was all lies because of Ross's former career as a correctional officer. 50 Cent even posed on the cover of Smooth Magazine with Tia. Rick Ross's label Def Jam eventually put a gag order on Ross which prevented him from speaking publicly about the feud. The gag order did not end the beef between the two though. Recently, Rick Ross was the target of a drive by shooting. 50 Cent took to twitter calling it “staged” and a ploy by Rick Ross to try and improve his image as a thug.

Rick Ross, Mafia Music (3:05 for the line): 

50 Cent's video response:

50 Cent, Tia Told Me:

Smooth Magazine Cover: 

Image Source: http://cdn.nahright.com/news/m.php/2009/09/50-sm43cvr1small.jpg

Insulting someone through music is one of the most clever ways rappers use their rhyming skills. Being able to put someone down through a verse puts a rapper's true skills to the test. The beefs of today's music industry are just as intense as the original hip hop feud between Boogie Down Productions and The Juice Crew. It will be interesting to see how social media changes the way artists talk and interact with each other. Will social media sites, like Twitter, kill the diss track?

Welcome to the Hood Take 2

In the last blog post, Connor did a fantastic job of looking at totems and culture of different sub genres of hip hop in different locations across the country. Another way to look at the importance of location, totems, and culture is to think more in the big picture and about the whole of the hip hop community.

While it’s true that hip hop from different locations do in fact embrace different sounds and totems there are also unifying characteristics across the board. A totem is not simply an object with significance to a group of people, it can also be anything that serves as a distinctive symbol. I believe that the universal topics of importance as well as the importance of location serve as a symbol of the culture that hip hop music evolved from.

From the start, hip hop music was created for urban working class African Americans. Location became important because artists had to connect with listeners. Many famous rappers came from poor, working class, black communities and spoke of their struggles as a minority. The intended audience could easily relate which aided in the growth and popularity of the genre of music. Where a rapper is from can also make or break their credibility. While it may have been easy for listeners to relate to rappers sharing tales of their time living in the hood, if it came to light that they never were a part of the struggle they portray, people lose respect the them and their music.

‘The Struggle’ is probably the most prominent totem I see uniting all hip hop music. Throughout history, artists have rapped about inequality, police brutality, poverty, misrepresentation, and oppression. No matter where you’re from, east coast, west coast, Midwest, or down south, rappers and their audience all have something in common: struggle. Older songs like Biggie’s “Everyday Struggle”

 and newer songs like Kanye’s “Family Business” 

and recent songs like “The Don” by Nas 

show that this common link has transcended over time (1994-2004-2012) and space (Biggie and Nas are from Brooklyn while Kanye is from Atlanta).

 Another common totem across hip hop music is the influence of gangs and prostitution in everyday life. Children who grow up in poverty and in urban areas are likely to join a gang in order to find some kind of support system they cannot get at home. The gang then becomes their family. The song “Heartless” by Black Attack is about a pimp taking in a 12 year old girl because he needed more hos.

 The benefits of having a pimp for support and making money was probably very attractive to young females. Even “Dance with the Devil” by Immortal Technique that we had to listen to a few weeks ago speaks of the influence of gangs in the life of a young boy. His crew’s acceptance is so important to him that he is willing to rape and kill someone.

The last thing I’ll present to you is kind of unrelated to the rest of my post. Connor shared songs from different music scenes across the country, and being from Maryland, I wanted to share with y’all a taste of the Baltimore hip hop scene. This is “Take Da Hood” by Mullyman.

Yaslin Bey AKA Mos Def

Thought this was cool and wanted to share it with you guys. If the text is too small, here's the link, The Artist Formerly Known as Mos Def

Welcome to the Hood: The Importance of Location, Culture, and Totems

Welcome to the Hood: The Importance of Location, Culture, and Totems

There is perhaps no other aspect of a rapper's persona that is more important than how they identify with their locale. Where somebody comes from often determines the specific sub-genre of hip hop that they work in. For example, in contemporary hip-hop, the South is known for Trap Rap (Gucci Mane, Rick Ross, Waka Flocka Flame), the San Francisco Bay Area has hip-hop based around Hyphy Music (E-40, Mac Dre), and New York is often associated with mafioso rap (Jay-Z, the Dipset collective). Furthermore, hip-hop's regional subgenres can be broken down to hyper-specific genres such as New Orleans's bounce music and Houston's chopped and screwed scene.

Within these regional subgenres lies distinct cultures that help define that specific subgenre and its respective region. These cultures are built up around and defined by totems. Houston has the recreational drug "lean" or "sizzurp" (Promethazine-Codeine cough syrup mixed with some sort of soda, often Sprite, hence the term "dirty sprite"); lean also gives birth to another totem, the double cup (two styrofoam cups stacked and filled with lean, they use two so as to keep the lean cold and ice frozen). New Orleans's bounce music is responsible for twerking, which has recently become an icon beyond the world of bounce music with the assistance of Diplo's Express Yourself EP. The South's trap music culture can be defined by the totems of "birds" (kilos of cocaine) and "trap houses" (houses used exclusively for the production/sale of drugs, most often crack).

Location is represented by culture, which is defined by the regionally specific totems that are important to that locale's sense of identity. Location can make or break an artist and will often determine the sound of an artist; if there is a rapper from Milwaukee trying to make bounce music, people are going to question their authenticity.  And everyone knows how the question of authenticity affects a hip-hop artists reception. That said, often times the totems of one region's culture can be identified with in another region and translated into a new form of music (the influence of Houston's chopped and screwed culture has had a humungous impact on A$AP Rocky's craft). 

In conclusion, location is one of the most exciting aspects of hip-hop and perhaps what has sustained its popularity throughout several decades. People can represent their home by supporting their regional artists while also identifying with the cultures and respective totems of other regions' subgenres. I cannot think of another contemporary music genre that speaks so explicitly to notions of origin, local culture, and regional sound as does hip-hop. Without the presence of a sense of location and regional identity, hip-hop would not represent such a diverse culture as it presently does. From its conception, hip-hop has been about who you are based on where you're from. Your location and the culture surrounding your city's hip-hop scene define you as a hip-hop artist wether you like it or not. If you're from the South, people within hip-hop culture will make assumptions about you and your music based on the city you're from. For example, if you're from Atlanta, people want to know if you're Zone 6, Zone 5, etc. (police zoning districts for different neighborhoods; from this information, people can infer if you're from the "hood" or an upperclass neighborhood and interpret your music differently based on that information). The importance of location in hip-hop is that of identity and interpretation; it defines you as an artist and helps listeners interpret your music.



I leave you with several regional hip-hop anthems celebrating location, culture, and their specific totems:


http://www.youtube.com/embed/DbKP9tch5uQ
^ keep an eye out for the double cup, a totem that began in Houston and made its way throughout the south and is now a staple of national hip-hop culture. Also, there's a clip with a double cup in it that has "Free Boosie" written on it, referring to the imprisoned Baton Rouge artist Lil Boosie.


http://www.youtube.com/embed/biLxvTMtcz0
^ this is a regional anthem from my home town. You could be at a prep school party and put this on and everybody will know every word. You could also be in the roughest neighborhood and get a dirty look, then throw this on and have that same person willing to give you dap. 


http://www.youtube.com/embed/Dq_SLI3FjNc
^ UGK ft. Mike Jones, this track is very Houston. If you like A$AP Rocky, his sound would be missing a crucial ingredient if it weren't for these three emcees. "smokin' out, pourin' up, keepin' lean up in my cup" - very Houstin.


http://www.youtube.com/embed/AoWnt6NIeaM
^ iconic Bay Area track. Mac Dre goes in. "RIP Mac Dre, I'mma do it for the Bay" - Drake


http://www.youtube.com/embed/AOBL9cj-G74
^ this shows an interesting direction that Atlanta trap music is going in. Future is talking about very ATL trap music content, but the beat isn't the standard Lex Luger or Mike Will trap beat. Also, one of the greatest opening two lines of hip-hop music ever, ending with "...and I did what I did".