Comments on: The trouble with backpack rap

By: BenjaminFlocka

BenjaminFlocka — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 18:35:00 +0000

Your fuggin stupid. pop culture is more evil than I ever could have imagined and I have not spent one moment in the industry… anyone can learn shit now a a days if you hop on the internet. This article is old af… but by your definition Kendrick is a backpack rapper ya??? Well Kendrick is Hip Hops fuggin savior! …and he would be classified as backpack rap. Fashawn, Macklemore, Logic, School Boy Q, Ab Soul… these dudes are saving rap. Yes I am a young white kid… but I actually give a fuck about the world i live in. So maybe you should be promoting “white backpack fans” bc we actually give two shits about the planet. I also love 50… so fuck off.

By: John Marston

John Marston — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 14:52:00 +0000

You do realize that the majority of any music fans are teenage suburban white boys right? they’re the ones who spend time on their computers looking up music, and when they get tired of all the same repetitive crap, they look up more intelligent, fresh music. lol i know this is 6 years old, but literally this is the most hilarious article i’ve ever seen. I wouldnt be surprised to hear that you’re a suburban white boy too

By: Muhammad

Muhammad — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 02:08:58 +0000

I agree completely

By: Muhammad

Muhammad — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 02:08:23 +0000

Here’s the thing: mainstream rap sucks these days. No two ways about it.

By: alex

alex — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 00:38:14 +0000

is this your way of justifying your listening to shitty music? bashing those who have the presence of mind to look past the bullshit that we’re force fed? Your article sucks; try again.

By: DEAFWISH

DEAFWISH — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 06:20:59 +0000

Maybe you’re just not smrt enough to understand…
These dudes (‘cuz its always doods) are !HARD.CORE

By: aquarian1978

aquarian1978 — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 18:12:27 +0000

you would expect an intelligent unconditioned person who is honestly himself about liking a song to not wonder what category it falls under, and how he would be judged by others for liking it. Or have ppl forgotten that.
I’ve been listening to hip hop since 91 and i can see where the backpacker mentality came from. People need to understand this is a normal reaction to how hiphop became such a huge industry and all it entails. On the flipside, as pointed out, there is a negative side to this reaction (judgementalism, ignorance, arrogance, fanaticism, etc). Just stay balanced and observe how ppl act. Its quite funny sometimes, yet more and more self-destructive also…It makes one wonder if ppl have at all understood what their ego makes them do…

By: steamboat

steamboat — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 12:24:15 +0000

I love backpackers…such great music, small venues for people who love real hip hop

By: Trego J

Trego J — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 23:36:33 +0000

You can’t know everything about hip hop unless you experience it. I’m a backpacker (big backpack fan) and a back pack rapper. But I respect Wayne, Drizzy, Jay, Yeezy and everyone like them excuses a few. I hate those bad fans too.

P.S. Waka Flocka is still garbage!!!

By: boog powell

boog powell — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 04:06:06 +0000

good ass job

By: P

Tue, 23 Nov 2010 23:04:15 +0000

Word man, you made some interesting points, I just thought they were just one-sided. I think the so-called backpack rap boys have it right in that all this materialism, greed, ego, and overall insincerity is killing hip hop; but that’s on both sides of the fence. I thought Fort Minor was dope, they’re mainstream. I still think Sage Francis and Aesop Rock are whack. I don’t like Jay-Z just cause dudes full of himself and isn’t uplifting, thought provoking to me, or do I relate with him – granted I haven’t heard his whole catalog, just based off what I have heard. I’m not going to waste my time getting a wider-scope on something I don’t like to begin with. I love Nas though. Just because I didn’t live in the certain parameters of time an event happened though, doesn’t mean I haven’t experienced the same thing or can’t relate to it. Edgar Allen Poe was born hundreds of years before me, but I still connect with him and am drawn to him because of mutual experiences and emotions. I don’t have to have had existed or been apart of the Golden Era to connect with it, to agree with the same ideology. That’s one of the things that makes music great in the first place; the fact that it can connect such a diverse group of people together. Self-righteous? Oh yeah, I forgot how humble Lil’ Wayne and Jay-Z are.

By: Austin Plow her

Austin Plow her — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 15:17:10 +0000

1st of all! do i make you randy baby!! yeah!!

2nd i hate it when people (back pac rap fans, trap fans, mainstrem, underground, all rap fans) say oh i hate this rapper cause he only talks about money thats not real rap or say oh waka flocka flame he go hard in the paint blah blah oh let do it..letgooooo….hip-hop is diversity all diffrent types and i myself like all diffrent rappers i never put a genre above the other either and you stupid lame fucks who say this or that is not real rap.. then i guess you look stupid cause hip hop comes in diffrent forms….

Fav Trap star- yo gotti
Fav Back pac rapper – XV
Fav Mainstrem- Eminem
Fav Indi- Tech N9ne
i like all hip hop

except plies… cant listen to him he annoys me but atleast he got fans

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 16:47:29 +0000

People enjoy what they can relate to. i know a lot of suburban white boys who are in to the gucci mane, soulja boy, jeezy, drugs, guns, hoes music when they cant relate to that lifestyle. I think your post was an attempt to be open minded but ended up being very hypocritical. I feel as if the backpack subgenre gives another perspective on life that people who enjoy hip hop can appreciate. I would say that 90% of the artists i listen to are backpackers but its because I have a love for hip hop and can relate to that more than a gangster lifestyle. I would agree that anyone who says that’s the ONLY REAL hip hop is very close minded, but i would also say anyone who would says it ISNT REAL hip hop is just as close minded. As long as artists are true to themselves and posses the skill and musical ability i would say they deserve mutual respect. Most mainstream rap i feel either lacks emotion or lacks the ability to relate. I dont feel as if i can relate to having a ton of money and poppin champaigne in the club with my chain and my pistol but if you enjoy that type of hip hop or can relate then more power to you and I respect that.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 04:04:26 +0000

You fail to see the point…90% of mainstream rap is wack, and that’s why it gets hated on. Major labels are known for fucking over lyrical emcees and not letting them have creative control. THAT’S why people hate on it.

You’re a white Canadian posting a review on the internet criticizing white people who hate on mainstream rap through the internet. How much more hypocritical can you get??

I used to love XXL, but I’ve grown sick of it. This article just broke the camel’s back.

By: Colby

Colby — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 21:59:56 +0000

Wow. This is beautiful. I love this. Thank You. Seriously.

By: Therm

Therm — Thu, 21 May 2009 00:00:15 +0000

“Are you really gonna listen to some Non-Phixion album 1o years from now because they’re “real” hip hop? that music is bullshit”

Manye, it’s 2009 and “I Shot Reagan” is still my jam.

By: BLUNT RAPPS » Posse Revival: Whitey On The Moon

BLUNT RAPPS » Posse Revival: Whitey On The Moon — Mon, 18 May 2009 15:57:20 +0000

[...] Even when Eminem was being met with all the Elvis comparisons it still seemed like rap was sure to prove resilient to the whiteys that took jazz and rock. In the past seven years since The Slim Shady LP, he’s still been the only white boy to truly dominate the charts. But now it’s not so clear now when you’ve got all these splinter genres, primarily by and for whites, some of which are unconsciously, anti-black. [...]

By: T From ATL

T From ATL — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 18:42:34 +0000

True Words, OP. Elitist backpacker snobs get on my last nerve. I’ve actually been turned off by some underground rappers because of the unrelenting elitist attitude of their fans.

By: bong slappa

bong slappa — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 18:26:12 +0000

who cares about this shit? There’s a war going on. Rap is music. If the chick who wrote this article was listening to rap music before 1993 my name is Grandmaster Caz. The shittiest thing that happened to rap is when it got into the mass media and trust fund hipster chicks like Tara Hensley who were probably listening to Nirvana or Cindy Lauper before rap became cool suddenly feel like they can write about this shit. and for that matter, F Adam Mansbach, the hip hop version of Kenny G who misses the point of rap so badly its sad. Whats up with these rich educated urban enlite yuppies not understanding certain shit just doesn’t involve them? Who cares about backpack rap or what Jay Z does or whatever? Go volunteer in a soup kitchen or organize a rent strike or do something that’s important. Rap in any form is capitalist get over it. If something on the radio is hot, so be it. If its underground so be it. It doesn’t matter. Are you really gonna listen to some Non-Phixion album 1o years from now because they’re “real” hip hop? that music is bullshit. And rap is conservative is hell, you can’t take chances, you try to get down with the game and not change the rules. Fuck this shit, hip hop has been dead for a long time. tara, write about something you know and that matters.

By: Ray Contour

Ray Contour — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 21:38:33 +0000

This age old debate really comes down to a simple fact. In the history art there’s gonna be conflict in style and content. its the war of style vs. content. not only that, various camps have their set of style and contents, and wage war against eachother. this is in general good for the music and the culture. the thuggy stuff and the underground stuff and the crunk stuff all work off and for eachother. they destroy and create in the artists work.
peep how kanye brought a lot of stuff up as he broke through. the “game” as you call it is constantly evolving against itself. the content is being listened to by the beholden audience. so it goes both ways, and both sides win.

the underground, or as they like to think of themselves, specialized, listeners, will seek out an alternative to the well funded popular stuff. art for the masses. and so it goes on. its a cycle. the underground will fire new artists into the mega stardom. the underground will retain certain artists that’ll never go big. this is all normal, and good. welcome to human culture.