Revenge of the Nerds: Backpack Rap Appreciation Thread

[entertainment]

Stones Throw classic, old Madlib remix of a great Lootpack track

[Corpsey]

Still like this.

[Corpsey]

Some stuff I remember listening to in Copenhagen when smoking weed and practicing our tags down by the train tracks:

It's interesting that that 'real hip-hop/4 pillars' culture was (and is?) so popular in Europe. In interviews I used to read, the old legends and more boom-bappy newschool artists always said that they were more popular in Europe than the US.

[CrowleyHead]

It's interesting that that 'real hip-hop/4 pillars' culture was (and is?) so popular in Europe. In interviews I used to read, the old legends and more boom-bappy newschool artists always said that they were more popular in Europe than the US.

For Europe rap has to be consumed as an import genre and so when stylistic shifts happen the home-grown audience is turning over with that and may/may not continue to support but for the European consumer you want the specific thing that came with Boom Bap Real Hip-Hop. It helps that the Real Hip-Hop style is designed around urban environments and often samples jazz (which uses instruments generally of european origin) or classical. G-Funk and West Coast Styles do not translate as well necessarily and certainly not southern rap which when it does attempt sampling often relies on blues/soul samples. Obviously that's not 100% the case because Snoop is able to tour and do well in Europe but I'd like to see which if any of those non-East Coast or East Coast Indebted* acts do well touring in Europe.

(*so in that regard, obviously The Alkaholiks aren't from NYC but they don't make West Coast Rap like the NWA affiliates do and therefore are easier to be consumed by real hip-hop fans, and that applies to the Dilla affiliates of Detroit or Cunninglynguists from the South)

[Corpsey]

That's all true, although of course rap music along the lines of Drake, Migos, Rae Sremmurd, etc. are all really popular here with da kidz, not to mention the rise of yer Giggs's and yer Stormzy's. Thank GOD UK rap seems to have shaken off the DJ Premier worship! (Where's Luka when you need him with an art history analogy.)

Road rap is obviously Brits spinning a US sound, but at least it's a relatively contemporary sound!

[CrowleyHead]

Yeah, a lot of that has been ebbed away at by the internet and just the modern rap fan being expected to hear a little bit of every style so that they're much more used to it.

Ironically the most succesful rapper who is basically a backpacker in aesthetic is Denzel Curry, who has little to no Real Hip Hop in him beat-wise or approach.

[entertainment]

Probably has to do with the differences in the general attitude around commercial success between the US and elsewhere, too.

Here, it was cool to get into what wasn't on the radio. My extensive knowledge of high school movies tells me it carries different connotations overseas.

I think it's changed a bit now, though. I feel like the entire western culture is morphing into a more uniform shape. Idiosyncratically american cultural artefacts don't feel so strange anymore. I find myself laughing with instead of at The Kardashians tv-show. This year we even have The Weeknd headlining Roskilde Festival, which seems like a big disjunction with the historical vibe of the event (I have nothing against him, but at this point in his career, it's more pop appeal than anything else isn't it?).

[luka]