Well, that's not exactly my definition of backpacker, depends how you mean the term I guess.
Backpackers to me are people who want to go back to 88 and the early nineties and are generally not into the contemporary Gangsta era. There are definite commonalities but it's not the word I'd use to describe what I'm talking about. To me backpackers have a pretty strong middle-class connotation as well which is not what I think of with the movement.
Anyway, like I said, its not that they haven't made great tracks, even tracks that I play, and I've seen Ghetto live and he's great and blah blah blah. I'm attacking certain specific aesthetics and choices that they make and because of their popularity affect the grime scene as a whole. In a way I feel the need to attack them BECAUSE they're talented and significant, otherwise they'd just be irrelevant and I wouldn't waste my time. Of course, as artists, if they want to do boring hiphop clone music that is their prerogative, but since they are talented and in an exciting and vital scene I would hope that they would see the sense of emphasizing their unique local identity and flavor.
There's one easy way to do this and it's just keep spitting on more Ruff Sqwad beats, which just keep getting better and better. They are actually a great example of a way to jock the heatmakers and ny hiphop and still do something great and original.
One thing I think, especially with someone like Scorcher is given time they will come into more of their own identity and that there's still a certain amount of insecurity there which leads to them reaching for less interesting more 'proven' hiphop formulas.
