Is there still an underground backpack scene in hiphop? if not, where did it go?

[CrimsonTider]

You know the rappers that denounced everything about mainstream rap, had songs that were badly mixed, complex lyrical devices, bad beats and bad hooks?

This was a huge thing back in the early 2000s all the way up to about 2009 IMO.

What happened or are these rappers still making noise?

 

[nahnah]

They probably turned into hipsters.

 

[Doobie Doo]

It's still here it's called being independent.

 

[Piff Perkins]

Of course. Peep the rap section on Bandcamp. There will always be underground backpackers. And a lot of 90s/00s backpackers are still around. Murs, Atmosphere, etc. Macklemore started out as an underground rapper before he (temporarily) blew up.

In terms of current underground shyt I fukk with:

-Ka
-Billy Woods
-Elucid
-Black Milk
-Koncept Jackson

 

[CrimsonTider]

It's still here it's called being independent.

nah

Of course. Peep the rap section on Bandcamp. There will always be underground backpackers. And a lot of 90s/00s backpackers are still around. Murs, Atmosphere, etc. Macklemore started out as an underground rapper before he (temporarily) blew up.

In terms of current underground shyt I fukk with:

-Ka
-Billy Woods
-Elucid
-Black Milk
-Koncept Jackson

Why isn't there much talk around these guys like there use to be? These type of acts use to play a big part in message board convos

 

[Omar Little]

Somewhere with 14k views on youtube

 

[Catch these Hands]

Band Camp, or Sound Cloud.

 

[SnowflakesByTheOZ]

Mutant Academy still make that gritty, unmixed shyt.

 

[iLoveFlavorfullVaginas]

Everyone is wrong
It died when Justo died

 

[Piff Perkins]

nah


Why isn't there much talk around these guys like there use to be? These type of acts use to play a big part in message board convos

I think part of it is because from like 2007-2010 we saw a large group of "underground" rappers emerge who would become mainstream to various levels of success, and dominate much of the rap convo on forums like this. Comeback Season, So Far Gone, Mixtape About Nothing, The Warm Up, Overly Dedicated, Flight School, Jet Files, Pilot Talk, KRIT Wuz Here. All of those tapes blew up between 2007-2010 and dominated "underground" rap convos in a way that...Atmosphere/Murs/Little Brother/etc did not. And a lot of those artists are still relevant today. Wale is prob the only rapper from that list who doesn't still garner a 10+ page thread here when he drops an album.

You can also point to artists who didn't go mainstream but dropped big underground projects or mixtapes. Marcberg basically birthed that mini NY revival, from the minimalist stuff (Ka, Billy Woods, etc) to shyt like Action Bronson, Meyhem Lauren, Xquire, etc. Freddie Gibbs dropped some noteworthy shyt. There was a LOT of stuff to talk about back in those days from SOHH to The Coli.

Now of days... I'd say the underground doesn't have those undeniable artists who appeal to wide ranges of "real rap" fans like Cole did in 2009 for instance. Everything is more insular, so what I might like may be trash to another underground fan. I'm a huge Ka and Billy Woods stan, I think they're the best lyricists in rap right now...but lord knows not many people trying to hear semi-spoken word rap over weird beats.

 

[Yoda]

blu

 

[CrimsonTider]

blu

You don’t quit, do you?

 

[tuckgod]

Roc Marciano, Mayhem Lauren, Mach Hommy, shyt like that

 

[tuckgod]

Oh nah, this is a low key shyt on the underground thread

 

[CrimsonTider]

Oh nah, this is a low key shyt on the underground thread