According to Urban Dictionary, a backpack rapper is, "a person who raps
about real life shit that matters and has experienced, rarely about pimping
hoes/having millions/selling immense amounts of drugs/murdering random people
for no apparent reason or motive”. Many rappers like to rap a lot of talk.
Always saying how they're selling so much drugs and murdering people when in
reality they might have went to college and had straight A's all in school.
Backpack rappers only talk about what's really going on and what's really
happening in their life at that point in time.
In
this blog I’d like to focus primarily on one backpack rapper that went by the
name Lil Snupe. He’s from Jonesboro, Louisiana which isn’t the safest place by
far. He grew up in the struggle and you can hear that in his songs. Snupe was
16 when he dropped his first tape 16 and
Runnin and immediately anyone that listened could hear Snupe’s talent
flowing through the speakers.
This
is the first song on the mixtape and its apparent what kind of person he is
with the first line in the song, “I grew up without a father, barely had a
mother, no brothers it’s just me tryna make it out the struggle, my mind gone
knowin my daddy live in a prison, but I gotta learn from his mistakes so I
don’t end up in that position”. The song takes kids into the life of Snupe
showing the distrust he has in the gang system and how a lot of his so called
friends might actually be trying to end his life.
He
was able to get signed to Meek Mill’s label Dreamchasers
by running down Meek’s tour bus. Once he had his attention, he grabbed his
mixtape out of his backpack and gave it to him. After fifteen minutes of
listening to it Meek called Snupe back and said to come to philly to record
some songs. Just like that Snupe was on and signed with Meek Mill. When he
finally arrived in Philly he blew Meek's mind by showing his true skill. Yeah,
he was a backpack rapper and only rapped that real shit and all, but what truly
made him a special rapper is that it was all freestyles. Just like Biggie,
Snupe freestyles all of his songs. When Meek discovered his raw talent he put
him on the spot and that night he was placed in a freestyle battle. Here's one of
five rounds that Snupe had against another up and coming rapper. Before this
clip Meek (Who is seen standing next to Snupe) told him "Rap about that
real shit. You don't got no Bentleys. I'm the one with every car! You don't got no cars rap about what you got!" Snupe
accepted the challenge and this is his response:
Lil Snupe ended up winning the rap battle in the video above and won $10,000
which was the wager of the battle. He won all five rounds and instantly became
viral. His Boosie sound and hard lyrics leaked through the streets and everyone was hearing
about Lil Snupe. Under Meek's guidance and label, Snupe was able to
release another mixtape, Real N*gga In Charge, which featured Meek Mill
and was sponsored by Dj Khaled and Rick Ross. Unfortunately, unlike many rappers
who falsely rapped about murder and violence, Snupe's lyrics were
bone-chillingly true. He was always afraid of his surroundings. He felt like
everyone he once knew was out to get him. On June 6, 2013 at only eighteen years old, his lyrics became a
truly terrible reality and Lil Snupe was murdered in the early morning outside
of his hometown Jonesboro. It's a shame for the rap community to have lost yet another great star so young.
#LONGLIVESNUPE #FREESTYLEKING
*I
didn't want to post the full 30 minutes of the rap battle but I encourage
everyone to go online and watch it because Lil Snupe actually destroys his
opponent and a lot of famous people were in attendance to watch it including
DeSean Jackson, Michael Vick, T.I. and Meek Mill.
James, you're a great writer. You really expressed yourself clearly, and you used a great example. Lil Snupe only rapped about his real life experience, which is what we can only ask from rappers today. He definitely changed the game while he was here, and its a shame we lost such great talent. #LongLiveSnupe
ReplyDeleteShit lil snupe tore it up, when I first heard him, he reminded me of boosie. I really liked how you focused a lot on him and his work in hip hop because he's not very well known. It's kinda weird how meek signed him because a lot of meek's popular songs talk about being rich and buying cars yet backpack rap doesn't really talk about it, i guess he just recognized talent when he saw it.
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ReplyDeleteI really like the main idea of this post. Too often I feel like rappers talk about a lot of things that may not have actually happened. I really appreciate 'backpack culture' because I think it is more honest. I often hear rappers claim affiliations with gangs when many of then either don't, or haven't in a long time. Some rappers just want to fit the stereotype places on them by society in order to be more respected.
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ReplyDeleteSuch a sad ending to a promising career jumpstart. I'll take talented freestyles like that over the poser fiction rap thats on the radio anyday. Great post, you made a solid connection between backpack rappers and the consequences that kind of lifestyle can have.
ReplyDeleteFirstly, I enjoy the fact that you began this post with a definition by Urban Dictionary. It's really sad to listen to the tragedies he faced so young in life, only to have two years of success with a passion he loved before his life was cut short. The cool thing about his vibes was that it wasn't about the money or the street cred. It was about being himself. Undoubtedly, this dude would have grown to huge success.
ReplyDeleteBackpack rappers are definitely a good example of true artists. Lil Snupe literally started from nothing and used his talent to get to the top. I really like this article because of the realness that is behind it.
ReplyDeleteLil Snupe had extraordinary freestyle skills which is what helped him to blow up. Being so young and so talented always comes with huge risks and that's why he thought everyone was out to get him. His opponent in the freestyle battle didn't know what he got himself into and wasn't ready for Lil Snupe to come out with such powerful lyrics about real life hustle. It's sad to see such a young aspiring rapper go, but it is safe to say he left a legacy. Long Live the Freestyle King Lil Snupe.
ReplyDeleteJames first I would like to say this was a well written piece. Second thank you for the very clear and solid definition of backpack rapper. I had heard the phrase backpack rapper before but I was not entirely sure what it meant. Lastly all that you wrote about Lil Snupe was perfect. I had heard about Lil Snupe before but did not know everything about him. It was good that you gave us his background through his unfortunate demise. He was a perfect example for you to use.
ReplyDeleteI like the fact that you single out a single artist to point out the qualities that belong to the backpack rap community was a good idea. I feel like the hip-hop community defiantly needs more artists that rap about the truth and come up on talent and not from some funny YouTube look up.
ReplyDeleteOverall, I liked how you approached this topic of backpack rap. Lil Snupe was a great artist to single out in order for us to get a better grasp of your purpose in writing this piece. It's very sad what happened to Lil Snupe, but it definitely shows that he really did live the life that he portrayed in his music.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with your use of Lil Snupe as an example of a backpack rapper.
ReplyDeleteThe storytelling that a backpack rapper does is like no other since they rap about real life things that they have experienced which makes the story that much more vivid.
This post was very well written. I like how you began with the urban dictionary definition of a backpack rapper. I also liked how you focused on one rapper, Lil Snupe. He was a great talent and was taken way too soon.
ReplyDeleteLil snupe defiantly used his talent to get to the top! I love how you wrote this blog entry, you focused on a lot of real things and made me actually like reading it.
ReplyDeleteBackpack rappers are very hard to find in the mainstream; Lil Snupe would have been innovative in the rap industry. I liked how you focused on him but still defined the backpack rapper and contrasted it with other mainstream rap.
ReplyDeleteWow, I've never heard Lil Snupe before but that he fit the backpack rapping style very well. Good job on artist and song for examples. He was pretty different from others rappers it seemed as he rapped about his own life experiences solely and there is big controversy of artists being posers because they rap about someone that they're not.
ReplyDeleteI honestly didn't know what a backpack rapper was until I read this blog post. It all makes sense now, My favorite part of this blog post is when Biggie is telling Lil Snupe that he's the one with the nice cars and to wrap about what is real and what he has been through. I really like your videos you used, his freestyles are too good.
ReplyDeleteI feel like backpack rapping has a double edged sword in the fact that these guys are legitimate in their lyrics. So the fear and struggle they rap about occurs and eventually leads to death or prison and doesn't allow them to produce songs or great albums.
ReplyDeleteI loved this post. Honestly I think it's been my favorite yet. The way you singled out on backpack rapper and explained everything especially with the rap battle video really made the definition clear to me.
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