Hipster Hip-Hop: Nerds in Rap Paradise?

"If Andre 3000 came out right now they'd call him hipster rap,” says The Bronx’s Mickey Factz. “Right now it's a trend for 50 Cent and Lil Wayne to sing with a vocoder. What we’re doing isn’t a trend, it’s real. When 50 Cent raps over beats like this will they call him hipster rap?" Factz refers to his new remix with the Cool Kids, “Rockin’ ‘n Rollin,” while indicting the buzz term of the moment, “hipster rap.” Factz runs freely when choosing beats (from “Rockin’ ‘n Rollin’s” Clipse-ish accordion all the way to electro and house) and subject matter (from gold sneakers to Sean Bell). “Hipster Rap” is the box into which a wave of similarly fearless artists including the Knux, the Cool Kids, and even Duck Down signees Kidz in the Hall, have been placed. These so-called hipster rappers are unified by disdain for that very category and by doing what they feel is right for their sound, regardless of eclecticism or consequences.