Halifax’s Wordburglar pays homage to the hip hop of the early ’90s and modern Instagram filters with his new video, ‘Boombaparang.’
We all have our favourite genres, and their sub-genres, and genre trends that we just can’t get enough of. For Wordburglar, it’s boom-bap. His newest video provides and ode to his favourite: boom bap.
“It’s […] music I keep coming back to and what keeps listeners coming back to my sound, hence the play on words: boombaparang.”
“It’s always been my favourite style of hip-hop and I think a lot of artists who grew up on it continue to incorporate that style into their music. I’ve pretty much always made boom bap inspired rap; it’s just what I love.”
Worburglar explains that he feels the best examples of the style, the ones that hooked him, all came out of New York in the late ’80s and into the ’90s: “KRS ONE, Pete Rock, DJ Premier, Wu-Tang, Redman, Lords of The Underground, Masta Ace, Public Enemy—they were all huge influences on me. Diamond D, of course, too.”
“To me great boom bap signifies the perfect marriage of beats and rhymes—they both complement the other, and when both are on point there’s nothing like it. There’s a real art of pairing the perfect rhymes to a beat and vice versa. You have to match the feeling, the energy and the story of the sound. When it happens, you’ve got great track.”
Aside from meme-worthy camera filters that make dancing look effortless, and entirely unnecessary, Grandpa Funnybook, a recurring character in Wordburglar’s videos, makes an appearance.
“If you go back through my other videos you can spot him in Rhyme O’Clock, Croque Monsieur and a few others. He’s the comic book creator of everyone’s favourite Special Characters like Momnipotent the Omnipotent Mom and The Were-Peddler,” says Wordburglar about his character’s well-documented background.
Wordburglar, who has produced comics in the past, hints that he’ll have more to show soon.
“He’s basically a comedy character I started doing years ago and he keeps popping in and out of things. There are some big plans for him next year.”
In the meantime, it was announced this week that Wordburglar’s video, Channel Halifax, was nominated for the East Coast Music Awards Video of the Year Award, and fans can expect to see Wordburglar performing at the ECMAs in May.