Low Bap is a sub-genre of the Greek hip hop music scene, that emerged in the mid-1990s as the sound of the prominent Greek hip hop group Active Member, originating from Perama, a notorious suburb of Piraeus in Athens. It's characterized by slower tempo and rapping than usual, clean, loud beats and deep lyrics, often with political content. The words "low bap" don't have a specific meaning, they merely represent a perspective on life, society and politics that people in the movement have. The Low Bap movement has been expanded, so that today it includes bookstores, youth centers and specialized magazines. Cinematic attempts, concerts, and festivals have also taken place in an effort to broaden the scope of the movement, and introduce new bands to the genre's range of followers.
The beginning
In June 1992, during a live performance of Public Enemy in Nikaia, another suburb of Piraeus in Athens, B.D. Foxmoor, X-Ray and MCD met each other and created one of the first Greek hip hop groups, Active Member. People inspired by this attempt at the creation of Active Member, soon founded Freestyle Productions, a production group that assisted in the production of Active Member's first two disks, two more LP's (a B.D. Foxmoor's personal disk and mixed collection of tracks from groups that existed that time) as well as a maxi single. In 1995, hip hop music was not well-known in Greece. That time, Active Member managed to attract great discographic companies and signed up with the consortium Warner (Warner Music Group). Some months later, the third disk of Active Member was produced, under the name Το Μεγάλο Κόλπο (The Great Wangle), and became widely known. In that album, Active Member decided to rename hip hop as they had taken it in, thus naming it Low Bap.
Low Bap Manifesto
“Support your word with your life and vice versa”, or to make it short “you walk, you talk”: this is the path that leads to Low Bap. It is the new base of all that comprehend, think, feel, act and resist. In order for someone to understand the creation and evolution of this movement up to now, one should incorporate it in the revolutionary – in our days – procedure of self-respect. Above all, Low Bap preserves its reverence in the order of Life and it is a cultural revolution with selected aims and hard work. Since 1993, it is constantly present, with tens of records, books, magazines, shows, festivals, discussions, thousands of hours studio time, thousands of lyrics, and friends…we gathered together in this website the “tools” of our course. Here is the moment of “census”, promise, reorganising, love, encounter and truth.
All those that may come by, know what should be done. Each one in one’s way. Thus, Low Bap will proudly take all the credit and burden for the next step, that will lead to the fair ones. It will continue bothering history and it will believe even deeper in the dream. Noone chose those of us who do Low Bap, we chose it ourselves. Therefore, we owe it to us, to those that lost courage, to those that will come. Now, it’s the finest hour. So, let’s go…
The Place
Modern Perama, the hometown of Active Member, got the look of a small settlement in 1920s, when some refugees from Constantinople (Istanbul) and Black Sea tried to start their lives again in that place. In 1928, the first dockyards of Perama were founded. That caused the coming of many new residents, mostly islanders. Till today, life in Perama is related to the dockyard zone, since most of the residents of Perama work at the dockyards. However, last years, the residents face unemployment and other serious problems. At this place, that is considered to be degrading, began the attempt of the creation of the new music scene, Low Bap, with Michalis Mitakidis, known as B.D. Foxmoor, being the leading person.
Low Bap Manifesto (in greek)
"Στηρίζω το λόγο μου με τη ζωή μου και τη ζωή μου με το λόγο μου: είναι ο δρόμος που χαράζει το Low Bap. Είναι η νέα βάση όλων όσων κατανοούν, σκέφτονται, νοιώθουν, δρουν κι αντιστέκονται. Για να κατανοήσει κανείς την δημιουργία του κινήματος αυτού και την εξέλιξή του μέχρι τώρα, πρέπει να το εντάξει στην επαναστατική πια διαδικασία της αξιοπρέπειας. Πάνω απ’ όλα το Low Bap διατηρεί το σεβασμό του στο πρόταγμα της ζωής και είναι πολιτιστική επανάσταση με επίλεκτους στόχους και δύσκολο έργο. Από το 1993, με συνεχή παρουσία, δεκάδες δίσκους, βιβλία, περιοδικά, συναυλίες, φεστιβάλ, συζητήσεις, χιλιάδες ώρες στο στούντιο, χιλιάδες στίχους, και φίλους συμμαζέψαμε σ’ αυτόν το δικτυακό τόπο τα υλικά της διαδρομής μας. Εδώ βρίσκεται, η στιγμή της απογραφής μας, της αναδιοργάνωσης, της υπόσχεσης, της αγάπης, της σύγκρουσης, της αλήθειας.
Όσοι περάσουν από εδώ, ίσως και να ξέρουν τι πρέπει να γίνει. Ο καθένας με τον τρόπο του. Πάντως, το Low Bap περήφανα θα χρεωθεί το επόμενο βήμα, και θ’ανταμώσει τα πιο όμορφα. Θα συνεχίσει να ενοχλεί την ιστορία, και θα πιστέψει όλο και πιο βαθιά στο όνειρο. Όσους κάνουμε Low Bap, δε μας διάλεξε κανείς. Το διαλέξαμε μόνοι μας. Το χρωστάμε, λοιπόν, σε μάς, σ’εκείνους που δείλιασαν, σ’εκείνους που θα ’ρθουν. Είναι η πιο όμορφη ώρα. Πάμε..." .
