What is a hipster?

A ByronCrawford.com Special Report
A few weeks ago Hashim, who's always on top of these things, posted something on his site about a group of people known as "hipsters" who have been throwing some rather interesting parties in New York City, where they're from.

Of course, I was intrigued and so I set out to learn more about them. But then I couldn't find very much useful information on them, most likely because this is a fairly new phenomenon that has yet to spread outside the self-proclaimed Center of the Universe.

So I spent the last week or so doing research on the hipster movement, which I present here as a resource. I may also try to have this added to the Wikipedia or, failing that, the Urban Dictionary.

HIPSTER FASHION

While there are, of course, many different facets to the hipster lifestyle, perhaps none is more important than the hipster sense of fashion. In fact, you could say the entire hipster lifestyle is based around fashion and you'd be more or less right.

This handy chart gives you an idea of the kind of clothes your average hipster might wear, but the key idea to keep in mind is irony. For example, a hipster who isn't a trucker and probably has never even visited a truck stop, let alone showered in one, might wear the kind of hat primarily worn by truckers.

That's irony.

Similarly, a hipster who doesn't consider himself racist (none of them do) might wear a t-shirt with a vaguely racist saying on it such as, "New Mexico: Cleaner Than Regular Mexico," or, "Sweatshops: Another Day, Another Dollar."

HIPSTER MUSIC

With fashion being such a central tenet to the hipster ideology, it follows that it should also extend to the hipster taste in music.

A recent trend in hipster music has been to celebrate the absolute worst trends in black music, including R. Kelly's sad and bizarre "Trapped in the Closet" series and most Southern rap. While they pretend to enjoy this music, they're actually secretly mocking black people the same way they do poor white people and Mexicans.

HIPSTER PARTIES

What good is hipster fashion and hipster music if there's no place to show them off? Enter the hipster party.

Unlike a regular party, which might celebrate someone's birthday, hipster parties tend to have elaborate themes. For example, a group of hipsters in Williamsburg, New York throw a monthly party known as a "Kill Whitey" party, where non-racist (this is key) white people get together to mock the worst aspects of black popular culture.

Says the ringleader of the Kill Whitey parties, an individual known as Tha Pumpsta, "I'm throwing this party, and it's obvious that I'm white and I'm kind of appropriating this culture but in an ironic way, kinda poking fun at myself and my origins and white people in general. I'm trying to kill the whiteness inside."

TYING IT ALL TOGETHER

A hipster, then, can generally be defined as a non-racist white person who enjoys nothing more than to mock black people, hispanics and poor white people, who can also be considered hispanic. But only in an ironic way, of course.

Comments

[akuma]

1st Niggaz n Bitchez!

[jihad joe]

2nd

[Joey]

Yo dun, well done (get it?). I've been all over this lately since I live in the heart of the hipster nation, New York:

http://straightbangin.blogspot.com/2005/12/i-went-to-lower-east-side-and-all-i.html

http://straightbangin.blogspot.com/2005/12/what-is-negro-hipster.html

[jihad joe]

Who gives a fuck! New York and the fags who run its pop cuture always come up with the stupidest shit ever. Remeber those coke snorting exstacy popping club kids. Thier founder ended up chopping up one of his queer coke dealing buddies and throwing him over the Brooklyn bridge. I a nutshell no one gives a fuck about New York's rich young white people and thier gay ideas of what is new and creative.

[jrs-one]

Chicago is pretty much the 'Second City' for hipsters.... so what is the differential between hipsters.... emo fags and indie rockers? Is there one?

[Ironic]

Interesting post from someone who gets ad money from a hipster t-shirt company. Is that ironic?

[ROX ONE]

hipsters = artfags in a public setting.

they wear tight jeans and smoke cigarettes and are always in the fucking way when you need to get to the bar. Generall they have cake, but prefer to look dirty. They really like cans of Pabst blue ribbon and music with guitars.

The epitome of being a hipster in 2005 = being on a kickball team in the 'burg.

extended clips forever.

[JoeP]

"A hipster, then, can generally be defined as a non-racist white person who enjoys nothing more than to mock black people, hispanics and poor white people, who can also be considered hispanic. But only in an ironic way, of course."

Great....another bunch of white yuppie fucktards with their heads up their asses and no fucking clue what the hell they're doing.

These are the same type of white people that think reparations are a good thing.

What a bunch of PC dipshits with more time and money than brains.

Having fun is fine, but doing it at the expense of you racial dignity just makes you look like a jackass.

[Yep]

Now this is the kind of post I'm talkin about . . . very interesting shit. A couple of points: 1) Hipsters don't hate other cultures, races, etc., they simply don't care about other cultures, races, etc., preferring rather to celebrate their own whiteness; 2)The group that hipsters hate most are other hipsters--there is lots of competition over who is the hippest of them all and this sometimes leads to bad feelings among those who are clearly not-hip (such as the hipster who still smokes menthol cigarettes instead of adopting the more trendy Parliaments [also referred to as P-funks by hipsters who use the recessed filter for doing coke]); and 3) Don't worry, eventually the hipsters will fade away like the club kids did and will spend the rest of their lame lives disparaging whatever trendy group replaces them.

[Captain Bee]

"Interesting post from someone who gets ad money from a hipster t-shirt company. Is that ironic?"

^Insulting sponsors kicks ass. Ever seen Wayne's World?

[Supreme Dunk]

Is that the Verizon guy in the picture on the left?

By now, if you live in any major metropolis, you will notice a sizeable population of hipsters coming out of the woodwork. They all suck and are mostly self-righteous twenty somethings with too much time and money on their hands. Usually, they are they type that want to stake a claim in absolutely everything for the sake of satisfying their egos.
Frankly I put them, backpackers, emo fags, and indie geeks in the same category.

[crashlanding]

>racial dignity

Please! White people have no racial dignity. Termites, fleas, and ticks have more dignity.

>Interesting post from someone who gets ad money from a hipster t-shirt company. Is that ironic?

Bol is the epitome of a hipster. Everything he described can be applied to him and this public latrine known as the BC dot C.

[crashlanding]

Hipsters, including Bol, should be culled like bird flu infected chickens.

[Grand Wizard]

Yeah, I gots to go to one of those hipster parties

[crackadocious]

Dam Bol you kind of did get exposed. Dude is right. How can you lament it when you got a fucking banner with Busted Tee's?? But serious, rich crackers in the 80's-90's snort coke. These fags do exctasy and meth. It doesn't matter, I don't know why you bring this to are attention. Gay pink toes today, will be CEO's, Professors, Doctors, Lawyers, even the fucking president of the United States tomorrow. Let these fags have there laughs

[daesonesb]

wasn't it me that originally asked this question? i'm still not to sure what hipster parties are. they sound whack, like the girls there would be all 3's and 4's and no 7's and 8's.

[ROX ONE]

"a group of people known as "hipsters" who have been throwing some rather interesting parties in New York City, where they're from."

*where they MOVED after Jewlie made it safe.

[BUSTED DEEZ]

Sounds gay to me, when i was reading the begining i was kinda sacred cuz it sounded like it described me a little, but as i read on i realized that i would never do any of that shit (like wear busted tees). anyways Bol get that cake from Busted Tees while you can seein as no one buys them. No need for him to kiss their ass just because they partially sponsor the site. "i've done commercials for pepsi and coke, to tell the truth you can't even tell the difference. pepsi paid me more recently, so they taste better."

[BUSTED DEEZ]

^ My bad i forgot to site my quote from above, it was the hilarious Dave Chapelle. I'm sure some people will catch it without this addition.

[crackadocious]

crack whore

[G Off]

deasonesb is right, there are no hot hipster chicks. It is a safe sub-culture for 3-5's to hang out in and get props for hating on pretty girls.

*Another sign of being a hipster: Reads US Weekly and People Magazine religiously to stay up on the celebrities, but would never act or dress like them.

[Supreme Dunk]

Hipsters are the reason Sage Francis and Atmosphere will never have to work another day in their lives.

[version 3.0]

^^So that's who feed upon Slug's smegma. Fuckin' lowered expectation slackers.

[Will]

I absolutely love this. You seem to have hipster culture down to a science.

[o0oo00oo00o]

"a group of people known as "hipsters" who have been throwing some rather interesting parties in New York City, where they're from."

*where they MOVED after Jewlie made it safe."

Basiscally. I'm not even from NYC but I have been there a million times between 1998-now. There is nothing more irritating than these hipsters and other pretentious rich folks.

It gets on my nerves seeing these people dance all awkward to hiphop, use slang completely wrong, and try to give 'dap' all screwed up. I place backpackers there too but everyone for some reason think a backpacker is just someone that listens to "underground" rap music. Anyone that knew that term back around 1996 knows what the dill is.

[o0o0oo0o0]

"a group of people known as "hipsters" who have been throwing some rather interesting parties in New York City, where they're from."

*where they MOVED after Jewlie made it safe."

Basiscally. I'm not even from NYC but I have been there a million times between 1998-now. There is nothing more irritating than these hipsters and other pretentious rich folks.

It gets on my nerves seeing these people dance all awkward to hiphop, use slang completely wrong, and try to give 'dap' all screwed up. I place backpackers there too but everyone for some reason think a backpacker is just someone that listens to "underground" rap music. Anyone that knew that term back around 1996 knows what the dill is.

[G Off]

and this site is the epitome of hipsterdom...

[daesonesb]

no it isnt. there are some seriously racist hillbillies up on this shit.
talkin about lynching oliver wang or something equally in fucking sane.

Speaking as a graff artist, graffiti art fags are the worst breed of hipster. they come in close second to the music nerd hipster... you know the one who wont stop talking about "god speed you black emperor!" or some other retarded shit...

[Jesse]

# of millers consumed while surfing the internets = 9

jacking straightbangin's previous posts = priceless

[nk]

Dissing hipsters is boring. This is a pretty banal review.

[flyno20]

Straight hilarious.

Where did you get that hipster bingo chart anyway?

[fitz]

thanks for the nod, but what does it say about my chances that i'm not even going to bother nominating myself?

[Lloyd]

"1) Hipsters don't hate other cultures, races, etc., they simply don't care about other cultures, races, etc., preferring rather to celebrate their own whiteness"

Gotta disagree with you here. Hipsters hate their parents and grandparents cultures and created this little sub culture to mock them. The dumbasses think that they can be above the racist fray by being racist ironically and secretly believe they're not racist because they actually hate their own white selves more than they could ever possibly hate minorities. I'm not saying they are or aren't racist cuz the more that term gets thrown around the less it actually means, I'm just saying they're ignorant.

Another myth is that they've got money. They dont. They have just enough to buy retroware drugs and and ipod to make it seem that they're not as broke as they actually are from living in that damned city. Irony is just the excuse they use for dressing in what they can afford.

Worthless twats, one and all.

[Abu Mazen]

Ray Earl, where are you on this one?

[dave park]

they aren't necessarily racist, but i'm sure some are. really funny stuff though.

[psy]

so it could all be simplified to read:
a hipster = a wanker?

[version 3.0]

>Ray Earl, where are you on this one?

Perhaps RE is actually a hipster that was beaten silly by black men and had 'it's' heart broken by a half mulatto, half jewish/American princess and whose white parents were meth and extasy abusers.

....perhaps?

[potter 420]

This is some funny ass hipster shit right here. They go to a bunch of hipster parties and take pictures, then right funny quotes about the people there.

http://www.taleoftwocities.org/2005/10/tgidonts.php

http://www.taleoftwocities.org/2005/07/donts-part-iv-everybody-east.php

[IB]

"A hipster, then, can generally be defined as a non-racist white person who enjoys nothing more than to mock black people, hispanics and poor white people, who can also be considered hispanic. But only in an ironic way, of course."

so I guess a black guy who makes ironic jokes about Tall Israelis is what? A blipster?

[William H.]

BOL,

You fucking bastasrd(nullus)! I have been sitting on a hipster post for months and you just killed it.

The shit that annoys me the most about hipsters is that these fucks have parents with enough cake to install them into these trashy apartments with high rents. Hipsters have ruined the real estate market in NYC because they will pay $2000 a month for a studio apt. This forces me to find six Mexican roommates in order to pay my rent on my one bedroom apt. We sleep in shifts. Three to a bed. Foot to mouth.

Did I say nullus already?

[William H.]

Buy my tee shirts bitches!
http://dallaspenn.com/weblog/?page_id=305

[DocZeus]

As much as I get annoyed by hipsters and I guess I'm a hipster by association because my friends all qualify but these anti-hipsters post reveal exactly how much people irrationally hate each other. Hipsters may be ignorant of their own racism but at least will be nice to minorities when they meet them and not blatantly racist like alot of people on this site are. Bol included. Bol, you're racist and homophobic regardless of what you think about yourself. That being said. Keep up the hilarious album reviews. I do love those.

[BlackimusPrime]

http://www.thecobrasnake.com/partyphotos/hammertime/images/IMG_7064.jpg

http://www.thecobrasnake.com/partyphotos/hammertime/images/IMG_7067.jpg

Seriously Bol, it's about that time for another "Let's Hunt and Kill..." post.

seriously.

[trey]

Hipsters don't wear trucker hats (at least in Southern California). Those are what Dude Bros wear.

[i am not a racist. i just play one on this site]

Cracka ass hipster's are apparently useful idiots to the whims of the New World Odor globalists:

http://www.infowars.com/articles/bb/rfid_computere_chips_under_the_skin.htm

More RFID Propaganda: Computer chips get under skin of U.S. enthusiasts

Reuters | January 5, 2006
By Jamie McGeever

COMMENT:
We here at Infowars & Prisonplanet have been stressing for a long while how this wave of the RFID implimentation push is being marketed towards the youth as the next hipster trend. The young people in this article are just bubbling over with how thrilled they are to be implanted with an RFID microchip. Oh the ease!

NEW YORK - Forgetting computer passwords is an everyday source of frustration, but a solution may literally be at hand -- in the form of computer chip implants.

With a wave of his hand, Amal Graafstra, a 29-year-old entrepreneur based in Vancouver, Canada, opens his front door. With another, he logs onto his computer.

Tiny radio frequency identification (RFID) computer chips inserted into Graafstra's hands make it all possible.
Graafstra gets his first RFID implant -- looks like fun, doesn't it?

"I just don't want to be without access to the things that I need to get access to. In the worst case scenario, if I'm in the alley naked, I want to still be able to get in (my house)," Graafstra said in an interview in New York, where he is promoting the technology. "RFID is for me."

The computer chips, which cost about $2, interact with a device installed in computers and other electronics. The chips are activated when they come within 3 inches of a so-called reader, which scans the data on the chips. The "reader" devices are available for as little as $50 (29 pounds).

Information about where to buy the chips and readers is available online at the "tagged" forum, (http://tagged.kaos.gen.nz/) where enthusiasts of the technology chat and share information.

Graafstra said at least 20 of his tech-savvy pals have RFID implants.

"I can't feel it at all. It doesn't impede me. It doesn't hurt at all. I almost can't tell it's there," agreed Jennifer Tomblin, a 23-year-old marketing student and Graafstra's girlfriend.

'ABRACADABRA'
Following this article Graafstra's girlfriend was persuaded to get her own chip - so much for her organic lifestyle...

Mikey Sklar, a 28-year-old Brooklyn resident, said, "It does give you some sort of power of 'Abracadabra,' of making doors open and passwords enter just by a wave of your hand."

The RFID chip in Sklar's hand, which is smaller than a grain of rice and can last up to 100 years, was injected by a surgeon in Los Angeles.

Tattoo artists and veterinarians also could insert the chips into people, he said. For years, veterinarians have been injecting similar chips into pets so the animals can be returned to their owners if they are lost.

Graafstra was drawn to RFID tagging to make life easier in this technological age, but Sklar said he was more intrigued by the technology's potential in a broader sense.

In the future, technological advances will allow people to store, transmit and access encrypted personal information in an increasing number of wireless ways, Sklar said.
After the implant procedure

Wary of privacy issues, Sklar said he is developing a fabric "shield" to protect such chips from being read by strangers seeking to steal personal information or identities.

One advantage of the RFID chip, Graafstra said, is that it cannot get lost or stolen. And the chip can always be removed from a person's body.

"It's kind of a gadget thing, and it's not so impressive to have it on your key chain as it is to have it in you," Sklar said. "But it's not for everyone."

Sklar's girlfriend, Wendy Tremayne, has yet to be convinced. She said she probably would not inject the computer chip into her body unless she thought it was a "necessity."

"If it becomes more convenient, I may," said the 38-year-old artist and yoga teacher. "(But) I'd rather have an organic life."

>> Proof positive that hipsters will be the first idiots to take the mark of the beast... effing lazy ass slackers <<

[Hipsters=cheese-dicks]

Great article, I can't stand these cheese-dick motherfuckers. There's this hipster at my school who named their pet "Dizzy Gillespie". Like this teenage white bitch listens to fuckin jazz, or anything outside of emo. Eat a fat dick bitch.

Also, suprised you didn't mention pitchfork media. That is THE mecca for all hipster indie pricks. They're the ones that make that MIA bullshit popular.

[commoditize]

uh, that hipster bingo chart was totally lifted from someone else. i saw it forever ago on themodernage.org or something like that.

[r.e.]

I Ariel Sharon lie mortally ill on my hospital bed as a result
of turning my back on GOD's Eternal promise to Israel of ruling
from the Nile To the Euphrates. I have compromised my presidency
over Isreal by extracting fellow Jews from Ghaza to appease the
mussie snakes, the Leftist Eurpean fag Union and a whole lot of
demon-infested Heathen.
I hope this remains as a stark reminder that any Israeli
president in the future that decides to 'divide rather than
ENLARGE' the state of Israel will be struck down by the Almighty
God of Abraham, Isaac & Jacob.
All future leaders of Israel should fear the One true GOD of
Isreal rather than the muslim pagan moongod or any other heathen
authority of the nations.

LONG LIVE THE GOD OF ISREAL

LONG LIVE GREATER ISRAEL

[Top]

Examing hipsterdom (word?)has been done before. It is a stale topic at this point. Let hipsters be free to wear their non matching clothes and listen to their horrible music, I could care less.

[Hashim]

Bol, isn't the humor of your site based on irony and race baiting? Don't many of your readers fall into the hipster category?

[ROX ONE]

I dont know where the issue of race entered into it.. they are much more concerned with looking hip and music made by guitars..

[Gerru Mistreua]

http://www.hipinion.com/forums

[Netster Bubble]

what?
hipsters are already passe in kuala lumpur and shit and you are writing about them from the NY perspective?
rough man. hipster culture is painfully mainstream for you not to have noticed until 2006.
did you not notice the silk screening on mcdonald's uniforms?

[idrinkpbrandlikemusicwithguitars]

Wow, you guys have a lot of time on your hands. One of my 'hipster' friends sent me this link, the dude that wrote this is a complete fool.

We like indie rock music (which you all would probably enjoy too if you gave it a chance), indie movies, wear retro shit, don't have a lot of "cake" (at least any of my hipster friends), and are a pretty fucking liberal and friendly group of people.

I don't know where the racism aspect found it's way into a definition of a hipster. Where are these elitist hipsters? I live in gramercy and the ones I know in nyc or have met at shows don't fit this ignorant description you offer.

You do damage by teaching people to think this way. How is this any different from your calls of racism. If your readers believe you, how can they honestly have an open mind when meeting people?

I guess they shouldn't because hipsters are "artfags" with too much time and money.

Stop bitching.

[k0nfidendce]

god, i hate hipsters. get some fucking glasses that fit and dont take up a third of your face. and the cabbie hat with the kickin burns and facial hair that they just learned to grow. i just want to hit them. and seriously, what is up with the cigarettes. they are suppose to be all
"with it" them mother's ain't good for you. and for god sakes, HIPSTERS DON'T KNOW ART!!! christ, they are worst than rich people. if you ever see a hipster just break their glasses, it will make you feel better.

[ahaha]

Hipster's don't hate anyone! They just don't take any race (including their own) seriously. They make light of stereotypes and yes, enjoy irony, but they don't hate anyone. They aren't serious enough to hate anyone. I'm not a hipster, but i have a ton of hipster friends , and i love em. But maybe its just cause I'm white. hah. get it