"Backpacker" was originally a slang term from the 1980s for a graffiti artist who always wore a backpack containing his music collection and, more importantly, his spray cans, markers, and spray tips. Typically, the music collection would consist only of local underground rap/hip-hop music artists. The sub-genre or sub-categorization of the music means nothing, as long as they are a local unsigned... (no recording contract) artist. A backpacker’s music selections are based upon three principles: 1) no mainstream, 2) the music is commercially unavailable, and 3) the music was given/sold to them "hand-to-hand" from the originating recording artist. However, these principles eventually became very loose, and soon many people who listened to commercially available underground rap or "indie rap" became known as "backpackers."