By Sean Moreno
From a living room in Rancho Cucamonga, two students podcast
“The Backpack Fantastic,” a creative online show that reaches into
the depths of hip-hop.
Ramsey Baluchi, former host of Session A, and Danilo Aguilar
have begun to generate a following for their audio show.
“It just happened. We had the idea of doing the podcast and one
day we got together and made a 15-minute show to see how it would
turn out, said Aguilar, a fifth-year computer engineering student.
“It was bad, but people liked it and it grew from there.”
What started as two friends performing skits from their
apartment at The Village has grown to a celebrated podcast watched
by approximately 400 viewers.
They started the “hip-hop variety show” in July of 2008, using
“as ghetto as possible” equipment: two rock band microphones, a
desktop PC and a CDJ 1000.
“A lot of people like it because they haven’t seen anything
quite like it in a long time,” said Baluchi, a fifth-year computer
engineering student. “People say they laugh a lot because they feed
on the fun that we have while making any show.”
Together the duo is attempting to revive hip-hop with a dose of
“hip-hop education.”
“If I have to give it a purpose, it’s to show people that
there’s music that they’ve missed out on, andthat a lot of stuff
their listening to today is just whack. We keep it backpack,” said
Aguilar.
The Backpack Fantastic has three main purposes that were pointed
out by Baluchi.
One of the purposes of the podcast is to show people the true
side of hip-hop.
Every quarter, the Web site is updated with a new episode themed
around Cal Poly events and hip-hop skits.
“We are the only people who make original skits anymore,” said
Baluchi. “The valentines show was also a big hit, due to the fact
that we made it as if it was supposed to be a love mix tape to give
to a girl.”
The Backpack Fantastic has 6 episodes on
thebackpackfantastic.mypodcast.com, and
www.myspace.com/thebackpackfantastic.
Each episode has a different theme from Valentine’s Day to the
men’s basketball team.
“I want students to know that fellow students are putting on
their own radio show and perhaps inspire others to do the same. And
to build a little school pride.”
Reach Sean Moreno at lifestyle@thepolypost.com
Students host hip-hop podcast
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