It’s a confusing time in a man’s life when he begins to admire other dudes
much younger than he. The problem is this: As I get older, my favorite new
rappers seem to get younger and younger.

The Pack are prime examples of this fresh wave of Young, Fly and Flashy
rap from the Bay Area (and all of California, for that matter). Not only are
they a few years behind most of us here at UCSD, they’re also significantly
fly-er and flashier.

If you’re aware of the Pack’s existence at all, you probably know them for
their first single, “Vans,” a musical tribute to the popular shoe brand. With
Young L’s minimal beat and an impossibly catchy hook (“Got my Vans on but they
look like sneakers”), the Pack convinced a large segment of Bay Area
hip-hoppers to dress like skaters — a movement of sorts that has strangely been
dubbed “punk rock.” But along with the fans, they also drew a whole lot of
haters, including a group that goes by the name Nascar, because they “go.” No
joke.

Nascar released a song called “Punk Rock Don’t Go,” in which they pan
rappers like those in the Pack for wearing “medium shirts and girl shoes” — and
many Bay Area fans seem to agree. Pack-haters often feel that the foursome
(Young L, Stunna, Lil B, and Uno) is nothing more than what it looks like: a
bunch of foolish high schoolers.

What many of these haters might not realize is that to ridicule the Pack
is to disagree with the one and only Todd “Too $hort” Shaw, the man who
discovered them and practically created the Bay Area’s rap scene (along with
the word “bitch”) — so it would be safe to assume he knows his way around the
genre. What Too $hort liked about the Pack is that they still know how to have
fun — something many of their peers seem to have forgotten. They’re not going
to dazzle (read: bore) us with fancy wordplay or social commentary, but I
guarantee they’ll show up to the House of Blues late, drunk and fresh-to-death,
and you should try your best to do the same.

The Pack perform live Oct. 24 at the House of Blues in the Gaslamp
District.