Barf Troop

written by Pooja

I wanted to keep the title of this article in the words of Barf Babe Babenstein herself because I had the wonderful opportunity to see the Troop perform on the 26th at Afropunks BOTB showcase!

The show took place at Freecandy Creative Space in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, a space that was essentially a converted carwash/garage featuring galleries, UV lights, lawn chair and aluminum foil converted art on the walls, and lots of neon spray-paint. Oh, and not to mention, beautiful and ethereal beings galore.

If you’ve made your rounds around melanin-friendly internet spaces, you have most likely come across Barf Troop, an up and coming WOC rap group based in all different parts of the United States, The group already has a strong body of work featuring songs from all of their artists, as well as collaborations from other noteworthy producers, and even verses over Math Rock beats. The troop’s most recent release was Babe Field’s solo album Half Ripe, with three more tapes in the work, to be released in this latter half of this year, most likely. Barf Troop consists of Babeo Baggins, Baberella Fox, Justin Baber, Babe Field, and Babenstein, out of which Babeo, Baberella, and Justin Baber performed at the showcase that night.

Surprisingly, the Troop was the first act of the night (which didn’t make sense to me because why wouldn’t Afropunk want to save the best for last?) and Babeo kicked off with the energy-packed “Garbage Pail Princess”, produced by Gobby. Not only was this the song that introduced me to Barf Troop, but it was the song that got me through my incredibly dull and depressing freshman year of college. Babeo’s sweet voice coupled with her mean bars about slashing up boys and puking really made me feel at home in the most unironic way possible.

Justin Baber came through with one of my favorite songs, “The World Is Yours”, which features Babe Field. The song was produced by one of my favorite producers, Iman Omari, who created an absolutely beautiful track that serves as the background to Justin Baber’s greatly impressive lyricism in this song. Throughout her performance, I really noticed the similarities with Justin Baber’s onomatopoetic like devices and diverse rhyme schemes I wouldn’t have picked up on had it not been for my senior year English Class. Her stage presence was especially powerful during this song, you could tell on sight that she was incredibly immersed in every word she was saying and that type of passion, power, and delivery she brought to the audience reminded me of Kanye.

Babarella followed up with the danceable “Bubble Pop Bounce” in which she explains the arrival of Barf Troop on the scene appropriately with “we got internet hype, and now we made it to the stage”. The song is short, sweet, quirky, and proud, in which she celebrates the success of Barf Troop as well as her own personal success.

Babeo then performed “Breakbeast”, another incredibly impactful and representative song of what Barf Troop is all about. This song is so hype and extensive, and she actually came down to the floor where everyone was standing for this one!! My favorite part of this song is definitely when the bass kicks in rhythmically the first time and Babeo offers to tuck in everyone who is still sleeping on her. The song features another tribute to her husband Drake, this one being hauntingly melodic. If you notice in the video I took, she came up to me at one point and rapped directly to me (!!!!!!!!!!)

Baberella followed up with her upbeat “New Religion” in which she summons all her listeners to prayer on her behalf. She also rhetorically and succinctly retorts “Five feet tall, but cuter than your main bitch”, repping on behalf of all the tiny babes who are taken as less of a threat because of their height. The production is incredibly #tbt with it’s use of sampling from the Princess episode of the Powerpuff Girls), drum loops, and high flute melody accompanying Baberella’s stoic yet fun verses.

Justin Baber and Babeo then wrapped up with one of their newest songs, “Pickle Juice” which samples not only Hyuna’s infamous song Bubble Pop, but Nicki Minaj’s incredibly endearing and cogent feminist rant in which she laments the inability for women to be assertive without the label of “bitch” in the music industry. Justin Baber’s verse is incredibly fiery, tough, and inspiring, and it complements Babeo’s seductively innocently murderous vibes so nicely not only just in terms of this song, but in terms of the Troop as a whole.

In short, The Troop isn’t going anywhere soon and their performance proved that to a tee, to be quite honest so um…upchuck or get phucked. - The Coalition Mag

A while back I introduced Noisy to Barf Troop, a rap circuit of young girls across the Southern states who write about feminism, sea shells and whatever they like. All the girls met on the internet and use the power of their Macs to turn their bedroom lyrics into cut-up rap songs. Their latest single “Pickle Juice” gives me hope for the future, that there will be a whole fleet of young chicks who just continue to make whatever the hell they want without caring what anyone thinks. - Noisey

RVA Native and 1/5 of The Female Rap Group “Barf Troop” Justin Baber Just Dropped Off This Brand New Track Called “The World Is Yours” Featuring Arnie Parnie. Be Sure To Checkout More From Her On Her Soundcloud. - Slapdash

Sometimes, I get really worried that kids are not doing anything creative or interesting anymore. I get worried that they're all just playing Candy Crush on their iPhones while they blast pro-ana cries out into the Tumblrverse. Then, every once in a while, I'll come across a young person doing something interesting and I heave a giant sigh of relief. This month, I found Barf Troop. They made me stop and breathe.

Barf Troop is a group of young girls who all met on Tumblr (because that’s how teenagers meet nowadays) and decided to start a rap group together. Think Kitty Pryde meets Pink Dollaz, but totally outside of the box. Barf Troop rap sweet little rhymes about sexual dominance over math rock tracks, ocean breezes and sometimes, just nothing but a weird, cheap beat. They are a pack of growing, interesting women who have embraced the punk attitude of doing-whatever-the-fuck-you-want and not really caring what people think about it. They are by no means professionals, but they getting there and doing something that takes guts, which I respect. I mean, they are actually making intelligent use of the Internet. - Noisey

Babeo Baggins is a member of the internet-based girl rap collective Barf Troop. She’s living in Washington DC, and while she may not work in politics (she’s finishing up cosmetology school) I’d venture to say she’s getting more done than our government overlords when it comes to female empowerment. Sure reductive feminists everywhere will try to tell you that no woman talking about choosing between fucking or puking could be a feminist, but what do they know?

If you take the time to actually listen to what Babeo is saying, and take a little more time to wrap your mind around the context for all of these songs it’s clear that she has the makings of artistic genius. Anyone who is able to create art that folds the boundaries of cultural legibility back on themselves isn’t just messing around. Babeo is creating an identity that allows her to affirm herself as a woman in a normative institution largely defined by males, but her actions exceed the oppressive constraints of that institution. Just listen to the opening of Garbage Pail Princess where she talks about seeing a cute dude, and kidnapping him. She’s speaking in ways that men understand, but she’s using that speech to tell them that she’s in charge.

The “problem” with a lot of female rappers is that they just reify male-imposed oppression with a female inflection. The brilliance of what Babeo is doing is that she is creating an identity that takes account of the normative parameters imposed on her, maintains her legibility to those who abide those parameters, and then effectively dismantles those parameters through the creation of art. She used rap music to make her into a person that her daily life doesn’t allow her to be, and it isn’t based in fantasy, it’s based in reality. Basically, she might suck your dick, but it’s up to her, and if she does you’re not gonna know if she might bite it off cause that’s up to her too. It’s Babeo’s world, and we just live in it. - Mishka

Other albums on this list have (or probably will) boast other awards, but no one’s jocking “most disgusting” from Barf Troop, the “group of filthy girls spitting bars.” Making their way from all corners of the internet to rap about things like cannibalism, witches, and long lists of “bodied” enemies, Barf Troop takes all the fun of a girl group, DIY resourcefulness, and much-needed humor, and sprinkles it on top of sickeningly sweet (but mostly filthy) bars. And it works, because we know what a good female rap group can do in a genre that regularly spits out love letters to even the lamest male emcee.

Summerslime is the peak of all things Barf Troop, providing flows and beats as varied as the emcees themselves. Its founding members – Babeo Baggins, Babenstein, Babe Field, Justin Baber, and Baberella Fox – trade off hits with glee with the backdrop of spooky organs, rolling piano melodies, bubbly 808s, and staccato hiccups and claps. Bookending all of the filth is the endearingly sweet “Strawberry Fields,” a Paul Baribeau cover that ushers out the mixtape on the last strains of member Babeo Baggins’ soothing vocals. It is an important sign that if the “Barf Babes” aren’t limiting themselves in taste or ambitions, we definitely shouldn’t either.

If we’re lucky, 2014 will be the year of the Troop, complete with all the nasty, fun, and flair we could possibly ever handle. - D Magazine

The amount of sexism in hip-hop is just plain gross, being force fed a disgustingly male-centric and heteronormative culture curdles the stomach so Barf Troop spewing out Summerslime is a projectile girl power purge. Babeo Baggins presents "BreakBEAST" as the tapes opening track and it serves as both an introduction to and summary of the project as a whole.

The DIY production, provided on BreakBEAST by Double J, is alluring as a still totally raw and sonically spectral art. Creative lines that are as likely to be about sexual fantasies as they are comic book characters careen coyly over the spooky crawl. Wholly dissatisfied with being designated as any lesser for her gender Babeo Baggins demands respect for everyone from subverted sub-cultures (even if one of them happens to be the entirety of women) from everyone not already on the progressive wave. And how many tracks not only thank you for listening but also do so with Pikachu calls? BreakBEAST does, so don’t thank us, Barf Troop is grateful enough to have you. - Earmilk