Catch Us Before We Fall Off

Spanning two exhaustively researched and stylistically composed volumes, Catch Us Before We Fall Off: a [ch]oral history of anticon is an audacious document of a pivotal moment in hip-hop history.

Caltrops Press founder and National Endowment for the Arts fellow Joseph Rathgeber presents the definitive document of anticon, the first collectively-run independent hip-hop label in the US that ruptured the underground rap scene at the turn of the millennium. Over the course of two volumes and 1200+ pages, Catch Us Before We Fall Off: a [ch]oral history of anticon chronicles the label’s rise between the years of 1998 and 2005, combining a revelatory oral history with a close reading analysis and compelling subcultural criticism. Nine years in the making, Catch Us Before We Fall Off features nearly 100 new interviews with anticon’s founders, their affiliates, and prominent figures from the underground hip-hop scene, analysis of nearly 50 albums, never-before-seen photographs, and a foreword written by anticon visionary the pedestrian.

To some, anticon was an affront to hip-hop; to others, an advancement of the form. The very existence of anticon typified the most contentious debates within the underground hip-hop community. Discourse around anticon centered on arguments about traditional and experimental approaches; questions of authenticity, race, and appropriation; and the pervasive hypermasculine and homophobic attitudes within the community. The anticon movement, Hua Hsu once wrote in The Wire, “embodies all the fascinating contradictions which both sustain and complicate the culture.”

anticon represented the potency and possibility of what underground hip-hop could be. Emerging from disparate geographic outposts, anticon came together through unconventional means: primitive internet services, tape trading, and long-distance telephone calls. Harnessing premillennial technology with postmillennial thinking proved crucial to their success. anticon’s forays into other genres—out from the confines of even the most “alternative,” or “abstract,” or “experimental” rap and into the vastness of post-rock, electronica, indie rock, and ambient—reaffirmed and proved the expansiveness of hip-hop’s potential. In doing so, they paved the way for countless rap artists today.

At their zenith, anticon received accolades from the US and international music press alike. Decades on, their influence and impact has been forgotten or willfully ignored. But the historical record and the music itself proves that anticon played a significant role in pioneering what critics and fans would come to call “post-rap,” “experimental rap,” “emo rap,” “ambient rap,” and “art rap.” The anticon collective altered our understanding of what hip-hop could be, epitomizing an avant-garde moment and movement in underground hip-hop.

Catch Us Before We Fall Off is not only a study of anticon but a comprehensive assessment of the underground hip-hop insurgency in total. From the practice of tape trading, to the role of the internet, to the spirit of Scribble Jam, to the conundrum of gender and race, the project analyzes the flourishes and failures of a subculture and independent music scene.

Joseph Rathgeber is the author of a novel, two poetry collections, and two story collections. He is the recipient of two New Jersey State Council on the Arts Fellowships for his poetry (2014, 2023) and a National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship for his prose (2016). He wrote music criticism for Tiny Mix Tapes in the aughts, and he has written, photocopied, and distributed the Caltrops underground hip-hop zine since 2020. He was born, raised, and proudly remains in New Jersey.