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Since the 1980s, a “ghettoblaster” got its getup as a large and loud boombox for people carry with them on the street to play music in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit, and London indubitably.
Traditional ghettoblasters were shaped like a boombox with a handle on the top, so you can carry it like a briefcase or rest it on your shoulder, speakers facing toward your head for some reason.
Safety Warning: Don't hurt your ears. Seriously - Playing loud music into your ears can damage your hearing. Learn more about volume safety. https://support.apple.com/en-in/guide/iphone/iphb71f9b54d/ios
A boombox lets you play music in public.
A boombox doesn’t wear like a backpack.
If you turned a boombox into a backpack, then you could blast music from your back.
Like most people, closet DJs should get out the closet. A mobile speaker system you carry on your body would do the trick. Here’s how to start shouldering your very own backpack speaker a.k.a. ghettoblaster backpack…
It’s Slim Shady pickings #EminemMusic if you want to buy a backpack with built-in speakers. Bluetooth backpack speaker startups got creative from 2015 to 2020, but never got the popularity they deserved.
Safety Warning: Don’t get electrocuted. Don’t get the backpack wet. Don’t wear an electronic backpack in the rain.
Source: Cuddie S. on YouTube
Super Real is a low-cost and viable option this year. Priced at about $80, it’s 2025’s best priced speaker backpack. It’s equipped with two 15-watt speakers - A Little Loud - a rechargeable battery for 8 hours playtime, and even USB charger ports for your iPhone - supposedly - there’s a subwoofer for low-down bass in there too.
Source: Jonothan M. on YouTube
WizPak offers a medium-size luxury with size speakers - with 50-watt output - 3-ish times LOUDER than the Super Real - that you’ll start to believe when you see the woofers on its side. The medium-sized backpack sells for almost $1,000 and the mini-sized backpack sells for almost $600, so I guess you pay for the fashion too.
Source: Stealth Labs on YouTube
Stealth Lab tried and half-succeeded to indiegogo their geometric built-in speakers backpack back in 2019. Nowadays a generic version can be bought on random ecommerce retailers.
SOUNDBOKS might not be as well known for portable professional audio as Bose or JBL, but if you own a SOUNDBOKS 4 wireless speaker (https://www.amazon.com/SOUNDBOKS-Bluetooth-Performance-Wireless-Portable/dp/B0CJG1W336), you’ll be glad to know about the SOUNDBOKS Backpack. It’s steel frame and nylon comfort fitters keeps that heavy block-shaped speaker some inches away from your spine.
JBL is 2025’s leader in battery-powered Bluetooth speakers to bring with you outdoors, but do they have a speaker backpack? No, not one designed to play music while mounted on your shoulders. But If your forte is music performance and - like me - you own a pair of JBL EON ONE Compact speakers, then JBL brand makes a backpack transport bag, you’ll have to buy two for the pair. They’ve got straps for your shoulders and roller wheels on the bottom for when you get tired. I’ve seen homies wearing backpacks both front and back - with my pair of speakers - to carry both at once.
Bose is known for A+ sound quality, and their most popular S1 Pro+ portable bluetooth speaker system sounds amazing. But like JBL, you can only buy a carry bag, not one that’s designed for bumping tracks while worn on your back.
If you haven’t found the perfect ghettoblaster backpack for you. You’re gonna have to custom fit that thing.
Me? I already own a pair of JBL EON ONE Compacts, so me and owners of Bose S1 Pro+ could start a support group for musical backpackless speaker owners. https://www.broken-people.org/
Nah, it’s time to get creative.
Safety Warning: Don’t get electrocuted. Don’t mess with electronic parts and wiring unless you are a well-trained electrician.
Back in 2021, speaker tinkering YouTuber Techscrew scraped and screwed together with a 12-volt battery one big woofer and two small tweeters with makeshift shoulder straps to show the world it can be done.
Source: Techscrew on YouTube
Even before that in 2021, the OG Aaron Kotlan audio-visual secretist YouTuber jimmied together a concealed carry. The inconspicuous Jansport school bag carried a homemade wooden box with woofer and tweeters that plugged into your phone back in the day before Bluetooth was such a ubiquitous technology.
Source: Aaron K. on YouTube
The speakers I own are the JBL EON ONE Compact bluetooth wireless speakers.
Can I fashion a backpack JBL ONE and JBL TWO on my back walk and play music with good comfort and safe volume?
I’ve seen marching bands carrying bass drums and four-part drum racks since the golden years - today down at C. W. Johnson Stadium too - which has shown me hard, comfy and stylish evidence - these shoulder to torso mounts aren’t too hard on your back.
I want to put two JBL EON ONE Compact speakers onto ONE marching drum carriers.
The bass drum carriers #ad I’m looking at cost from $100 to $400 dollars in 2025.
Here is a drawing of how both JBL speakers should fit on. The idea is, we’re gonna need to custom fit prongs at the bottom in order to utilize the JBL speaker’s default tripod standing method. The mount on the drum carrier should connect by the default tripod stand hole the bottom of the JBL speaker. Ummm… I think it’s called the , is called the pole mount or speaker stand mount. I’m not a good drawer. I’m a much better doormat. And I have thought about this design a great deal.
I want to securely pole mount two JBL speakers onto a comfortable drum carrier, then loud volume music without loose parts rattling.
Safety Warning: Please protect your hearing. I’m definitely going to wear ear muffs for noise reduction when playing music on my back.
I’d be tickled pink if the engineer who actually builds the thing takes other quality measures into consideration. Now that’s a considerate engineer!
For some tips to get along with your neighbors and local law enforcement. You can play gangster rap with the bass down low, parked in a corner with good acoustics to reverb that base and shake your bones. As long as you do so according to the rules.
Safety Warning: Don’t get hit by a car when playing music on the streets. Drivers accidently collide with pedestrians. While playing loud music, you can’t hear oncoming cars as well.
Most people have never seen a ghettoblaster backpack before, so don’t be surprised if people give you funny looks or maybe they’ll be scared of them - a new species of marching band technology.
Even though you’re a splendid musical selector with an extra-special ghettoblaster backpack… You don’t want to go blasting tracks at night when people trying to sleep.
I’ve been to car garages that have ceilings that reverb that base into your skull but those are mostly private property.
Safety Warning: Please be safe and respectful where you play music. If your city has sound disturbance laws, they’re probably so that people can get along with their own business.
You should try it. Go to your city website and reserve a park pavilion during the day time or sunset session. Let the authorities know you’re going to play family friendly music that’s appropriate for the public.
It’s a good way to build rapport with your neighborhood and treat people A-OK, I think.
A ghettoblaster backpack works good for people never trained in drum percussion, but want to play beats loud in public. You just put speakers on a drum carrier and DJ tracks with your iPhone.
Most people call it a bluetooth speaker backpack - or just “Speaker Backpack” for short.
Bus Drivers have long known about the ghetto backpack, just ask.
You don’t need to be a disc jockey.
You don’t have to read music.
You just gotta play good music at a good volume in public.
That’s the kind of superpower only a ghettoblaster can bring, and this one’s attached from your shoulders down your back, like a backpack.
