Friday, January 30, 2009
Ex Battlers now Established artist Going back to Battling!
So what up ya'll this i s my first blog on here and i decided to make about something that i hold high. BATTLING !! recently I have become involved with a great company GRINDTIME it's a battle league that is rapidly growing i am now the President of their New York Division (check us out @ www.Grindtimenow.com) . Now being involved with this great company and witnessing so many great battles , I have been feeling like entering the ring again competitively onlu for some promo battles and for a big battle they are setting up U.S.A VS. CANADA . Now being the president Of the NY division I have the privlege of creating the battles , so i have been reaching out to MC's with reputable names in the battle scene both new and old , so the the vet's always hit me with the i don't battle no more i make music which is cool but i feel like homies this is what got us to the point where we can make music . In my opinion I feel like dang I don't ever want to lose my hunger , I love the battling scene right now it's all about pre preparing knowing your opponent as to where back in the day it was all freestyle off the dome . I don't know people leave your comments on this and let me know how you feel. 1. Do you think ex Battlers should not battle anymore ? 2.Do you think honestly it would effect their careers negatively ?? holla at me ya'll this is your UNDERGROUND KING ! Peace
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thats a good question whether an established MC should go back to battling. . . . They should only go back to battling only if they are real fucking good. Most MCs have battled before, but are honestly way better writers and live performers than battlers. Losing local battles can hurt your reputation. I think most MCs would get all "business" about thinking losing a battle would tarnish your reputation.
ReplyDeleteThere haven't been any MC battles recently in my town (Denver), im sure cats are nice, but most of the cats that were really good at it, have families and don't really do it anymore.
Battling is good for a lot of reasons though. good for networking, AandR, getting money (knowing that if you dont win the battle you arent paying your rent), good for practicing being in front of people (if you dont have regular gigs).
battling overall though is good because it makes you hungry, is competitive, makes your practice, its good for the art - but overall if you are a musician, you want to be able to translate your art to performances and recordings.
Creatively, I don't know if you can be fully free in a battle becase you dont have full creative control over the beats you are selecting who your opponent is etc. which is good for getting you better, but again, it can be limiting to envisioning 1 - 4 hours of music/entertainment coming from an artist.
i miss battles lol - i miss battles before eight mile, i miss the ones right after that movie went down even though they were "trendy" because, now, battling doesn't really happen any more. . .i might have to throw one. what are the best rules for battling?
selectorsam@gmail.com
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ReplyDeleteI've followed battling for a hot minute now, and PH touched on some of the ways its changed. But i will say this, not cuz I'm biased or anything, but Grindtime, has been one of the most important things to ever happen to battling ever.
ReplyDeleteLet me tell you why. For one, GT is not solely marketing itself alone, but is backed by a reputable company of Worldstar HipHop, which has allowed the battles to get more views in shorter amounts of time to a targeted hiphop audience. Some videos (ie: Tantrum vs Dumbfoundead) have found themselves popping up over tons of other sites, giving the company viral promotion. This also gives battlers who never really had much exposure before,a whole new audience to pitch themselves too. Win ur battle, shout out ur album or myspace, and get fools to recognize how dope of an mc u are. Lets not forget battling is one of the foundations of this hiphop culture we have. To many, its been a lost art.
For the vets, I implore u guys to look at it with an open eye. There are many younger fans that I have seen come into battling who don't even know the first thing about how battling started. People who just started getting into battling Post 8 mile or post WRC are clueless, about the founders of battling, and pay little to no homage to where battling even started. There are those who have forgotten how NY use to be once the mecca for battling itself. Times have changed with people not ciphering and battling on the corner block or in front of the stoop anymore (ie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxVxQrj2xdk). But GT has done a good job of recruiting mc's both old and new, and putting on some of the best battles that I have ever seen (and I have seen way too many battles growing up).
And even for the vets who have moved on from battling to make music, try and remember that we gotta try and preserve our hiphop culture for as much as people say hiphop is dying. Record companies are forcing our music to become some Soulja Boy crap. We need to bring it back to the raw energy of where hiphop grew out of the streets. Battling is apart of mc'ing, and we gotta do what we can to keep this beautiful culture of ours alive.
Join the movement!
roc55555 aka rocky
i cannot comment on the topic as in depth as those before me because i am not the most knowledgeable of hip hop history. hence my avoidance. but i will say that you're hunger is inspiring. congratulations on the election.
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