"Grown man bars is something you gotta deal with/ no matter how many of the fabricated rhymes you spit, they still aint gon’ equal up to this real sh*t!” – T Rex.
If you’re familiar with these lines, then you’re in tune with battle rap. You are part of the group that experienced the sad day when the career of respected rapper, Canibus came to a disappointing conclusion. Like me, you are also thrilled when seeing two rappers face off and ultimately bring out the best in each other. You probably frequent Ultimate Rap League (URL) and King Of The Dot (KOTD)’s YouTube channels. You are a battle rap fanatic, and this piece will try and cater to your entertainment.
Since Hip Hop is one of the most competitive sports, battle rap is the one part of it that most illuminates competition. In fact, battle rap thrives on the competitive spirit. Picture if you will: two people engaged in an electrified debate, where both individuals try their best to showcase how much they know and also how sharp their presentation skills are – that is the basic idea of battle rap (underline basic).
It is definitely a lot more artistic, however: Two rappers basically attempt to dismantle the other’s arguments and ideologies, while also displaying their lyrical prowess.
Admittedly, there are certain aspects of battling that I dislike. For one, it glorifies violence, intolerance towards the LGBT community, and gang banging. A lot of the guys who participate in battle rap are either former or current drug dealers, gangsters and people who frequent prison. Take this line from Tay Rock, for instance: “I grab you by the neck, then the razor come out/ you get another cut, and another cut, and another cut, it’ll look the seatbelt won’t work and I’m trying to buckle up.”
In this line, Rock warns his opponent that he will slice his throat multiple times for ‘messing with him’.
The other thing that irks me about battle rap (and really, rap music in general) is the constant abuse of language -grammar, more precisely. I know battle rap makes use of slang for the most part, but since Hip Hop is a very intellectual art form, it surely shouldn’t be allowed that someone like QP should say, “You aint the n*gger you say you is”.
Battle rap isn’t at all too bad. The first thing that I really like about the art form is the creativity. The creativity can be seen in the props and outfits that set every rapper apart from the rest. It is also heard in the verses that are well crafted, verses that perfectly balance good lyricism with hard hitting punch lines (see what I did there?).
The props and clothing add to the ambiance in a battle; a good example would be Loaded Lux bringing out a casket and women who are dressed as though they are mourning, all in the name of conveying that he would kill his opponent (figuratively).
Battle rap captures the competitive nature of the Hip Hop culture. It’s similar to boxing: take two rappers who don’t like each other that much, put them in the ring to fight it out for bragging rights. The size of your budget or how well your marketing team brands you does not win an artist this bout, it is only their skills that do. It’s a great way to settle Hip Hop disputes because it’s only your lyrical prowess that gets you victory.
It might not be your cup of tea as a Hip Hop fan, I can respect that. However, do keep in mind that it has also brought great financial value to the culture and contributed to bringing rappers from different nationalities and cultures together for one common goal – to put Hip Hop (in its raw form) on the main stage!
* Cover image: battlerap.com.
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