“But it is hard to deny the fact that Scott’s
a heavy trooper. Against Ryza the guy suggested
as if he’s got a heavy shooter. Spitting
ironic gun bars disnae mean you’ve got a
sense of humour. That’s no funny, it’s
lame. I thought Earley would have got the
message sooner.”
Most people’s impressions of battle rap
come from things like 8 Mile. Dark, sweaty room
Rappers screaming in each other’s
faces about each other’s backgrounds, mothers,
body odor, anything really.
Battle rap these days is very, very different.
Back in the day it was all freestyle – off
the top of the head. So rappers would tend
to use a setup and then come with a punchline.
So setups would be something like, “I’m
rhyming it sick, I’m killing it quick”.
Better than that obviously.
These days battle rap is almost an entire
art form in itself. Battlers perform three
pre-written acapella rounds in a venue that’s
usually chosen beforehand. In the UK we’ve
got leagues like Don’t Flop, which are pretty
much businesses.
So whilst you still get street rhymes and
macho posturing to some extent, a lot of these
guys actually have extraordinary writing ability.
“We might be best friends, but going bar
for bar you know you ain’t too far, kid.
Now I know what it feels like to hang my brother
over the edge like Scar did.”
What’s most noticeable is that battle rap
has become a culture in itself. And because
so many battles are on YouTube these days,
some of them getting crazy amounts of views,
people will know the battlers they’re going
to see.
And there are so many different styles on
show. Some rappers are more jokes based and
some battlers come with rhyme schemes, multisyllabics
and really intricate wordplay.
There’s no right or wrong way to win a rap
battle, but personality counts for a lot.
If you think you’ve got what it takes to
rap battle, now’s as good a time as any
to give it a go. Just be aware that you’ll
have to take a slagging in front of hundreds
of people.
“Youse don’t Netflix and Chill. Youse
go to Greggs instead of Nandos
do bet slips and pills.”
