Photos and recaps only tell a sliver of what went down at an event. So in an attempt to give you a fuller idea of what it was like to be at Blackout 4, we present these 360-degree photos, shot with a Ricoh Theta camera.
Click the images to get the full 360-degree view.
You might know Mos Prob as a former Don’t Flop rapper (who made our Best of 2013 list) or maybe as half of “that battle rap engagement couple” with his American MC fiancé Rapunsell. What you might not realize about Adam “Mos Prob” Felman is that he’s also a massively entertaining writer. One that you’ll be reading a lot more from now that he’s the newest staff writer for T.O. Battle Blog.
He’ll also be managing our Facebook page, so make sure to add us for more updates and articles.
Here are his thoughts on his first trip to Canada and first KOTD event:
Chris from TOBB joins Jeremy and PJ on an episode of Battle Addict to break down the battles from KOTD’s Blackout 4 and UW’s High Stakes. They also discuss their thoughts on the newly announced Total Slaughter reality show.
Against all odds, Saturday was a great night for battling. Despite the no-shows, the chatty crowd and dead energy on Friday, Day 2 featured some outstanding battles, bringing the much-hyped Blackout 4 to a satisfying close. You can read our Day 1 recap here.
First off, a quick note on the no-shows. Six battlers did not show up in Toronto this weekend. (Organik went into specifics in this RMBVA post.) Here is the list of them, along with their opponents in brackets: RemyD (Osa), JC (Rone), Ill Will (Real Deal), Aye Verb (Shotty Horroh), Rich Dolarz (Loe Pesci) and Big T (Bender). It sounds as if King of the Dot is trying to make Shotty/Verb and T/Bender happen soon, even if that means sending Bender and Shotty to the States. Stay tuned.
Back to Saturday’s battles. Credit must be given to the MCs on the bottom half of the card. They set a good tone for the day and did a fine job of engaging the crowd. Speaking of which, the crowd for Day 2 was not only better than the previous day’s, but was arguably the most respectful KOTD audience in Toronto in some time. It’s amazing the degree to which a receptive, engaged crowd can enhance the quality of the battle.
Now, onto the battles. And remember: there will be plenty of spoilers.
You can also check the battles yourself with the KOTD pay-per-view.
[All battle photos are from Dan Gibson. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.]
The Great Experiment has finally arrived. King of the Dot’s much-anticipated Blackout 4 kicked off last night in Toronto. The card features arguably the deepest roster of talent ever assembled for a single event, plus it also boasts a novel concept: the majority of battles are being announced live at the event, rather than weeks/months in advance.
KOTD kicked off its Blackout 4 weekend with a press conference on Thursday night. The World Domination 4 press conference in August was impressively professional and had some great moments with Arcane, Pat Stay, Dizaster and Arsonal clowning each other and jockeying for microphone time.
This time, with the Blackout concept, it was obviously harder to set up face-offs, so instead the battlers took to the podium one at a time answering audience questions. Bishop Brigante hosted and KOTD interviewer Zo Duro handled microphone duty, asking questions and finding audience members with something to say. The tone of the press conference veered all over the place from informative, to confrontational, to completely absurd.