With this weekend’s URL “Sneaker Battle” event going down in NYC we figured we’d get in on the fun our own way. See if you can figure out who wore which shoes at KOTD’s recent Battle of the Bay 6.
Oh, and yes, we do know this is ridiculous. Still, let us know how you did on Twitter.
Charron was screwed by Black Entertainment Television. (And yes, we realize how absurd that sentence sounds.) Here’s what happened.
In March, Charron won the Freestyle Friday tournament on BET’s 106 & Park. His prize was a $5,000 cheque and a much-coveted appearance on the annual BET cyphers. For the uninitiated, the network airs several taped cyphers – basically, a group of MCs taking turns rapping on a beat – throughout its annual hip-hop awards show. These segments feature some of the best MCs in the recording industry, and for many viewers, the cyphers are easily the best part of the telecast. (Here’s an example from 2011, featuring Eminem.) For Charron, the opportunity to rap alongside critically-acclaimed artists on national TV was clearly the opportunity of a lifetime.
On Monday, BET released the list of rappers appearing in this year’s cyphers, which have already been filmed and will air on Oct. 15. Kendrick Lamar drops a verse. Action Bronson does too. As does A$AP Rocky, Lil Kim, Joe Budden and others. But alas, the one name we expected to see wasn’t there: Charron.
King of the Dot’s World Domination 4 has been done for just over a week, and the debate over the battles has already started turning into hype for Battle of the Bay 6. Now that we’ve got some distance from the event, we wanted to give some final observations before the footage starts to drop.
We also spoke to Organik, Lush One, Drect and Poison Pen for their thoughts on the event. Their interviews are linked at the bottom. Scroll to the bottom for a complete rundown of T.O. Battle Blog’s exclusive WD4 content.
Shots were fired at Ultimate Rap League, Smack and the league’s battlers. It started on Friday, when Charron called out URL battlers for not doing judged matches and for the league’s marquee event Summer Madness 3 being a flop. On Saturday, it was compounded by disses from Real Deal and Charlie Clips in consecutive battles. Real Deal basically used his entire third round to attack URL rappers who are afraid to battle him (e.g. “Chilla Jones is the biggest mark to come out of Boston since Wahlberg.”). Then Clips used his final round to address Smack’s recent vlog, which he took as “a spit” in his face for suggesting he’s taking money in return for mediocre performances. He also criticized the hypocrisy of putting K-Shine on the SM3 bill when he choked in his Big T battle. It’s possible that all three MCs were hamming it up for a pro-KOTD crowd, but with all the criticism being leveled at the SM3 card, it’s clear that URL is facing scrutiny like never before.
Battle rap events are filled with funny people. Sometimes the best lines of the night come outside of the battles with fans or rappers just chopping it up in the venue. Here’s a collection of (absolutely true) snippets of conversation overheard at WD4:
Dizaster, to Aspire: “Holy fuck… IT’S YOU. You’re a legend!”
Deffinition on Dizaster: “Man. these are like 48 bar setups, man. Did he just say he’s a battle rap magician? A BATTLE RAP MAGICIAN? i thinks that’s en- *trips over lighting* I think that’s enough for me.”
On the eve of World Domination 4, KOTD put together a press conference to build hype and for the media to get up-to-speed with what the hell battle rap is all about. The whole thing went smoothly and the on-stage bickering between the battlers made for some massively entertaining moments. KOTD will be releasing the full footage any minute now. Scroll to the bottom for more photos too.
Here are some of the best quotes, or at least the ones I could furiously scrawl down in my notepad.
“NFL has the Super Bowl. Soccer has the World Cup. Battle rap needed something big, so we came up with World Domination.” - Organik in his opening statement
“If a spelling bee can be considered a sport, then so can battle rap.” - Bishop Brigante
The days before an event are always the most exciting. Every battle still has potential to be the greatest ever, and every battler is poised to have the next scene-shattering performance. Right now, battlers from around the world are congregating in Toronto for the biggest battle rap event the city has even seen. The whole rap landscape could be changed after this weekend. Legends will rise, reputations will be destroyed, etc.
Here’s how we see it happening:
Dizaster vs Arsonal
Becomes the highest-viewed battle of all time. Everyone on RMBVA hates it.
Arcane vs Pat Stay
Arcane has the performance of his career until Pat Stay noogies him.
Charron vs Shotgun Suge
Suge no-shows, and if he doesn’t Charron pocket-checks him in the first round. If Suge shows up and loses, he’s going to his car, getting his other gun, and shooting everybody’s ass.