Battle rap is over-saturated. It’s hard enough to keep up with the video releases, battle announcements and rumours from just the top-tier leagues. Meanwhile, new leagues filled with new rappers are popping up all over the world. Great to see the culture thriving, the only problem is:

Ain’t nobody got time for that.

Here’s our list of battlers who may not be on your radar and who don’t get the attention (or the opponents) they deserve. Part 1 is the first five names that came to mind. Let us know who we missed and we’ll try to add them to Part 2.

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In no particular order…

1. OSA

Running with Loe Pesci and Bender, Osa has typically stood in the shadow
of his more revered affiliates, despite being on par with them
lyrically. He and Pesci make music as OG Hindu Kush, a standout among battle rappers’ albums.

(Check out our Spotify playlist of the best music made by battle rappers here.)

Though an Osa battle is a rare event, he’s has taken on 24/7, HFK and Skelly in KOTD, with his biggest win coming at World Domination 3 against Atlanta vet Sonny Bamboo. Reverence, who judged the battle, was floored by Osa’s performance and even called for a title shot in his comments at the end of the video.

His Twitter game is on point too, ranging from astute political commentary to cryptic remarks about Macau Triad leaders. And no RTs to clog up your timeline.

Who he should battle next: Pass, at a KOTD Fresh Coast event.
KOTD’s L.A. league has reinvigorated the West Coast battle scene and the fans go crazy for complex schemes. A win over an established West Coast battler on
home turf is what Osa needs if he wants to build his rep outside of Canada.

2. DIRT

Dirt is a major leaguer stuck in the minors. This upstate N.Y. rapper has been demolishing competition for years, his main problem being that his opponents are mostly unknown rappers from low-view leagues.

Good showings in promo battles against PH and Dirtbag Dan and an OT loss to Jonny Storm weren’t enough to translate into battles in bigger leagues.

His rants against KOTD battlers on Rapmusic.com haven’t gotten him far either:

“KOTD
is a cesspool of gaping vaginas,u know exactly who u are…uve been
offered $,round trip,hotel,agree,then my name comes up and back
out…who else did u think u were gonna get upstate…

pussies…

bender ur a fucking pussy

theres a name for u to babble about

my offer still stands,i have a sponsor that will meet ur requirements…

but if i have to call u a pussy 5000x to get it to happen here it comes”
-
Who he should battle next: Well, Bender, obviously. To be crowned The King of Multis. This is unlikely to happen though, since Dirt says he can’t get past the Canadian border and Bender is unlikely to battle in a no-name league.

3. Tycoon Tax

Tycoon Tax’s 2-5 record becomes a lot more impressive once you’ve seen his last two battles. The Toronto gun rapper’s drastic improvement in both content and
delivery shows he’s been putting in work (or buying bars from Caustic…) He won a Ground Zero classic against Yung Casper, and when the footage of his bodybag over Kaliente comes out, there will definitely be more buzz around Tax as a legitimate threat.

Who he should battle next: TMoneyBagz from Team Homi would be a solid step up. More realistically, he should go up against another up-and-comer like Vicci from URL’s Proving Ground.  

4. Isaac Knox

A unique voice in the scene, Orlando’s Isaac Knox is a devout Christian battle rapper. He avoids cursing and violent references, crafting bars out of pure personal attacks, wordplay and boasts. Here he is schooling freestyle legend Franco (in a battle with under 6,000 views): 

Knox has had to defend himself against rappers who think Christians don’t belong in battles, and Christians who agree. From a blog post on a Christian forum:

First off, I am a strong Christian & believe that at the moment I am
called to battle rap (among other things). It’s a sport. Hip-Hop is
competitive by nature & battle rap in pretty much verbal UFC
fighting. Is it a sin to hit someone? Usually, yes. But when you’re in a
professional fight, that’s how you play. You find you opponent’s
weaknesses, expose them, and use everything in your arsenal to defeat
the competition. As a Christian, there are lines I don’t cross such as
profanity, sex, & violence- The same way a fighter wouldn’t pull
hair, kick someone’s crotch, or poke their eye. There are many fighters
that are believers including the guy who first knocked out Kimbo Slice,
I’ve ministered at an event with him before. Anyway, I was SHOCKED by
how friendly, non-judgmental, & supportive the battle community was.
The whole game has developed into something healthy, not negative.

Read the full thread here:

Who he should battle next: Isaac’s rebuttal game is strong, so a freestyler like Charron.

5. Don’t Flop

Ok, we’re cheating a bit here to fit in another bunch of names.

England’s Don’t Flop league has a deep roster of slept-on battlers. They might not get as many views as KOTD or URL, but they have a lock on U.K. battling, which makes for loyal fans and a tight-knit scene.

Taking the lead from KOTD, Don’t Flop has successfully established its own champion, Grand Prix-style tournaments and a promising try-out league. The filming and editing is almost always high quality too.

Gun bars don’t resonate in a country where only 41 people died in firearm homicides in 2012 (the U.S. had 9,146 and Canada, 173) so angles tend to focus on personals, jokes and clever wordplay. The rapid-fire delivery of Grime music has also inspired a distinct style in a lot of the young battlers.

The last few years have seen Eurgh, Oshea, Deffinition, and Sensa being rated by North American fans in the international events KOTD puts on every summer. But the league has made huge moves in the last few months with visits from Arsonal and DNA. Shotty Horrah, a hood rapper from Manchester, has blown up in Canada and the U.S., battling Daylyt for UW and Ness Lee for KOTD.

The video of Blizzard vs. Mark Grist, billed everywhere as “teacher battles drop-out student” went viral at the end of 2011, and now has more than three million views - that’s almost 1,000,000 more than URL’s hit, Loaded Lux vs. Calicoe.

Here are some modern classics that didn’t see much buzz in Canada:

Stay tuned for Part 2! Share this post and let us know who we missed through Twitter: