Tonight the great Carson Daly will host NBC’s New Years Eve TV special.
We’ve known Sir Carson for a great many things: counting popular videos to 10, hosting "The Voice," being name-dropped by every emcee hoping to sniff or rebuke the mainstream in the early 2000s. But what battle fans may not know is that he hosted a surprisingly credible late night televised rap battle tournament in 2003 on an early incarnation of his show "Last Call with Carson Daly."
Perhaps it was the post-8 Mile wave of popularity that got a major network like NBC to let a rap battle fly on their airwaves, but to his credit Carson’s always been a big proponent of the hip-hop culture (we’re serious, to this day his since-reformatted show features great interviews with often-overlooked regional rap talents that profile them better than your favorite blogs do) and the contestants in the tournament were nothing to sneeze at.
While respected battlers Virtuoso and Unseen put up worthy performances in the semi-finals, the grand finale came down to a dream match between Breez Evahflowin and ADeeM. Breez, as you’ll recall from a few weeks back, was the definitive champion of MTV’s freestyle rap battle championships on their show "Direct Effect." ADeeM was fairly fresh off of winning two Scribble Jam titles, at the time being the only repeat winner in the competition’s history. If there was ever a time for two top talents to square off to truly determine the best in the world, this was it.
With Uncle Kracker DJing, the two square off with Breez coming out victorious. ADeeM has some nice flips, but Breez in his prime was truly one of the most challenging ever to defeat, and his talents translating to a mainstream network presentation further cements that. There’s been rumors for years that a second round was filmed and never aired, but nothing substantial of that alleged second round has ever surfaced. It’s rare for tip-top talents to face off, so as the clock ticks down to bring in 2016 tonight, let’s hope for more prime competitive showdowns like this in the new year.
Every Thursday, BattleRap.com posts a classic battle that you should know about, or at least be reminded of occasionally. See them all here.
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