KG The Poet Previews URL’s West Coast Launch

This coming Saturday (Feb. 28), New York-based league SMACK/URL is set to host their first official battle event on the West Coast. The Proving Grounds card goes down in Las Vegas and will be hosted by KG The Poet, Looney Divine, Norbes and Aspect One, who is making his first appearance with the league after announcing his departure from KOTD.

The main event features Rum Nitty going up against Steams, a full-fledged URL one-off that the league dropped a trailer for this week:

As far as the rest of the card goes, it’s a mix of emcees who mostly cut their teeth in the Fresh Coast's GZ Battles division and AHAT. A few battles to watch for include Konshis Pilot vs. J-Pro, Dre Vishiss vs. AB Hogish and J-Money vs. Diesel.

Arizona emcee Konshis Pilot hasn’t battled since his highly regarded bout against Rum Nitty in 2013. Meanwhile his opponent J-Pro — despite not being a regular in the ring — recently battled The Saurus at KOTD’s “Blackout 5” earlier this month.

Dre Vishiss has been building his legacy on the AHAT platform with impressive battles against Balbowuh and D-Tay. He also took home AHAT's "Battle Of The Year" award for his clash with Danny Myers. His challenger, Stockton’s Ab Hogish, rounded out 2014 with a battle against Daylyt at "Day Of The Dead" last November and was scheduled to battle Megadef on Day 1 of "Battle Of The Bay 7" but no-showed the event.

During an exclusive conversation with BattleRap.com, KG The Poet commented on how the battles came about, revealing an unlikely way of sourcing the upcoming match-ups.

“I went to multiple forums asking who they felt in the West Coast deserved a shot to perform on the main stage,” he says. “I got all my battlers from the people's recommendation. I just matched them up from the names that were referred.”

On what fans can anticipate from the upcoming event, KG said: “They can expect an element that is commonly overlooked in West Coast battle rap. Hunger from a lot of up-and-comers looking to prove themselves. And a lot of bars.”

Cali Smoov’s battle against Emerson Kennedy has been postponed because Cali was hospitalized after being in a car crash that killed two of his friends and left him with severe injuries.

“Unfortunately due to Cali Smoov’s accident in Chicago, him and Emerson Kennedy will be postponed,” KG explained. “Also this is a PG setting, meaning this isn't a few hundred capacity. 50-60 tops. So if you wanna come and support, come when it starts at 2:00 p.m. because once it hits capacity that's it. We wanna keep the ‘small room’ tradition the Proving Grounds is famous for.”

Megadef removed himself from the card, and has been replaced by Logic 413, who will take on Stuey Newton.

SMACK/URL’s first West Coast event goes down at The Upper Room Smoke Shop, 870 Sierra Vista Drive, Las Vegas, Nevada, 98169.

Here's the full flyer for the event: