When J-Pro and Avocado started the Back to Basics series with King Of The Dot, their goal was to be able to fundamentally change the way battles were presented, opting for a more pared down approach. The next step in that evolution came at B2B4 in Los Angeles last weekend (April 16) with the launch The Bunker, a new venue customized specifically for battle rap.
BattleRap.com's Chris Mitchell spoke with J-Pro and Avocado after the event to talk about what went right and what went wrong.
Giving his impression of a couple of the battles of Day 2, J-Pro said: “I like Dose’s energy, his performance, and I’m always a fan of Pnut. The Saurus and Daylyt was fuckin’ incredible, for me that was one of my favorite battles … to me that was my favorite battle of the day.”
I think Dose and Pnut was my favorite, honestly I was just fuckin amped the whole time. Dose was getting into his Philly shit and he was all growly and I think I was the only one who was like ‘YEAH!, YEAH!” While that stood out as his favorite, Avo did add “it was cool to do a card where every battle was fuckin awesome.”
When asked who else we can expect to see from future installments of Back to Basics, J-Pro said that essentially it’s too early to say, indicating that they will “go back to the drawing board and basically start from scratch.” While nothing solid was mentioned, Pro indicated that Dizaster, Bigg K, Daylyt, QP, Fresco and several others were possible for future events. While they were somewhat light on specifics, Pro said that they wanted to make The Deadman vs. Big Kannon happen.
In a similar vein, the two were asked who from Day 1 they feel is ready to graduate onto a main card, Pro mentioned: “Laugh N' Stalk was dope — I thought Clutch killed it”, Avo adding simply, “Esem’s tight.”
Aside from some unexpected noise coming from a neighbor, most battlers seemed happy with the venue. "I just had a good conversation with Rex," J-Pro said, "Rex was talking about the feel of it — it felt like this is what battle rap is supposed to be. Dose kind of said the same thing. I.C.E said that he loved the energy.” Pro said that the positive feedback from battlers was important to them, since it was their first event at the venue, and they’re still figuring things out.
Thoughts? Let us know in the comments below.
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