When Dunsh vs. Robo was announced for Day 1 of King Of The Dot's "Battles At The Bunker," it was thought to be a solid, if unspectacular match-up. Robo had a good outing at "Back To Basics 4" and Dunsh had garnered a bit of a following through his battles in BeastMode's NY division. The result was something that may have surprised many watching, but those familiar with Dunsh saw it coming a mile away. At the event, Dunsh took another step in his progression in battle rap, with a great performance, which earned him the prize for Performance Of The Night on Day 1. When the footage drops on YouTube, this should elevate his stock even more and make him one of the hottest up-and-comers in the scene.
We caught up with him for one of our 20 Questions interviews, so you can learn more about him.
Who are you?
My name's Kevin but my friends call me Dunsh.
How old are you?
I turned 27 on February 26. Typing that makes me realize that I'm too old to be an up-and-comer, so I'm actually retired now. Thanks for the interview.
Why do you live where you live?
I live in Jersey because I'm the head of Shotgun Suge's security detail.
How long have you been battling/rapping?
My first league battle was in 2014, at a Grindtime tryout in the Bronx. I don't mean to brag, but I believe I'm still ranked in the high thirties on their website. Somebody tell High Collide I need that title shirt. I got introduced to Lexx Luthor through Complex, who hosted that event, and it's been Beastmode New York ever since.
I was making music and battling for a long time before that, though. First battle was in fifth or sixth grade (like on the bus if that counts) and I started experimenting with writing songs shortly thereafter.
What made you start?
To be honest, I always loved hip hop, arguing, and being the center of attention. Battle rap is kind of the perfect marriage of those three things. I was watching battles forever, and once everyone started sucking really bad I figured I would give it a shot.
I was also looking for a way to fill my Facebook timeline with even more inane garbage than my high school and college friends could provide. Now that most of my friends are battle rappers, I am seeing that dream realized.
How did you get your battle rap name?
I took some letters out of my real last name. I realize that Dunsh is one of the worst rap names of all time ... I once heard it described as "the sound a turd makes as it plops into the toilet," which is depressingly accurate. I've been wanting to change it, so my friends actually started a Google doc, which they've been sporadically updating with their suggestions. I think there's some real winners in here.
How would you describe your style in three words?
Rone but handsomer.
What makes you different from other battle rappers?
I think I see this "sport" a little more clearly for what it is than most. This allows me to not take myself or my battles too seriously, which opens up more creative avenues than if I were trying to maintain some kind of dumb image. I literally have no goals in battling other than to have fun, so when that stops, so will I.
What’s your best battle?
I only have four battles on cam, and I'm pretty proud of three of them for different reasons. The Pillz Bread battle kind of got me recognized, so I'll always like that one, although there's stuff I know I'd do differently when I rewatch. Aries is probably my most complete battle, in terms of having three rounds of fire. My favorite round in that one always changes. And my most recent battle, against Troy Brown, showed that I can hang with someone who I consider one of the best doing this shit.
What was your worst?
I was pretty bad against Nova. There are a few reasons for that, but it basically boils down to not knowing my audience. You should still watch the battle though, Nova did well.
What did you learn from them?
I learned not to be too mean to someone in a battle, because they might delete you from their Facebook. Shoutout Aries.
What’s surprised you the most since you started battling?
I found out Frak turned sixteen the other day and I was like "what?" I guess the beard adds a couple years.
Also, the reception from fans and fellow battlers (especially the big name guys, who I've looked up to for a minute) has been pretty surreal.
What’s your favorite battle of all time?
There's a lot, but I always find myself going back to Math Hoffa vs. Iron Solomon. People don't realize how important that battle was in terms of fusing the "backpacker" and "street" battle movements, which up until that point were pretty separate. It also made me a lifelong fan of Math, who was incredible in that. Still one of my favorite performances ever.
Who’s in your current Top 5?
I don't really watch big name battlers anymore, so I'm going to use this opportunity to mention some Beastmode battlers who don't get enough shine. Check out Lev Corso (league champ), Cain Marco, Robyn Banks, Nova, EB, Aries, Chase Greene, Jus Def, and Pat Dukes. All fire and actually have original styles, which is rare nowadays. I'd like to see all of them get some bigger looks this year.
Which battle rapper annoys you?
Mike P keeps texting me "you up?" at like 3:00 in the morning. It was funny at first but it's actually getting weird af now.
Who would you battle if you could choose anyone?
In the immortal words of Cassidy: "I don't got no picks." I'm more interested in leagues than names if I'm being honest. I'd love to open one of these smaller main stage KOTD cards with another up-and-comer. Other than that, I'd like to do a compliment battle with Carter Deems and fist fight Coma for charity.
What’s the biggest problem in battle rap?
Fans have a very narrow concept of what it means to be original and creative. You actually can't be a creative battler and be considered good. Basically, if you don't do associative wordplay or scheme every five seconds, you're not considered a good writer. Or you can just have trash setups with no relevance to anything, and as long as the fourth bar contains a somewhat passable entendre, people will say you're dope. There are a few people who do this style well, but most of you are very bad and I wish you'd stop.
How would you fix it?
I dunno. Maybe it doesn't need to be fixed, I just wish people would broaden their horizons in terms of what they look for writing wise. Setups, rhyme structure, thematic relevance — the actual design in building toward a punch is so important. There's just very few people whose writing sounds organic anymore — shit like this should matter to fans. And as someone who is a fan first, I don't wanna be able to "hear" your pen while you're rapping. Like I can literally picture some of these guys in their mom's basement like "iight so I gotta punch about apples, so let me Google eight other types of fruits to jam into this setup right quick. Oh shit jam, that's a bar." Lol, shut up dude.
The truth is, exactly zero of us are geniuses. But these battlers get so caught up in trying to convince people otherwise, that eventually we're just left with two posers on a stage trying to out-intricate each other. It's complexity for complexity's sake. Simple, clear, dope writing is the rarest skill in battling. The people who lack that skill compensate by being convoluted, and not all of us are fooled.
Yeah, that's a long rant. I think I just figured out that I hate battle rap. Anyway, as much as people need to think for themselves, I realize that's a tall order. So if everyone just listened to what Erik Foreman said was hot they'd be on the right track.
Check out more 20 Questions interviews.
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