With Don't Flop's announcement of the new "Beat Fighter" card, the British league is on course to re-introduce battling to its long-estranged uncle: the instrumental. On-beat battles were the linchpin of the freestyle epoch, but the written era of battling has been typified by the mastery of pacing, pauses and audience interaction that breeds success in the a cappella format.
It is apt that the evolution of on-beat battles has taken root in the U.K., of all places. On-beat grime clashes are still a vital and vibrant part of British battle culture, with charting artists like P Money and Big H stepping in to battle, and the Lord of the Mics DVD series still unfailingly popular. If music’s merger with the purely vocal breed of battling was going to happen, it was going to happen here. And, on Aug. 23, the first fully on-beat event ever to take place in an a cappella league takes place in London, England.
Purists often dismiss battlers as unmusical, but that stereotype is growing thinner by the day--Shotty Horroh, Loaded Lux, Murda Mook, Illmaculate, Dialect, Loe Pesci, Cruger, Ness Lee, Dirtbag Dan, Tony D, Bender, Cadalack Ron, Joe Cutter, and Eek all show that good, varied sounds are popping up to bolster battle rappers as “serious artists” on both sides of the pond. And these are just the first names that spring to mind.
There’s an emerging synergy between the music and battle cultures, demonstrated by the recent buzz surrounding Joe Budden’s battle debut and rumblings of a Bizarre vs. Daylyt match-up, initiated by the D12 member himself on his Twitter.
With the boundaries ever-blurred, it comes as no surprise that MC WAR has also dipped its toe into the beat format. The upcoming Keith Murray vs. Fredro Starr superclash is confirmed as 16-bar exchanges over instrumentals.
The freestyle element can be entertaining--and sometimes devastating--in the a cappella format, but how far does the detailed planning and strategy of the new-age written battle translate back to beats? Time will tell.
Those complaining that the format doesn’t allow enough time for reactions or audience interaction should watch Dialect vs. Natrill. Not only is it one of the better battles of 2014, it is an example of a beat clash meshing beautifully with written battling; a tour-de-force of flow, crowd command, personals, wordplay, clarity and, most importantly, musicianship. It’s a crowd captivated by a rapper rapping well, and is just as much about which emcee can make an onlooker’s head nod as which one can make their face screw or shock them.
This is certainly an interesting mold for part of the culture to grow into, and potentially an extra challenge an emcee with a holistic approach to writing and performance may have to face to become a versatile all-around battler.
Is this an exciting new phase for battling or just a “concept” blown out of proportion? Let us know in the comments below.
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