Is Battle Rap Approaching Judgment Day?

What up world,

Chilla Jones here. For my first few years in battle rap, I was nothing more than a fan of the culture. I followed SMACK DVD and the early days of URL, and also Grindtime in its prime, before becoming a battle rapper myself. This gives me a dual perspective on all things battle rap.

Since 2012, with the exception of King Of The Dot and Don't Flop title matches, most of the battles on major platforms have gone without official judgments. Fans debate who won to the death on social media and online forums, but battlers lack an official win-loss record. The lack of official records could be to blame for some battlers not giving their all in some battles. If losses actually mattered, it might inspire better performances.

At “Blackout 6,” Gjonaj and Psycoses put up $1,000 of their own money and had the only judged battle outside of the title match between Rone and Illmaculate. Gjonaj won the battle on a 3-2 decision, and there was some backlash in KOTD’s Facebook debate group from Psycoses' fans, but all in all, it was a breath of fresh air. It added a little bit of tension, raised the stakes and forced both battlers to bring their absolute A game … and we loved every minute of it, didn't we?

Judging the battle also took away our ability to abuse the most overused word in the culture today: "debatable." This is no longer a "debatable" battle. Gjonaj won. Was it 2-1? 3-0? Honestly, I don't fucking know, but I enjoyed it. And it doesn't matter either way ... because Gjonaj. Won. The Battle. That is the judgment that has been decided and that is the verdict we must respect.

After that, ARP and the good folks over at RBE put on the "Starting 5" event, which pitted Team Homi against Writers Bloque in five highly contested JUDGED match-ups. Here's a quick summary of how that went: Mackk Myron beat Ooops. It was 1-0 Homi. Then, JC beat J Murda. 1-1 tie. Big Kannon beat Xcel. 2-1 WB. Money Bagz beat B Magic. 2-2 tie. It all came down to the main event, which was Danny vs. Swave. Danny has a good first and Swave choked in Round 1, so most give that round to Danny. Round 2, neither battler had an incredible round but most people gave Round 2 to Danny in the building. To most, it was all but over … until Swave's third. The judges gave the battle to Swave based mostly off the strength of his amazing third round, but polls and public opinion on social media showed the majority siding with Danny, having won two rounds out of three.

Swave vs. Danny. Photo by Smart Alix for BattleRap.com.

A battle that may not have even been debatable to most people in the promo format, in favor of Danny, was now an official win for Swave. In any case, this event made for heated, competitive battles, and afterwards, great conversation among fans and battlers.

Judged wins bring added excitement and legitimate bragging rights, but let’s also look at the potential cons of implementing regular judging. One thing is, people may talk more about judgments they didn't agree with than the actual battle. This is something I noticed in older KOTD and Grindtime videos. YouTube comments will be flooded with hate for the judges and videos will be bombarded with dislikes all because they disagreed with whoever was ruled the winner.

Just look at KOTD’s 2-on-2 tournament final. PoRICH and Diaz took the W over Illmaculate and The Saurus in a video that has garnered 2,500 dislikes (and 800 likes) since 2011. The comments section is flooded with complaints. This shows that regardless of the quality of the battle, fans will use the dislike button to show they dislike the judgement, which probably isn’t good for a league’s YouTube standing.

Another thing is, some battlers have battled damn near 30 people in their careers already, meaning a large percentage of the battles we'd like to see judged have already happened. Imagine if Surf vs. Hitman, Conceited vs. Magic/Dumbfoundead, Shotty vs. Tony D, Diz vs. Iron Solomon, etc., were judged, and even had money on the line. It would've changed the whole dynamic of how we think of those battles today.

Still, the match-ups that really NEED to be judged are few and far between. Not every battler battles just to win, and not every match-up necessitates a winner and a loser. Certain cards and battles definitely need it though. Hollow vs. Mook judged? I'm here for that. Suge vs. Hitman judged? Count me in. Tay Roc vs. K-Shine judged rematch? Sounds fire. Bigg K vs. Head I.C.E? Umm … well, why? It's a style clash with no prior tension or history. So, let's just shut the fuck up and enjoy that one.

What happens if the judges get it wrong? When a battler is 1-3 but a majority believes he should be 3-1? Does that battler just fight being discouraged and try harder? Should there be a public polling fail-safe in place where a judgment can be overturned if 75% of people think the incorrect ruling was made? Who knows.

As a battler, I've always favored winning in the eyes of those watching online over those watching in the building. In a judged battle, my focus and strategy would have to change, especially if money was on the line. It would force me, and lyricists like me, to make my style more entertaining and appealing live to win on the spot, which may not be a bad thing at all.

Judging does add an element of excitement to battles. Personally, I'm just as interested in seeing the outcome of the judgment as I am seeing the outcome of the battle. If we can get to a point where judged battles are the norm, and battlers have win/loss records to validate their claims of being the best, I don't see how this can really be a bad thing. Even though the live judging format is definitely NOT in MY favor, as one of the more complex and hard-to-follow battlers that's ever existed, I'm still in favor of judging becoming more of a commonplace thing.

Let's just make sure that even if the judges don't get it right, we don't discourage leagues from continuing to have judged battles by disliking all their videos, shitting on them in the comment section, and bitching about it on social media while acting like whiny little kids. Or the judged battles will come to a halt, very fast.

I know, I'm basically saying "Don't be fans" right? Ha, well, at least now you understand the consequences of such behaviors. I hope to see more judged battles in 2016, and I hope to even be involved in one. Let's sit back and see how this all plays out.

Kingpen signing out.

Cover image by Dan Gibs for KOTD.

Do you prefer judged battles? Let us know in the comments below.