Since Rhet Never Posted This...
 

I had a really cool conversation with @RhetoriK a few months back where he was dropping some wisdom and I want to share it with you all. He said he was going to make a thread at some point but to my knowledge it never came.

I want you to throw skill out of the window a minute this is not intended as the millionth old heads vs new heads thread. I think it's fair to say the game has moved on and skill-wise the new heads are better... it would be weird if they weren't.

However during that process we lost track of entertainment-value. We lost track of the swagger and the personality that used to make battles a pleasure to read. In fact Rhet even credited a lot of the lack of voting to this style change which you may agree with or not.

The style really started to shift with the success of @RULE who brought a different style to the site in many ways. Punchlines over everything, hence the name #PunchlineKing.

Credit to RULE, that's an achievement and he carved out his own niche. However people started to follow suit and took the style that RULE fathered and exaggerated it even more. This is when that swagger and personality factor started to become a forgotten aspect.

I'm curious as to peoples thoughts on this. I think there's a lot of truth in it. No one really gives you that smile that you used to get when reading the now HOFers battles back in the day. It's a different feeling now, it's much more that "Oh shit! That's a dope line". Both are valuable.

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Honestly feel like that is a lost art to have a lot of swagger in your verse. I'm definitely one of those dudes that has tried to emulate the punches over everything style because I felt like my original style never got the acclaim that I felt maybe it should have at the time. I think everyone should try to carve out their own niche once they get the basics down and then to hell with anyone else thinks of it.

I got jokes

I would say stating the obvious but then I've been in this shit. Very very long time ...

Interesting. Wonder what the other heads think about this.

I think this is super important, but unless swag and style start winning battles, nothing is gonna change. It's strayed even farther to the point where internal punches are the new thing so you have like 2 small punches leading up to your big punch. A style that currently Manhattan and Rai are using effectively. However, That style kind of negates the use of cool clever set ups and isnt something I personally am a huge fan of. Can't discount the impact it has though.

Actually I've seen a few battles recently (recently meaning in the last few years) that have used that style, but people don't vote for it so it doesn't stick around.

Add @Row to that list ....

I suppose the key to it is to have a build up to the main lunch and stay on topic with your build up but throw some jabs down aswell ....

I think it might catch on

I do too, which isn't necessarily a good thing. Gotta copy the winning formula if you want to win. Then everybodies shit starts looking and sounding the same. People need to realize that that style has merit but shouldn't be an auto win if one person uses it and the other doesnt.

---------- Post added at 12:39 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:36 PM ----------

Unfortunately the voting around here is becoming a bit of an echo chamber. People are voting based on how they think other people think they should vote instead of what they acting like better. Doesnt help that if battles x wins and someone voted for battled y, people jump on them and call them a shitty votes cuz they didn't side with the majority.

Stoo bitching about votes and people will vote more realistically. I can't tell you how many times I voted against someone and immediately get an angry IM. Fuck off with that shit.

*ahem* @CakedOut

Troof

I haven't seen many dudes get bashed for voting recently tho to be honest

A lot of people had this style before RULE though. UA I'd say was the first to make a pure punchline style take off.

It's going on in the IM's and sometimes profile pages. Trust.

Sure, you can make a case for UA, Multiple Madness etc. However I think RULE really popularised it. If you remember back there was a time when tournaments were almost always Rule vs UA for two or three tournaments.

Very solid point here. There was a time that swagger and punchlines went hand in hand. I think the people that pull this off are the ones that are also good at audio.

The swag factor comes from the fact that the textcee more than likely can rap in real life imo. This is the reason audio heads have an easier transition to text. The swagger factor isnt a lost art tho, and i dont personally think textcees are getting better. IMO what takes a textcee from good texter to GREAT/HOF texter is having that swag factor in your verses.

Majority of my personal favourite textees practiced a style that was as much about the swagger and entertainment as the punches. Huey, Rupt, Jason, Bobby Milk etc etc.

I think the truth is that the 'RULE' style is easier to do at a high level. Hence why more people attempt to do it.

Some of the favourite verses i wrote were based more on the swagger style of the aforementioned battles. = @SToBBaRT

Good topic for discussion. At the end of the day you have to write for your audience. I came up at a time where the flow/swag style was more previlant, so i filled the market gap for a punch-heavy style that wasnt being used as much.

Time for some young bucks out there to become the elite of tomorrow.

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:D:):cool:

this thread is proper af title misleading tbh i hadnt come in here till now cause i thought was something between two specific posters or some shit.

u know i love u rupt

The site's not active enough

---------- Post added at 05:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:14 PM ----------

unless we're talking about Rohan. Dude's immature but his barz are on another level. If he grows up and keeps dropping month after month after month, he could be HOF material

Rohan is never coming back, besides there are better battlers than Roh on this site active now I'm not sure why you think he's our only hope.... or even a hope.

Never been a fan of PDA until now :monkey: :p

Rohans personality serves as a blockade for any craft potential he may have. Dude wakes up with a suicide vest strapped & goes around looking for who to detonate it on. I agree that his pengame is fresh as fuck but he's made his bed here & in tens of other communities who have all consistently come to the same conclusion about the guy.