Battle Rap's degeneration (an article I wrote)

[DA Donnieboy]

An article I wrote for a magazine a while ago. Let me know what yall think

The world of battle rap is indeed an exciting one. For hip-hop heads, it almost seems like a boxing match. We all put our bets on our fighter depending on how we relate to his character, his story, and how we've fallen in love with them as a performer from former quarrels. Each punchline being compared to a power punch, but there aren't any knockouts, the fight is strictly based on points. Except, it isn't like that at all. The world of battle rap has completely morphed into something other than a line-for-line competition, almost unrecognizable compared to the original object of battle rapping: Whoever has the best rhymes, wins. Simple Right? Wrong.

Over the years, it seems the term "battle rap" has become its own genre, to the point where if you are a battle rapper, you're not an MC, and vice versa. Making songs and lyrically sparring have completely separated from each other, and now you have to be one or the other. Even though in the generations before, there were more than a few guys who could easily do both (i.e. LL Cool J, Eminem, Cassidy, Canibus, etc.). But to me, its painfully obvious that battle rappers use crutches to get past having to be lyrical, which I'll expand on in a second. There have also been classic track-for-track battles, your Ethers vs Takeovers, your Back Downs vs Clap Backs, but at the end of the day, those were also great SONGS. These MCs multi-tasked on these records by dissing the hell out of whoever their opponent was, but also captivating listeners with riding the flows and making the beat work for them too. If the beats were muted, these would still be great battles, but how would this work for Battle Rappers? Simply, does the lack of beat and song structure save battle rappers from having to be true MCS??

Lots of buzzing battle rappers have went on record saying things like "Them industry guys don't do what we do" and things of the sort. And they don't. They actually happen to do a lot more. Becoming one with the beat, knowing your target audience, thinking up topics, developing a rhyme scheme, working on flowing over the beat, structuring the verse, coming up with a hook, throwing in adlibs, doing doubles or triples, thinking up intros and outros, fitting these songs into your album/mixtape. When all battle rappers have to do is insult you for 3 minutes and not have to worry about any kind of structure to what they say, flow to their lines, hell, the rhymes don't even have to make sense as long as it sounds like a diss. Battle rappers get an incredibly unfair advantage by getting around all these things. In fact, let me break all these factors down for you...

- Stage Presence: Since both rappers are face to face, the aggressor of the battle is usually decided by who gets up in who's face, who is the loudest, who uses the better/tougher body language, holds their hands like guns, jumps around, grabs their crotch or balls their fists up. Also, there are factors that go into the defensive part, like when your opponent is rapping at you, you look away, text on your phone, look at the crowd, talk over their words or look at them with a silly face. The crowd gravitates towards these things before they even start listening to what the person is saying. Where as, if they were in a studio recording songs, there would be no visual on what they were doing. We would only have what matters....the lyrics.

- Props: Having extra things apart of your battle performance is becoming more and more common, especially recently. This really gets the crowd to pop, whether it be other people, pictures, caskets, umbrellas, phones, anything that can add to the performance, even though these things have nothing to do with the actual battle. But if these same guys were told to go into the booth and spit, how would these things help them?

-Antics: To go along with stage presence, there are other, more drastic things that wind up getting done in battles now. There have people who have smacked or punched their opponents, stripped naked on stage, danced, jumped in the crowd, attacked fans, all of these things are used to cover up the lack of lyrical prowess. But if it came to making songs, these things wouldn't be able to be utilized, at all.

-Lack Of Flow/Rhyme Structure: A lot of battle rappers use what they call "multis", which are multiple rhymes used in a certain amount of lines, instead of the regular rhymes only on the ends of lines. Which is creative. But the way these guys deliver their lines almost gives away the fact that they wouldn't sound good with a beat behind them, because they wouldn't be able to pull things like this off if they were asked to rap over a beat. The fact that there is no structure to what they are saying, or no beat to weld into, they can basically say whatever they want, how they want. Can you imagine hearing some of these flows these guys use over a beat? Nope, me neither.

- Preparation: Perhaps the most unfair thing that is utilized by battle rappers is the fact that they have so much time to prepare for their bouts. These guys usually have about half a year to find all the dirt, records, transcripts, internet posts, whatever they can find to gain the advantage over their opponent. Battle rappers like to say with industry rappers, its all "writing" and they are so much different. Well, when you do a damn book report on your opponent before every battle, how are you any better than an industry rapper? Now, imagine if when Jay-Z dropped "Takeover", if Nas took damn year half a year to respond to what he said. Would that even look right? No. You have to get back at whoever hit you ASAP, or you're no longer relevant. And the thing is, these guys do all this studying and sometimes they STILL choke and STILL forget their lines! Come on, son. (Ed Lover Voice)

All and All, nobody is saying battle rappers aren't talented, because they are. But there is a LOT more that goes into making a song than what goes into preparing for a battle. A Jack of all trades can definitely have what it takes to become a King...in the world of diss songs, a battle rapper would be nothing but a Joker missing out of the deck.

- D.A. Donnieboy

[DA Donnieboy]

An article I wrote for a magazine a while ago. Let me know what yall think

The world of battle rap is indeed an exciting one. For hip-hop heads, it almost seems like a boxing match. We all put our bets on our fighter depending on how we relate to his character, his story, and how we've fallen in love with them as a performer from former quarrels. Each punchline being compared to a power punch, but there aren't any knockouts, the fight is strictly based on points. Except, it isn't like that at all. The world of battle rap has completely morphed into something other than a line-for-line competition, almost unrecognizable compared to the original object of battle rapping: Whoever has the best rhymes, wins. Simple Right? Wrong.

Over the years, it seems the term "battle rap" has become its own genre, to the point where if you are a battle rapper, you're not an MC, and vice versa. Making songs and lyrically sparring have completely separated from each other, and now you have to be one or the other. Even though in the generations before, there were more than a few guys who could easily do both (i.e. LL Cool J, Eminem, Cassidy, Canibus, etc.). But to me, its painfully obvious that battle rappers use crutches to get past having to be lyrical, which I'll expand on in a second. There have also been classic track-for-track battles, your Ethers vs Takeovers, your Back Downs vs Clap Backs, but at the end of the day, those were also great SONGS. These MCs multi-tasked on these records by dissing the hell out of whoever their opponent was, but also captivating listeners with riding the flows and making the beat work for them too. If the beats were muted, these would still be great battles, but how would this work for Battle Rappers? Simply, does the lack of beat and song structure save battle rappers from having to be true MCS??

Lots of buzzing battle rappers have went on record saying things like "Them industry guys don't do what we do" and things of the sort. And they don't. They actually happen to do a lot more. Becoming one with the beat, knowing your target audience, thinking up topics, developing a rhyme scheme, working on flowing over the beat, structuring the verse, coming up with a hook, throwing in adlibs, doing doubles or triples, thinking up intros and outros, fitting these songs into your album/mixtape. When all battle rappers have to do is insult you for 3 minutes and not have to worry about any kind of structure to what they say, flow to their lines, hell, the rhymes don't even have to make sense as long as it sounds like a diss. Battle rappers get an incredibly unfair advantage by getting around all these things. In fact, let me break all these factors down for you...

- Stage Presence: Since both rappers are face to face, the aggressor of the battle is usually decided by who gets up in who's face, who is the loudest, who uses the better/tougher body language, holds their hands like guns, jumps around, grabs their crotch or balls their fists up. Also, there are factors that go into the defensive part, like when your opponent is rapping at you, you look away, text on your phone, look at the crowd, talk over their words or look at them with a silly face. The crowd gravitates towards these things before they even start listening to what the person is saying. Where as, if they were in a studio recording songs, there would be no visual on what they were doing. We would only have what matters....the lyrics.

- Props: Having extra things apart of your battle performance is becoming more and more common, especially recently. This really gets the crowd to pop, whether it be other people, pictures, caskets, umbrellas, phones, anything that can add to the performance, even though these things have nothing to do with the actual battle. But if these same guys were told to go into the booth and spit, how would these things help them?

-Antics: To go along with stage presence, there are other, more drastic things that wind up getting done in battles now. There have people who have smacked or punched their opponents, stripped naked on stage, danced, jumped in the crowd, attacked fans, all of these things are used to cover up the lack of lyrical prowess. But if it came to making songs, these things wouldn't be able to be utilized, at all.

-Lack Of Flow/Rhyme Structure: A lot of battle rappers use what they call "multis", which are multiple rhymes used in a certain amount of lines, instead of the regular rhymes only on the ends of lines. Which is creative. But the way these guys deliver their lines almost gives away the fact that they wouldn't sound good with a beat behind them, because they wouldn't be able to pull things like this off if they were asked to rap over a beat. The fact that there is no structure to what they are saying, or no beat to weld into, they can basically say whatever they want, how they want. Can you imagine hearing some of these flows these guys use over a beat? Nope, me neither.

- Preparation: Perhaps the most unfair thing that is utilized by battle rappers is the fact that they have so much time to prepare for their bouts. These guys usually have about half a year to find all the dirt, records, transcripts, internet posts, whatever they can find to gain the advantage over their opponent. Battle rappers like to say with industry rappers, its all "writing" and they are so much different. Well, when you do a damn book report on your opponent before every battle, how are you any better than an industry rapper? Now, imagine if when Jay-Z dropped "Takeover", if Nas took damn year half a year to respond to what he said. Would that even look right? No. You have to get back at whoever hit you ASAP, or you're no longer relevant. And the thing is, these guys do all this studying and sometimes they STILL choke and STILL forget their lines! Come on, son. (Ed Lover Voice)

All and All, nobody is saying battle rappers aren't talented, because they are. But there is a LOT more that goes into making a song than what goes into preparing for a battle. A Jack of all trades can definitely have what it takes to become a King...in the world of diss songs, a battle rapper would be nothing but a Joker missing out of the deck.

- D.A. Donnieboy

[Babylon]

I liked it, solid observations which were well put. This ever get put in the mag?

[Babylon]

I liked it, solid observations which were well put. This ever get put in the mag?

[DA Donnieboy]

My friend is an editor for a few magazines, she asked me to write it. I think she may have just took it and said she wrote it. Haha. Haven't heard from her since.
#RanOffOnThePlug

[DA Donnieboy]

My friend is an editor for a few magazines, she asked me to write it. I think she may have just took it and said she wrote it. Haha. Haven't heard from her since.
#RanOffOnThePlug

[Shodan]

I agree with most of these points. However, I'm perfectly happy with just being a battle rapper.

Originally Posted by Babylon

I liked it, solid observations which were well put. This ever get put in the mag?

You might enjoy this. http://www.letsbeef.com/forums/journ...wjournal&j=559

[Shodan]

I agree with most of these points. However, I'm perfectly happy with just being a battle rapper.

Originally Posted by Babylon

I liked it, solid observations which were well put. This ever get put in the mag?

You might enjoy this. http://www.letsbeef.com/forums/journ...wjournal&j=559

[Babylon]

Originally Posted by PurplePonyPrincess

I agree with most of these points. However, I'm perfectly happy with just being a battle rapper.



You might enjoy this. http://www.letsbeef.com/forums/journ...wjournal&j=559

I did enjoy that, really well written my dude

[Babylon]

Originally Posted by PurplePonyPrincess

I agree with most of these points. However, I'm perfectly happy with just being a battle rapper.



You might enjoy this. http://www.letsbeef.com/forums/journ...wjournal&j=559

I did enjoy that, really well written my dude

[DA Donnieboy]

Thanks yall. Appreciate it. And I'm not saying being just a battle rapper is bad by any means, people just need to understand the difference. Not everybody can do both.

[DA Donnieboy]

Thanks yall. Appreciate it. And I'm not saying being just a battle rapper is bad by any means, people just need to understand the difference. Not everybody can do both.