WRC FINALS!!!
THEY'RE HERE!!!
THE FINALS OF THE FINALS!!!
I'm not sure if any of you out there actually care about this, seeing as how the only comment i got on a WRC entry came from some assumed-to-be-british kid with terrible grammar, accusing me of not understanding things when all i do is profess love for them. in any event, the finals went down like this:
VS. 
Quest & Marv took it.
VS. 
Ark & Eurgh took it.
VS. 
Illmac & Saurus took it.
VS. 
Wapps & Juce took it.
Then the Semi-Finals:
vs.
Illmac & Saurus took it.
vs.
Wapps & Juce took it.
Then the FINALS were:
VS.
if you pay any attention to this at all, you can probably see what's coming
that's right, the champs took it again, for the second year in a row.
peep the vids at Jumpoff.TV
make the judgment for yourself, but i personally saw some serious flaws with how the finals turned out.
Quick WRC Update:
jumpoff.tv released what they had of the tapes from the quarterfinals last night!!!
UPDATE: Due to bandwith issues, i have taken these videos down, please just go to Jumpoff.TV for all of the battles
Exciting news! The thing is, they still haven't recovered the tapes that were stolen, and all of the ransomers seem like they're full of shit completely.
From the jumpoff blog:
"We are going to release all of Round 1 battles today starting from 10am ET/3pm GMT and then Round 2 tomorrow and, if needed, Round 3 battles on Thursday.
Remember, Camera 1 tapes were stolen after the semi-finals so we only really have camera 2 footage for all the battles before the last Semi-Final battle. However, we were using a digital Hard Drive that crashed after the first round of battles."
even if you don't like rap, that's not what these battles are about. it's basically stand up insult comedy that happens to rhyme, and often rhyme really really well. watch a video or two if you've never seen a battle before, even if you have, these are acapellas, filmed in studios with HD cameras, which means there's no beat to block the punchlines or crowds going nuts to drown out the rhymers.
check the fly shit, son/daughter.
CRAP!!!
so, i started covering the world rap championships a week ago, a very exciting new acapella battle format hosted by the wonderful high-bandwith jumpoff.tv
shit got ill, the finals happened, and these were the teams from each division who made it there:
These 9 teams met up in a studio in New York City to finish the finals of the championships. Everyone was dying to find out what the hell would happen when some of the best battlers in the world went up against one another, this was the first true WORLD rap championships...
BUT SOME FUCKERS STOLE THE TAPES!!!
From Jumpoff.tv:
"On
Saturday 1st December the taping of the $50K World Rap Championships
finals took place in a studio in Chelsea, New York City. This was the
climax to the 10 week regular season and featured teams from
London(UK), Melbourne(Australia), Toronto, LA, Detroit, Atlanta,
Houston and New York. Moments before the final battle production staff
realized that the video tapes containing the quarter and semi finals
were missing. The finals resumed but with a sombre atmosphere. Craig G,
a hip hop battling legend and one of the judges on the day said "these
clowns need to return those tapes, there were some great battles and
the world needs to see them".
Jump Off TV have issued a $10,000 USD cash
reward for any information leading to the safe recovery of all tapes.
Police are reviewing CCTV footage from the premises. Anyone with any
information should email wrc(at)jumpoff.tv or hand the tapes in at any
Police Precinct.
We are doing all we can to recover the tapes
and conclude the 2007 World Rap Championships on JumpOff.TV. We have
been contacted by several anonymous sources who claim they have the
tapes. Unfortunately, at the moment we are not at liberty to discuss
the matter in any further detail.
Thank you for your continued support.
"
egads!
I've been waiting months to find out who won, and apparently they've declared a winner, because the event itself happened. Sad to say, we'll have to wait until someone returns the tapes or they release further information, esh will always keep yall on the updated tip.
World Rap Championships
"Jump Off TV is a Hip Hop Media, Sports & Entertainment destination, featuring original video programming, a social network and the latest news & gossip."
I was first exposed to jumpoff.tv while searching for rap battle footage on youtube. I came across a street battle between legends Thesaurus and Iron Solomon, two white dudes from LA and NYC respectivley, here's the video:
God damn.
Jumpoff's forums are pretty hyped. Cats from all over the world (for real, Melbourne to London to Toronto to New York To Cali, and almost everywhere in between, as long as you go east from Aussie to LA...) go to criticize and talk shit about the battles. Last year was the first ever world rap championships: 2 on 2 acapella battles comprised of 3 one minute rounds for each team. Sometimes the battles are so heated that it has to go to overtime, in which case there are either 30 second rounds or simply punchline for punchline rounds.
here's a video from last season's final battle between Illmaculate & Thesaurus vs. Whatshisface & Posessed
Please ignore the lame intro.
For those unfamiliar with battle rapping, i'll try to break it down for you, but as EB White said, "Analyzing humor is like dissecting a frog, few people are interested and the frog dies of it"
Back in the back in the day, battle rapping was about how nice you were on the mic, how varied your syllable structure was and how tight you could freestyle. Now it's largely about punchlines, relevance matters, but there's a lot of room for bogus filler as long as it rhymes with the punchline. Giving examples isn't pertinent, because in battle rapping context is everything, but you can check out jumpoff.tv for all of the examples you'll ever need.
With the internet and the proliferation of information across a gigantic spectrum, more and more cats interested in battling are meeting up online and then brining it to the streets. There are even online-battle sites where you can go and record verses and pit them against other emcees. I don't know, that shit is wak, but jumpoff has brought battle rapping to the inter-nerds in a big way. their forums are ridiculously active and every year (granted this is only the second season of the WRC) there is more and more involvement. In 2006 the divisions were only in NYC and London, but this year there are divisions in Houston, Melbourne, Atlanta, London, NYC, Detroit, LA, and Toronto; each of which have 6 teams of 2 competing.
Admittedly, there is some wak shit on here, but the fact that they have so much free content makes jumpoff the absolute best place for battle footage online. You can also listen to their newscasts, which are mainly concerned with industry rumors and gossip, if you're into that.
The notable emcees this season are:
Jayze Juice & Frankie Wapps (NYC)
Hommy Hom & Piff James (NYC)
Illmaculate & Thesaurus (LA)
360 & Anecdote (Melbourne)
Aspire & Prolific (Toronto)
PoRich & Kid Twist (Toronto)
Critical & Madness (NYC)
Prime & Purpose (Melbourne)
The big thing about jumpoff is that all of it's content is free and very high quality. They have every single video they've ever broadcast archived for your viewing pleasure, and if you watched every single battle back to back it would take you weeks to see them all.
The question is weather or not this dilutes the genre. Battle rapping used to take place on the street or in a venue, to a beat or a kid beatboxing. Acapella raps give each emcee a decent amount of stall time, and since jumpoff actually has foul rules (no touching, no inaccurate line predicting, etc.) emcees can be disqualified for touching one another, so something like this will never happen:
but for real, check out http://www.jumpoff.tv/wrc2007.php for all of your battle needs.
all images copyright of their respective owners.