After seemingly a quiet couple of months for the Toronto-based rap battle league King Of The Dot, they have made the surprise announcement yesterday that they have secured a partnership with global live-streaming platform leader Twitch, a subsidiary of global powerhouse Amazon, to exclusively broadcast battles every Sunday. This comes on the back of SMACK/URLTV working for the last couple of months with rapidly emerging live-streaming platform Caffeine to broadcast rap battles on Saturdays, after a partnership was formed for them with the assistance of Drake (coincidentally of course also of Toronto and previously a large KOTDTV sponsor in previous years).
This new announcement is a massive development for battle rap as it continues its ascension towards large mainstream commercial visibility and will provide increased competition with SMACK/URLTV who have proved to have been increasingly dominant in this space over the last year with the development of their own dedicated URLTV APP as well as their groundbreaking live streaming partnership with Caffeine.
KOTD have announced they are bringing back their original Grand Prix battle tournament after a long hiatus, undoubtedly influenced by the recent successes of the Ultimate Madness battle competitions on URL/Caffeine. The first KOTD battle on Twitch will go down on Sunday 20 September with West, East, South and North divisions facing off, promising to offer the largest prize ever for a battle rap competition – with rumours of a potential $75,000 to $100,000 prize for the winner, as Jump Off TV’s World Rap Championships (WRCs) gave a prize of $50,000 in both 2006 and 2007. Stay tuned for future further developments – a major movement by Organik, Gully TK, Lush One and the KOTD team.
According to multiple polls, Russia is facing one of its biggest dilemmas. Rap music is stealing the minds of their youth. Remember when Chuck D said that “Rap was the CNN of the Streets,” that is exactly what Russia was afraid of. According to the New York Times, armed with an awareness that Hip-Hop always brings, a population that would have normally leaned towards supporting Mr. Putin and his regime has become more critical of their policies.
The Kremlin is definitely flipping out. In 2018, dozens of rap concerts were cancelled out of fear of the messages that the Russian rappers are spitting in their rhymes. In fact, when rapper Husky tried to do a pop-up concert for fans on the top of hie car (hoping to entertain those who bought tickets to a canceled show) he was arrested by the police.
This is a crisis for the Kremlin.
According to the New York Times, at the end of last year, President Putin ordered his administration to develop progamming that would allow the state to be able to regulate pop music- instituting grant monies to help fund the music being made and opening state ran studios for artists to record in. They will also have vowed to filter undesirable content on the internet. They are still working on that.
But like all the systems, Hip-Hop rages against the machine and makes it mark… even if it goes underground and spreads like wildfire.
“The impact of hip-hop has been massive,” said the battle rapper Oxxxymiron states. “Through music, visual art, movies, dance, clothing styles and more, key values of Hip-Hop have spread through contemporary Russian culture.”
And just in case you think that Russian rappers can’t hang, consider Oxxxymiron and his battle against notable American battle rapper, Dizaster. On the King of The Dot stage in California in 2017 to battle. Within 24-hours, their battle made history becoming the most viewed rap battle in U.S. rap-battle history. What does that look like? A whopping 7 million enthusiasts tuned in to their YouTube channel to see the epic contest. Not only did a lot of people tune in, most believe that the Russian rapper won the battle, rhyming in English which is his third language. To date, the battle has over 12 million views. Even though battle rap is huge in Russia, this medium of emceeing is the largest in the world. The country has the largest battle rap league in history with over 4.4 million subscribers to their YouTube channel and over 591,712,186 views
On paper, the rap battle lineups are exceptional. Just judging off the battles that have already been announced, leagues are looking to the culture of battle rap to the next level. Let’s take a quick look at five of the top battles that have caught our eyes this year.
Loaded Lux vs. Aye Verb
Harlem legend Loaded Lux is set to make his long-awaited return to SMACK / URL. This year, he will do so by at NOME 9 in Houston, Texas against St Louis’ Aye Verb. Without doubt one of the greatest battle rappers of all-time, news of Lux’s return to the world’s biggest battle rap stage has sent fans in a frenzy. This is a battle that fans have wanted to see for some time, but not as much as Verb. The vegan vet has been chasing this battle his entire career. Facing a formidable opponent in Aye Verb, whose last year battle on RBE with Murda Mook might have chiseled his face in many people’s Mt. Rushmore, “Beloved” may have his work laid out for him.
Loaded Lux has previously battled in the SMACK/URL DVD era against Midwest Miles (aka Young Miles in 2006), and most famously against Murda Mook over eight rounds back in November 2003 in the Bronx. Lux then went on to battle half a dozen times on the now defunct 106 & Park on BET in 2009. In the most modern era post-SMACK DVD on URL TV, Lux headlined Summer Madness 2 against a young Calicoe in a classic, had a very tough battle against Charlie Clips on a heated Summer Madness 5 three years later in 2015, a classic versus Hollow Da Don on UW in 2014, a rematched with Murda Mook on Eminem’s Total Slaughter in 2014 and most recently battling Arsonal Da Rebel on UW mid last year for Arsonal’s then supposed retirement battle.
Verb will be no easy opponent by any stretch of the imagination for Lux. The experienced Verb has had near 50 battles on camera over the last decade since the Grind Time era on multiple platforms. He has stood on that stage and like Lux also faced off against Charlie Clips, Hollow Da Don, Arsonal, T-Rex, Midwest Miles (twice) and of course most recently with Murda Mook in a performance which really made its own case for him to now face Lux. Aye Verb’s complete battle resume is one of the most impressive overall, having also battled the likes of K-Shine, Math Hoffa, O-Red, Pat Stay, Hitman Holla, Dizaster, Tsu Surf, Cortez, Goodz amongst dozens of others.
This battle has been long in the making for seven-plus years already, and Verb’s recent strong showing against Mook coupled with strong fan support for this battle to go down now means the time is now finally right for Lux to greenlight it. The battle means a lot to both, a Lux win will really see him cement his place at the top end of battle rap table while a win for Aye Verb would really rattle battle rap.
Platinum-selling Philadelphia legend Cassidy makes his long-awaited return to battle rap, this time debuting on the URL stage versus Bronx legend Goodz. This will be Cassidy’s first battle since his controversial encounter with Los Angeles- based battler Dizaster four years ago at the FilmOn.TV’s “Ether” event in LA, with consensus giving that battle to Cassidy 2-1 in an overall disappointing battle plagued by technical issues that failed to live up to the lofty hype surrounding such a potential classic showdown.
Goodz over the last 15 years has battled the likes of URL’s current top gunner Tay Roc, T-Top, Aye Verb (hosted by Jadakiss), X-Factor, Hollow Da Don, Rone, Hitman Holla, K-Shine, Jae Millz, Conceited, Head I.C.E, Tech 9, Rich Dolarz as well as Cassidy more so at the beginning of his career. Goodz is currently in top form, coming off a very strong performance against a formidable Tay Roc in Houston at NOME 8.
Hollow Da Don vs. Math Hoffa
With the personal grudge match of NYC legend Hollow Da Don facing off one-time close confident in infamous Bronx legend Math Hoffa, fans can expect a heavy-hitting encounter full of personals from two of the cultures best over the last decade with an unlimited third round sure to expose all and more on RBE’s Pearly Gates 3 card in mid-February.
Charlie Clips vs. Nu Jerzey Twork
One of the most random matches off the stacked SMACK Volume 4 card, New York’s Charlie Clips returns from Wild ‘N Out and collaborating with Nick cannon to the URL stage to take one the most electrifying performer in battle rap at the moment, Nu Jersey Twork. After a very strong year mixed with a couple of chokes, no-shows and stumbles, a consistent Twork in 2019 could see him cement his name as one of the most feared battlers while Clips is here to prove why he is still an active legend. RANDOM but potentially great.
Head I.C.E vs Chilla Jones
The long-awaited title match for the chain on King Of the Dot pits Harlem legend and reigning champion Head I.C.E vs. one of Boston’s finest in the schemin’ Chilla Jones at KOTD’s World Domination 8 event in London. The style clash on foreign soil is sure to be a strong battle after the match-up was already previously postponed once.
Honorable Mentions – the whole SMACK Volume 4 card, Yung Ill vs. Ill Will on RBE, Arsonal vs. Soul (UK) on KOTD.
Canada’s King Of The Dot has announced that Boston’s Chilla Jones will challenge Harlem’s Head I.C.E for the KOTD Chain in Toronto at their DECADE event on December 9, celebrating ten years in the game since their humbling beginnings outdoors in late 2008. The title match is certainly a style clash and provides a tough opponent for I.C.E to handle in his defense of the title. Head I.C.E took the title somewhat controversially off Rone in early 2017 and defended his crown against a spirited Cortez late last year with memorable third rounds in both. It will be interesting to see how the seasoned veteran that is The Wolf shapes up against the tried and tested challenger in the Kingpen in this judged on the night battle at such an important event.
Ten years in battle rap as a league is no mean feat in itself, and one that is unlikely to be replicated too many times globally. Remaining consistent throughout, KOTD has long-established itself as one of the top-tier battle rap platforms globally and for much of the past decade has been often ranked as #2 behind the industry-leading SMACK / URLTV. The KOTD team led by Organik, Gully TK and Bishop Brigante have been very successful in opening up battle rap internationally to a bigger audience and have put on countless classic battles over the years.
Brooklyn’s Cortez vs. Oakland’s Pass (aka Passwurdz) has also been announced for the Decade event, in a battle which pits two veterans against one another in what is sure to be a highly entertaining bout.
