Though battle rap, a showcase of brags, boasts and brutal insults, has existed as long as rap itself has, it exploded into public consciousness with the 2002 film “8 Mile,” and has drifted in and out ever since.
But the development of rap battle leagues such as Grind Time in the US and Canada’s King of the Dot has given rise to a number of growing promotions across the United States, such as local upstart Voicebox Battles.
Voicebox, co-owned by local MC Greg Sacks, promoter/musician Chuck Clark, as well as Mike Dailey and Tim Wamboldt, has been growing quickly both in local popularity and national stature. Its first show last April drew about 60 people; its latest, held January 13 at Divine Tattoo, brought in over 200 hip-hop heads.
“The crowd is so amazing now; it’s a lot harder (for MCs) to get over on them. They’ve gotten a lot wiser,” Sacks said. “Unless you’re in New York, Toronto or California, you’re not going to find a better hip-hop crowd.”
The promotion’s YouTube presence is a large part of its growing popularity. Since the channel opened last July, it’s collected more than 126,000 views with one recent video amassing 800 views in less than 48 hours—a staggering number for a league that’s less than a year old.
“We hit 100,000 views right after Christmas, which is when everything started to come together,” Clark said. Now, Voicebox is expanding its operations further; In March they’ll be holding an event in Tempe, pitting Tucson’s rappers against Phoenix’s; they also have plans to expand further into Southern Arizona and as far out as Missouri.
“I never though I’d be doing business with the guys I was watching on Youtube,” Sacks said. “All of a sudden, they’re like ‘yeah, we’ll come battle for you,’” with some MCs even willing to pay their own way to come out.
But at the end of the day, it’s all about entertainment. Voicebox takes much of its inspiration from pro wrestling, from the title belt its champion holds, to specialty match-ups such as male versus female or its signature Triple Threat, which has three MCs facing off against one another.
The lyrics can get harsh — you don’t want to watch the above sample of Sacks against Clark at work, unless your employers don’t have problems with men yelling about bodily fluids and scat. But that’s par for the course at Voicebox.
“We’re upfront and honest with our MCs,” Sacks said. “We’ve taken it on ourselves to cancel a battle because of too much conflict the last thing we want to see on the news is ‘Violence breaks out at local rap battle.’ Tucson would shut that down quick.”
To put it as simply as Clark: “Don’t battle if you don’t want mean shit said about you.”
For more information, check out Voicebox Battles online on Facebook.
This article appears in Jan 19-25, 2012.
Wow absolutely horrible, horrible example of a battle. Down right atrocious, exasperated by the fact that they ACTUALLY pre-wrote this garbage, AND had to recite it off of their phones.
Eminem is shedding a tear.
I’m not sure if you’re more unhappy with the length of time they were battling or the fact that the rhymes were pre-written, Burnie. But from what I’ve understand (and was surprised to learn), a lot of battlers are given time to prepare, research their opponent and write their bars.
In their defense, I asked Sacks and Clark to battle somewhat on a whim, so the two didn’t have time to memorize and write specific bars against each other.
Also, I’m rather certain that the word you were searching for there was “exacerbated.”
Well thank you Mr. Mendez for your edit. You can imagine my embarrassment when I saw what I had written. In the future I will research, write down, recite, and read my comments from here on out, so as to remove all resemblance of the art form that is “off the cuff” internet commenting. (Much like our friends above have done to the “freestyle” battle)
Aw Burnie I love your sense of humor but stop picking on these guys.
Everyone starts out as a poser. Nobody is born a rapper or a guitar god or a one of those people who can twist their body into a curly-q (well maybe people born without joints were…)
I see your point sangria, and I also enjoy the cocktail you invented.
Here is how I see it though…. I would not care if they sucked, and sucked alone. Merely having a love for the craft and participating in said craft is a beautiful thing regardless of the talent level of the participants.
My issue lies here: No respect for what a battle is. Yeah can you have some lines pre-thought and memorized and use when the right time presents itself. However it is a FREESTYLE battle, which means the majority should be ad-lib.. off the top. NEVER EVER EVER should blackberrys/Droids/I-phones or sheets of paper be read during a battle.
Have some respect for the art you are so-called representing.
Point taken.
It similar to why I don’t call myself champagne.. any old wino can be made a sangria. If you want to call yourself champagne (or a freestyler) ya gotta follow the rules.
BURNIE is right, traditionally a rap battle is freestyle, I appreciate the effort in bringing a more positive, roots style of hip hop back to Tucson, unfortunately This isn’t a very good example….bummer….
to the first poster, Eminem wrote lines and tried to pass them off as freestyles back in the day so I’m sure he is not shedding a tear lol……at least this is supposed to be a WRITTEN battle league…..learn what you are talking about before you speak because you look ignorant.
also Burnie….IT IS NOT A FREESTYLE BATTLE……..that’s why the battles are labeled MC battles……..not FREESTYLE BATTLES. hope that clears up any confusion.
Exactly, if you dont like it, then dont watch it, but the fan base is growing rapidly and its only growing more and more each show… Plus Voicebox does do freestyle battles and Emcee battles… Before talking about it like you run the league, come to a show, I guarantee you wont think its as bad as you do now when you see it in person. I bet you would end up attending all the shows… Thats how I started, and I have now already participated in a battle…
Bandit is a master blaster, I support him all the way
Bandit Rules