This Ain't 8 Mile...

            This post is probably my most epic piece to date, in terms of a unique experience. I attended English rap battles yesterday! I took the Northern Line on the Tube to Chalk Farm and walked down the street to the Fiddler’s Elbow. It was a nicely decorated pub filled with rappers and their fans. In fact, these people have received such a following at this point that they were able to charge me ten pounds to enter! The lights and video cameras were rolling for the website Dontflop.com. Tom and I made it just in time for the first battle. The host of the battle event, named Eurgh, would introduce each opponent and time all three 60-second rounds.

Now, if you’re picturing a scene from Eminem’s movie 8 Mile, think again. The scene was extremely mellow and the vibes were of a friendly competition sort. I was almost certainly the only American. When I congratulated one of the competitors he was impressed, stating, “your accent is sick.” Each rapper had a stage name. Some I heard were Cracker, DeKay, Villun, Quill, Big J, Aukes, Nxt Gen, Lefty, Sniper E, and Midi Intellect. Many an insult was spoken or shouted throughout the pub. I loved the crowd’s reactions to certain bars. I was amazed by the amount of thought that went into writing personal lyrics. Tom also explained to me that a lot of these rappers recycled one another’s lyrics (he heard his own being spit). There was also more uninhibited crowd reaction as the day progressed due to the increase of pints consumed. I heard a man behind me at the bar say, “Oh my god, that’s Einstein. He won’t know who I am but I’m a huge fan.” Einstein is Tom’s rap alter ego, and as he approached me at the bar, this fan bombarded Tom and went on about how much he loved Tom’s material and was happy to be meeting him.

There were several rounds between various rappers. The only female who battled was DeKay, who I spoke with outside at the end of the day. I even filmed her free styling for a few minutes on my phone. The rappers ranged from a garbage man to an English teacher/spoken word poet. Most were musicians for a living. A particularly memorable line for me was, “My second and third round will make the Connecticut murders look like Disneyland.” Another rapper mentioned the CT tragedy for shock effect. It felt weird remembering how sad that day was at a fun event. Many words were lost on me anyway simply because of British accents.

An interesting battle was one that included a grab bag. Each rapper had to pull an item out of a garbage bag that audience members had contributed to and freestyle about the object. The bags included a plastic elephant, play station controller, glasses, a Golf book, a Spiderman action figure, and a phone charger. The final battle was a two-on-two event that came down to a 3-2 judges vote, so a great one to end the day on. I was also lucky to get such a close view on stage because Tom was asked to judge one of the battles. Needless to say, I got some great pictures and video footage of freestyles outside of the pub afterward. Tom is considering battling again in Newcastle if Dontflop.com pays for his travel expenses. That way, it’s a free trip to see his family. I would definitely go to another event, despite the entry and cider expenses of the day. It was Don’t Flop’s first event of 2013 and had been 10 months since they were at the Fiddler’s Elbow. ‘Twas a jolly good show!           

 This is the final 2 on 2 battle:

            Here I am posing with DeKay:

            This is the Grab Bag Battle:
 

            The back wall of the stage (Eurgh is in the white hat):