In addition to putting on/organizing battles, I’ve had the great honor of judging a bunch of events over the years including: Show Me What You Got, No Guts No Glory, Queen of The Mic, Youth Slam, Grind Time, Mid Atlantic Battle Association events (Pit Fights/Mortal Combat), Masters auditions..and others.... I’ve earned the reputation of being extremely honest and straight forward.
Love or hate what I say, artists know that I won’t lie and that even if I’m their biggest fan, I’ll still be their biggest critic. When I say someone one lost, I’m usually very passionate why I think that is.
I figured that instead of only going into detail AFTER a battle/event.... why don’t I give a little cheat sheet.. so yall can know what makes me tick..
Years ago, I wrote an article called how to loose a hip hop competition in 14 easy steps.. but here’s one specifically for battles in which you know your opponent ahead of time.
Every judge is different.. but this is what I and alot of judges base decisions on..Stay tuned..as I will be asking other judges, battle hosts/organizers, etc.. for their tips, additions, or alternatives to this list..
ok… HERE IT GOES….
1) Stop whining and adjust. If you’re a great lyricist and you feel the crowd doesn’t always appreciate what you’re saying because your opponent has more energy/better delivery…then shit.. work on your energy and delivery..than you shouldn’t have any problems. Win/Win.. right?
2) Remember the goal of battling! Lyricism is not the FINAL goal, winning is: I don’t care if you can juggle 3 guns, a lit torch and a knife, if you aint killing the other MC with it, does it really matter? Meaning.. stop with all the ..”when it boils down to lyricism.. I was the best”.. the point is HOW are you using the bars?.. are you using your lyricism skills to actually beat the other person? Noone cares if you’ve impressed the poets and MCs in the room with your word play if it’s not used for the right purpose. Everyone’s gonna say.. yo, I fucks with him, he’s a great lyricist..and..yada yada. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a fan of non-lyricists.. at all.. I’m all for the mastery of word selection/usage. The best battle MCs are (or at least they should be ) the best lyricists. I just think people get it twisted and forget that they’re supposed to use the lyricism as a WEAPON rather than just, a showpiece.
3) That being said, don’t try to win by being simplistic.. or obvious..still say what you’re saying..in a way that it hasn’t been said before.. Lyricism is extremely important..point is.. use the lyricism for a purpose.
4) Battle against your last and/or best performance. Try to ensure that what you wrote could top what you did in your best battle to date. Don’t just think of your opponent. If what you’ve written so far doesn’t even compare to the best shit you’ve written then you might want to tweak some things. If you can’t guarantee a win against yourself, why are you assuming that you’re going to beat your opponent?
5) Use Visualization. All the great athletes and musicians use it. Don’t just write for the battle.. visualize yourself doing the entire battle in your head over and over. This makes it less likely to forget words/choke. Part 2 of this is, don’t write your verses the same day or the day before. Nine times out of ten, you’re gonna forget a line or two (ten times out of ten if you drink a lot) *note: not drinking a lot before battle is Part 3 of this..
6) Overestimate even your weakest opponent and underestimate yourself. Transform yourself into the underdog. Pretend that you are the most hungry to win this battle. I don’t care if you’re battling Vanilla Ice, prepare for the battle as if you were battling the best MC in the nation. Instead of thinking of how easy it’s going to be to beat this guy, instead, think of how embarrassing it could be, will be.. when you loose to this guy. I know some MCs feel that it’s a waste of energy to prepare for someone who is not that good but the thing is, the other person is thinking the opposite. Underdogs have surprised a lot of people over the years.
7) Start strong in the battle and get progressively better. If you use all your best punchlines for round one, even if your round 2 and 3 is decent, the listener will feel let down because now everyone’s knows what you’re capable of and waiting for more of the same or better. Judges are human and will sometimes judge you against your best self in that battle so make sure you start strong..get stronger..and then take it over the edge in round 3.
8) On that same note, write the best OT round that you could possibly write. Assume that the battle will go into overtime and write like it’s the only round you have to prove yourself. I can’t tell you how many times I have seen battles go into overtime and MCs get stumped and rely on freestyle. Relying on freestyle is cool, if that’s your strength. I’d say even if it is your strength, write a killer OT anyway.
9) Breakdown what you writing into parts and evaluating each line’s effectiveness. Do you really need to say that..and is that the best way to say it? Will that line make you win this round? I know this sounds obvious but based on all the filler that I hear in these battles. I can tell people aren’t evaluating
10) Know yourself. If you know that you feed off of the energy of the crowd, let your people know where and when you’re going to battle. Stop writing an facebook update the day of..and stop having to be reminded to share a link/event invite for a battle that you’re in and can benefit from especially if lack of people affect you. There has been plenty of times that I’ve seen MCs loose their self confidence during battles simply because the other opponent is getting all the ooooooh.. and on the flip side, I have seen MCs gain confidence with people there.. Sidenote: judges are listening to the lines...despite crowd reaction…well at least the better judges are..but my point is, if you know this affects you and takes you out of your zone.. do something
11) Don’t ever settle for 50.1% vote. When you do only the bare minimum to win, you may luck up and win but the battle is gonna be the most anticlimatic battle on youtube and people will say you’re just “aight”..and if you loose..well.. you lost.. what’s more to say ;).?.. Let your goal be to have EVERY one in the room know beyond the shadow of a doubt that you won this. If you follow 1-10, this shouldn’t be an issue.
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