Two lyricists will spit freestyle on Aug. 18 hoping to capture the judge’s attention to be crowned the Mad Melody Records battle rap champion.
The title match, between current reigning champion Kit (Carson Kivari) and former champion JDK Nonstop (Kyle Keebaugh) will feature five rounds in a head-to-head rap battle.
“These two childhood friends, and long-time hip hop artists, who have been creating music together for years, know all the details about one another,” said Harley Pyrozyk, Mad Melody Records business and artist manager. “It is expected the talented emcees will bring everything to the table in this rematch, to prove to the fans who is the rightful MMR champion.”
In June, Kit (who is part of local hip hop group Sick Sense) defeated JDK Nonstop who was the MMR champion at the time in an elimination style tournament.
Sub-events also happening on Aug. 18 at Fibonacci’s in Penticton will see Prince Product (Cole Martel) looking to redeem his record when he goes up against newcomer Tyclone (Tyson Warmington). Pyrozyk said Tyclone’s “vicious freestyle flow” impressed the judges in the previous Topic Rap Battle. Other contestants include Be Solemnity (Cam McColloch), Jay-E (Jesse England) and Toxik Emissionz (Seth Murray). Pyrozyk said there is still three spots left for any hip hop artist, spoken work or freestyle artist that wants to compete.
The event will be hosted by MC Bodhi (Rob O’Day), co-owner of MMR. Each contestant will verse head-to-head on random topics that MC Bodhi throws at them from iconic events, pop culture to politics and funny words. There will be two topic rounds and one final classic rap battle match round where the contestants will have freedom to call their opponent out on anything. At the end of the rounds lyricists will be graded on a five point scale based on flow, creativity/originality, lyricism/wordplay, stage presentation, topics and crowd reaction. These points have been continuously banked from previous competitions and once 100 points are reached contestants can redeem them for a free instrumental beat created and produced by MMR.
Admission to the Aug. 18 event at Fibonacci’s that starts at 8:30 p.m. is by donation. An age restriction of 15 years and up has been set for entrance. Those interested in signing up for the rap battle can email info@madmelodyrecords.com. Rules for the competition can be found at www.madmelodyrecords.com.
