A Chance To See What The WRC07 Should Have Been?

Freestyling is a sport, art form, weapon that has been evolving at an incredible rate over the past decade. Long gone are the ‘I slept with your mum’ lines of the mid 1990’s, replaced by searing wit and intelligent insults.

You can’t just make stuff rhyme anymore. There are many key factors to consider, like it sounds better to rhyme multi-syllabic words rather than singular, but the key element all truly excellent emcees share is this: Be as personal as possible, and flip your opponents insults back on them. These two techniques prove that you haven’t prewritten any of your rhymes, that it comes straight ‘off your head.’ Insults that can be applied to anyone are far less effective than insults that can only be applied to your opponent.

One of the most prestigious freestyle tournaments, the World Rap Championships, sees two on two emcee battles from different divisions across America, Canada and the UK. For the last two years that the WRC has been held (2006 and 2007), LA based duo Illmaculate and Thesaurus have emerged the victors. The 2006 finals saw Illmaculate and Thesaurus going up against London’s Possessed and Wa’shisface. It was safe to say LA beat UK hands down.

But after a much more impressive performance in the UK divisions in 2007, Norwich based emcees Arkaic and Eurgh beat the opposition and were flown out to America to represent the UK. They battled incredibly well, destroying Zeale32 and Phranchyze in the quarter finals, but after some very questionable judging in the semi finals, lost to NY based duo Frankie Wapps and Jaze Juce. The online following was in uproar about this. The WRC07 finals were Frankie Wapps and Jaze Juce versus Illmaculate and Thesaurus, the former of whom were utterly destroyed, coming off fairly weak and generic against the stinging wit of the now two time world tag team champions.

The opinion of many WRC followers was that the WRC07 finals should have been UK versus LA. But now, Eurgh’s own event, Don’t Flop Street Battles, is arranging for Thesaurus to fly over to the UK to battle some of the best UK emcees. They are funding the plane trip with Thesaurus’ own money and donations from fans who’d like to see what many think the WRC07 finals should have been.

With few UK emcees turning up to the WRC pre-seasonals to decide who will be battling who, the UK might have quite a weak team in the WRC09, so if you prefer UK freestylers to USA ones, you might want to keep your focus on Don’t Flop, and perhaps even contribute to Thesaurus’ plane ticket. It will be an incredible set of battles.



Apply for the WRC09

ADAM STONE