Oakland and San Francisco producers went to war against each other in the Bart Series Beat Battle. Presented by Phillip Drummond and Beats, Rhymes & Life, the panel and crowd judged battle featured producers E-Train, Gonzo, Monsrock, Okeefe, Ion The Prize, Cashe, and more competing for city bragging rights.
I love beat battles, but man i get tired of beat battles where kats just stand on stage and nod their heads or hype up the crowd. At least with some of the older ones kats would bring in their laptops, or mpc, eps etc… and would press a few keys or pads. which made it a kinda of a show! Like the louis den, or the Beat scioety get togethers. thoese were ill.
Keep bang’n
“KIZ”
you’re thinking of producer showcases. Thats what Louis Den does.
damn man lol that shit look boring as hell lmao
I agree, the whole beat battle is a great idea, it’s just missing something.
Right now it’s like an air band.
mark my words in chitown i will defy the rules, and pull out a sp 404 and play beats on some live program shit in the bigtune in nov. stay tuned !!!
thats what im talkin about beat battles need to incorporate the tools we use to make beats and play our shit live like how djs use turntables and mixers in their battles. It just makes these battles more fun to watch and competitve.
ill be seeing u in the finals with my mp
ain’t that against the beat battles rules
Now you see why cats dance in their battles. I agree some of it is corny,but being in a battle or two myself, the dancing gives off more energy with the beat. I look at it like this, when I make a banger,I`m gonna move to it. If it doesn`t move you,it aint a banger. So everytime you are in a battle and you are playing what you feel is your “Banger”, dancing for some is the way to let the crowd know that it`s a banger to you. And the crowd feeds off your energy also. So if you just stand there(like these cats in this battle) the energy level is low ,no matter how dope the beat is.
First big ups to Phillip Drummond and Beats, Rhymes & Life for letting my City of Dope aka Tha Town and Frisco get some shine without Hyphy, Stoopid and/or Dumb being the lead in. Big shouts to all those young producing playaz for doin’ the damn thang regardless of fact nobody is checking for the Town, Frisco or the Northern Cali heads who aren’t being pigeon-holed by the current Yay sound/trend. Not to say anything is wrong with getting the paper as the current trends are, but also ain’t nuttin’ wrong with letting the other side shine as well!! Lest we forget the Hieroglyphics are Town cats and they’re others out there in the Yay that many may never hear of who bang out that Golden Era’ish “realness” the whole scene the world wide is missing. Being an elder head I can say had this happened years ago cats would’ve been really shocked @ what they would’ve been hearing. I gotta shout out the GOD and fam Aikuan Allah of the real 7ODZ for scooping me to all the unda record spots in the Haight Asbury District, Bizerkley and spots in North Oakland back in day when we used to shop and dig whenever we felt the urge to re-up our sample catalog. Also for not letting get time on his EPS16+ which forced me to break bread on the ASR-10. Granted this was back in early 90’s but I can remember it like it was yesterday. Yall youngstaz will be doing the same ‘ish 15yrs. from now when yall reminisce over Reason, Fruity Loops, etc.
Now to address the producers stagnant demeanor. I personally never entered a O-fficial battle but when I did used to showcase my beats amongst peers and/or strangers, I’d let them decide if they needed a neck brace. I wouldn’t move or coax them because that’s what the beat was supposed to do? Plus I already had did all my head noddin, air keys playin, etc. when I was making the beat. To counter the stagnant or over zealous producer, the producers shouldn’t be on stage period. They should be in the back incognito checking heads reaction for delf rather than trying to force a reaction. Sipping on what eva, puffin on one and spittin’ to a breezy. Bring them up on stage only after a winner has been crowned. Then they all get some equal shine and then that breezy that gave you the fax number to the library may decide to give up here real math?
Again, young playaz in the Town, Frisco and World-Wide keep doing the damn thang. Cuz eventually the current “Saturated market full of wackness” -Guru, will run its course. But don’t expect a resurgence of the Golden Era–don’t look for Grand Puba, Hiero or Rakim to walk in that door, cuz it ain’t happening!!–create a new Era that may take cues from the past but has its own distinctive foot print so when they dig up a fossilized Cratekings Beat Battle DVD in 2902AD, they’ll know there was life after Lil’ Wayne!!!
I get bored as hell watching beat battles – I like watching people rock out in some form or another – I understand that they can run into problems with a dozen dudes showing up and having to swap out devices on the fly, but the whole set up with CDs is silly to me –
instead of dancing, somebody should strike a mean mug B-boy pose and hold it for the duration of the beat like “WHAT!”
in response to what Noah was saying about producers going incognito in the crowd and gauging reactions, I gotta say I totally feel this. One of the things I’ve felt was b.s. having participated in many battles is the inevitable favoritism towards certain producers based on how many people they brought, their previous cred, etc. I think battles might be more exciting if it was not announced who’s beat was who’s and the crowd/judges just voted based on what they thought was the illest beat (yes, some people would easily be able to tell who made what based on the style of the beat). This format would also add a bit of mystery, not necessarily the remedy to beat battles being stale, but at least different. Ultimately, I also think it would make for competition better. I might holler at Drummond and suggest this, but let me know what you think…I may be trippin’
Some of those beats were nice. The vid is kinda long though they should have less producers go at once and do it for 2-3 nights or something.
In response to Egons comment I think that is a great idea. Its not a popularity or dance contest and that element needs to be removed from the battles. Leave that shit for the guitar hero’s. I am sure Phillip Drummond would be down for a mystery battle.
Much respect.
Hi-
What up folks…appreciate the feedback. I myself have experienced what you’re talking about at beat battles I have competed in and I’m thinking about it. Also I usually do sample flip battles…meaning folks have to flip the same samples and I do themed battles like Beatfellas (flippin the soundtrack to Goodfellas), Beat Fiction (Pulp Fiction Beat Battle), The Blues Battle and so on where it’d be really hard to have 16+ producers with all their hardware/beat machines, although I’m keen to do one like this, space is VERY limited at Element Lounge. I also depend on producer entry fees to generate the pot/prize and pay the host.
peace!
[Edit: Promotion Material Removed]
THis shit was xtra long n xtra trashhhhhh!!! It was supa favoritism going on in that bitch. marmrock or w/e his name was shouldnt have passed the 2nd round with them beats! SMH… just like the red bull big tune beat battles.
Actually…. Monsrock came solo with 4 fans while other local dudes brought their whole crew. And he still won.