Written by: T.Nicole
MC War: The Official Sport of Battle Rap made its way to Center Stage, Atlanta on Sunday, October 3; and Media Girls Network was in the building to cover it. The Pay Per View event was heavily attended as well as streamed.
Hosted by Poison Pen, commentated by lyricist Rah Digga, and sponsored by Austrian Audio; battle rap fans packed the venue to witness the epic line-up that boasted an undercard including; Charlie Clips vs Oun P, Big T vs E. Ness, Floss Da Boss vs LI The Mayor, and of course the main attraction, Vado vs Saigon.
The audience was treated to a live performance by the legend himself Beanie Sigel, and DJ Kay Slay was in the building as Vado’s official DJ.
Appropriately staged in a boxing ring, the battles indeed got nasty. As expected with battle rap, the lyrics got pretty grimy, the level of disrespect was at 100, and the crowd reactions contributed to the overall vibe of the event. Of course, there were some cheap shots and many low blows, but the funniest moment for me was between Swave Sevah and Bigg K in round 2 when Bigg K let it be known that he hated the selected beat, and made it a refrain during his 16. The standout battle was between Oun P vs Charlie Clips because of confusion with the beat not changing, miscounted bars, and technical difficulties.
The headlining battle between Vado and Saigon culminated the event. While we were all excited to see the back and forth between the two, it seems Saigon wasn’t as prepared as he should have been. Vado was outwardly relaxed, understood the assignment, and even added some theatrics.
It was nice to see such a large turn-out for battle rap culture. Overall, it was a dope event and Media Girls Network can’t wait to be invited to the next event.