Battle rap or rap battling comes under the type of rapping based on the idea and content related to blustering, swaggering, bragging and boosting. It is a kind of battle between rappers in an open environment. They try to insult or defeat their companion rapper at public place. Its stylistic origin is poetry and Griots. It can be called clash or rap battle as well. It originated under the cultural influence of United States in early 1960s. It is performed by masters of ceremonies or MCs. It flourished in 1982 when there was an open contest between kool Moe Dee and Busy Bee Starski. Busy Bee was defeated badly by kool Moe Dee through his sense of comedy and competence at storytelling and lost the title of MC. kool Moe Dee impressed the audience through his pleasing comedian content and tongue licking skill. Battle Rap is also discussed by 40 Cal in his book How to Rap. It is the way of inspiring people through inventing and impressing content in an open battling environment.
There are different types of battles in battle rap. One most flourishing is freestyle battle. In freestyle battle two or more rappers appear on the ground to compete each other using extemporized content. Each one of them use clever and Innovative language to impress his audience and to defeat his opponent.
Master of ceremonies gained popularity and fame through live battles. Freestyle battle can occur at any place whether it is a street, concert or a stage at school. Hollow Da Don is using the elements of free style in his rapping but he prepares the content before the contest to impress and appeal his audience and to defeat his opponent.
cypher is a term related to rap battle and can be used interchangeably with collection or crowd, get together of rappers, beatboxers and breakers. In which they perform in a circle and surrounded by crowd of spectators and audience. Hip hop too gained success and fame on the basis of street battles.
There are many leagues working under the name of rap lyrics. Their names are king of the Dot, Grind time Now and Don't flop.
Until now many Rap Battle albums has been released internationally. Two of them are CommanderKrim and Mannimarco battle and Ultimate Nerdcore Rap Battle. Shelltoe is a hip hop artist participated in many live Rap Battles. Nice Peter and Epic Lloyd are two rappers working under the title of Epic Rap Battles of History. They have created YouTube channel where they copy and portray other characters such as Napoleon, Albert Einstein and Easter Bunny. Critical is a name used alternatively for many individual artists such as Estonia, Portlandia Electronic, A Canadian Nu Metal band and Swedish boy. They released their works under the title of Critical. Others popular rape artists are Libsey, A2daZ, Gestapo sportsverein, The awesome travelling band and Sidjay. In short, Rap battle is the open challenge and contest between rappers. It sometimes involve humiliating and clever language by rappers to defeat their opponents.
