Did battle rap help save Hip-Hop?

[Busta Carmichael]

It didn't do it single handedly. Alot of elements have saved hip hop. But u mean battle rapping as in rap beef on wax right?

Competition is always good and keeps the interest going.

 

[dalyricalbandit]

no

 

[The Recipe]

Nope, theres no signs of battle rap in mainstrean rap only a few rappers past their primes attend battles and Drake. Even Kendricks control verse lacks a battle esque feeling and is credited for reenergizing bars in the game. Back to back may have been influenced by battlerap but he also could have been inspired by the slew of early 2000 hip hop beef records.

Smack, Beasly an the god Lux of URL was at hot97 last week an historical hip hop station and nobody at the station knew shit about battlerap besides that Lux lost his last battle and that point was brought up so much it was borderline disrespectful. Battle rap is still niche and is overlooked by the masses. But its a hip hop sub genre so as long as it continues to grow and flourish its going to help hip hop in some ways.

 

[Billy_Poncho]

Hip Hop was never in jeopardy to begin with

 

[Busta Carmichael]

It actually didn't take off until 2007 with the world rap championship.

Yea u had the Jin vs serious Jones, Mook vs Millz, lux and party arty.

But I was only a handful doing it. And I had to buy the smack DVDs to watch them.

But with YouTube their market became bigger. Who remembers when Philly was dominating? Reed Dollaz, Franky, kaboom, tec-9, slaughter Rico, ness.

I aint mentioning that bitch nigga Meek cuz he was never hot.

 

[usmarin3]

How could battle rap save hiphop when 99% of America couldn't even tell you who battle rappers are. Even at it's popularity now the most popular battle rappers (Clips, Hallow,Lux,etc) still ain't even really known. I say these younger crop of rappers (Kendrick, Cole, Sean, KRIT, Cudi,etc) saved hiphop more than some no name rappers.

 

[nineties]

2003-2007 was the best years of battle rap.

Mook, Jones, and Iron Solomon were 3 of the best imo

 

[Brother_Five]

Nah

 

[SheerExcellence]

Battle rap doesnt have to be popular to have saved hiphop.

Im not saying it did or didn't, but saying 99% of ppl don't follow it don't mean shit. You don't need a vast majority, all you need is a small few to control the massess.

Case in point would be if the top of the current food chain, I.e j.cole, drake, kendrick are heavily influenced by battle rap, then it creates a chain reaction to where others copying those at the top, will change how they rap.

Put it this way, snap rap and shit dominated 2005-2007. Let's say hip hop was dying, over the next few years ppl like Charles hamilton, drake, kendrick, cole etc come into the game. While not all of them battle rap, they are familiar with it and watch battles on YouTube. So when they write their songs they add some bars and focus on lyrics wayy more than ppl did in snap era.

So now a young kid deciding to be a rapper, hears drake or kendrick or lupe actually spitting witty lyrics or dope lines, and they write their rhymes like that...now the young kid may not even know a thing about battle rap, but he was influenced by the guys like drake that are big fans, so regardless it has its effect.

Now before ppl tell me drake isn't a Battler and all that, it doesn't matter. Or that this didn't happen...I'm not saying it did. Alls I'm saying is its very possible that battle rap did have an effect even if never became mainstream itself.

 

[nujerz84]

lol at this thread.

 

[MeekMonizzLLLLLLe14]

The issue with battle rap and the majority of battle rap is limited even now in 2015 to either talking about fucking someones bitch and gun clapping. that's it lol. And when they aren't talking about those 2 subjects its some 4 minute tangent about who someone lost to even though the majority of rap battles now are not even judged.

I used to be heavy into early rap battling but now i watch a battle every now and then but its pretty much peaked for the most part.

 

[NothingButTheTruth]

Depends on how you define the rap part of Hip-Hop, and what you mean by save.

Save it commercially? Ehh, maybe temporarily, but in the long run, nope, and sales and things of that nature don't fall inline with what Hip-Hop is about. They actually contradict the essence of Hip-Hop.

Save it culturally? No. There is no building, only destroying.

If you're talking about this new battle rap shit, that shit is completely different and isn't even close to the original battle rap that's directly connected to the rap part of Hip-Hop. In the past you had to flow to a beat, off the head, and rock the crowd at the same time.

Now you get several months to prepare, and don't have to stay in pocket as no beat is played. Removing the beat and the off the head factor made it fairly simple, and decreased barriers to entry. Now any clown can get up there and ramble shit without using any kind of rhythm. That shit is preschool, and a sub genre until itself. It's not related to anything musically, and it's not respected.

 

[The Recipe]

The issue with battle rap and the majority of battle rap is limited even now in 2015 to either talking about fucking someones bitch and gun clapping. that's it lol. And when they aren't talking about those 2 subjects its some 4 minute tangent about who someone lost to even though the majority of rap battles now are not even judged.

I used to be heavy into early rap battling but now i watch a battle every now and then but its pretty much peaked for the most part.

Shut up you dont watch battlerap ad dont know shit about it.

 

[MeekMonizzLLLLLLe14]

The issue with battle rap and the majority of battle rap is limited even now in 2015 to either talking about fucking someones bitch and gun clapping. that's it lol. And when they aren't talking about those 2 subjects its some 4 minute tangent about who someone lost to even though the majority of rap battles now are not even judged.

I used to be heavy into early rap battling but now i watch a battle every now and then but its pretty much peaked for the most part.

Shut up you dont watch battlerap ad dont know shit about it.

Sounds like a legitimate counter argument well done lmao

 

[Trillfate]

The return of battle rap was great but i dont agree that hip hop was saved or needed to be

 

[SOWETO]

im not the biggest battle rap fan, but has there been ANYTHING as noteworthy as when lux dismantled calicoe? maybe lux killed battle rap while saving rap.

 

[scrapper1]

It played a part (Loaded Lux)