How Battle Rap Took Over the Internet

Watch Fight the Power: How Hip Hop Changed the World on PBS: www.pbs.org/video/the-foundat...
Arthur "L.A." Buckner and Linda Diaz explore the rich history of battle rap and the birth of the Ultimate Rap League (URL). Featuring special guests Smack White, DNA, and Arsonal, we dive deep into the roots of this art form and its cultural significance.
Starting in the late 1970s and early 1980s, we explore the evolution of rap battles from Harlem parties to worldwide competitions, culminating in the formation of the Ultimate Rap League in 2009. Smack White, the founder of URL, shares his journey and vision for the league, while DNA and Arsonal, two of the most respected and talented battle rappers in the game, give us a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to succeed in this highly competitive art form.
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• How This Drum Beat Cha...
00:00 The world of battle rap
01:46 The predecessors to battle rap
02:24 The origins of rap battles
03:47 Famous Hip Hop beefs
04:30 The rise of Hip Hop festivals like Scribble Jam
05:00 The start of Smack DVDs
07:26 Battle rap makes it to streaming and KZbin
09:20 The rules of battle rap
11:20 Battle rap's misconceptions
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We like music. You like music. Let’s break it down. Sound Field is a PBS Digital Studios web series produced by Twin Cities PBS. #SoundFieldPBS #Battlerap #PBSDigitalStudios #rapbattle

[@mattlobo13]

was scrolling tiktok live the other day and came across a stream of a huge battle in Brazil. didn't understand a word but they were going hard and the portuguese flow is so slick

[@williedynamyte]

Kool Moe Dee is one of the Godfather of battle rap. Salute!

[@Jayblac1615]

Hi. Dope interview and salute to the gawd Smack. I'm actually the creator of Champion Of The Year, and it's not specifically just for URL. Geechi is The 3x Champion of Battle Rap in it's entirety. 8:28 Just a slight correction.

[@traplover6357]

PBS featuring Takeover vs Ether like an academic history lesson is both surreal but also needed 😂👍

[@Chandasouk]

Smack DVD was my gateway to it. Then we had Grind time on KZbin and Rare Breed was good too.

[@voxextremos22]

Aesop Rock and El P were battle rappers. So we’re other underground rappers like Slug, Sage Francis and Brother Ali

[@BlackIndigenousPosse]

And Eyedea, shown in the video at 4:40. He was god-tier and absolutely smoked everyone at Scribble Jam in 1999, then did the same thing at the Blaze Battle in 2000. Same label as Brother Ali, and Brother Ali knocked him out of Scribble Jam in 2000.

[@ktbecstasy]

So is me

[@swujawn7463]

one of the best series on youtube

[@cubicle7535]

That seatbelt line will stay legendary for years to come!

[@therealturph948]

Facts!! Tay Roc is a certified legend 🔥🔥🔥

[@johnchiu]

My name is J and I’m here to say, I love to watch Sound Field, ev-ery-day. Ha-HAH-ha-HAH-HA

[@ChiefRifa]

This channel was made for me 🔥🔥🔥

[@ktbecstasy]

Fr bro, just discovered it tonight

[@WAKN___]

Awesome! I love this channel!

[@madenda9972]

Man, I was really looking forward to LA and Linda battling at the end.

[@frofoodie7763]

No rap battle between the hosts??

[@chiptoothtech4937]

AWESOME EPISODE !!!!!

[@TaliaOutwrong]

I love every episode you make!

[@barzguitarz1039]

I think you all did a great job covering the bullet points of the evolution of battle rap. For added context (and in some ways the bridge between url and kotd) I would suggest watching “Minnesota Luke’s” “rise and fall of grind time”…grind time being a league predating kotd.

[@deJanglez]

i love this show

[@QNPMEDIA]

Great episode! But how y'all didn't mention LL?! He had some crazy battles

[@TIENxSHINHAN]

1:46 when she "ancient times", I was half expecting her to talk about European spoken word traditions. A lot of the time, people try to shoehorn European culture into hip hop's history even though it's almost completely unrelated. It was a pleasant surprise to see that hip hop's African history was centered and not the vague, nearly nonexistent connections it has to European poetic traditions.

[@c-wordplay]

Glad to see battle rap getting talked about like this 👏🏾

[@collins_channel8643]

Great episode

[@BantuOtaku]

Aye 💖💖💖 back again with another banger!

[@Beryllahawk]

Fantastic video! I am very much a nerd, so hearing y'all mention Epic Rap Battles of History made me really excited. It's so great to understand just how these battles developed from the "dozens" to what it is now. My own experiences with this kind of thing are extremely white (and nerdy) - DLA and a couple other British artists. But the examples you show in here are every bit as exciting and funny-vicious as what I've heard before! I think my own favorite sorts of battles are the ones where clearly everyone is having a good time, but I can see where the appeal is in the more aggressive performance style. People really yelling at each other, real life arguing, is horrendously upsetting for me, I can't stand it, so watching that kind of battle would be a little TOO intense, but I have a ton of respect for all the men and women who can take that heat AND dish out as good as they get. It's a talent and a gift, and they are simply amazing!

[@justindyra1360]

Such a great video! In Battle Rap you need to know the lore. I always tell people to really understand one battle you have have seen at least ten more to really get the full context of just the one battle. Great video for getting your feet wet, now jump in.

[@BrianGlaze]

Dope history

[@socialmatrix8752]

Great video

[@Merlincat007]

This is great! I learned a lot! Just a quick note: the audio levels are pretty different between some of the recordings of you guys and the rest of the video

[@therealturph948]

As an upcoming battle rapper, I had to tap into the history out of respect for the art and culture 💪🏿💯

[@sadiesonntag1610]

You all are at the FRONT. Keep it coming!!! 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

[@gabriellesudal9004]

Another dope vid🔥 Would luh to see yall do a vid on the pioneers of female hiphop n interviewin em. Or better yet, since there's so many- a series focused on female hiphop would b dope! Mc Sha Rock, Roxanne Shante, The Sequence, Lady B, Sparky D, The Real Roxanne, Sweet Tee, Finesse & Synquis, Wee Papa Girls, Antoinette, Ms.Melodie, Monie Love, Ladybug Mecca, Gangsta Boo, Eve, Yoyo, Foxy, etc. etc. the list goes on.. AND then u could also talk bout female battle rap actually, n more in depth! Ur female audience would luh the representation, education, n insight!

[@thenopasslook]

love battle rap

[@thomp9054]

I like how this show has some Bill Nye the science guy vibes

[@TheNROofficial]

So glad to see Scribble Jam getting recognized, but I really wish they talked about Eyedea instead of just showing pictures. Still great to see though.

[@Koedean]

Very well put together, i learnt alot. Ive watched a fair few Australian battles but its always good to know the origins of why things exist.

[@LuckyNice19]

what aussie battles you like?

[@Koedean]

@@LuckyNice19this one is really good. Kogz is a beast with all music he does. kzbin.info/www/bejne/bHyyXpeHaqx1a80

[@sundeeppathak8346]

Love this bro. But I'd argue that there have been more successful haymakers earlier than Tay's seatbelt line (although that was legendary)

[@rillloudmother]

linda diaz = pure fire.

[@ghostlightning]

Nice shout out to Flip Top~

[@thedeeprot]

👍👍👍

[@girlsnotblue3804]

.the scene is really weird now because of how youtube is, smack took his league from youtube to the app, kotd is primarily on twitch so alot of my friends and casual fans are still commin here confused waiting for the latest drop and eventually just fallin off with watching all together

[@ktbecstasy]

That Crocodile bar underrated fr👏👏

[@socialmatrix8752]

LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[@homieverbs]

Do a study where yahll get good rappers to rap in a MRI machine let’s see what’s going on onna brain synapse level with these word associations and sentence construction and all that …I wanna see THAT data yo

[@V.O.Y.S.]

Shout out to elements league and grind time. RIP to Pat Stay.

[@MooImABunny]

In Israel we have a theater group called The Incubator, some of their most famous productions are their rap musicals. They have a rap musical, תיכון מגשימים (Magshimim highschool*) which is pretty much Karate Kid, but with battle rap instead of karate. It's really great. the main character, Yoav gets bullied by the popular kid with battle raps, the training montages with the old master are about getting better diction and mastering wordplay, he wins over the popular girl by battle rapping a robber away. I'm just outlining the hooks of the show, but the plot is great and well written, and the music is all rap with a little bit of rock. love it * you could translate it as "fulfilling" highschool, but it's just a place name, so it's better to call it Magshimim.

[@QNPMEDIA]

So no original ideas... yikes

[@homieverbs]

The hosts people did a good job but hire some rappers to do there parts….but it’s a beautiful piece all in all tho kudos PBS !

[@MatthewHiltner]

Hey.... aren't you the same guy who did the bar breakdowns? I watched most if not all of them quite some time ago, but it was the Aesop Rock one that introduced me to your(?) channel.

[@glenforde.bridgeton-wood8875]

👍🏿

[@gamlerik1]

SkeezTV!

[@blackice3395]

Brizz Rawsteen was my favorite!

[@exaucemayunga22]

I wonder why most battle raps today don't use beats anymore

[@8teenOfficial]

Fliptop should have been added here too

[@derrickhatten597]

No mention of "Grind Time"?

[@noeldoesthings]

2:28 G E K O L O N I S E E R D

[@ReinaldoCrespo]

No mention of Grindtime. SMH!

[@johnykilroy5521]

I just wrote that. Grindtime was the beginning in 2006, when smack was still seeking CDs at Subzero.... Straight disrespect

[@rhunt12]

Never one word about Flyting which is a contest consisting of the exchange of insults between two parties, often conducted in verse. This was practiced from the 5th -16th centuries in Modern Celtic, Old English, Middle English and Norse literature.

[@m3vm3]

Battle rapper ar the best lyricist

[@johnykilroy5521]

How do you mention battle rap, mention URL but don't mention Grindtime? Grindtime was the medium before URL starting large booking. C'mon Son

[@Aih_0]

That seatbelt line was tough. But I think people sleep on that Tori Doe “when the remote not working” line.

[@Darth_Man_X]

Sage francis and Brother Ali

[@MIXPRO68]

ENJOYED THIS BUT U LEFT OUT A WELL KNOWN AND ANNUAL BATTLE THAT OCURRED AS A PART OF THE NEW MUSIC SEMINAR GATHERING DURING THE MID 80'S TO THE EARLY 90'S-THERE WAS A TOURNAMENT WHERE THEY HAD AN MC/DJ BATTLE FOR WORLD SUPREMACY AND THOSE THAT WON WOULD TAKE HOME A GOLD TITLE BELT.I WENT TO THE 1988 TO 1990 BATTLES.YOU HAVE RAPPERS LIKE MELLE MEL,LORD FINESSE AND EVEN TREACH(NAUGHTY BY NATURE) THAT ENTERED THESE BATTLES

[@DjNikGnashers]

Love battle rap. but it should always be live and freestyle. When it's on wax it's pre-written and loses it's cleverness.

[@ktbecstasy]

Fax bro

[@tyizzle80]

You kind of look like Future Bro

[@ktbecstasy]

Future's past

[@goldenlion8123]

NO MENTION OF MC SHAN AND KRS ONE IS BLASPHEMOUS..

[@ktbecstasy]

Fr, The bridge is Over is top 5 diss tracks of all time imo

[@jameskelton6579]

There was no on wax battle between BIG and Pac. At least not on BIGs end.

[@ktbecstasy]

Big had some sneak disses here n there And also what started the whole debacle was Biggie's Who shot Ya

[@PhatLvis]

Rap became popular because of flow, and - more important - Beats. WHAT was being said was almost irrelevant in the Golden Age - it was about HOW you said it, and how dope your beat was. To focus exclusively on so-called battle rap - abstracted from any music behind the rhymes - is something Other Than hip-hop. Was the Sugar Hill Gang saying something really explosive and revolutionary? No. But their Song, Rapper's Delight, was. Battle rappers have lost touch with flow and rhythm - the hallmarks of all great rap; just as words to a melodic song should be heard as simply another instrument going toward making up the Music of the song, rappers' rhymes should complement/emphasize/enhance the beat. Anything else might as well be slam poetry Open Mic night. The modern focus on rhymes over music in rap has wrought catastrophic effects, mostly in the form of lame/cookie-cutter/uninspiring tracks.

[@TheDutchVegaShow]

This is completely false.. 1000% false.. grandmaster flash and the furious five had the message which was literally about what was being SAID vs the beat driving it.. hiphop moves wit the times.. u haven’t and that’s fine but don’t ask ppl who love the culture and push it FORWARD that WE doing something wrong.. that’s incorrect.. YOU the stagnant listener who refuses to move with the times is in the wrong sir

[@astroch]

Sadly, English battle raps are so underdeveloped and boring compared to Spanish speaking ones...

[@ChiefRifa]

Damn, I wish I could understand them because it looks so entertaining! And I know subtitles wouldn’t do it justice 🤦🏾‍♂️

[@kharmatastiko]

Una omisión un poco triste que ni se mencionen las Batallas de gallos de cierta compañía de bebidas energéticas

[@HYSoCietyTV]

Maybe on beat … a cappella definitely not

[@michaelharrison3443]

Check out Premier Battles for the best UK battles

[@CrackheadHuntersDopeDealer]

Battle rap was always wack! Wasting your time battling dude instead of getting money.🥴🫨