BattleScars - 8 Mile MC Championships The Coronet, London This looked set to be a great night, with previous heat finalists from all around the country coming together to battle for the title of 8 Mile MC Champion Of The Year, hosted by Mekhi Phifer (who plays Future in 8 Mile), and Fallacy and Pharoahe Monch were also set to perform. Fast forward to the night itself, and it’s not quite the same. Fallacy was unable to come because of illness, Mekhi Phifer wasn’t there and DVS, London winner and one of the favourites, did not show up. The battle occurred over 3 rounds; each MC had a minute each one-on-one. The first round had a beat chosen by the MCs played by DJ Pogo and in the second round MCs had 30 seconds to make a beat with a live band before going 1 minute each one-on-one. In the last round the 3 remaining MCs had 8 bars each played by the band, ‘til two were left. This being the final, people were expecting some good battles and we didn’t have to wait too long. The first two MCs, English and Offbeat, looked nervous and were unimpressive, with English coming out the winner. By that point we were sitting in the VIP/press area of the venue and the sound was just rubbish barely reaching the balcony where we were all standing, so we moved to the front of the stage to try and catch the rest of the 1st round. The following two MCs, Drunken Master and Jack Flash, were really entertaining, coming up with some clever lyrics and classic disses, that had the crowd shouting and laughing. They were close and Drunken Master won, but both ended up going through in the end after Jack Flash got a chance to battle the winner of the most controversial first round battle, Inja. Inja’s battle was so poor that before the second round Lawyer, who was presenting, asked people if they wanted Inja and Jackflash to battle again to decide who was the best. This looked like a classic case of “we let the wrong guy through so let’s try and pretend like we’re gonna give him another chance”. The first round battles were picked out at random which is cool but they could have thought about it before and arranged for Drunken Master and Jack Flash to not battle each other in the first round (by using a pool system or something like that), as they were undoubtedly two of the best MCs that night. Also a lot of the other battles in the 1st round were really quite poor and unequal, something a pool system could have helped change, giving both the MCs and the audience a better experience. Spartacus, Class A and Quest also made it through without impressing much. Spartacus battled Soom-T, the only female MC. I didn’t agree with the result, as Spartacus didn’t even use his whole 1 minute and came out with the most unimaginative rhymes this side of the Thames. Quest beat LayZ, who also deserved to win but was unfortunately blessed with a really high pitched voice which didn’t really go down to well with most of the audience. Shame also, as Quest is an American MC, who in my opinion did not even deserve to be there in the first place. The man looked lost in the UK, always referring to the states and coming out with well known and unimaginative lyrics. But I’m not the judge so all I can do is bitch. Before the second round a group of dancers, called Groove Phi Groove, gave an amazing performance with some stepping moves that got the crowd pumped. They were good but looked slightly out of place in an MC contest. I think a lot of the kids there didn’t really understand or fully appreciate what they were doing. A shame really as they were entertaining and very rhythmical, making beats by tapping different parts of their bodies and tap dancing on stage. The second round was much better, mainly due to the fact that the MCs had 30 seconds to make a beat with the band, and then rhyme over it for a minute. First out was Spartacus who got beat down by Jack Flash in true battle style. Drunken Master got beat by Quest, who was still so American that you couldn’t help but feel it was unfair that he was there in the first place (I have nothing against him, I just don’t understand why US MCs would be allowed in a British version of an MC battle). Class A also had a good battle seeing off English and going through to the final, rounding up a far better round than the first. The use of a live backing band is I think the high point of the battle for me, as it allows the public to also get an idea of how musically inclined the MCs are. Some of them came out with really wack beats, which just didn’t help their cause. Spartacus for example decided it would be a good idea to rhyme over Axel F (the theme from Beverly Hills Cop) but it really backfired on him and landed him one of the biggest rounds of boos of that night. The real reason for many people’s presence was Pharoahe Monch, and he certainly didn’t disappoint. He put on a great show, which included a duo of amazing backing singers and a heavy DJ. The man has a good stage presence and even though he was basically on stage alone he still impressed. He went through his classics as well as doing some joints off his new album, even doing a rendition of Oh No! which went down really well with the crowd. He finished by dropping his amazing new 12”, Agent Orange, following that with Simon Says and the whole place just blew up! It was a truly momentous show that made up for the rest. Only down points was that the show was quite short and we didn’t get any Organized Konfusion material, which is a shame as you’re never going to see them together again. Ah well, we can still hope. And so to the final, between Quest, Jack Flash and Class A. Quest was the first to go out, leaving Jack Flash and Class A to battle ‘til death for he UK title. After some problems with the system and the smoke alarm going off which frankly didn’t help the whole thing, the final did get on. By this point a lot of people were too tired, too drunk and just wanted it all to finish. Class A got the better of Jack Flash in a final battle that was definitely of higher standard than the rest of the night, and he was crowned the winner. Hopefully next time the organisers will put it all together a bit better. A good night even if the MCing wasn’t always on point, with Pharoahe’s appearance the definite high note. Shame the winner only got some free cinema equipment and clothing, as a recording contract would have been more rewarding for many of the participants. Let’s face it, if you enter an MC battle with this kind of profile I don’t think I’d want a lot of free stuff. I’m sure many of the contestants would have gladly exchanged it all for some time in a studio with a producer (apparently Class A got to appear on the morning show, Rise, which still doesn’t make up for not getting a recording contract). Ah well, there is always next year. - K-Per © ukhh.com 1999 - 2003