Is freestyling a dead art?

[KickoTheDon]

I remember back in the days, the battle scene had a bunch of elite freestylers that used to battle each other often but it seems like everyone only uses writtens these days. Are there any young cats coming up that still appreciate and practice freestyling?

 

[MJ Truth]

I mean, you can still find freestyles. And a lot of the top tier battle rappers are very good freestylers. But a freestyle is never going to beat a top level written rhyme so

 

[KickoTheDon]

I mean, you can still find freestyles. And a lot of the top tier battle rappers are very good freestylers. But a freestyle is never going to beat a top level written rhyme so

Pure freestyle battles are more entertaining to me. Written leagues have gotten stale to me. And yea I know the top tier dudes freestyle but they been in the game for about 20 years now. I’m talking about the younger cats. Back in like 07 freestyle battling was pretty relevant. It seems like the younger generation doesn’t care for it much but I could be wrong.

 

[Trapped]

I think freestyles nowadays (in battle rap) are restricted to rebuttals or if there is a choke.

I personally think that while off-the-top freestyling is dope, it is the written format that brought battle rap to where it is now. I remember when battles were primarily freestyles (like Jumpoff) and 90 % of the battles was like "you're gay, you're wack, your clothes/shoes are..." and it got old really quick. The written battles opened the door to more creativity with the pen, making battles more interesting.

 

[KickoTheDon]

I think freestyles nowadays (in battle rap) are restricted to rebuttals or if there is a choke.

I personally think that while off-the-top freestyling is dope, it is the written format that brought battle rap to where it is now. I remember when battles were primarily freestyles (like Jumpoff) and 90 % of the battles was like "you're gay, you're wack, your clothes/shoes are..." and it got old really quick. The written battles opened the door to more creativity with the pen, making battles more interesting.

def feel where you are coming from with this take. I grew up with jumpoff and attended a lot of their battles in person so that era is pretty nostalgic to me. Not denying that the written bars are much better but the entertainment value in watching dudes who didn’t prep and sometimes saying ridiculous things off the top was hilarious to me. Kinda sad that the scene died completely instead of just taking a back seat to written battles

 

[Trapped]

def feel where you are coming from with this take. I grew up with jumpoff and attended a lot of their battles in person so that era is pretty nostalgic to me. Not denying that the written bars are much better but the entertainment value in watching dudes who didn’t prep and sometimes saying ridiculous things off the top was hilarious to me. Kinda sad that the scene died completely instead of just taking a back seat to written battles

I watched plenty of Jumpoff battles, WRC was the bomb, they kinda fukked it up with the stolen footage and some other shyt behind the scenes. Those who mastered the craft such as Illmac, TheSaurus, Quest and Marv, were actually entertaining and you could tell that they put some effort in their battles, others were cringeworthy at times or made absolutely no sense at all. It was still a good platform for many battle rappers today and in some way gave birth to GrindTime, which basically made it more organized.

P.S: I still remember Franco and Element fight after the battle, when Franco said that Element could have been better

 

[FromBillionsCameOne]

Even backnin the WRC's it was mostly written. Not necessarily written for the opponent but they had bars then they'd freestyle to make it about the opponents. We have Verbal Warzone bringing back the on beat shyt I wouldn't be surprised if there are small "freestyle" leagues but I think the problem is that almost everybody sneaks in clearly written shyt which subtracts from the whole point of it. Also, freestyles within written rounds are pretty easy to detect so you know it's at least half way legit because people want to use their writtens

 

[Ardamus]

It's not dead but I feel like in certain circles of the game, it's not as respected as it should be. I think it got downplayed because you have people who just depend on written material thinking that improv with off the top freestyling doesn't measure up to the written material. Depends on how you develop that skill and what you do with it.

 

[El_Mero_Mero]

Battle Stuff









Smooth Street Freestyling (Non-Battle Stuff)





Vintage Battle Stuff (Volume is low, so maybe you wanna put in the earphones):

Big PAUSE on Dose One in this battle, but I had to include it due to P.E.A.C.E. 2nd round






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