{"id":24974,"date":"2024-02-07T09:00:49","date_gmt":"2024-02-07T17:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=24974"},"modified":"2024-02-08T10:33:31","modified_gmt":"2024-02-08T18:33:31","slug":"listen-and-learn-the-bridge-live-rap-battles-stunning-hilarious","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2024\/02\/07\/listen-and-learn-the-bridge-live-rap-battles-stunning-hilarious\/","title":{"rendered":"Listen and Learn<\/em>: The Bridge Live Rap Battles stunning, hilarious"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the first edition of this, my new music column, I decided it\u2019d be fun for me, a punk rock girl, to check out some rap battles. I have yet to really explore the musical landscape of the Victoria hip-hop scene; The Bridge Live Rap Battles presented by Set the Bar at the Victoria Event Centre on Saturday, January 20 was the first hip hop event I\u2019ve ever gone to in Victoria. I had a blast; it was hilarious and jaw dropping.<\/p>\n

Prior to going I wasn\u2019t sure what to expect. Was this going to be like the battles in 8 Mile<\/i>? Or was that just Hollywood? Well, it\u2019s mostly the same. There are no beats dropped while the rappers battle, it\u2019s filmed for YouTube and Twitch, and booing is not allowed.<\/p>\n

Set the Bar is one of a few battle rap leagues in Canada, but I\u2019m foggy on how it works. Winners weren\u2019t announced. I only know for sure who won one of the battles; EB, from Victoria, said he \u201cTook the \u2018L\u2019\u201d (in other words, lost) against Illcoz, from Sooke.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
A jam-packed scene from the recent The Bridge Live Rap Battles event that happened on Saturday, January 20 (photo by AJ Aiken\/Nexus<\/em>).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There were six battles, including the main event. The only rappers not from Vancouver Island were Surrey\u2019s Devious and one of the main event rappers, Carter Deems from Atlanta, Georgia. Everyone else was either from Victoria, Sooke, Nanaimo, or Campbell River.<\/p>\n

The territorial jabs were great\u2014only Nanaimo walked away unscathed. The clarity of \u201cWelcome to Victoria. Campbell River sucks,\u201d delivered by Victoria\u2019s David Kinch\u2014a Camosun alum\u2014was beautiful. Devious took flak simply for not being from Vancouver Island.<\/p>\n

The rappers proved that Canadians are not always nice. Everything a rapper had done or said, where they\u2019re from, their physical features, or their heritage was fair game. When Sirreal, from Nanaimo, called Devious ugly, a woman in the audience got upset. Sirreal, without skipping a beat, quickly shot back, \u201cIt\u2019s a rap battle, anything goes.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The first comment against Indigenous rapper Nuckzy, representing the 14 tribes of Nuu-Cha-Nulth territory near Campbell River, made me squirm. Then I saw him standing proud, looking like a lion ready to pounce. This was meant to be a battle, but Kinch had just declared a vicious war.<\/p>\n

But in a place where nothing is considered racist or body shaming, there are some good burns. Nuckzy threatened to beat Kinch like bannock dough. Kinch fired back at Nuckzy\u2019s size accusing him of being the reason the ferry buffet shut down. Out of context, other lines were even more offensive.<\/p>\n

Devious, whose legal name is Sam, was roasted by Sirreal with a twist on Dr. Seuss\u2019 famous lines about \u201cSam I am\u201d from Green Eggs and Ham<\/i>. The imagery that Sirreal used against Devious was genius. Mocking Devious\u2019 long neck by comparing him to a giraffe and a squeeze toy whose eyes pop out pleased the crowd. Sirreal also explained he\u2019d rather build people up than destroy them, but it\u2019s a rap battle; at the end they shake hands and have a drink together. Sirreal was one of my favourites.<\/p>\n

But the main event was the best. Kreative, brother of Nuckzy, started his intro with saying something in his native tongue then ended his intro with, \u201cIf you\u2019re not First Nations, you\u2019re last.\u201d Carter Deems started the first round with, \u201cFuck Christopher Columbus,\u201d and continued with an overly self-deprecating round mocking his own whiteness. Kreative shot back on the Columbus remark suggesting Deems should get status for it. Kreative also had a line taking a stab at the Indian Act; dark humour was used from both angles. I don\u2019t know who took the official \u201cW,\u201d but I give it to Kreative. If Campbell River sucks, it\u2019s better than Atlanta, Georgia.<\/p>\n

Correction: This article originally stated that the quote from Kreative was “If you’re not First Nations, you’re fucked!” when it was “If you’re not First Nations, you’re last.” We apologize for the mistake.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For the first edition of this, my new music column, I decided it\u2019d be fun for me, a punk rock girl, to check out some rap battles. I have yet to really explore the musical landscape of the Victoria hip-hop scene; The Bridge Live Rap Battles presented by Set the Bar at the Victoria Event […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24976,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,305],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-columns","category-february-7-2024"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24974"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24974\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25037,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24974\/revisions\/25037"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}