The Journeys of Speed

Greetings, all.

First off, shoutout to my Terps last night for not letting the 13-4 upset go down (::cough::Georgetown::cough::).

Now that that’s out the way, I have some exclusive information about pretty cool event (for a heckuva good cause) that’s going down at the University of Maryland on March 30, 2010. So, UMD radio hosts @djtonydrake and Miss DJ Gemz (of the UMUC Radio show “The Blender”) are bringing to our sleepy, little, Bentley’s-fiending campus (wink wink) a freestyle battle featuring some of the best freestyle artists that the DMV has to offer. I have the list, but out of respect for the wishes of Tony et al., I will not drop it until I get the okay to do so. At that time, expect to see a few brief interviews with the participants. But, I can tell you this–out of the ten that are participating, four have been featured on Grindtimenow.com and the (in)famous World Star Hip-Hop (WSHH)

Judged by DJ Heat (WPGC-FM) and two DJs from Unruly Records (the same record company that brought us classic K-Swift mixes and, well, just about every other major Baltimore Club major over the past–at least–ten years), the single elimination tournament goes like this:

::cues fanfare::

According to the official rules of the contest,

1. Each MC will find out who they battle in the first round once they arrive at the event. For everyone’s first round the host will ask them to introduce themselves to the crowd and what charity they are competing for. Each round will begin with a coin flip. The person on the host’s right will call it in the air. The winner of the flip will then decide if he/she wants to go first or second.

2. The first two battles are between the #1/#2 match-up and the #6/#7 match-up.

3. After these two battles are finished, this is where the real fun begins. The elite eight (hope I don’t get sued for that one) will unleash some of their most potent rhymes until only one remains standing.

4. Each of the battles will have two 30 second rounds with an instrumental. The judges will then decide who advances to the next round. We will have an odd number of judges so there will be no need for a tie breaker. The only round that will be different is the championship round. That round will have two 60 second acapella rounds. Time will be stopped if the crowd starts to get rowdy and the judges are not able to hear the MC. Once the championship round is complete, the judges will decide the winner.

5. Although there is no “you curse you’re eliminated” rule, please try to keep the freestyles as clean as possible because some of the charities might be in attendance.

Sounds pretty exciting, don’cha think? Sponsor participants include McDonalds, Iota Phi Theta, ArtLyfEnt (the same group that brings you the “Playlist The DMV” mixtape series; Vol. Two is on the way, BTW), Words, Beats, and Life, Inc., Phi Beta Sigma, and a host of other student-run and DMV-centric organizations (to say the very least). And, while the event is free, guests are encouraged to donate three dollars to go towards the grand total that the winning artist will give to the charity of their choosing. Now, c’mon guys, I know that you can drop three dollars for a good cause, considering how many of you I see out and about. Just joking, but still, you should try to if you can.

As previously stated, I will not release the names of the participants until given the okay from DJ Tony Drake (which is, well, probably a notification on Facebook highlighting the participants). But, in the coming week-so-so leading up to the battle, expect to hear more about this once-in-a-lifetime event. I, bearing extenuating circumstances, will also probably be there, covering the event for those that aren’t able to swing on by.

-Speed