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Battle rap

Battle rap (also known as rap battling) is a type of rapping performed between two or more performers that incorporates boasts, insults, wordplay and disses originating in the African-American community. Battle rap is often performed spontaneously, or freestyled, in live battles known as rap battles, where participants will compete on the same stage to see who has the better verses.

Battle rap was loosely described by 40 Cal, previously a member of American hip hop collective the Diplomats, in the book How to Rap (2009) as an "extracurricular" display of skill, comparing it to the dunk contest in the NBA. Battle rap has been developed into highly organized league events drawing in significant revenue and attention. Mainstream artists such as Diddy, Busta Rhymes, Eminem, Machine Gun Kelly, Drake, Kendrick Lamar, Joe Budden and Cassidy have attended or participated in battles to help increase their popularity. Rap battles are often written and performed to impress crowds with technically inventive rapping, and knowing a wide variety of rapping styles and a wide range of MCs as personal inspirations is recommended. Various MCs have started out writing mostly battle raps and battling other MCs before releasing commercial records.

Battle rap is believed to have started in the East Coast hip-hop scene in the late 1980s. One of the earliest battles occurred in December 1981, when Kool Moe Dee challenged Busy Bee StarskiBusy Bee Starski's defeat meant that "no longer was an MC just a crowd-pleasing comedian with a slick tongue; he was a commentator and a storyteller" thus, rendering Busy's archaic format of rap obsolete, in favor of a newer style which KRS-One credits as creating a shift in rapping in the documentary Beef.

In the 1980s, battle raps were a popular form of rapping – Big Daddy Kane in the book How to Rap says, "as an MC from the '80s, really your mentality is battle format... your focus was to have a hot rhyme in case you gotta battle someone... not really making a rhyme for a song". Battle rapping is still sometimes closely associated with old school hip-hop – talking about battle rapping, Esoteric says, "a lot of my stuff stems from old school hip-hop, braggadocio ethic".

The New Music Seminar (NMS) is a Music Conference and Festival held annually each June in New York City. The New Music Seminar originally ran from 1980 to 1995. It quickly spawned the MC and DJ Battles for World Supremacy – a fertile showcase for rappers and DJs to make a name for themselves. Participants include a wide variety of very influential rappers such as Busy Bee, Melle Mel, MF Grimm, and Kool G Rap with judges such as Afrika Bambaataa, P Diddy, and many other influential rappers.

Some of the most prominent battles that took place on record are listed in the book, Ego Trip's Book of Rap Lists, and include such battles as the Roxanne Wars (1984–1985), Juice Crew vs. Boogie Down Productions (1986–1988), Kool Moe Dee vs. LL Cool J (1987–1991), MC Serch vs. MC Hammer (1989–1994), Dr. Dre & Snoop Dogg vs. Luke (1992–1993), Common vs. Ice Cube (1994–1996), MC Pervis & Brand New Habits and LL Cool J vs. Canibus (1997–1998) – all of which include memorable battle rap verses.

As hip-hop asserted its presence across the country, MC battles were growing in popularity. One of the early predecessors of the contemporary, more confrontational variation of battle rap was the 1994 face-off between Craig G and Supernatural. The battle happened organically, by virtue of Supernatural calling out Craig G while he was performing. As it so happened, Craig G was in the crowd, and the host invited him to the stage. Craig G won the battle that evening. The two would go on to meet on two other occasions during the 1990s, thereby establishing a place in battle rap as one of the earliest and most exciting sagas in the subculture.

From the late 1990s to the end of the 2000s, freestyle rapping became very popular, with many artists getting attention for new styles, charisma, and witty punchlines in battles such as Scribble Jam and Rocksteady.

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