The Echo Chamber Blog

I’ll probably hit this event just because battles happen so rarely around here now.  And this MPC battle between 8th and Araab should be pretty dope.

***UPDATE***

This was my first time experiencing Hell, and, aside from the horrific crop-duster that some asshole blessed the building with, I honestly thought the venue was far from the devil’s lair.  It had the dingy, yet mysteriously likable feel of The Living Room, and I thought it was an appropriate venue for the event.  Both the acapella emcee battles and the main event MPC face-off were heard loudly and clearly, and, despite fans bumrushing the stage to record the Araab x 8th Wundah battle of the beats, I’m willing to bet there will be some good footage to surface — which I hope to continue to update this post with.

Considering the lingering cut-throat atmosphere present at any battle event, there was still a sense of unity amongst the crowd.  (At least where I was standing.) Lots of familiar faces were in attendance: Chachi, DJ Therion, Sterbyrock, Sneak Techniks, Lingo, Izma, Jahpan, and Alipone, just to name a few of the longtime locals, were there to observe the happenings.  T, now part of P.O.W. Camp, was also at the show.  Raise, former battler on the local scene, had his hand in on the event handling some of the hosting and promotional duties for the evening, as well.  Shit, even Sneaky fucking Pete didn’t budge from the place with the base after Marshall Law smacked him with a blind-sided bar.

Needless to say, the talent was widespread and the diversity of the crowd was something to be noted.  And that makes me happy — because I believe the Rhode Island area has way too much potential to be held down by bitter segregation and feeble-ass crew rivalries.  Motherfuckers just need to shake hands, accept and embrace the talent of the next man, and get along.  (Then get at me to be featured on TECB!)  This kid brings up a point or two about the topic as well.  I guess it’s just a pipe dream of mine, but, no matter how much of a lost cause it may seem like, I plan to keep on pushing with my contributions to this site.

Anyway, here’s what I thought of the show…

Like every hip-hop show since the beginning of time, things started off a little later than expected.  That meant a few of the acts weren’t allowed to perform, which was a little disappointing because I was looking forward to hearing some recent material from T – who I haven’t heard or seen since the last Mic-Wars when he was still going by Reality.   However, the young MLK Jr. (anyone remember his name?) student on stage representing “for the ladies” was a definite highlight of the evening.  (Have I ever mentioned on TECB how Kriss Kross was my first concert?  Respect that.)  All of the other time was exclusively for the battles and my consumption of The Champagne of Beers.

The first battle put Milez Grimez against KNS (an acronym I refuse to type out), and, to be honest, I don’t know if any of the battles to follow were able to match the lyrical lashing that Milez dished-out.  That said, in short, the rest of the battles went like this: The Marshall Law x Hammer Beanz rematch wasn’t as brutal as the crowd was expecting, but was nonetheless entertaining; M-3 took it to the fake C-Rayz Walz pretty easily; And that guy with more plastic cups than rhymes was easily served by a local emcee whose name eludes me at the moment.

The live MPC battle closed-out the night…

All three rounds were dope and I think the decision ended up being split between the judges.  Then the crowd was asked who they thought won, and — although the loudest, most extended reaction came after 8th Wundah’s name was called — Araab ended up taking the win.

All in all, it was a great evening.  Please feel free to share your thought and/or stories of Winter Wars with us below in the comment section.

Peace.

Filed under: 401 Gettin' It Done, Events, Hip-Hop, Instrumental, Music Tagged: | 8th Wundah, Alipone, Araab Muzik, Chachi, Club Hell, DJ Therion, Izma, Jahpan, Lingo, Marshall Law, Milez Grimez, P.O.W. Camp, Raise, Sneak Techniks, Sterbyrock, Winter Wars