Stop asking me to freestyle, what you want from me?

Miamians: Y'all remember the battle scene? The time roughly between 2000 and 2002 when you could always see at least a couple of good battles? Remember when you would walk into the Polish-American Club and see Jin, Serum, Parable, or Wrekonize and know that they'd probably be in the finals? Those battles made them mini-local-celebrities and -- more importantly -- gave a much needed injection of competition to the Miami Hip-Hop scene. Blade Barbershop, Mouth of the South, Who Can Roast the Most?, Next 2 Shine, and a long list of other competitions were a way for the underground community to politic, be entertained, and hear the story about you know who throwing piss on the PAC's owner for the thousandth time. It was a nice break from the mundane scene that is Miami Hip-Hop.

So you can imagine how nostalgic I got when I browsed through my old 8MM tapes and saw one labeled 'USBC.' Before I even popped the tape in, I was already reminiscing about the melee between J-Pure and Gedden that almost broke my camera, the viciousness showed by Lyve Kaos to everyone he faced, and the almost uncomfortably happy face Wrekonize made when he finally got the monkey off his back and beat Serum. Next Level Barbershop (now rechristened as Status [located across from MDC-Kendall campus]) had some heat that night. I wish more events like it would have taken place before we all grew tired of the battle scene and moved on to better things. Regardless, here's a few gems from the Underground Show Battle Championships 2001 that I put together. It's strictly highlights, so cue the Sportscenter theme and pay attention.

From, Miami with love.

Lyve Kaos vs. Fergie // Soloman Spectrum vs. Ill Select // Dolo vs. OBCT // Wrekonize vs. Jiggs // Gedden vs. H20 // Lyve Kaos vs. Skripture // Wrekonize vs. Brainstorm


Serum vs. Risk // J-Pure vs. Gedden


Wrekonize vs. Soloman Spectrum // Parable vs. Lyve Kaos // Serum vs. J-Pure


Wrekonize vs. Lyve Kaos // Wrekonize vs. Serum

MySpace The Artists Featured in these videos:
Lyve Kaos
Wrekonize
Serum
Soloman Spectrum
Parable
Jiggs (of SLP)
Dolo