$200 Audio Competition - Vote Now

[Bag Mandela]

1st Place: $80
2nd Place: $60
3rd Place: $40
4th Place: $20

Entries from @mal diction @Slayerr. @TheShaman @Jack Hallows

Upped the prizes so no one goes away empty handed let's goooo

@miracle ‎@MV @Mimic @MarkB @KnoXville. @Adapt. @daveDILLY @Celph Taut @Spree @Virbius @bare ryu @Soule @FaQEyeReddit @Neonn @HEK TEAFY

Any votes would be appreciated

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ENTRY #1





Let Me Go

If you wanna let me go.. let me go

..........................
The love we shared, the times we dared
To fix what’s broken, being the token
Failure in the bunch, taking the punch
The sip of life, drink spiked, at lunch

In the crunch.. clock ticking down
Screaming love aloud, amidst the crowd
Wishes now.. to promises later
In our favor.. To you I catered

You never respected me, or my grind
Now our love’s in the sea, on the pine
More than eye’s … sight.. you felt my might
Now we’re catching the wind; flying the kite

Nothing more that I can say, thoughts on replay
The rod of your love, Taught me each day
Not to delay… so I present all to you
Answer to my love, while it’s Calling you
…………..

If you wanna let me go.. let me go
I never thought time could move so slow
I only wish you would let me grow

………….

I’ve played in your leaves, swam in your ocean
Coasting, Diving deep, replaying the Motions
The most you, gave me, the sleeve of your shirt
I smiled for days with you, now relieving the smirk

Put it all up for you, a ransom writer
Heavies the weight, my Stance is lighter
Fanned the fire, only to be burned
In the end.. lonely only to be turned, again

you not as cute as you think you is
…Short is the plank you kiss…
Ain’t you this.. ain’t you that…
Stating facts… all that weight can shift

Nothing more that I can say, thoughts on replay
The rod of your love, Taught me each day
Not to delay… so I present all to you
Answer to my love, while it’s Calling you
……………..

If you wanna let me go.. let me go
I never thought time could move so slow
I only wish you would let me grow
……………….

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Entry #2





This was written in 10 minutes
Admit it, Proves I’m sick with a pen init
So why can’t u cunts meet deadlines when all u do is spit it?

Miracle dropped a dope bar, must’ve bit it
Now here’s the silly thing
Where the fuck have him n dilly been
Suppose to moderate a league?
Who put this fool in control
He couldn’t even moderate his portion control


As if that shit should fly,
give it to jack hallows expect we all prefer his goodbyes
U need to elevate but I ain’t got time to teach ya
How to formulate a punch when I beat ya
so I don’t mean ur in ur prime when we call ya jack reacher

Wait..

his mum posts on these forums? If we’re taking a train I wanna go before um when we ride it
Luckily she won’t cost a lot n lately knox has lost the plot
but the point that’s beside it
so I’ll slit his throat n help the undertaker find it

So get in the bin without a word for what’s about to occur won’t be nice to be heard
So wanna know a good virb?
Win
N that’s why you’ll never be good virb


Now who the fucks this bag man? He ain’t no bad man give me the bag man or I’ll put you in the van man
Dropped one good diss against chree
But your punches should miss against me
U don’t even have any old bangers like a robin reliant
So how u claim ur fire when ur ulez compliant?

Now that one might miss these folks coz it’s a British joke max 10
So I’ll post lyrics for that can’t understand my accent or believe my jokes
But I doubt most of u can read based on the state of ur votes
And the average IQ based in the states that you vote

So battle rap is something u shouldn’t try at home
I ran some writers off the league hit ‘em in the eye n dome
So wherever your mind will roam when ur hit its bespoke - sanity isn’t something that I savour
I won’t ransom these writers just slit their throat n do humanity a favour

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Entry #3





I'm a handyman I bang with the toolie.
I said Eye is strapped like Alastor Moody.
Nah, it ain't Faq's. It's just Rap like Kool G.
I'm sweet as Candyman, I'll just hand you a hook, Bee.
So what's The Score but an album from Fugees?
I bet I'll beat the odds with these amateur bookies.
Cuz y'all are soft as that madeleine cookie.
Wouldn't even hit the Lab if you were scared of them cooties.
While I'm smacking the booty on the baddest of cuties.
Call me the Man on the Moon cuz I Carrey the movie.
This dude Jack is soft like chronic masturabation.
Cuz he's in the sewers with the ho's like public sanitation.
I talk that shit like Mozart von Amadeus.
But it doesn't take a Genius to read these annotations.
I'm double parked: I ain't seeking validation or aderation,
I'm here to hit your ear like Trump's assasination.
Yeah.. You miss your X every X-mas.
I got the whole Westside Connected like Gangsta Nation.
If you wrote some bullshit you know FaqEye read it.
Cuz his bars are more convoluted than his name is.
And who said I ain't got the dopest rhyming schemes?
Just read between the lines like microtonal harmonies.
Mal Diction? The guy could row at Ivy League.
But he'd rather grow as high as weed with hydroponic garden seeds.
Just turn off the lights. Get your mack on.
It's bedtime stories if to-night Slayerr drag-on.
About how he used potatoes on his handgun.
The only potato is the one he recorded his track on.

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Entry #4



Jack Hallows - The Blameless Few


The Blameless Few

Intro:
oh, no. they say the sky is the limit. but the sky is a gimmick. c’mere lemme talk to
you for a minute.

v1:
there’s a war going on outside no one is safe from/ but it’s a war for your mind and it’s state run/ where fake one’s pretend that they hate guns/ but won’t hesitate to aim one if your face ain’t the same son/ it’s satan- i seen him at the gate one/- night while on a late run/ he told me i escaped because my faith won/ then laughed about the coming generation/ and said that if i can’t raise a nation of hate, then he’ll create one/ you cān’t run, this fate comes’ something we can’t escape from/ he’s reined ‘em - up in the chains of the plantation/ mistake one, was prayin’ i was more than just a slave son/ since day one we been lead astray un-der the nation/ where they take sons, and crate em off to war so they can make funds/ from the slaying done by this war forged indoctrination/ there’s nothing none can do to save them/ when he claims em & trains em to take a bullet or be hooded when they spray one - that’s A1

hook:
damn, what happened to the sky?/ they say that it’s the limit but attack you when you fly/ beware the pied piper, it’s the catcher in the rye/ who has aimed their bow and arrow at the apple of your eye/ my, wide, eyes have seen the hidden truth/ they fabricate their lies to initiate the youth/ and when the youth is hangin from the noose/ it’s too late to see the proof, that satan’s on the loose - and he’s claimed them too

v2:
the Ransom Writing’s on the cover/ they dusted off the book and opened up to the psalm of the Nightless Brother/ some sightless sputter or that righteous gutter?/ you might discover one or the other list’ning to him recite this number/ i’ve seen the lightless umbra from under bright penumbra/ where the slightest mutter could tuther you to a flightless flutter/ the utter drudge of it smothering with a psychic shudder/ Wisemen see that it gets sliced like butter with a knifeless cutter/ you stand and fight or become lifeless clutter, it don’t matter/ our bones are either scattered or they’re served upon a platter/ they’ve got the triggers loaded, division is promoted/ these niggas didn’t think we’d really notice/ - but i saw you/ now i know what to call you/ and now we comin for you/ you thought that we’d stay loyal while you claimed our soil/ you snakes may coil but your game is foiled/ i’ll watch you bake and boil over your mistake of taking satan’s toil/ i’m making sure you face your execution/ whether by guillotine, firing squad, gas or electrocution/ from retribution comes the restitution/ this is the best solution, listen to the lesson or get left illusioned with the question looming... of

hook:
what happened to the sky?/ they say that it’s the limit but attack you when you fly/ beware the pied piper, it’s the catcher in the rye/ who did aim their bow and arrow at the apple of your eye/ my, wide, eyes have seen the hidden truth/ they fabricate their lies to initiate the youth/ and when the youth is hangin from the noose/ it’s too late to see the proof, that satan’s on the loose - and he’s claimed them too -

here’s what happened to the sky/ they fabricate the heights we climb to dazzle us with lies/ realize the pied piper is the catcher in the rye/ who did germinate the worm that ate the apple of your eye/ why cry? just try, to see that it’s the truth/ before the ones you love end up as Hangmen in the noose/ just listen while i’m layin’ out the proof/ that satan’s on the loose, he’s already claimed us, don’t let him claim them too....

they are the blameless few..

---------------------------------------------------------

ChatGPT & AI Vocal (Non-competitive entry, purely for novelty)

Lyrics in captions

[Slayerr.]

Think bag should’ve dropped a track too but nice to see a good turn out! I’ll probably listen and vote after the Christmas festivities but mental about 50% of the active RB population dropped something

[Jack Hallows]

yooooo i just gotta say, y’all dropped some outstanding work @mal diction , @Slayerr. , @TheShaman

lmao@slayerr looking like dude from the gigachad memes.

i’m gonna vote later today but i seriously listened to the tracks like 3 times a piece. each entry really captured who you niggas really are on the board so that’s dope.

seriously put the quality of my shit to shame lmao. now y’all got me in the bug again. all i wanna do is get back in the booth for real. this phone recording shit just ain’t for me, i need some mic time.

good shit y’all, for real.

Howl

[Slayerr.]

yooooo i just gotta say, y’all dropped some outstanding work @mal diction , @Slayerr. , @TheShaman

lmao@slayerr looking like dude from the gigachad memes.

i’m gonna vote later today but i seriously listened to the tracks like 3 times a piece. each entry really captured who you niggas really are on the board so that’s dope.

seriously put the quality of my shit to shame lmao. now y’all got me in the bug again. all i wanna do is get back in the booth for real. this phone recording shit just ain’t for me, i need some mic time.

good shit y’all, for real.

Howl

Looooool had to Google but I wish I had his hair line

[TheShaman]

Merry Christmas everyone. Have been looking forward to hearing your verses. A shame FAQEye didn't turn up now that I wrote a line for each of y'all, lol. But it is what it is.

@Slayerr , Bag did drop something: He wrote the first GPT verse and some of the other GPT stuff.

@Jack Hallows , glad you got the urge to make some tracks, cuz you're a good writer. And your voice has a pretty gritty, demonic quality that could fit on tracks. But yeah, the sound quality was pretty hard on the ears. Without the lyrics, I don't even think I could hear what's being said. Next time, even if you record on a phone, then put it on seperate tracks. You can just download Audacity or whatever free audio editing program you want (DAW's like FL Studio also have free demos where you can export files, just not reopen saved ones), and then send the recording to your mail and put it on top of an instrumental. I used to have an old computer mic and just record straight into Audacity like that (kind of like the vibe from KRS on the cover of Return of the Boom Bap where he's rapping into a headset mic).

@Slayerr , I like the fact that you did a video, and with the a cappella verse it makes it very battle rappy. But then I also feel like there should be so much more focus on the video itself and the bars. And the bars themselves didn't really cut it for me. E.g. the first line: I wrote it in ten minutes, so I'm sick with the pen, innit? That should really have been said at the end, cuz amount of time spent doesn't really prove anything, does it? And logically, how would you know if we didn't stick to the deadline if you did so yourself? Also, "Jack reacher" and "not good Virb" are just not very good lyrics to me. But the "prefer your goodbyes" and the "states that you vote" were dope, and the idea of clowning ppl not understanding your accent was also nice, although I thought it could have been carried out a bit better. But it also takes some balls to just write some bars and drop it straight on camera like that. So props.

@mal diction , I really liked that you did a chorus and put some autotune on it. It definitely made it more of a polished song. And also just the fact that you are writing about lost love or whatever makes it more into a tune. And since it's an audio battle, I think the sound of it matters. Your voice is also good, and your flow and way of rhyming sounds nice on a beat. So this thing that ppl encourage you to write more songs I think is spot on. Could be nice to see you develop a story or something like that throughout the verses, where there's some kind of clear conclusion. I think that kind of rigid idea coupled with your pretty open ended, poetic lyrics would go well together. The way it is now, I think it's good, but the style of it with the sentimental guitar beat and the vagueness of it doesn't hit my personal taste. But that's probably just me. And I think it has a lot of potential.

On my own verse, I'll just say that the reason I'm beatboxing at the beginning was because Jack said he might do it and then didn't, so I just kept it as an intro. And he's also the reason I'm rhyming on cookie to begin with cuz he thought I pronounced it differently, lol. But the whole thing was actually just the demo take that I ended up sending to Mandela cuz it was meant to be before Christmas and all. The rap and the beat and the playing was not very clean (I also listened in the car, and there was no bass at all, lol). So yeah, it's not like I feel like I nailed this at all, but it was fun to do, so thanks to @Bag Mandela for the initiative.

Regarding the vote, I think I'll give it to ChatGPT in the interest of impartiality. But if you press me, I'd probably give it to Mal secondly because of the sound quality and creating an overall vibe. (It just goes against my own hipsterish lyrical nerd, anti-love song mentality for me to give it my actual vote). But props to everyone for participating. Could be dope to see something similar in the future. Or just hear more music from you guys in general.

[Virbius]

Yooo amazing work everyone. Merry Christmas all. Before I drop a vote, who wrote their own beat? Only Shaman?

[Bag Mandela]

Props to everyone, mal writing & recording that track within a few days is impressive, Jack putting his track together on an app is nuts & Slayerr. brought straight bars through - that switch in flow at "who's this bag man" was class. The only place I'm sure of at the mo is 1st going to Shaman, original beat was dope as fuck, worked with your rapping style really well & the beatboxing at the start was ill too, props to Jack for suggesting it. Deffo wanna see another round of this at some point.

[Jack Hallows]

haven’t read the other posts yet cuz i want to go in blind, but it’s dope how deep Shaman’s breakdown looks to have went with it.

right off the bat i’ma just place myself in 4th. i tried but the quality of my track sounds like someone recorded a prison phone call on a talkboy from Home Alone

in my defense though, it’s my first time ever attempting a recording by myself & i used my phone for everything as i don’t own a laptop anymore. i also bought the wrong type of mic lol.. had no idea there was a difference between iphone interview audio equipment & iphone audio equipment for music production smh.. past couple days i’ve watched a few youtube videos on how to make proper sounding recordings on a phone so i’m gonna re record this when i get the chance & the right equipment.

now that that’s out of the way, onto the three actual contenders with quality audio:

it was hard as fuck to choose which was best but i got Mal & Shaman pegged for the top spot. elaboration further down.

Slayerrrr’s entry was dope, i liked that homes went raw dog video acapella. bold move considering how utterly hideous he is lmao. definitely funnier than expected & the verses sounded good being spit. best segment was the:

Now that one might miss these folks coz it’s a British joke max 10
So I’ll post lyrics for that can’t understand my accent or believe my jokes
But I doubt most of u can read based on the state of ur votes
And the average IQ based in the states that you vote

dude def did his thing.. no complaints performance wise. i’d like to hear him on a track though cuz acapella is easy.

Mal.. damn i knew shit was gonna be fire when we were discussing the kind of tracks we were gonna submit but gdamn i ain’t expect to be singing the shit LMAO. that’s a legit break up banger. the only kind of love song that’s good. dope imagery throughout & the voice conveyed the emotion of the track. didn’t sound forced or cheesy & wasn’t too complex. very easy listening & the subject matter was on point.

what put this as a hard contender for #1 was how dude went ham on the second verse!

I’ve played in your leaves, swam in your ocean
Coasting, Diving deep, replaying the Motions
The most you, gave me, the sleeve of your shirt
I smiled for days with you, now relieving the smirk

Put it all up for you, a ransom writer
Heavies the weight, my Stance is lighter
Fanned the fire, only to be burned
In the end.. lonely only to be turned, again

you not as cute as you think you is
…Short is the plank you kiss…
Ain’t you this.. ain’t you that…
Stating facts… all that weight can shift

anyone who’s been through some shit with a broad has felt these words, especially if you actually felt something other than lust for her, so this shit hit home. dope as fuck.

Shaman’s track was fucking epic. nigga went from not even wanting to participate to dropping the fucking Random Writers theme song. shit got intro music vibes all over it.

shit was put together perfectly. the diss intro with the beatbox transition into the beat was fire. lyrics were on point, his obscure punchlines worked extremely well here. homes threw in a Candyman, Kool G Rap & a Fugees reference all within like 6 bars. clearly he was tryna me vote for him lol. i also like how he took basically all the shit we’ve spoken about in the chat & incorporated it into the production, from the beatbox, to the inside joke references about accents & cookies & he even made the beat. track was just long enough for replay value & that gdamn jazz piano outro? shit just had me sittin here like “smh, son ain’t have to do that to niggas…” lmao.. dude track could’ve been in a Boondocks episode with how it vibes. perfect track for the tourney.

that’s why in the end it came down to Mal & Shaman for 1st.

in my decision, i had to go with my gut. if this were a regular audio tourney with no theme & just tracks submitted, Mal would’ve won hands down. i mean, i was singing homes track after the 2nd listen lol.. he dropped that real shit.

but i feel like in this instance, Shaman understood the assignment even though no assignment was handed out. that track was just too perfect of a themed track for the tourney. like i said, it plays like the theme song to Ransom Writers. got that super hip hop feel to it but with some chill lofi hybrid vibes. i fuck with it.

so in conclusion, @TheShaman gets my vote for 1st. Mal for 2nd. Slayerr. for 3rd & me.

good shit y’all. @Bag Mandela should consider putting together a RapBattles mix tape.

Howl.

[mal diction]

'preciate it Hallows.. i thought you would take it based on your concept.. and yeah.. you mos def need to get a desktop, not a laptop(if a laptop, go alienware), with an AMD processor(better for music and video), not intel

- - - Updated - - -

yeah get a gaming* desktop

@Jack Hallows

[Virbius]

To be clear I’m impressed with everyone’s entries. You’re all winners in my eyes, I didn’t really wanna judge this but I said I would so here goes:

4th: Slayerr comes in last place coz he said I’m not a good Virb. The bars are solid, and whilst acapella is a valid choice I feel like it didn’t take full advantage of the audio format. If this was a video battle or strongest jawline competition I’d have Slayerr taking this for sure.

3rd: Jack’s is hardest to judge, because the lyrics and delivery are fire but the sound quality makes it difficult to listen to. If it wasn’t for that issue Jack’s track seems like one I’d enjoy a lot, and which would stand up to repeat listening. There’s a lot of lyrical depth, interesting subject matter, the writing resonates most with me. It’s an audio competition, and sadly due to the sound quality it wasn’t pleasant to listen to, so I can’t give this the higher position which I feel it in many ways deserves.

2nd: Mal’s track is everything I hoped to hear from him and more. His flow’s impeccable, the lyrics convey their meaning clearly and poetically. dope. Very listenable, easy to vibe with. I’d put this on when I’m kicking back with my morning coffee.

1st: Shaman’s accent is a surprise, he sounds kinda Australian imo. Whilst the lyrics have a fun cypher style feel to them he made some clever choices with regard to the in-jokes and relevant, contextual specificity. I clapped when I realised he’d been rhyming off ‘cookie’ in reference to the pronunciation discussion. I like how he rides the beat. The self-produced beat really stood out too, quality work. I think the whole track is really effective at doing what it sets out to do.

Congrats everyone. I’ve listened to all of these a bunch while I was deciding how to vote. Now I’mma go listen to them again.

[TheShaman]

Ransom Writers theme song haha, that's high praise @Jack Hallows . Now I wish I finished up and polished the song even more. But we can always do a round 2. E.g. with some kind of song theme.

Btw you mean to tell me that all these elaborate and often eloquently humorous posts/novels you write are all written on a phone? That's completely insane to me, lol. I even still have paper notebooks cuz I hate writing on phones.

@Virbius thanks for the feedback. Australian accent, never head that before, lol. I don't even try to disguise the fact that I'm Danish. I even clown on ppl doing an overly American accent when they're not from there, lol..

Do you make music yourself? Your style of rhyming is pretty much the quintessential battle rap style to me (but then again, it's all battle rap on here). Monarch, oh! / Kosovo / Prospero comes to mind as sounding very musical, though. Would love to hear how you sound on a track.

@mal diction did you make the beat yourself? I didn't really check out your other songs on soundcloud untill now, but you're definitely good at making music. I just assumed it was a premade beat for some reason. The What We Do track also has a guitar on it, and it doesn't sound like a sample, so maybe you played it?

Good to see a little activity in here btw. I thought this battle would get some more attention, but I guess the whole forum has just been in a little bit of a drought with the holidays.

It's all good. Happy New Year's, fellas. And see you in 2025.

[Virbius]

@Virbius thanks for the feedback. Australian accent, never head that before, lol. I don't even try to disguise the fact that I'm Danish. I even clown on ppl doing an overly American accent when they're not from there, lol..

Do you make music yourself? Your style of rhyming is pretty much the quintessential battle rap style to me (but then again, it's all battle rap on here). Monarch, oh! / Kosovo / Prospero comes to mind as sounding very musical, though. Would love to hear how you sound on a track.

Ahah I’ve got a terrible ear for accents so you probably don’t sound Australian to anyone but me. I used to listen to a Swedish rapper and expected you to sound similar, you absolutely don’t. Your accent is dope, and clear to understand. Yeah your track has a Ransom Writers theme song vibe which is super cool, very well put Jack.

Nah I don’t make music. I recorded some stuff a long time ago. I was a pretentious little oik so recorded 15-minute long tracks and called the project a ‘suite’ instead of an album. lol. It was, uh, unusual.

Happy new year all. The last quarter of 2024 was a bit shit for me, but you all have been great and this community’s really helped me get through some tough times, so thanks all, I appreciate you.

[TheShaman]

Nah I don’t make music. I recorded some stuff a long time ago. I was a pretentious little oik so recorded 15-minute long tracks and called the project a ‘suite’ instead of an album. lol. It was, uh, unusual.

Happy new year all. The last quarter of 2024 was a bit shit for me, but you all have been great and this community’s really helped me get through some tough times, so thanks all, I appreciate you.

Haha, seems to fit the bill somehow. Keep your head up, dawg. Glad to hear we were of some help to you.

I started out just feeling an itch to write raps earlier this year, and I didn't want to get too sucked in, cuz it's pretty time consuming to peruse the forums and write raps all the time, but I'm also really feeling the community here, so I'm definitely sticking around for now.

Also, not least, shout out to Bag Mandela once again for all these awesome initiatives with the cypher battle and the audio battle and also to @Saviorself and Chree and all the cats who held it down in the cypher threads.

Hopefully we'll have many more fire lyrics in the new year. Peace!

[mal diction]

@mal diction did you make the beat yourself? I didn't really check out your other songs on soundcloud untill now, but you're definitely good at making music. I just assumed it was a premade beat for some reason. The What We Do track also has a guitar on it, and it doesn't sound like a sample, so maybe you played it?
.

nah, the beat was made by one of my producers on youtube(i dont like giving away their names).. and thanks for the props