Hayden Lounge will be the venue for Stevens’ first ever Epic Rap Battle on Wednesday, hosted by student Joshua Negron. Negron originally got the idea from one of his fraternity brothers in Lambda Upsilon Lambda. “Christopher Melendrez had initially come up with the idea of having an event very similar to the videos that are made on YouTube. With the help of the source of the initial idea, I decided to take charge of organizing the event,” he said.
As for Negron’s qualifications to host such an event, he claims to have been down since day one. “I want to say the day I was born my mom was a big fan of R&B and singers like Mary J. Blige. On occasions, she and others would have rappers featured in their songs and I started looking into them from there. My first real transition into the culture of the hip-hop/rap world would be Sean Paul, even though he is a more reggae/rap artist, around 5th grade. Eventually I made it to ‘actual’ rap.“
“My favorite current rappers [are] a few members of Top Dawg Entertainment; Kendrick Lamar, Schoolboy Q, and Isaiah Rashad. Other rappers not part of this group that I also have a high interest in [are] Chance the Rapper and Action Bronson… My favorite rappers of all time would be the Notorious B.I.G., Eminem, and most recently, Kendrick Lamar.”
In terms of structure, this isn’t going to be your typical back-and-forth freestyle battle. Instead, Joshua is modeling it after the popular YouTube series “Epic Rap Battles of History.”
“There will be three battles consisting of two participants in each battle. It will be more of a pageant-style event, where the first-round winners will be solely based on who scored the most points from the criteria (overall performance, costumes, stage presence, audience enthusiasm, and lyrics). After that, those three finalists will be put up to audience decision, for which a poll will be taken by the audience and they will choose who they believe won.”
Negron’s decision on this format stemmed from his doubt that a traditional rap battle would be successful. “It’s more of a stage performance, and presentation of lyrics [written] prior to the event. I felt this would be more beneficial when it came to the quality of the lyrics, since not many people are lyrical geniuses and can come up with great lines on the spot.” Negron also predicted this would increase signups for competitors. Rehearsing lyrics takes some pressure off people, and they won’t have to try to invent witticisms on the spot.
Each of the competitors will be playing a character for their rap, à la “Epic Rap Battles of History.” In terms of what types of characters we can expect to see at the event, Negron gave a few hints. “Let’s just say the characters range from classical monsters/creatures to everyday items to some of the greatest scientists who ever lived.”
No matter the attendance of this particular show, Negron wants to make rap battles a regular event on campus. “I am definitely thinking about hopefully making this Lambda Upsilon Lambda’s annual event. This year was not planned the best, so I am not sure how great the attendance will be. But I know that this will not be the last Epic Rap Battle of Stevens.” The battle will take place on Wednesday, April 15 at 9 p.m. in Hayden Lounge.
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