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Is Battle Rap's rise in popularity similar to the rise of Pro Wrestling?

1K views 21 replies 10 participants last post by  Sweettre15 
#1 ·
What's interesting to me is that just like back in the day when where was GCW, Mid south/UWF, WWF/WWWF, AWA etc, there are regional territories in battle rap, Don't Flop in England, King of The Dot in Canada and LA, Smack/URL in New York and I think there's a league in Asia.

Just like the wrestling went from being in dimly lit arenas to PPV and TV, Battle rap has went from being in the streets and house parties to being done in big venues on stages/and or at venues with a pit as well as being on PPV

However, what sets them apart is that to some degree Pro Wrestling has always operated on contracted talent where as with Battle rap, the guys are free to go whereever and are only obligated to the contracts for the night of said appearances.

The real question is...If Battle rap leagues get MORE popular and get TV deals and whatnot, do you see them going the way of pro wrestling and each league having contractually obligated talent or sticking to their current format?
 
#2 ·
As much as I love battle rap (mark the fuck out for Loaded Lux, even with his recent subpar showings against Mook and Hollow), I think it is far too niche to ever get to a level that leagues would feel it necessary to create non-compete clauses in contracts. Further, the very nature of battle rap, with its focus on gunplay, drug dealing, fucking your bitch, etc. makes it the sort of thing tv networks generally stay away from because advertisers get antsy.
 
#7 ·
However, what sets them apart is that to some degree Pro Wrestling has always operated on contracted talent where as with Battle rap, the guys are free to go whereever and are only obligated to the contracts for the night of said appearances.
That's not exactly true. There have always been journeymen wrestlers that used to work for promotion to promotion. This even happens today in the indy's where some of the really bottom feeding wrestlers go from promotion to promotion without a contract as enhancement talent usually trying to get over on their own.
 
#8 ·
Like I said to some degree lol. In Battle rap though names like Hollow Da Don, Arsonal, T-Rex, Murda Mook, Serius Jones, Charlie Clips etc have been able to show up on Don't Flop, URL, and KOTD's biggest shows without conflict between Smack, Eurgh, or Organik. Hogan, Flair etc wouldn't be able to bounce between WWF and NWA so easily despite per appearance jobbers and the like being able to.
 
#12 ·
Yeah, Food for thought but you're right it's not likely because Smack and Organik might not have the business sense of McMahon, Bischoff, or even UFC's Dana White.

But one can't deny that it's popularity continues to increase and I'm not sure if it'll reach a stopping point soon
 
#11 ·
Well something else you might remember is the very watered down freestyle Friday segments on BET and of course Nick Cannon's Wild N Out that tend to be most casuals' exposure to battle rap unless you were buying Smack DVDs and watching Fight Klub and Grindtime Now on the Internet.
 
#14 ·
I wouldn't be particularly fond of those leagues either if Arsonal, Hollow, Clips, Lux, Serius, DNA, Shotty Horroh, Charron, Hitman Holla, Calicoe etc were all tied to one promotion.

I wouldn't want to see that shit but if it did get that popular I hope things could stay they were they currently are
 
#15 ·
I used to get free tickets to the Grind Time ones (obviously a long time ago). I became annoyed when they started acting like they were fighting. Also since it's so subjective the judging is super inconsistent. I won't name a name but I saw one of them do a line of blow before his battle, you can guess who he was.
 
#20 ·
Speaking of which, while we have this thread here, has anyone ever seen that battle between Arsonal and Hollow Da Don on Fight Klub?

I was watching that last night and It was too funny how disrespectful Arsonal was in that Battle. Never saw Hollow get killed like that before :lol
 
#21 ·
The URL already has contracted its Proving Ground battle rappers so they aren't able to appear on other leagues. So some moves have already been made in that respect. The problem is in order to make moves such as contract rappers, move to bigger venues etc. it would take a monumental risk on the part of that said league and to be honest battle rap does not have the same reach as wrestling once did because of the nature of its content. Which means whilst world wide it's getting bigger by the minute, it's still very much a niche audience...which is growing for sure but it's very unlikely to be mainstream.

UW league for example took a big risk with the Hollow vs Lux battle to have it PPV only (which they retracted on later), that on top of paying the battlers (both got 40k each), hiring the venue, the promotion etc. it cost them a lot of money and they ended up making a loss. UW were big for that period of time but since then have dropped significantly. URL, KOTD and Don't Flop are still the biggest battle rap companies in the world right now.

The idea of contracting PG rappers is stupid by the way because it limits them to how big they can get. You had battlers like Arsonal and Hollow get big on Grind Time before getting to the URL stage. They made their names elsewhere and URL took advantage of that and promoted them. One of them is the most viewed battle rapper in the world and the other arguably was part of the biggest battle of the modern written era. These PG rappers if they were allowed to take battles in KOTD and Don't Flop could make a name for themselves there as well as in the URL so by the time they become top tier they become genuine draws. That is what I don't get about URL's business policy refusing to do business with Chilla Jones and Danny Myers for example when their names got bigger and they are worth so much more BECAUSE they took battles elsewhere. I guess it's just Norbes wanting to control everything. But in the battle rap world it makes very little business sense.

Anyhow the short answer is I can see Battle Rap's popularity increasing and getting bigger but it won't have the same boom period as what wrestling has had.
 
#22 ·
Though hypothetically speaking, what do you think it would take to get to that point? Popular artists picking up KOTD, URL, and DF battles? When I say popular artists I don't necessarily mean a Lil Wayne or something but like a Jay z, Eminem, or Drake, two of whom have have rap battled in their pasta and the other who has his hand rather deep in the battle rap "cookie jar" with KOTD
 
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