Kid Twist & PORICH vs Organik & Knamelis

This battle is what really put me and Rich on track to win the Toronto division. Organik and Knamelis came into the competition as the clear favourites, and I still remember how shocked we were that we had actually beat them. Rich phoned his brother afterwards to tell him what happened, and he kept knocking on wood after saying that we won. We both became very superstitious for the rest of the day. Rich was fighting a massive rum headache as well, which made the victory that much more surprising.

I agree with Organik’s comment in the interview that it could’ve been called for their team after the first overtime. His “Hi mom/pylon” punch and the follow-up were killer. I don’t feel too bad about it though, since it was far from the worst decision of the day. But if the judges had given them the win, I think it would’ve taken away all our momentum and changed the outcome of the whole WRC. Bishop and Stretch Diesel probably would’ve finished first in the division, and murdered Illmac and Thesaurus in two rounds en route to winning the championship.

The funniest part of this battle by far is Scott Boogie’s spiel right before the fourth round: “Round 2, Round 3 … I’m looking at this, it means we’re going to overtime.” The reason this is so hilarious is that the card was blank. The judges would just tell him the decision verbally, so they could use the same card in every shot. And to think that he’s Canada’s next Prime Minister.

My other favourite part is Knamelis’ face in the interview when Organik quotes my sunscreen line. He just gives this slow nod, like he’s thoughtfully analyzing the concept of using cum cream to block Ultraviolet rays. Even he says he didn’t do as well in the WRC as he could have, but I thought his whole personality was untouchable all day.

Stay tuned, more WRC blogs on the way soon …

Kid Twist vs PORICH

This battle was a loooong time coming. Me and Rich actually battled before I faced Prolific for the first time, as a practice bout for the upcoming competition. We’ve talked about doing a serious rematch ever since. There have been several times that we were planning to get together and film it, and it didn’t work out for whatever reason. Then we were supposed to face each other at the last Proud to Be Eh Battle Emcee, but Rich got severely jerked against Chuck Ice. So when Organik asked us to do this with only a week’s notice, we said yes very quickly.

In my honest opinion, this is one of the closest battles that has happened in a long time. I can’t remember any other match-up where both competitors were so consistent since Thesaurus vs Justice. Some people think that Rich should’ve won because he came with a steadier flow and more aggression. Some people think I should’ve won because I was funnier and paused more to let my lines sink in. To me, that’s what a battle SHOULD come down to – who’s style was stronger, not who used more “multis” (worst word ever) in a row.

Lines that might need an explanation: there was a random inebriated bum who interrupted the previous battle between Tricky and HFK, shouting out rhymes about world peace and how we should all just get along (seriously). Which is where my crackhead reference came from. And if you didn’t get the Craig G line, watch this. I’m not going to break down all the personals because it would take 25 years, so let me just say that if something sounded like it was true, it almost certainly was.

Also, Rich and I were both planning to go first if we won the coin toss, which is why I called him a “fucker” when he said he would start. And during our final round, there were literally 6 cops standing on either side of the cameraman. They were not only nice enough to let us keep filming, they actually laughed and reacted to what we were saying.

This was a great day for Canadian hip-hop. Classic battles (go watch Tricky vs HFK if you haven’t yet), huge crowd, and all organized in a week. Big thanks and respect to Organik and the whole King of the Dot team for throwing this. T-dot beyotch.

Kid Twist & PORICH vs Jack Shitt & Speakeasy

This is the reason that I’m famous to weird people on the Internet: JumpOff’s World Rap Championships. Before I get into the first battle, let me give you some background on how I got involved with the WRC, since originally I didn’t even enter.

My second battle with Prolific happened in late December of 2006. After that, due to school and other things in my personal life, I decided I was pretty much done with battling. I knew PORICH through his producer – Adu Bamboo (makes incredibly sick beats, check his page out) – and we had recorded a few songs together. When JumpOff announced that they were holding qualifiers in Toronto, Rich asked me to partner with him right away; I told him I was officially retired.

So the TO qualifiers arrive. Rich’s partner flakes out on him, and Adu ends up having to step in literally last minute as a replacement. I was out of the battle scene loop at this point, so I didn’t see the qualifying videos until two weeks before the main competition was going to happen. I watched Rich single-handedly murder everyone (including Aspire and Prolific) and suddenly got the itch to get back in the ring. So I hit him up and asked if the spot was still open. My name was on JumpOff’s site the next day.

As far as this battle goes, I was happy just to get up there and start rapping. We got to the venue at 11 in the morning, and the competition didn’t start until about 3 pm. The rest of the time was taken up filming pre-battle interviews, ciphers, and a whole series of epic walking montage footage. None of which was ever used.

I remember Knamelis telling me that he talked to Harry after this battle was over. Harry said that my Sparta line was the best one yet, and Knamelis agreed it was definitely the punch of the day so far. Harry said, “No, I mean the best line out of any division we’ve filmed.” Of course, they hadn’t done LA or Detroit yet. But it was still cool.

Kid Twist vs Prolific (Part Two)

For some reason, sequels are just never as good as the original.

Let me say that there was a lot of tension between Prolific and I at this event. After the first battle blew up on YouTube, I think we both felt like we had a lot to prove. And based on that previous bout as well as his other verses that night, I really was not expecting him to come at me like he did. His whole first round, I was thinking, “Fuck. I should’ve prepared more.”

Out of the footage I have online, I would say this is my worst performance by far. I was really trying to focus on my delivery, so I would actually have a little bit of, you know, stage presence – it kind of worked against Mumbles, but not so much here. I just sound like I have a terrible sinus infection.

Best part of this video: Organik’s reactions to our lines. Watch the far right of the screen and you’ll see him once in a while, jumping around like a spider monkey (WRC joke).

Worst part of this video: the chick standing RIGHT BESIDE the camera who refuses to stop her drunken screaming. She didn’t even come with Prolific, she was the girlfriend of one of the other rappers who performed that night. I love her reaction when I tell her to shut the fuck up: “That’s dirty.”

Also, the punchline that Prolific could’ve sworn was going to be “facial skin” was actually, “This dude’s falling off faster than the roof on Olympic Stadium.” Check the link and you’ll understand the reference. For some reason no one got it, despite the fact that it was minor news 9 years ago.

So yeah, a deserved loss in my opinion. But the real loss is that Prolific cut his hair after this, and I never got to compare him to Garth from Wayne’s World.

Kid Twist vs Mr. Mumbles

This took place at the next installment of Proud to Be Eh Battle Emcee (where I faced Prolific for the first time). It’s actually the semi-finals. In the first round, I went up against a kid named Spit Circuit – he choked pretty badly, and my performance wasn’t great, so I never uploaded the video. I don’t think I even have it anymore. The only I good thing I said was, “You would finish dead last battling a special ed class.” So there you go.

There’s a few lines here that might be funnier with an explanation, especially if you’re not from Toronto. 416 is the area code for the city; 905 is the burbs. Mumbles is a proud suburbanite, so he named his record label 905th Brigade, which is what it said on his T-shirt. That’s where those area code lines came from.

He had done a set that night as well, which is why I said I wanted my money back. Also, before the battle happened, I was standing on stage waiting for about 15 minutes while he had a cigarette outside. Thus the smoke break reference.

My favourite part of the battle is when he says he’s going to steal my girl. She was standing right beside the camera, so when he did that line, he was literally inches away from her. Most awkward battle moment ever.

I kept the T-shirt, by the way. It was in my closet for a bit. Then I donated it to Goodwill.

Cameo appearance: Future WRC partners Organik and Knamelis, as judges.