Who knew what to expect for the 2011 Red Bull Emsee Battle that took place over at the Echoplex? If you’ve been following those Grindtime NOW (google it) videos for a long period of time, then you probably have an inkling on what to expect from such an event like this that went down this past thursday night! This event was definitely fun to be a part of, especially when you have Supernatural, Chali 2na, and Kurupt as your judges, and Bun B as your host (promoters take notes)! Bun B was awesome, and to say that he was just ‘entertaining’ doesnt cut it. He was much, much more than that. Ask the folks that were in the house, including the 8 emcees that were competing to battle.

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The battles was all based on visual interpretation: the emcees had 5 pictures to look at and use them to diss their opponents within a minute’s time to do so. Half of these emcees were simply clowning their opponents while the others were trying to jab their punchlines down their opponents’ throats. Being there, you can tell that a few were definitely intense (ex: Dizaster vs Scatterbrain).

Here were how the rounds were set up:

Round 1:

• Dirtbag Dan vs Rheteric Ramirez [winner: Dirtbag Dan]
• A-Dog vs Madness (MC Supernatural thought Madness missed 4 images, but Bun B corrected him) [winner: Madness]
• Cadalack Ron vs. Thesaurus [winner: Cadalack Ron]
• Dizaster vs. Scatterbrain [winner: Dizaster]

During the intermission, MC Supernatural did what he does best in his performances: freestyle. He took everyone’s items that was raised up and did a freestyle to them; with him dissing some of the folks in the crowd for fun.

Round 2 Battle:

• Dirtbag Dan vs. Madness [winner: Dirtbag Dan]
• Cadalack Ron vs. Dizaster [winner: Cadalack Ron]

Intermission: Chali 2na took to the stage and performed a few songs from his latest solo effort, Fish Market. Then, he brought Laidlaw to the stage and performed a couple of tracks before the final round got under way.

Final Round:

• Dirtbag Dan vs. Cadalack Ron [winner: Dirtbag Dan]

This was a round to check out, because there were people in the audience (including one of the judges) that wanted a rematch (which Dirtbag Dan definitely wasnt down for). But nonetheless, Dirtbag Dan won it fair and square. After the battle ended, Kurupt took to the stage and recited his first verse off of New York, New York, and then blew up the stage with his performance, singing songs like Who Ride Wit Us, We Can Freak It, (his verse off of) Xxplosive, and more tracks to end the night with a bang!

Later this fall, Dirtbag Dan will be squaring off in the national finals against other contestants in Atlanta! Major congratulations to the San Jose native, and shoutout to Red Bull for putting together an awesome event to be a part of!

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Check out the pictures below:

EricSoul