Epic Brony Rap Tournament (Official Thread)

[NytMayr]

Brilliant! We have a video producer! Now all we need is more rappers and an announcer.

[soultensionbenjamin]

Um-mm for an announcer how bout we get a well known rapper brony what do y'all think about yelling at cats for an announcer

[ChromaticChaosPony]

Can you get IBringDaLulz for announcing too? Also, I'm not sure if Mic the Microphone would be up for announcing this, but it would be cool if he was.

[soultensionbenjamin]

Why do we need 2 announcers?

[soultensionbenjamin]

Update officialyellingatcats:
Hey cats me and some other bronys are trying to run a small brony rap tournament and we wanted to ask you if you be interested in announcing
officialyellingatcats:

Hell, I’d be interested in competing! Get me in on that!

[NytMayr]

Rrrrgh.

Sorry about my recent inactivity, but I've been swimming up to my neck in other projects. Plus, this is my last week of school, so I'm also getting bombarded with tests and final exams and what-have-you.

Luckily, after this week is over, I'll officially be on summer vacation and will perhaps be able to finally get this thing rolling a bit better. Honestly, I have enough things to stress about right now as is. Until then, I'll do what I can on getting word of this out to more of the general public.

Update officialyellingatcats:
Hey cats me and some other bronys are trying to run a small brony rap tournament and we wanted to ask you if you be interested in announcing
officialyellingatcats:

Hell, I’d be interested in competing! Get me in on that!

Nice! Is there any way that I might be able to get a hold of him on matters concerning this? Skype, tumblr, or something of the sort?

[soultensionbenjamin]

yeah i contacted him on tumbler so if you say your the person running this thing he should work with you.

so http://officialyellingatcats.tumblr.com/

[NytMayr]

Right then, I've contacted YaC about it.

Also, it would be wise for you all to check the first post. Not only have I updated the list of participants, but I've also marked things that might need to be taken care of in bold, bracketed text. We may need to address those matters, as well as perhaps some other matters that I may not have taken particular note of.

[FlyingNinjaBannanas]

Each pony has 4 days [To much time? Too little?]

Hm, I'd say it depends on how may verses and bars have to be made in the final edit of the rules, but I'd say this is pretty good.

until 4 verses [Too many? Too little?] are made. Each verse must be eight bars in length.

I'd say this one is more of a hit or miss, we would probably have to run a test battle for this one to be decided. But it sounds right.

If a notification occurs, the deadline will be extended for a maximum of one week. [Too much time? Too little?]

This seems cool.

Once the song has been uploaded, ponies watching the video will vote on who they think is superior. [Methods of voting?]

Soundcloud, EQbeats, maybe some random poll site. I really have no idea here.


If there's any other way I could contribute that doesn't involve the banner, I'd be happy to do it. Other than that, we REALLY need to get this advertised. Maybe a rap battle demo with a YouTube video, or something else that fits.

[ChromaticChaosPony]

When do we start?

[versal]

if there's ever a round too can i throw my hat in now?

[NytMayr]

Oh, don't worry. This thing's still going. Matter of fact, if at all possible, I'd like to have more people participating. I've been incredibly caught up in projects that needed to get done, so pardon if I've been a bit negligent to this event.

[versal]

count me in then (lol rhyming already)

[MC_Flowny]

I'm not much of a battle rapper, but I would be happy to participate just to get the opportunity to work with other rap artists!

*Throws horseshoe into ring*

-Rhyme Flow

[ChromaticChaosPony]

*posts random comment to get this thread moved back up*

[versal]

*posts random comment to get this thread moved back up*

*poke*

[FlyingNinjaBannanas]

*posts random comment to get this thread moved back up*

*poke*

*Hard poke*

But seriously, I hope NytMayr gets finished with his projects soon. This event might get lost in the cascade of new events if he stays elusive.

[sdoggingsworth]

I would definitely like to participate. I do think it would help to have some sort of theme, though. Perhaps each competing pair can be given a specific assignment? Like rapping as specific characters for instance?

Rap battles typically involve insults to the opponents. How can we do this if our opponents are people we know nothing about? We can't.

That leaves us with the option of rapping about anything the slightest bit pony related. Sure you can judge each rap by its skill alone, but if you don't have something tying it together, you end up with a song that has eight verses that have nothing to do with one another. Rap battle verses have to feed off of one another. Otherwise, somepony can just make a whole lot of raps in advance, with weeks of preparation, and just submit them when the time comes to compete.

[sdoggingsworth]

If you don't want to be unfair and give one competitor one character to rap as, and his opponent another that might be harder or easier to rap as, you can maybe give them both the same assignment and see which one does better? Or switch.

Like Competitor A raps as Vinyl Scratch
Competitor B responds as Octavia

Competitor A responds as Vinyl Scratch
Competitor B responds as Octavia

Then switch. (The video could include a visual maybe so that the viewers don't get confused).

Competitor A raps as Octavia
Competitor B responds as Vinyl Scratch

Competitor A raps as Octavia
Competitor B concludes as Vinyl Scratch


I'm just shooting out ideas, because I think a rap battle only works if the two parts are connected.

Maybe have competitors come up with their own ideas. Give them a week to talk it over and come to an agreement about what they want to do. This is a competition, but it is a collaboration of sorts as well, and it's not like we're all bitter enemies.

Perhaps competitors can work together to hash out a plan for tearing one another apart. If they can't work something out amongst themselves, they get roles assigned to them (i.e. Person A is Octavia and Person B is Vinyl Scratch). That way everypony is motivated to compromise because nopony wants to risk getting assigned a character that is more difficult to work with than their competitors.

Just shooting ideas out there. Do any of them sound like they might benefit the project?

[FlyingNinjaBannanas]

I would definitely like to participate. I do think it would help to have some sort of theme, though. Perhaps each competing pair can be given a specific assignment? Like rapping as specific characters for instance?

Rap battles typically involve insults to the opponents. How can we do this if our opponents are people we know nothing about? We can't.

That leaves us with the option of rapping about anything the slightest bit pony related. Sure you can judge each rap by its skill alone, but if you don't have something tying it together, you end up with a song that has eight verses that have nothing to do with one another. Rap battle verses have to feed off of one another. Otherwise, somepony can just make a whole lot of raps in advance, with weeks of preparation, and just submit them when the time comes to compete.

Yeah, this worry was nagging at the back of my mind. Hell, I know no one here knows me well enough to have something besides the generic stereotypes that can be rapped off to anyone and have the same effect. I bet most of the people who signed up for this would have the same problem.

Like Competitor A raps as Vinyl Scratch
Competitor B responds as Octavia

Competitor A responds as Vinyl Scratch
Competitor B responds as Octavia

Then switch. (The video could include a visual maybe so that the viewers don't get confused).

Competitor A raps as Octavia
Competitor B responds as Vinyl Scratch

Competitor A raps as Octavia
Competitor B concludes as Vinyl Scratch

This style reminds me of the Epic Rap Battles of History series on YouTube. But with a battle-type theme added in. Along with MLP of course.

In case you don't know what I'm talking about. (Or anyone else)




I could see this working, but I could also see this failing hard. Especially if background characters are used, they don't have a canon personality, so each person could view them in completely different ways. That creates a lack of consistency which can really wreck an otherwise decent battle. It would have to be done right to avoid this.
The characters would, in my opinion, have to have some sort of similarity that isn't hidden between walls of dialogue. But isn't completely stupid. Just to give a rhyme and a reason for the idea.

Not good ex: Twilight and Rarity; There both unicorns
Better ex: Spike and Owlilicious; Both sidekicks
(Those both probably suck, but you get the idea)

If you don't want to be unfair and give one competitor one character to rap as, and his opponent another that might be harder or easier to rap as, you can maybe give them both the same assignment and see which one does better? Or switch.

Really, I don't think there would be a good alternative to this. Switching would be confusing, especially in the same rap battle. A choice, while a good idea if this does fall as more of a collab style project. There has to be some difficulty to what's going on, getting a character you aren't a fan of would just be a part of the battle, in my opinion.

Just shooting ideas out there. Do any of them sound like they might benefit the project?

They probably would help better than any of my ideas. I'm not trying to completely wreck this idea, even though it might seem like I am, but just like with any other, it's not perfect. So my two cents might help it in the long run. I'd bet half of this is complete garbage anyway.

[Kushy Kallous]

I'd like to give everyone my two bits in this. Count me in, as a rapper.

[versal]

I would definitely like to participate. I do think it would help to have some sort of theme, though. Perhaps each competing pair can be given a specific assignment? Like rapping as specific characters for instance?

Rap battles typically involve insults to the opponents. How can we do this if our opponents are people we know nothing about? We can't.

That leaves us with the option of rapping about anything the slightest bit pony related. Sure you can judge each rap by its skill alone, but if you don't have something tying it together, you end up with a song that has eight verses that have nothing to do with one another. Rap battle verses have to feed off of one another. Otherwise, somepony can just make a whole lot of raps in advance, with weeks of preparation, and just submit them when the time comes to compete.

Yeah, this worry was nagging at the back of my mind. Hell, I know no one here knows me well enough to have something besides the generic stereotypes that can be rapped off to anyone and have the same effect. I bet most of the people who signed up for this would have the same problem.

Like Competitor A raps as Vinyl Scratch
Competitor B responds as Octavia

Competitor A responds as Vinyl Scratch
Competitor B responds as Octavia

Then switch. (The video could include a visual maybe so that the viewers don't get confused).

Competitor A raps as Octavia
Competitor B responds as Vinyl Scratch

Competitor A raps as Octavia
Competitor B concludes as Vinyl Scratch

This style reminds me of the Epic Rap Battles of History series on YouTube. But with a battle-type theme added in. Along with MLP of course.

In case you don't know what I'm talking about. (Or anyone else)




I could see this working, but I could also see this failing hard. Especially if background characters are used, they don't have a canon personality, so each person could view them in completely different ways. That creates a lack of consistency which can really wreck an otherwise decent battle. It would have to be done right to avoid this.
The characters would, in my opinion, have to have some sort of similarity that isn't hidden between walls of dialogue. But isn't completely stupid. Just to give a rhyme and a reason for the idea.

Not good ex: Twilight and Rarity; There both unicorns
Better ex: Spike and Owlilicious; Both sidekicks
(Those both probably suck, but you get the idea)

If you don't want to be unfair and give one competitor one character to rap as, and his opponent another that might be harder or easier to rap as, you can maybe give them both the same assignment and see which one does better? Or switch.

Really, I don't think there would be a good alternative to this. Switching would be confusing, especially in the same rap battle. A choice, while a good idea if this does fall as more of a collab style project. There has to be some difficulty to what's going on, getting a character you aren't a fan of would just be a part of the battle, in my opinion.

Just shooting ideas out there. Do any of them sound like they might benefit the project?

They probably would help better than any of my ideas. I'm not trying to completely wreck this idea, even though it might seem like I am, but just like with any other, it's not perfect. So my two cents might help it in the long run. I'd bet half of this is complete garbage anyway.

Technacally speaking you dont ALWAYS have to insult each other. i've been in a couple in my day and sometimes it's just a few disses thrown at each other and then we are just talking shit and whoever has the best lyrical ability and flow win's

[sdoggingsworth]

You're right that switching up would be confusing and would be a disaster.

However, the big problem with just judging lyrical ability is that I could conceivably submit something I wrote months ago and claim that I came up with it in four days, and that wouldn't be fair to everypony else.

The two contestants have to be able to bounce off one another, or you get a series of disconnected verses and the whole song falls apart. It's okay to judge by lyrical ability and delivery, but creatively speaking, the artists are not going to do their best work unless they're challenged and given parameters of some sort.

Personally, I think the best way to handle it is to have the two competing artists take the time to come to an agreement and pick their own themes, so each feels comfortable playing to their strengths. If they can't come to an agreement, they risk getting assignments that they don't want.

[sdoggingsworth]

[youtube] http://youtu.be/vcP5nqSCFmU [/youtube]

And just for the LOL's, here is an example of my dope rhymes.