Place is pippin this no?

For whatever it’s worth, you have it kinda backwards. UPN was the place that the best of everywhere else ended up (and there were tons of other sites going back then). No one started at UPN. It was kind of a hall of fame for writers, as stupid as that sounds now... People started at Sethros, or Mentalz, or Urban Authentics/Art of Rhyme, or Rapmusic, or Bboys, or a million other boards.... UPN is just where the best ended up, at least until everyone got tired of writing in the mid 2000s and it turned into essentially a disc board for people to talk shit on.

That’s why it’s hilarious when people here, now, talk about UPN as having a style or there being some kind of beef or something... it’s dumb as hell. UPN was a mixture of all of the styles that were around back then. Serge, just as an example, was a Rapmusic guy... So was User. They didn’t migrate away from UPN... they took over RM and then came to UPN. Same with all of the old heads that people associate with that board. Aloe, Rudge, Fracture, whomever.

Yeah for the record I didn’t know if those ppl orIginated there or not

It’s just where I first noticed their work

For example .. by the time I saw Serge /user .. yourself

There had already been really old tournaments at upn archived while they were still active at Rm , bboys

Dawg the pic invitationals were my favorite . As a prolific upstart those were always good reading n kind of helped cultivate the way I do pic battles now. Pure clowning . Lmao @User has got to be tired of the fat jokes. Dawg who had that line

Only time he goes 0-200 is when you step on the scale

Or some shit. My young ass was geeking . Had to be 12-13 reading those

“ I like this site but cmon now “

Bro tbh nc is a more modern version of upn if you think about it

Nobody originated here . Most of the original members here have dominated elsewhere .

Rbl, wbl what have you . Early to mid 2000s like you say when upn was derelict ( I say that but that’s just an outsiders POV) . Cobwebs in that hoe . But I definitely tip my hat .

UPN was way more niche, though. For about 10 years we had a discussion forum there that was the only forum that had activity. And it was remarkable. We battled, but it was only once in a while.

There was legit a decade where the only thing worthwhile to read battle wise From UPN was the Xmas invitational y’all always had pinned at the top xD

Meanwhile I’m competing in like 7-8 leagues simultaneously lol

It’s all good. Definitely wish I woukd of made waves early enough to compete in those .. no doubt

For reference . I always considered username a OG .. that guy was your peer . Feel me ? Just different eras we REALLY competed in

Took me awhile to even recognize short bar as the way to go

Muff this is pretty spot on

I have so much to say about this... Will edit

Perfect person to comment on that

Blue you are a shining example of exactly what I’m talking about in regards to our era

Knuck is too . So I kinda get the .. uhhh subtle disdain between the two different realms of competition

It’s like the mj / Lebron Thing . Kind of . Speaking for myself .. I have a deep appreciation the leagues of old

Eh n I say leagues of old but some of us were competing back then too . Shit in 99 I was doing fucking long bar . Cringe. Lmaoo

Nobody smiling . Canibus central . Yuk.

I literally mentally block out those times. Can’t believe I was fielding verses like that n putting hyphens in my multis HAHA

2003-2004 was the best time for text as far as competition and skill. In my opinion.

Some people say 2009 yet you had to give out a cash prize just to get people to show up for a fucking tournament.

For sure

Facts.

I liked the discussion more than when upn was poppin wit text....

Honestly most of us on upn by 2006 or 07 wasn't doing text anymore only participating in yearly tournaments and shit.....

Upn evolved and mothafuckas said fuck text and was just roasting each other in the discussion and having legitimate conversations.

Uh....excuse me?

Oh yeah . That’s crazy that you started text here of all places. Got thrown into the fire on your empathe account. That’s why you caught on so fast

When I joined searching text battles on google, literally everything pointed to Netcees.com

You missed texts heyday

grown mans arguing which internet text battle site they can be more of a hoe on

great

LOL. The irony is palpable.

Yeah, I’m starting to get that sense. The real difference, IMO, is just a matter of timing... back when UPN was formed (in 2000/2001), there were tons of sites that each had hundreds, if not thousands, of members that were constantly posting. It’s crazy how widespread it was. There were more verses written on Rapmusic in one day than you’d see here in a year. It was bonkers how many people were doing this.... then it just slowly faded out over time. I actually thought it had completely died until someone told me this board was still around earlier this year.

Personally, I think the whole scene, or whatever you want to call it, peaked earlier than 2003-04... by that point, some of the main boards had long since died (Sethro’s, Homegrown, Keystyles, ArtofRhyme, etc) and UPN had started to move to being 99% a discussion board. But, I’m also old enough to remember Kno and Deacon from cunninlynguists text battling in March Madnesses in the late 90s. LOL. I’m fucking ancient when it comes to this crap.

I remember at rapmusuc niggas would post their battle in the battle forum at say 1 o clock and by 4 it would have 20 votes and be on the 4th page of the battle arena

That shit had hundreds of battles per day