Scribble Jam was Dope
 

Who here watched allot of Scribbles, and for those who have, who’s the best to ever grace the tourney?

Eyedea. Thesaurus. Nocandoo... Illmac. I unno, google it.

Eyedea was dope

Post more about a 8+ year old niche hip hop event

id be interested in seeing some links or mixtapes tho?

my boy showed me a scribble jam mixtape from a couple years ago and it was actually fire

You mean shit like MC Juice vs Eminem...that old shit is dope but the videos are grainy af.

not the best battle by any means but when people ask about scribble i immediately think of this one;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OB0dhqR_BDc

Word. That’s all I really saw of it, had trouble finding links/wasn’t motivsted enough back in the day.

lol this is ok.....I hate when a battler trys to intimidate the other battler by getting in their face or touching them tho....just spit....scumbag

but don't they usually make compilation mixtapes from artists that were in the event tho too?

i like that they spit on beats tho....smack needs to start having battles on beats.....not all of their battles but itd be nice to hear some of them over music

It definitely feels dated now but it had a bravado about it. It was the underground less cringey 106 and park freestyle Friday’s lol

yea its hard to enjoy these w the current battle leagues out now being so so far ahead....plus freestyling is doodoo but word i agree at the time it was prolly cutting edge

I’ve seen pretty much every Scribble Jam from ‘97 until it lost its relevance due to the internet increasing popularity in similar fields.

Scribble was a lot more about the vibe, though, for a while. Like a get together of all the rappers not attached to major labels. That was a cool moment in Hip Hop history.

When freestyles went the way of the double time flow it started going downhill. Grind time and shit was real good for a minute and overlapped with those last decent Scribble festivals with Illmac and Franco. Think the Justice win was the last one I watched.

Things have evolved obviously, but it’s sorely missing an aspect those early battles had. There’s no repartee. No flipping shit around on people. That’s the essence of a lunchroom verbal sparring. These new 200 bar prewrittens about dude’s entire past has gotten stale.

Was there a defining moment or event where it became clear people were prewritting verses in Scribble or was that more just how the more current leagues came to be with set up battles?

Nah it definitely became a thing before Scribble faded out. Hell, a lot of Em’s battles had repeated lines or shit that ended up on SSLP.

Back then though it was heavily frowned upon. When prewriting became more accepted and out in the open is when I feel like the essence of the battles changed. Now it’s all about your performance. Your delivery of bars. Because everyone accepts you’re basically an actor performing a dialog.

i don't disagree with that but i guess i feel like the quality of content vs the impressiveness of coming up with ideas on the spot at the detriment of quality is a losing battle for the latter. like i have to listen to a bunch of garbage to finally hear u say something dope about dudes t shirt or a rebuttal to his last round OR i could just listen to awesome bars the entire time

Before it was openly accepted rappers had lines on standby. I used to keep 15-20 lines in my head that were generic and could fit into a situation like ammunition. Then there was what became known as filler.

I really feel like a verse full of filler relevant to the guy in your face beats even the best prewritten concept if it’s delivered in the middle of an obviously rehearsed verse.

but that's just semantics to me.........those are just written ? aka the best part

For sure. And that’s why we are where we are. Evolution isn’t always what’s best, it’s what ‘works.’ I’m sure some politicians would like to run clean campaigns but good luck winning without your ads about how candidate Q inhaled weed by accident in 1994.

You lose something by gaining more ‘quality’ content. I feel like older rappers and students of the game appreciate off the top content way more than writtens, but you give the crowd what it wants.

idk....i agree and disagree to an extent....my opinion of off the top freestlying is just....its a novelty...like hm ok...that was neat...but it never gets me as hype as when i hear a FIRE ass line that could have only been put together by taking the time to write it

Yea. I mean, that’s the reality of most fans these days and I get it, but it takes looking at a verse or battle differently than you maybe do now to be able to appreciate what’s going on.

It’s like jazz. People hear it and they’re usually like wtf. If they learn to appreciate what it is then they’re opened up to this whole new genre of incredible music.

yea nah i mean i get ur end of it...... importance in the process of the art vs the product

im very much a student of the game as well....we just have differing opinions in that regard

i still appreciate it just less

For me

Written battles belong on wax. I’d prefer hear you just make a track and demolish a guy. Reading or reciting in a battle is against the nature of what the shit began as.

And I’m not trying to diss on any new shit. I like hearing battle lyrics so it’s cool that this exists, and I’m not beyond understanding that times, tastes and trends change, but the root of where this shit came from still has worthwhile qualities that have fallen out of favor, and that’s a shame, because they’re worth cultivating and appreciating.

Word

i enjoy scribble for the nostalgia and days of high school. i honestly don't fuck with any battle leagues anymore, but i will almost always check out a WATCH video on Ruin Your Day because they usually have a few battle rappers on there, watching good battle rap videos, giving commentary or just acting a fool.

Honestly, if I made a HOF of sorts for scribble, I’d say ADeeM would be the top guy.
For his two titles out of only 3 attempts, (second best w/l only behind a one n done Justice) he beat several legends slug, Sage Francis, Blue Print, etc.
Only guy that might be better is TheSaurus simply cus you had to be a little better to compete then.
He won twice but didn’t have to face any legends in 06. He beat NoCanDo his second win, Kid Twist, and Tantrum. But NoCanDo is easily the least of scribble winners to me. TheSaurus is a GOAT because of his success in two eras and his 3 twice taken titles. But the best Scribble Jam battler, is ADeeM

Comparing SJ ‘96 to SJ ‘08 is like comparing Grand Master Flash to Wu-Tang. Who won was never much of a barometer for me, so rating the winners seems like a bit of a waste. Sage was really good when he first started. Eyedea would have killed anyone in his prime, I feel. There have been so many dope artists to come through there. It’s just a good showcase of talent.

I’d love to see hologram Eyedea face off against one of these dudes who couldn’t come up with more than a few bars off the top. I think he would clown them out of the building. You can’t match quick wit with rehearsed bars because the crowd would want you to respond to the clowning taking place.

When do you think was Eyedea’s prime? Haven’t seen anything pre/ post scribble so idk if you mean like 95 or something

Cus he lost to Slug, Brother Ali, and I think vendetta the years he didn’t win.
If you know football it’s kinda like Dan Marino vs Tom Brady, they were both great, ADeeM and Eyedea. But one consistently beats legends, one loses to them.

Me and my brother Adonis went to most of them. We're in a bunch of the videos in front row. They were fun. Shot out to PR's Beat Demon for buying us underage kids booze while there.

Best thing that ever happened there was when Icon knocked out copywrite. Next day some dude Duece Leader was selling Tshirts with Copywrite getting slumped on them.