WEEK SEVEN MAG: MINIMAL EFFORT

[Adverse]

INTRO:
Sorry for the delayed mag everyone (I can just hear the Master Rock comments now) I’ve been busy this weekend, and by busy I mean eating Mexican food, reading horror movie tidbits and researching my bloodline on ancestry



What’s up everyone? Welcome to week seven out of twelve. We hit a couple of snags last week in regards to voting (which we hadn’t really had a problem with until now) hopefully it was just a one week phase and everything is back to normal this week. Congratulations to Dominate for becoming our first in-season champion. There’s some formidable foes approaching him as he tries to protect his flawless record (a couple of monsters in the contender match this week, Eviction is still looming as well as some promising new sign ins.) safe to say there’s still a lot to be excited for as we inch closer to the playoffs.

REVIEWS:

NYCSPITZ vs OBJECTIVE
TOPIC: MEMORANDUM

This was a decent matchup here, I honestly feel like Objective is coming into his own as a writer, everything feels more concise, more poetic, more meaningful. But I don’t know that may just be my personal opinion. Regardless of all of that he had an absolute mountain to overcome in NYC here, voters thought that NYC had the more complete verse with better character development, setting etc. He ended up winning via shut out here but I insist that Objective is much better than his record.

RESULT: NYC WINS 3-0

MASTER ROCK VS BROKENHAL0
TOPIC: BRAINSTORM

This was an entertaining read. Hal0 took more of the what I’ll call, MMLP approach here. He took an item of popular culture (being cult movie “Scanners”) and kind of put his own spin on it, it was a good read and had some cool abstract visions as well as decent paced action. Rock took it more emotionally raw (where he’s at his best) and delivered a well thought out, verbally strong verse and relied more on making his audience feel his story. This was a neck and neck battle with Rock only edging Hal0 out by one vote which is a heartbreaker. Hal0 has written his ass off though this season and will definitely be back.

RESULT: ROCK WINS 3-2

EVICTION VS ADVERSE VS DOMINATE
TOPIC: PROVINCIAL

I’m not usually one to review battles that I partook in but I’ll make exception here since there were two other competitors. Dominate went the route I first thought of here and absolutely nailed it, again showing his variety in skill taking on a Disney classic from a antagonistic view. Was cool to see the spin on the topic even though the word provincial probably reminded the majority of us about the first song in the movie. Eviction was good as always, delivering a more self contained story with emotional ques (a lot like Master Rock does) it was cool but not really on par with what he had last week when he almost beat Dominate. Feels a little like he got shafted here but he like Hal0 will definitely find his way back. Oh and I wrote about an anthropomorphic dictionary who was sick of me looking up the word provincial (so yeah...)

RESULT: DOM WINS 4-3-0

FRANK VS ADONIS
TOPIC: DISTORTION

So yeah...I totally read this battle five times (checks what voters said to cover my ass) Adonis had a verse pretty much from the perspective of music (likening distortion to radio static) it was cool to see him walk us through the many eras of music, wasn’t An absolutely fresh topic and felt a little like “We Didn’t Start the Fire” but was cool nonetheless. Frank came with an original story that was good, he hit the same marks as last week and was proficient. Him and NYC are similar in style so it’ll be cool to see them battle it out this week.

RESULT: FRANK WINS 4-0


NO SHOW SHINE:
Candy picked up his first win of the season via Mr. J no showing him. Show his verse some love, this is going to be a Candy-ful mag as if all things go well he’s going to be our interviewee this week as well.

Topic: ATMOSPHERE

The Epilogue of Euphoria
..

One little flower is where it starts,
LOVE me.. LOVE me NOT..
The stems touch constructs a scent of bleeding petals crushed soft
Lost in childhood songs, that are no longer hummed
Strung once, in immortality to talk with gods
Hung at doors for lost praise and still alive for all cost
Tounged by original talk.. hand signals fingers twisted
Wishes when blown, drift in the ambers of autumn (through) pearl pink girl missing
(thorough) and through the summer strummed splinters.. low/key/slow seedling seeding see
for knew.. in every borough..

and thats where it starts -
a long lost forest that breathes the universe into planets
The Sun births plant life, moons and stars jaded green damaged
Mercury heats temperature to disorder captured
Pluto dies, Saturn drown
Venus bleeds life as the flower unrealistic to incest bound
Mars copies a lime green pale of flushed tickled purple
Other planets hurdle as Earth splits by its stable
Mythology is born, Jupiter rejoices
Stars set ablaze outside everything black and get swallowed by their choices

..
and thats where it ends..
Earth life takes shape and language is split by Saturn to Satan
belief for air is aired and souless bantar..
Jupiter Dances a song unheard at depth as the gases
crossout the sun as its crust bust in wild flashes

(Euphoria)
..............
under one telescope of Galileo you can taste the freedom of the milkyway
death is of the honored through a promise.. silky grey
that even if there is one person alive that sense
is of non-sense -
that only some can reach
maybe their delusional - maybe we're proud

..

to this day i still look to the sky and see my own face in the clouds

..

ADVERSE’S ALTERNATIVE
I wanted to share the verse I was writing before I turned my battle verse into one from a dictionary’s point of view so here it is, could even be looked at as a prelude of sorts

In the recesses of my mind is a time loop, an endless rewatch
Of memories lost, haze of nostalgia scented with evergreen rot
There I dwell in an audience of the thick trees and the moss
Destined to crumble away in the breeze like the leaves they forgot
The past creeps up again, grabbing to my legs in desperation
In the form of decayed vegetation, cleaving to my brain
Fearing our day of separation
Stagnancy has become the smog in my lungs, grey desolation
Finding safety behind the forest, you can catch my eyes through breaks in the pine
Wondering how I wound up with this narrow view, a provincial state of mind
Obviously my psyches split, where’s progress? I’m denyin it
Anytime I fail, I just use that old Commerce City line again
“It’s not my fault, I’m just a product of environment!”
Ahh yes...the perfect excuse for failure, quitting before you start
I’ve been shooting myself in the kneecaps before I could even walk


When I tell people I’m from Colorado...
There’s a question just waiting to leap from their tongue, I can see it
The burning curiosity melting through their lips they can’t help it!
...they wanna know how the fucking weed is
I scoff....only the most provincial thinking from these geniuses
You don’t wonder about the scenic ways the Rockies is dressed for its seasons?
Or the beautiful, backlit orange beyond the Denver skyline every evening?
Well...crumple up those fluorescent pieces of eventide why do we even try?
When you ungrateful fucks just compromise the meaning of life
You take every bit of it for granted, chasing getting weeded and high
You don’t see the beauty in SHIT....well shit, neither do I


The grueling regiment of a lifelong pessimist
Wake up and feed those depressive voices before you get your breakfast in
The first bite of stale Wheaties synonymous with the thought “will you ever win?”
Then hit the restroom just to piss away your excellence
Was I created a loser? For me to believe in predestination rumors
Would be admitting there’s a God with a dark, distorted sense of humor
Either that or he’s been on an eons long, drunken fucking stupor
Was I planned from the beginning of time to do nothing but jerk off behind computers?

Well you’ve heard the story a million times, dead man chasing my tail
Like a dog with all the time in the world, patient as hell
Every single comment that was given me from you
Was killing me, it’s true, carved into my heart like invisible tattoos
“Too simple! Too provincial! Too limited in view!”
I asked “what the fuck is provincial!? ” and had to gather dictionary clues
Until I found the definition I could use...


POWER RANKINGS:

#1. Dominate (6-0)
- Obvious choice here, Dom sports a flawless record and is the current champion. His technical ability and creativeness have really carried him through this league. Aside from a couple of close calls that wound up being ties, Dom has really skated through his competition and deserves the top spot.

#2. Eviction (4-1)
- After falling short in the champion match last week Eviction still has plenty of upside and quality wins to show for himself. It won’t be long until he’s back in a contender match. For now, he’s at number 2. His raw and personal storytelling has really been a gem in this league and he’s definitely been one of the standouts. Watch out for him moving forward.

T-#3 Frank/NYCSPITZ (2-0)
These two are pretty interchangeable in my eyes, both came in at the same time, have a similar style (focused more on narrative writing then a freestyle form of topical) and honestly both have been on a tear since coming in, dropping opponents with relative ease. I guess the perpetual tiebreaker comes between the two of them this week as they face off for a chance at the belt in Week Eight. It’ll be interesting to see who has what it takes to pull through.

#5 Master Rock (4-2)
I know what you’re thinking...”Master Rock has a way better record than the two ranked before him!” I know that and hear me out, Frank and NY are absolute veterans they check all the threat boxes with just a simple sign in. Rock is somebody I feel who is still finding his niche. He’s had some great verses but has also had a problem being consistent. Once he’s able to show us that I’d consider putting him higher on the list, but for now he’s still a top 5 and has a shot at the belt this week. Good luck Rock!

PREVIEWS:

CHAMP MATCH: DOMINATE (6-0) vs MASTER ROCK (4-2)


This picture is a little obscure. I mean we’ve heard a million times about “stitched on wings” and I guess there’s a hundred ways you can take it but it being butterfly wings makes it even more unique. Will be interesting to see where the emcees take it. I believe if it turns into an emotional bout, MR can take it with relative ease as most of Dom’s verses have focused more on fleshing out cool scenes and characters/being technically proficient. Could be a nice championship match but I think Dom keeps the undefeated season rolling here.

PREDICTION: DOM WINS 65/35

CONTENDERS: FRANK (2-0) vs NYCSPITZ (2-0)


Yeah this topic is really Lovercraftian in nature. I like all the potential spins on this one, could be likened to manipulation, being watched, control, and then you can always go the route of bringing this literal fucking octopi creature to life. It’ll be interesting to see where these two go with it as they’re used to building characters and settings, I mean while you can definitely do that here I find it much more challenging than a normal picture topic. I think this will be battle of the week and calling it is pretty much a coin toss. It’s 50/50 which is kind of a cop out on my end, but on paper this is as close as they come.

PREDICTION: 50/50 SPLIT

CANDY (1-5) vs ACTIVATE SELF (0-0)


First of all, giggidy. Second of all I didn’t even think about the sexual connotations of this picture when I assigned it lol. I think this topic, if used the right way could transport its writers to a different dimension/glitch in the matrix type scenario. And if all things go bad maybe we get a story about inter-dimensional foreplay or something. Candy has been on a skid, and hasn’t defeated a conscious opponent. Activate Self is an open mic mainstay and has been known for his obscure, but strong takes on topics. I’ll have to give it to him here.

PREDICTION: ACTIVATE WINS 75/25

OBJECTIVE (2-4) vs MIKE WRECKA (0-0)


Mike Wrecka is a name that I’ve heard more about it than have actually seen in action, a legend in the same vein as NYC and Frank and definitely an asset to have in this league.
That being said I don’t know how long it’s been since he’s written so the rust may still be there, Objective doesn’t have the record to show for how solid he’s been this year, I think he has the momentum coming into this so it’ll be a close close. I’m leaning towards Objective but could end up going either way. We’ll see.

PREDICTION: OBJECTIVE WINS 55/45

EVICTION (4-1) vs BROKENHAL0 (3-3)


This is my favorite topic picture of the round easily but if I said I knew what was happening in it I would be lying lol. Both these guys have been good this season and both have lost their share of heartbreakers, last week with Hal0 losing a contender match and eviction falling short in the champ battle. Both will be back towards the top in due time but for now they have the privilege of facing each other (again I guess?) this is a tough one to call but I think Eviction, if committed to it, will bring the same level he has been all season and bounce back to win this one.

PREDICTION: EVICTION WINS 60/40



Thank you all for being such gents. Have a good week and remember, only you can prevent genital herpes.

[Candy]

dope mag thanks

[Dominate]

Thanks for getting it done Ad. I actually think that alternate verse was better, if not as creative a take. You probably would have won with it lol.

[Frank]

U run a tight ship

[Dominate]

Originally Posted by Frank

U run a tight ship

There’s no need for snarkiness.

[Master Rock]

Absolute fire mag! I don't know how you do it.