Sorry we didn’t have time to update the website, but we were busy working on this event. Just a little taste from my man Lefto who shot this nice video last weekend. Hope you can get an idea of what the Beat Battle at the Rooms of Red Bull was like and how high both the quality of the beat makers and the energy level was. FS Green just gave me goosebumps when he played that dubstep joint man! Anyways…more footage very soon. Thanks ya’ll for coming out and next year we might even do it bigger, better and cooler. Check some reviews after the jump. Pics from ‘Ismail Pinto’ and Arenda de Hoop..
Redplanet (www.the-redplanet.com/blog)
The good people of MOOVMNT & Nalden made a night that won’t be easily forgotten. Upon arrival the vibe is great, everybody was standing outside catching a bit of air because the flyer didn’t mention that that the temperature wasn’t suitable for humans or mentioning that the dresscode should have been wife beaters only. Not knowing of this temperature problem I went in having on a t-shirt with on top of that a sweater, having to remove the this immediately upon entry.
The 2nd battle(cause I mist the first one) made me realize that everybody wasn’t only sweating because of the tempreture but also because of a handful of the finest Dutch producers who showed the crowd how beats are made.
Prize money was 500 euro, In material terms half the money for your new MPC. In terms of Pride, Honor and most of all Respect, Priceless. Some of the pruducers: FS Green, I.N.T, Louis Bordeaux, Bluntspeakers, Dyno, Hayzee, J83, Wan, Statik Music, Presto, Marcus Sebastian, Jay Bordeaux, Yskid.
The vibe was good, but got even crazier when favorite producer FS Green got knocked out by citymate a member of Statik Music. All bets were off and at one point it even seemed like the crowed automatically cheered for the underdog at every round 2 producers went on. Though I personally think it was the free drinks by Jameson that got people in the mood.
Highlights of the evening were producers 1st angle, I.N.T, J83, statik music and no one less than the winner Hayzee who really surprised me with the beats he had lined up battle after battle.
It was a great evening, though a lot of people complained about FS getting knocked out so quickly. I remember Full Crate telling me after he got knocked out that the track FS played before was number 15 on the list of tracks to come, number 1 being the sickest track he had. Realizing that and seeing what the clubs reaction was on the dub-track ((the roof was on fire)) is what made it a shame that FS got knocked out so soon. Nonetheless It’s good it happened, why you may ask? It seemed like for a long time some top producers in the Netherlands got placed on this pedestal were everything they made was labeled the sickest thing that came out even though some things weren’t that good. The beatbattle showed there are some new people on the come-up and faded that monopoly position. Rivalry is back and the future of beatmaking is looking to be better than ever. Let’s be honest we haven’t heard that number one track yet by FS and a whole lot of people got inspired by the beat sessions that went on.
Love to all the people who made this happen
Lefto (www.lefto.be)
Wow, yesterday I was in Amsterdam for the Beat Battle. The Beat Battle was presented by Moovmnt and Nalden and took place at the Rooms of Red Bull, in the heart of Amsterdam’s red light district. For the occasion I also had to do a couch interview à la Red Bull Music Academy, being the only jury member for the battle later that night and mixing the afterparty longside Cinnaman from the Beat Dimensions. It was great to see so many people coming together in this super hot and sweaty room for an insane battle, and it was definitely good to see ladies in the place too as battles are usually a total sausage fest. Anyway, let me tell you this, the Netherlands have talented producers. I had the most difficult time of my life to decide who would go to the next level. I don’t know if you can understand what it is to be in front of a crowd all screaming for one producer and me deciding for the other one?!?!!! Moovmnt decided to give me the final word on the battles, honestly, I wanted to run far away from that place haha. Statik Musik versus FS Green was the most difficult battle for me that night; what a battle, so much energy, on stage and in the room. Heard really impressive beats by Rotterdam cats J83 and First Angle, was glad to see some Belgium producers there with I-Sa and Dyno. The final was sick, Statik Musik and Hayzee killed it and had to ask a third beat to decide who would run home with 500 Euro. Hayzee came with insanity and after that one it was all clear; Statik Musik finished second but I think we’ll hear move from that cat or is it a producers’ crew? Anyway, Amsterdam was live last night in the red light district. Big up to Moovmnt and Nalden and my colleague on the mic Melodee, Rooms of Red Bull and all the competitors. And last but not least, the crowd, for making me crazy.
Presto (http://blogoftrix.blogspot.com)
Ok… the battle was… kinda what i expected. Judgment in these type of events is ALWAYS an issue. So i’ll won’t start bitching about that immediately lol. And it’s easy to just start summing up all the negatives, but that would give a wrong idea.
Because it was just dope as f*ck to have an event which whole purpose was to put hiphop producers in the spotlight and make THEM the stars. Because we are normally the dudes in the background while others shine with music your at least 50% responsible for. Don’t take that the wrong way rappers, singers etc., that’s our role of course! But it was dope to have so many talented musicians who normally play the background take center stage for once.
And apart from the sometimes ridiculous moments, the crowd was packed and lovin’ it. There should definitely be a next edition. BUT not with some adjustments.
The heat in the venue was ridiculous… It was more than 30 degrees Celsius, easily. People were skipping battles to get some fresh air and the heat had an effect on the enthousiasm and energy of the crowd. So i would suggest to get Air Conditioning up in there, or choose another venue.
And yeah, the judgment didn’t work out at all. We couldn’t really judge the crowd noise on stage, and Lefto had to make decisions based on that, along with his own preference. Maybe a DB-level meter and at least 3 judges next time? And I would suggest that one of the judges ‘d be a hiphop producer with a respected rep, preferably not from Holland. Someone the participants look up to or are fans of.
Oh and please, next time, 2 dj setups, please! the stage was microscopic with only one cd player and this way you had to rush and make a decision on what beat to play next, which was one of the most important battle elements.
But enough whining haha, it was a dope experience. Much respect to all the competitors! Nobody acted like assholes or let the whole battle element get to them, you could sense the amount of respect for each others craft. Bigup to the winner Hayzee as well. I had to leave early so i missed most of the battles after my elimination, but twitter kept me up to speed 😉 .
Oh yeah, my battles. I won the first round agains I.N.T., i thought it was a tie. I’m sort of a veteran, but I.N.T. had shit out on vinyl that was dope (deadly maniacs) when i was just starting to make beats. I did throw 2 of my favorite and hardest beats i had into that battle, but the response was not what i anticipated. Lesson learned, even if you’ve been making beats for 15 years, you still can’t really anticipate the response to your own music.
Round 2 against Statik Music. Well i went in, thinking i could never win this one, no matter what i dropped. Statik Music had brought along a pretty big following, which easily was the loudest. But on top of that, their first round against FS GREEN was ridiculous. They had 2 ridiculous beats, so they had the crowd and the heat to back it.
So i thought, fuck it, and threw in some crazy shit. The first beat i threw in got a pretty good response. But i was really feeling the first beat they had, and at that point i really felt i lost already. Their second beat wasn’t a killer though, but still good enough. There was almost no time to pick a beat, so i went through all my beats, stumbled upon this crazy beat i did years ago with a awkward cadence, hit play… and the Crowd went apeshit… Surprised the hell out of me!
So the host asked who won, and the crowd actually sounded louder when my name came up. Unfortunately, Lefto judged it differently… Too bad, really was hyped after the response on my last beat and really wanted to go some more rounds. Would loved to do a tie-breaker at least, but fuck it, wasn’t meant to be. Statik Music (which consists of 3 producers) and their following were so cool afterwards. They told me they thought i won and felt bad about the way it went down. That took most of my disappointment away right there and then.
So even though i maybe deserved at least one more round, i felt i held it down and proved i can bang with the best of ’em, and left feeling good about the night.
Bigup to Moovmnt.com, keep me posted about future editions!
FS Green (http://www.iamfsgreen.net)
I had mad fun Saturday at the Red Bull Beat Battle, even though Statik Music knocked my ass out in the first round! Big up to my man Hayzee though for taking the crown! Here’s a small review of how I experienced this hot ass night, which also was my first beat battle.
This whole thing was not about who is the hardest producer, not about who’s in the game the longest or who has the most tracks out. Its about who brought the hottest tunes to the battle and rocked the crowd – aka the judge’s – the most, and apparently, Statik did when we faced off.
On the other hand, I think its sick that Statik battled my dubstep beat, with their own dub track. After the battle, they told me that they made that beat especially to battle me, cause they already expected me to bring some dubstep with me. Summed up: producers came to the battle, prepared with at least one dub joint in their arsenal, to battle me! At the end of the day, that means more to me than winning.
The video below is shot by Lefto who was also the judge of the night. Check out Moovmnt for reviews by Lefto himself, Red Planet and Presto (who also competed in the battle). For all of you who understand Dutch, check out Beat’m Up for video reviews by Ivan Ice.
