The epic art of: “Battle Rapping” is generally believed to have originated in the East Coast(New York, USA) hip hop scene in the late 1970’s. However, before we could go into details about whether this style of rap has a place in India, we must explain the concept of what freestyle rap. Please see the definition below:

“Freestyle rapping” is a style of rap, with instrumental beats, in which rap lyrics are improvised, i.e. performed with no previously composed lyrics, or “off the top of the head”. It is similar to other improvisational music such as jazz – Myka 9 of Freestyle Fellowship describes it as being “like a jazz solo” where there is a lead saxophonist acting as the improviser and the rest of the band providing the beat. Rap battles are sometimes improvised in this way.

For more info on freestyle rapping and battle rapping, you can check out this video by legendary rapper KRS-One who goes more in-dept about the concept:

“Battle Rapping” or “Freestyle rapping” was usually used as a mean to improve ones skills or to protect ones reputation when challenged by another rapper, which brings us to our main point, do Desi Hip Hop Artist have the skills to engage in battle rapping ? Desi Hip Hop artists have embraced the hip hop lifestyle and have been able to put together songs for the masses but what if one rapper challenged the other to a rap battle ? Would they be able to stand up to challenge ? Honestly, we here at Desihiphop.com are not sure how they would do in these rap battles, however we believe that this would separate the pretenders from the contenders and would help bring up the skill level of these hip hop artists. As India’s hip hop scene continues to evolve, we hope that they will embrace all aspects of rap & hip hop. Until then enjoy the below video of an example of Battle Rapping in its truest form and make sure to leave us your feedback: