Last night, eight freestyle MCs from around Detroit competed in Red Bull EmSee, a freestyle battle of sight and sound that took place at St. Andrews Hall. After a night filled with piercing punch lines and lyrical acrobatics, it was Hostyle who dominated the stage and was crowned the Detroit champion. Later this year, he will advance to the Red Bull EmSee National Championships in Atlanta, GA.
“Right now, I feel amazing, I feel like I’m on top of the world,” said Hostyle. “It’s crazy, this is my third battle winning at St. Andrews, but this is a big one, winning in front of Royce and all them. What it felt like to be up there with Bun B was exhilarating. I just listened to him on the radio on the way up here, and I’ve been listenin’ to ‘Ridin’ Dirty’ since I was 16.”
The other MCs included Cash Eatin, K.Reed, QP, D-Scrill, H.I., Killa Kaunn and Supa Emcee. Among a packed house of onlookers were legendary rapper and host Bun B, as well as a judge panel of hip-hop heavies including Royce da 5’9″ (Slaughterhouse), Denaun Porter (D12) and Trick Trick (Goon Squad). Judges kept a watchful eye on competitors as they clawed their way through a format that put a spin on the traditional rap battle. Pictures and words were randomly prompted on screens as cues before timed round that the MCs needed to hit in each of their flows, challenging them to creatively spit rhymes off-the-dome. Fans and the competing MCs were also treated to special performances by the judges after each round, but in the end, Hostyle’s ingenious freestyle skills proved the most impressive.
“I saw a lot of talented battle rappers,” mentioned Royce on what he was looking for as a judge. “I’ve always been a fan of battle rapping, but I’m a fan of being clever and witty when battle rapping as opposed to being violent and aggressive, and I think that clever and witty won tonight. Big ups to my man, Hostyle.”
Looking ahead to the Red Bull EmSee finals in Atlanta, 31-year-old Eight Mile-native Hostyle shares, “I’m going to need to be really lyrical, more so lyrical than this time, and be ready to be really respectful to the south. I AM FOCUSED, I AM FOCUSED, I AM FOCUSED,” he continues, which is also the name of his latest single. In his ‘I Am Focused’ video (which can be found on YouTube), he declares, “when I’m looking for the best, I am all I find.”
Hostyle will go up against the winning freestyle MCs from the rest of this year’s Red Bull EmSee series, which includes Los Angeles, Seattle, Philadelphia, Houston, Boston, and Washington, D.C. so far. The next Red Bull EmSee battle will be in Miami on November 16th, concluding the tour before the national finals are held in Atlanta later this year. If Hostyle wins, then he will be the second national Red Bull EmSee champion from Detroit to head into Red Bull Studios in Santa Monica to work with a producer of his choice from a select panel. FoWL, last year’s winner, recorded his track, “Cha Cha Chicken,” with The Alchemist released last summer. For the latest updates, visit www.redbullusa.com/emsee.
