It seemed as though every hip hop fan in Detroit made his or her way down to St. Andrews Hall last night to witness the National Championship of the most talked about emcee battle of the summer —Red Bull EmSee: The Road to 8 Mile. When judges Eminem, Mr. Porter and The Alchemist named 18-year old hometown favorite FowL as the national winner, the crowd of over 1,000 fans went bananas. Hip hop legends Bun B, DJ Jazzy Jeff, and Xhibit were among the VIPs that came out to support.
This year’s Red Bull Big Tune competition brought together hip-hop giant Ghostface Killah and up-and-coming producer/beat maker Adam Feeney a.k.a. Frank Dukes for a recording session in Red Bull’s $6,000,000 Santa Monica studio. Dukes, whose name is a Jean-Claude Van Damme / Blood Sport reference, is an all-business personality. Seeming comfortable in the studio, he is meticulous, well spoken, and purposeful. His focus and tenacity were tested by fire when Dukes lost in the 2008 big tune finals to Chicago native C-Sick. Undaunted and eager to set the record straight, Dukes returned in 2009 to unleash his wrath on Detroit, winning the national producers competition and earning him the opportunity to work with the MC of his choice.
