Some say being a lyrically focused rapper is dead. BET thinks otherwise, because the network is bringing back the iconic Freestyle Fridays of 106 & Park fame this week, and it’s featuring five artists from the Triangle—Konvo the Mutant, $wank, Kelly Kale, King Draft, and (J) Rowdy. They've traveled up to New York City to compete against twenty-six other artists from across the country today at 3 p.m. on BET's YouTube channel.
$wank has been making moves in Durham for the past year, performing shows with the likes of Alex Aff, Danny Blaze, Jooselord, and at last year’s Beats N Bars Music Festival. Kelly Kale, another Durhamite, has a project on Bandcamp called The Unanticipated, which highlights her ability to spit bars and write relatable songs.
King Draft is a staple in Durham hip-hop, having independently released four projects since 2014 with his longtime collaborator, Jerm Scorsese. The tag team’s sound is in the lineage of hometown heroes Little Brother, with methodical bars by Draft and creative sampling from Jerm.
Konvo the Mutant may be the most electric out of the group, with an East Coast flow as dirty as northern New Jersey, where he grew up. He is a gladiator on the microphone and rose to local prominence by founding the ECU chapter of Cypher Univercity, appearing consistently anywhere a Cypher U circle may be found.
J(Rowdy) founded the Chapel Hill chapter of Cypher Univercity, where he fosters the growth of aspiring emcees. On top of being a nurturing member of the hip-hop community, Rowdy is a strong emcee who uses his experience at the Cypher to kick freestyles off the top of his head that are better constructed than some artists’ written material. (Disclosure: Josh Rowsey, aka (J)Rowdy, is an occasional INDY contributor.)
It used to be that Freestyle Fridays brought hip-hop heads from around the country together to cheer for emcees repping their hometowns, and in some cases like Jin and Loaded Luxx, turning them into underground legends. The Triangle has been fostering amazing hip-hop talent for decades, and hopefully Freestyle Friday’s resurrection will serve as an outlet for the world to see what’s been happening in our scene.
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