Here is the video of the emcee battle between Marshall Law and Flawless at the November 13th Elevation. Pardon the footage, we are still trying to find the best angle to document the event. This battle was dope regardless. Both emcees really brought their A game! The crowd decided that Marshall Law won the battle. What do you think? Who won?

Friday November 13th @ The FireHouse XIII 41 Central Street Providence, RI 02907
Doors Open @ 9pm | $7 Cover | All Ages

Featuring Jah Pan (Record Release Party for “An Album Called Life”)
Music by DJ Sterby Rock
Hosted by Rock Solid

Open Mic.
Show up early to Sign Up! Each Emcee (or group) gets one beat (max 4 mins).
You can bring your original beats on CD. First Come First Serve Basis.

1 vs 1 Emcee Battle. Marshall Law vs Flawless!!!
Marshall Law defends his 401 Battle Championship Title.
Round One is one minute. Round Two is 30 Seconds. Crowd picks the winner

Live Podcast Recording.
We record the whole show (audio) and turn it into the Official Elevation Podcast
It is featured on 401hiphop.com, iTunes, and the Zune Marketplace.

Late Night Cypher. (Midnight till 1am)
Come for the Open Mic. Stay for the Cypher. It’s a more free flowing emcee session.
Freestyling in encouraged but not mandatory. The Cypher happens over all origin beats from the …

Producer Showcase.
Come check out the hottest producers in the area rocking out live on the MPC.

B-Boy Friendly. Graffiti Art Gallery.

Sponsors:

Norm’s New Generation Barber Shop
168 Smithfield Ave. Pawtucket, RI -

Elevation is a monthly Open Mic / Hip Hop Showcase. Its also a monthly Podcast. We are proud to debut the first official Elevation Podcast. William Javier recorded the open mic, emcee battles, our features performers, and the cypher. He edited it down to one hour and nineteen minutes of pure Rhode Island hip hop audio goodness.

The Elevation podcast is hosted by Rock Solid. The beats are provided by Sterby Rock and William Javier (except when emcee brought their their own beats). The show features performances by: Rock Solid, Romen Rok, Wor Paint, HW, Vendetta, Boudy, Mic Feen, Big City Bumpus, Reason, Dirty Hank, Marshall Law, Science, Casper and CasUno.

Live hip-hop and an audience of smiling faces are rarely seen together nowadays, especially here in Rhode Island. That said; I can’t recall the last time a featured artist kicked off an evening wearing sun-tanning goggles. Romen Rok did exactly that while onstage at Friday night’s Elevation and set the tone for what went on to be an enjoyable, successful open mic night at Firehouse XIII.

Thanks to Rock Solid, who did a fine job of hosting as well as blessing the mic, and Sterby Rock performing scratchutory rape on the tables, the night continued on – and finished – without a moment of silence. Courtesy of some newer names (at least to myself), including Boudy, Wor Paint and Vendetta, and a few of the more recognizable rhyme-slingers, HW, Big City and Mic Feen, the open mic was nicely kept in balance and did a fine job of showcasing the aptitude of our locals.

After a solid head-nodding set from Dirty Hank & Reason (PDP) that even had the three or four skirts in the building shaking their shit, Marshall Law went on to defend his 401 Hip-Hop championship battle title against open mic participant Tec. In short, Marshall seems to be building a rigid reputation for slaughtering all who oppose. However, due to RI’s practically non-existent battle circuit, I’m not sure exactly how much weight that statement holds. (Hopefully those last couple sentences are enough to instigate some future competition…and fire up Marshall for the rounds to come.) Regardless, I know when respect is due, and the kid is definitely an animal when it comes to battling.

The night wound down to a Big City, Cas Uno, Wor Paint, Boudy, Dirty Hank, and Reason (along with a couple others) rhyme-cipher spit over a number of instrumentals spun by Sterby and some live MPC programming from William Javier. Aside from a mere dose of freestyle biting (1:44-1:50) that made me cringe, the cipher, along with the other three hours of Elevation, was dope.

When I initially spoke with Mortal about Elevation, he described his ambitions of having this event act as an ongoing quasi-workshop for emcees, producers, and other local talent. Truly, it’s a great idea. Elevation offers artist’s the chance to meet new people, build, and, essentially, better their chance of being noticed in such an over-saturated genre of music. In a broader scope, Elevation is also an opportunity to end the obviously segregated Rhode Island hip-hop landscape. This is the rebirth of Unity, Rhode Island, and there’s the potential for our scene to receive some well-deserved recognition. So pay attention, spread the good word, and bring your Jason mask out to the next Elevation at Firehouse XIII on November, Friday the 13th.

You can check out the pictures from October’s Elevation below …

The Mic Monster aka Marshall Law has confirmed that he WILL be attending Elevation this Friday to defend his current 401 Hip Hop Battle Champion title. He let me know he is willing to battle anyone. I’m pretty sure anyone that has seen Marshall battle knows that he is a beast. So if you think you got the skills to take the crown, show up this Friday at the FireHouse XIII (or leave a comment) and let’s make it happen.

March 24th @ The Beach House, 506 Park ave, Portsmouth, RI | 9PM -1AM | Performances By: SBO & Neysean, Big City Bumpus, JProfane, Freddy Black, Lil Bear, Marshall Law, Phillip Morrez

KC’S Tap | June 8th | Sunday

Performances by: Challz, Animal Cracka, Sneaky Pete, Anime, Marshall Law, Who Dem, Sbo, and more.

[audio:http://audio.basementflavor.com/sneaky_pete_vs_marhall_law/401hiphop/emcee_battle.mp3]

For everyone who has been waiting to re-live the battle between Sneaky Pete and Marshall Law, I got some good news and some bad news. Here is the battle for you to enjoy. But the bad news is thats its only the audio. The lighting in The Living Room is not the best. So the footage is blurry at best. The audio is clean so I figured fuck it. The only thing you miss is the Carrot Top prop work of Sneaky Pete as he puts on a pair of white sun glasses when he says “I’ll Be Kanye West”. So Listen. Enjoy and sound off on who you thought was the winner. What was your favorite punch lines?

Since Marshall Law jumped on the scene on Sunday March 30th, He has destroyed all Competition. He has beaten RI superstars 8th Wundah, Knux, and Najas, as well as the up and coming star, Raise at the Battle Royal at The Living Room. Then he stomped (literally) into The Audio Liquor’s Brawl and defeated Raise for the second time. Just recently he smashed Sneaky Pete at the BF 10 Year Anniversary Show. So the question needs to be asked … WHO’s NEXT?

Marshall is ready to defend the title. Friday May 30th @ The AS220. Is there anyone out there that can de-throne the current champ? Anyone want to accept the challenge? Who would you want to see Marshall battle? Let make it happen!

Friday May 16th was a milestone for me. It was a show to celebrate my 10 years of promoting and contributing to the Rhode Island Hip Hop scene. It was also a benchmark to my relationship with the community. I am about to say something that will not come as a shock to anyone. People involved in this local hip hop scene act funny. I was fully prepared to write a scathing article calling out people who I thought were being more dumb than usual. But you know what? All promotions are good promotions, so instead I will just give my love and respect to those who went out of their way to help this event be a success. Those who rose to the occasion and became champions for the night. Those that helped make this night special. So Here I go:

Marshall Law. Since he is the current UNDISPUTED battle champion, it made the most sense to me that I start with him. You may love Marshall, you may hate him, but you can’t ignore him. He brought a lot of hype and attention to this show. Marshall and his squad were in the building. Their fans came early and stayed late. He came in and smashed Sneaky in a two round battle. Marshall let Sneaky dictate stipulations and he battled Sneaky at his own game and won clean. Marshall’s buzz has come about rather quickly, I look forward to see where he goes from here. Battle rappers don’t usually put out quality material. Hopefully Marshall can break the mold.

Sneaky Pete. You may be wondering why someone who clearly lost the battle would be considered a Champion. How could someone who got his ass handed to him be on this list? Sneaky really did it BIG on the promotions for this event. He came thru several times for flyers and was always down to go put in work on some street team shenanigans. Also the battle between Sneaky and Marshall was basically a marketing tactic that was conceived by Sneaky. Sneaky set it in motion. It was just as big a draw as either of the headliners. So big up to Sneaky Pete for being able to have a good time and bettering someone else’s operation at his own expense. I respect your hustle.

Sterbyrock. Sterby “Mutha Phuckin” Rock!! Sterby and I have been cool since the Tone Capone days at Liquid Lounge. I have always held Sterby in high regards, but after his performance at the show, he has been escalated to man god status in my eyes. First one to show up. Last one to leave. He even set off the show by announcing the first act. With out his proactive behavior, the show may have been cut short later on in the night. He also held it down during Vast Aire’s set like a … well … like a champ. One would expect the Headliner to have a DJ to spin their set. I thought Vast and C-Rayz would have DJs. I told Sterby they had DJs, yet they didn’t. Sterby manned up and did the damn thing. No fuss. I am still in awe.

Keebla. Some may not know who Keebla is. It seems our community dies out and is reborn every few years like the mythical firey bird, the Phoenix. The majority of the current roster of RI Hip Hop Superstars have been around for about two years or so. That being said I guess it could be excusable for them not to know Keebla. But I for one believe there are a few names that any hip hopper for RI should know: DJ Buck, DJ Kurty Kutt, Wiz Art, Vase, Manhunt, Afta Maf, Kwest, Sage, and Keebla! Keebla is a pioneer of the RI B-Boy scene. Once a memebr of the POAM B-Boys, then the founder of the Ground FX crew, he has proven himself to be the number one B-Boy in RI. Keebla volunteered his time to run the door and and handle the guest list for the event. This is the absolute worst job to have at an event, but he did it … like a champ. I’m looking forward to his upcoming. Hopefully he will allow me to help him as much as he helped me.

19Ninty7. Yes sir. Our first ever “Artist on The Rise”. 19Ninty7 came thru and provided the CD player for the event. Every artist that performed that night owes a small bit of thanks to 97. He also laced me with a butter LRG Hoody. We had a discussion at the battle last month, about how we were both fans of the LRG clothing line. He mentioned a clothing store around his way that always has LRG hoodies on clearance and that 97 personally had too many and would bless me with one. Well I totally forgot the convo, but Ninty7 did not. When he showed up with the CD player, he also had the hoody. Thats a hook up. Respect. I’ll see what I can do to return the favor.

Vast Aire. One of my favorite Emcees of the current generation. I would go as far as to say he is in my top 5. He killed it. He performed one of my favorite joints, Raspberry Fields. It’s a shame he and C-Rayz didn’t rock my absolute favorite “The Battle for Asgard”. My son and his best friend Shamar wanted to meet Vast. I was very surprised to see how good Vast was with young fans. He really spent a lot of time with them, and had actual conversations with them. It was awesome to see. He could have just been like “what’s up guys” and they would have been happy, but he took time and built with them. WORD. The Children are the future.

C-Rayz Walz. Another of my top 5 emcees of the last decade. C-Rayz is amazing. He is an emcee who does not need a DJ or a hype man and can still smash a show. He sounds the same as he does on CD and that is something not every emcee can pull off. Actually hardly any recording artist can pull that off. He also mentioned Me and Basement Flavor in his freestyles. Dopeness. C-Rayz was a true professional. Very easy to work with and easy to please. I look forward to working with him in the future.

DJ Janks. Janks held it down on the DJ tip for C-Rayz during his set. This gave Sterby a much needed and deserved break. Janks did his thing. Big up and respect to him. Janks also came out and help with the promotions for the event. I dig his work ethic.

Gibran. My dude. Gibran (in case you don’t know) is one of the co-founders of Labeless Illtelligence and the producer behind St. Art and The IF?. Gibran (or SkricLee as I know him) and I have become very good friends over the past seven months, since the release of Halo 3. We have built almost daily via XBOX Live and are about to embark on our new career as professional gamers. He broke his 2 year self imposed hiatus from attending shows just to come out and support my celebration. That in my humble opinion made this event a success. Watching someone who is an artist and STILL a fan enjoy a showcase I put together was reward enuff for me. Hopefully I can put together another event that will motivate him to attend.

Thats all I got for now. If I forgot to mention you and you feel you went out of your way to make this the best show of the year, I apologize. If you attended the show I would love to hear any and all feedback. Positive or negative. I wont catch feeling like some. (well at least I wont let you see me cry)

P.S. I couldn’t have done it without the wife. She is my queen. The most powerful piece on the board.