By Chris Richburg
Multi-platinum producers Cool and Dre and DJ Green Lantern are among the beatmakers participating in this year’s Loud.com Online rap battle.
The 20-week long contest, which kicked off earlier this month, will allow registered Loud.com users the opportunity to enter the competition, by using the site’s online recording studio to upload original compositions for 99 cents.
In addition to Cool and Dre and Green Lantern, contestants can choose new tracks produced by Sha Money XL, Havoc of Mobb Deep and DJ Khaled to lay vocals over.
The Online Rap Battle is one of two contests launched by Loud.com.
The web site also kicked off its Producer Challenge for aspiring music producers.
Rap Battle participants can select registered and uploaded beats from the Producer Challenge to aid them in their competition.
One winner will be chosen from the Producer Challenge, along with 10 finalists from the Online Rap Battle.
The winning producer will take home $15,000 as well as a production deal through SRC/Universal Motown. Cool and Dre will serve as judges for the Producer Challenge.
The winner of the Online Rap Battle be rewarded with $100,000 and a recording contract with SRC/Universal Motown.
More than 2,000 entries have been cast for the competition’s first round. Finalists and winners will featured in season two of the Loud.com webisode series The Finalists.
According to the site’s CEO Steve Rifkind, the contests serve as a vehicle for his company to "present all creative instruments for the Loud.com community.
"By providing an improved platform to our users, we hope to make the talent pool even better this time around, and find the next hot aspiring MC and producer we can absorb into the SRC Records/Loud.com family," Rifkind said in a statement.
Among those benefitting from the exposure of the Online Rap Battle was last year’s winner Tha Crow.
The rapper is gearing up for the release his official mixtape.
The DJ Warrior-hosted project comes as Tha Crow is currently working on his debut album, which will be released on SRC/Universal Motown.
