(AllHipHop News) Respected veteran Bun B was on hand last night in Atlanta to crown the last finalist in Eminem’s Red Bull EmSee battle tournament.
The show took place at the city’s Masquerade venue, and was the final preliminary stop of a national tournament that has also held events in New York, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Orlando, Greensboro and Houston.
Red Bull’s tournament breaks from traditional battle presentations by having participants go through two rounds where they construct improvised rhymes based on topics flashed on a screen.
The head to head battle is saved for the final round.
“Red Bull EmSee is freestyling 2.0…the next level of the game,” Bun told AllHipHop.com at the event. “It’s as interactive as a freestyle competition you can get.”
The Atlanta show started it off with eight emcees and featured a final between Headkrack and Hot 107.5 wildcard winner Fattman.
Fattman’s energy and appearance (rapping with no shirt on) helped him win the crowd early on, but became a detriment in the final round. Headkrack utilized his opponent’s rotund shape to get in several stinging jabs.
“When I step on stage emcees get killed/When I seen him all I could think about was breast milk!/This is a man with t######/Get off the stage go work at Magic City!”
He credits lines like those as what enabled him to get Fattman mentally out of his comfort zone.
“I felt it. Emcee battling is talent but a lot of it is psychological just like boxing,” Headkrack explained. “So at the staredown you got to get in this dude’s head…Once you get a dude to look away that’s half of it done. And when they’re throwing lines at you and you look unimpressed and not fazed by what they’re saying it makes them have to work harder.
The Detroit finalist will be selected this Saturday (August 21) on 98 WJLB. The finalists from each region will then face off in Detroit in front of Eminem on August 26 at St. Andrews Hall.
The three judges for the events have been Don Cannon, last year’s winner Manchild and Bun B.
For more information visit www.redbull.com/RedbullEmSee.