Queens battle rapper C3 made history on Saturday, Feb. 25 as the first woman in the history of battle rap to win a tournament, after besting Rare Breed Entertainment’s first lady Kausion on Remy Ma’s Chrome 23’s Anniversary Card.
Remy made history last year by putting on the first all-girl tournament featuring some of the illest pens in the culture including E-Hart, Chayna Ashley, 40 B.A.R.R.S., QB Diamond, Bonnie Godiva, Yoshi G, Ms. Miami Chetta, C Bri, Shiest Raw, Kay Prophet, Hazzy, and Koko Kakes.
C3 and Kausion emerged as the top two spitters of the talented lot. Egos were bruised and relationships were tarnished as the two underdogs inched toward the $25,000, arguably one of the biggest bags a female has ever received in the history of battle rapping.
The Queen of the Ring veteran, who actually made waves at the Ultimate Rap League beating the former WOTY Viixen, stopping her run, kept her head down and prepared. Giving those who understand her history as a killer in battle rap an inkling of just how bad she was going to do the promotion-heavy Kausion.
AllHipHop.com linked up with the champion to talk about what the win meant to her and also get a glimpse into how she prepared.
When asked about the discipline it took to lock in for the Kausion battle, C3 shared she had one clear motivation, saying, “I just really wanted to win.”
“Lucky for me Kausion talks a lot of sh#t,” the battler confessed. “So, that made me want to win even more.”
Her “writtens” were impeccable, but during the battle, what gave her an uncanny edge was her being able to dip into her freestyle bag— coming up off the dome with some incredible material in real-time.
C3 said she knew she was going to rebuttal.
“As far as the freestyles it was already my plan to rebuttal every chance I got, as long as it’s clean and lands properly,” she told Kershaw St. Jawnson. “So, when I saw the moment arise, I was ready.”
She also knew that was one of the things she was scoring on, and surprised that Kausion did not take that in account when she was writing her rounds or performing during the finals.
When talking about her process, she said she “normally likes to rap a little more technical” than she did for this battle.
“Being that it’s judged I wanted to stick more to the lines of writing things people could catch right away,” C3 explained, “As opposed to having to watch it a few times. I didn’t write for the camera at all in my opinion.”
It worked. She unanimously won the five judges’ votes— clearly.
C3 said this was a win that means more than the money for her.
“I finally have something under my belt that solidifies my top-tier spot position. Something that can’t be debated,” the champ said. “Especially with the way things were going in my regular life throughout the duration of the tournament.”
“I just took all the weight, threw it on my back, and kept it pushing,” explaining how challenges tried to distract her.
“I feel like that was old C3 that night,” C3 added. “And I am happy to have found her again.”
