Battle Recap : June 2nd

WOW!…

There are few words that I can use to describe our final round of preliminary battles other that WOW! There were surprises, upsets, and some of the best beats we’ve heard all year. One of the most shocking developments of last night’s battle, was the defeat of both our 4th and 5th MILTOWN BEAT DOWN champions. This past night was one of the toughest for the crowd to come to a vote on. I saw many people change their vote from one battle to the next, showing little loyalty for anything other than their favorite beats.

Here is how the night broke down…

SAM WINTERS [417] vs. SAUL GARZA BEATZ [209]

MARK VALDEZ [319] vs. JIHAD BARACUS [406]

JAMES JAXIN [427] vs. BAKTRAX [326]

LEX LUTHOR [329] vs. CHAMP [357]

The first round of battles were often determined by one amazing beat. For example, the Lex vs. Champ battle was tipped toward Champ at the beginning, and then Lex pulled out one of the best beats he’s ever played in the battle. A “beat off” was called and the final beat from each producer brought the scores to a close call.

There were many audience members who were torn on who to vote for. You could see it in the faces of the crowd when we’d ask them to vote. Our 5 judges not only listened to what the crowd said, and tallied up the points for creativity and sound quality *. (Sound Quality is a relative factor at Jackalope Lounj based on the limits of this small room’s sound system. But for the record, many of the producers in this battle sounded GREAT in the Jack, so while the system may be less than perfect, the playing field was level.)

We moved into the finals of last night late into the 11 o’clock hour. Here is how that went down..

SAM WINTERS [428] vs. JIHAD BARACUS [321]

This was a particularly tough one. Jihad brought the expected high energy, sonic power house boom bap that we’ve come to love from him. Sam “flipped the script” on ’em and brought some reggae and dance tempo beats. In my talks with the judges,, many of them felt strongly that this versatility worked in Sams favor.

JAMES JAXIN [244] vs. CHAMP [301]

This was a very interesting round. These guys were both playing by the same set of rules. High sonic quality, impactful club beats. If anything, the judges felt that James lost more that Champ won. But the numbers don’t lie and CHAMP was victorious.

Well there ya have it! Our 2011 run at Jackalope Lounj is done. I need to take this moment to give some shout outs to the fine folks at the Wicked Hop and Jackalope Lounj for hosting this year’s battles. To RUFIO, the best bartender in Milwaukee, I thank you brother. We could not have done this without you. THANKS!

A very special thanks to our judges; JC Poppe, DJ Slym, Tarik aka the Architect, Why-B and Cecilio of King’s Go Forth.

And to the best DJ in the Midwest KID CUT UP, you are the man. Thanks to you, the part NEVER stops. Love ya brother.

Well all that we have left to focus on now is the 2011 MILTOWN BEAT DOWN FINALS. If you have not yet purchased your tickets, be sure to CLICK HERE. We will have some more details up this weekend on the finals and our special WILD CARD BATTLE.

Thanks for all the love Milwaukee.

-Jordan