10 years ago I created this event to bridge the hyper-segregated Milwaukee music community. With the current landscape we find ourselves in Milwaukee, I feel the mission has been accomplished. Granted we have a long way to go, but artist like Mike Regal, Klassik, and Webster X ( to name only a few of the many great acts in our city ) are releasing music in a collaborative and encouraging environment. The concepts of east-side or north-side Hip Hop are, in essence, gone. The line between electronic and rap music have blurred so much, no one even care how you label a “genre” of music in this day and age.
So with that, I am announcing the END of the MILTOWN BEAT DOWN.
To celebrate the amazing artists who have participated in this event, we are hosting a final Battle Royale, featuring all past champions of the event. We’ve lined up Mike Regal, Reason, Bubba, CameOne, Da Ricanstrukta, Jihad Baracus, J Todd, Lex Luther, Magic Fingaz, Major On Da Beatz Ad Lib, and the people’s champion 40 Mil.
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In our last night of the 2014 Miltown Beat Down Preliminary Rounds, we reached our closest score of the entire competition.
Here’s how the points added up…
Battle One : Sumthin Gunny [326] VS Lex Luther [383]
New comer Sumthin Gunny stepped to the stage with some freshman jitters, but still wowed the judges with his slumpy and gritty sounds. Former MTBD champions and seasoned battle veteran Lex Luther was ready to show the audience some his his new styles. With a close battle of 326 to 383, Lex Luther won the first round.
Battle Two : Fooki [401] VS Martie McFly [299]
Rookies Fooki and Martie McFly each took a very different approach to the battle format. Martie was confident and braggadocious, while Fooki was clam, cool and collected. These two had very differnt styles, which made for a very fun battle. While Martie brought a lot of energy and huge sounds, Fooki’s “Speak Softly and Carry a Big Beat” mentality won over the crowd and the judges in this round.
Battle Three: Sumthin Gunny [404] VS Fooki [398]
After a few trip ups in his first round, Sumthin Gunny came back to the stage with guns blazing. His #bizzonface inducing, stanky funk was tough even for Fooki. This battle was like Jupiter vs. Mars. While Fooki’s spcey trap-inspired sounds were out there, Gunny was light years away with his future funk. Gunny won this battle with a score of 404, while using his SP404. HA!
Battle Four: Lex Luther [412] VS Martie McFly [390]
Battle vet Lex, wasn’t afraid to try some new approaches to his battle technique in this round. Martie was on point with great samples, and HUGE drums. Lex decided to flip his usual boom-bap style, and surprised everyone with some slow tempo bangers. A close battle but Lex pulled out another win with a score of 412.
Battle Five: Sumthin Gunny [416] VS Martie McFly [426]
Martie McFly stepped it up in his last round on stage, and racked the highest single round score of the night in this battle. Gunny seemed a little out if it in his last appearance of the night, and his space daze worked against him. Martie however was floating like a butterfly and stinging like a bee. With only a ten point differential, Martie McFly won with a high score of 426!
Battle Six: Lex Luther [425] VS Fooki [417]
In the last battle of the 2014 prelims, front runners Fooki and Lex Luther brought the heat! Lex proved his mastery of the MPC, and knocked the speakers to the max, while Fooki surprised the crowd with big electronic sounds from the future. This battle was WAY to close to call, and we went to a tie breaker #beatoff. After 8 beats, Lex only won this battle by 8 points!
Lex Luther gets another shot at the crown, but only by a margin of 4 points. Honorable mention goes to Fooki, who would’ve won the whole thing if he’s scored a mere 1.5 more points per round. That’s a close one y’all. Lex Luther tries to win another Miltown Beat Down championship on November 8th at the Miramar Theater.
In our second bout of the 2014 battle season, we welcomed to the stage three MTBD rookies. TALLMKFNTONE, VELLE BEATS and JJ JABBER all stepped up to challenge seasoned battle veterans, JAZZWARD.
How did they do? Well here is the recap of September 11th’s battles.
Round 1: Jazzward [397] VS Tallmfkntone [319]
Jazzward brought it. They brought friends, fans, #BIZZONFACES… but most importantly, they brought hot beats. In the first round of the night, rookie TALLMFKNTONE stepped up with a slight amount of caution, while the boys of Jazzward brought two right hooks and a jab to knock out their opponent.
Ronnd 2: JJ Jabber [365] VS Velle Beats [352]
Rookie JJ Jabber was poised and ready in his first battle against young Velle. But don’t let Velle Beat’s age, or complete lack of facial expressions, fool you… THIS KID HAS HEAT! This was a very close battle, that kept the audience excited and ready for more from these two new producers.
Round 3: Jazzward [433] VS JJ Jabber [374]
The Jazzward crew came with it in their second bout of the night. While JJ Jabber had a hot start in this round, the fellas of Jazzward came out of the gate strong and kept their lead with a three pack of sample focused bass heavy beats. JJ’s bass was no joke either and we started to wonder if our sub-woofers were going to make it through the night.
Round 4: Tallmfkntone [369] VS Velle Beats [374]
Well is the subs got flexed in the last round, they got damn near stretched out in the fourth round. Tone and Velle did not hold anything back. The brain tickling effects of the 40 hertz low end bass were in full effect for this round! Tone came with some exciting breaks, but Velle’s undeniable bass mastery won this round for the young producer.
Round 5: Jazzward [427] VS Velle Beats [417]
In the final bout for the Jazzward crew, they took us down to “Tinos’ Place” for a little touch of yazz flute, with their first beat of this round.
Not only did we hear some great samples from Jazzward, but rookie Velle Beats really hit a stride and almost took out the mighty Jazzward crew, as he fell behind by only 10 points.
Round 6: Tallmfkntone [411] VS JJ Jabber [392]
Tone finally brought the beats we were waiting to hear all night in this final battle. JJ was ready for Tone and had some of his best beats of the evening on cue, but Tone won over the judges and the crowd in his last appearance of the night.
After winning all three of their bouts, and racking up an impressive score of 1,257 JAZZWARD won this night of battles and will move on to the 2014 Miltown Beat Down Finals on November 8th at the Miramar Theater.
We are in the works of planning the 2011 MILTOWN BEAT DOWN. As we prepare all the details, we want to take the beginning of this year to recap all the excitement we’ve seen in years past.
2010 was a landmark year for the battle. Our 2010 champ LEX LUTHOR was invited to participate in the 2010 RED BULL BIG TUNE BATTLE.
Here is how the finals all went down…
While LEX did not win the mid-west regional for BIG TUNE, he put up quite a fight…
We’ve got more great plans for 2011, so stay tuned. If you have any questions about sign up for 2011, feel free to email us at miltownbeatdown@gmail.com
Registration opened yesterday for the 2010 Miltown Beat Down Beat Battle. As we expected, the new style of competition has brought up a number of questions. The ARRANGEMENT battle is a new approach to the Hip Hop beat battle. We’ve seen so many battles over the past years, where “celebrity” producers get on stage and someone plays “their” beats from a CDj or even worse, the Dj booth. While the energy of the beat is the determining factor in who wins any beat battle, we have always strived to offer a more in depth approach to the beat battle format.
This year’s ARRANGEMENT battle was inspired by Madhatter and Kid Cut Up’s days of DMC Dj battles. In the late 90’s there was nothing more exciting than a good DJ battle. The DMC formula challenged DJs to keep the crowd entertained for more than just one little routine. We’ve taken that idea and applied it to the beat battle.
In the ARRANGEMENT BATTLE producers have to weave their beats together into a high energy presentation. The goal is to show diversity, sonic prowess and to be clever in how the beats are presented to the audience.
Madhatter has been putting together a few examples of how it WOULD MAYBE sound if some of his favorite producers entered the battle…
Here is his mix of J Dilla beats mixed in the ARRANGEMENT BATTLE format.
– At least 3 minutes long, but no longer than 4 minutes.
– Must Contain at least 3 original compositions or beats ( more are encouraged )
– Must be mixed down to one MP3 or WAV file
Miltown Beat Down Battle 