Rappers V Poets: Head to head in verbal warfare

6 September 2016

Billed as a ‘live battle of words between razor-sharp rappers and ninja poets’, Rappers v Poets featured ten performers pairing off to go head-to-head in five bouts of verbal warfare. This war of words and sharp tongues was presented by BBC Scotland’s The Social platform at the Edinburgh Festival.

The contestants were hand-picked by Bram E Gieben and Jay McLeary who are regular contributors to The Social. After each round, the audience had to decide the individual winner and then eventually crown either the rappers or the poets.

These are just some the key moments of verbal dexterity from the event, which also included guest performances by internationally-renowned hip-hop lyricists Sage Francis and B Dolan (aka The Epic Beard Men) from Providence, Rhode Island. The pair presented the trophy to the eventual winners.

Spoken word and performance artist Leyla Josephine opens the evening for the poets with her piece on the theme of growing up and learning about sex.

Round five was deep! Scottish Grime rapper Ransom FA won plaudits for his performance in this round which was all about the future. The rapper who is from Aberdeen was nominated for a Scottish Alternative Music Award in 2016.

Rapper and spoken word artist Sage Francis took to the stage after handing out the trophy for a special performance about falling in love with hip hop and the modern face of the industry

A guest performance by rapper B. Dolan brought the curtain down on the evening with his tribute to Ol' Dirty Bastard. In the style and format of Bob Dylan’s Who Killed Davey Moore?, he explores the life and tragic death of The Wu-Tang Clan’s Russell Tyrone Jones.

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