(Originally written when the battle was released)
If you follow the South Wales rap battle scene, then you have defiantly heard of Jake before. He is the stand out performer in Wales and even more than that, he is pivotal to the entire Welsh Battle Scene. Deviant is from Manchester and has had several battles but I do not know as much about him before this battle.
Here is the video of the battle.
I score each battle on a round to round basis giving each battler a score out of 5 based on lyrics, presence, crowd control, confidence and ability. I then add the scores up to give a final result and winner.
Round 1
As the round goes on he becomes more aggressive and in Jakes face and this only serves him well. His bars are strong, nicely written and delivered well.
Deviant starts the battle off and he starts off well. I’d like to hear a touch more projection from him but his overall word play and delivery is very good. As the round goes on he becomes more aggressive and in Jakes face and this only serves him well. His bars are strong, nicely written and delivered well. Deviant did everything right in that round but for me was not loud enough, there are times where you struggle to hear him over the crowd but he has certainly gotten off to a great start.
Score – 3.
Instantly you notice the difference in each battler’s voice projection. Jake’s voice fills the room and is much more easily understood because of this. That’s before we even get onto the word play. Jake makes it look effortless as he battles and this is a sign of a great battler. There’s just so many angles in his words I feel some of the punchlines happen to quickly for the crowd to fully appreciate. Many of the punchlines do get the crowd reacting though and this battle quickly falls into Jakes favour.
I love Jakes commitment to the performance in this round, he is 100% comfortable. He doesn’t once change from his direction because he’s confident in his script. Little things make such a big difference between good battlers and the very best battlers, like not laughing at your own punchlines and staying 100% focused starring at your opponent whilst the crowd around you in going crazy. These are signs of a heavyweight clasher.
Score- 5.
Round 2.
Make no mistake this is Jakes hometown and Jakes event. Deviant is up against it before he begins so respect should be given heavily for that. At the end of round one even Deviant applauds Jakes effort. During this round I feel like I’m echoing my evaluation of the first round. His word play is good, delivery good, attitude good. I am left occasionally struggling to hear him over the mumbling of the crowd. He needs to project his voice to overcome this aspect. He goes through the round quickly but with very strong bars. There’s no denying his word pay is very good this is again a very strong round.
Score - 4.
Jake’s bars I feel though are just too strong for Deviant to compete with, and that’s nothing against Deviant, Jake is just one of the best battlers around. He’s mature. Schemes, rhymes, punchlines, delivery, crowd control. Jake does it all and does it fucking brilliantly. I try to critique battle rappers in this blog but one can only watch and enjoy when Jake is performing.
Score – 5.
Round 3
Deviant is good. I feel if he came up against someone else with these bars he would be in a lot stronger place than what he is right now in this battle. I think at this point Deviant feels the pressure of the first two rounds on him and wants to get this battle done quickly, he knows Jake is a formidable contender. If Deviant slowed down his delivery and raised the projection of his voice he would be a very strong battle rapper. His word play is very good and probably doesn’t get the recognition they deserve in this battle because of Jake’s outstanding performance. However, I feel there’s only a few minor points Deviant can improve on – he has the most important aspect in abundance – and that’s the ability to write great battle bars. I’d certainly like to see Deviant battle again in South Wales.
Score - 3.
Jake is another level. I hate to repeat myself in blogs and I try to avoid it but you can only admire this performance from Jake. I feel like I want to break into school yard and show the youngsters this is how you fucking battle rap! His projection makes him easy to listen to. I don’t want to watch a video and have to concentrate to hear what someone is saying, I want to hear every aspect of the voice effortlessly. Jake does this better than anyone and it is a skill; to do it in-between the peaks and troughs of crowd reactions and with comedic timing on top whilst making it look simple is truly a sign of battler in his highest form.
I’ve critiqued a few of Jakes battles over the years and usually say similar things to what I have in this blog, but there is an element in Jakes performance which I feel hasn’t been seen before; and that’s raw emotion. There’s points during this performance where you can see Jake pouring everything into his delivery, he’s feeling this and in complete control of the crowd. I feel a bit sorry for Deviant coming up against Jake in this state of mind because he’s just destroying him. I feel I have run out of accolades for Jake at this point. He’s just the best around.
Score – 5.
Conclusion
Deviant is a solid battler. His word play is fantastic and rings with a poetic-ness and a use of proper English words which I really like. His delivery is good but I feel this is the area is which he can mostly improve. Slowing his bars down would help I believe and maybe throw in a few more funny bars to get the crowd cheering him. Notice the only crowd reaction he received was from his mean bars. Whereas Jake had this plus the funny bars making the crowd respond in different ways. Solid performance overall.
Jake is the realist. He puts on these events, films them, edits the videos, performs and everything else involved too. He is literally carrying the battle scene on his back. This is a difficult thing to achieve and a fine balance is needed between running the events and performing. This is another of Jakes skills I feel deserves high respect. On top of all that I feel he is the constant stand out performer at the events and anyone battling Jake in the future is literally going into the rap battle of their life.
From recent events and current form of battle rappers I feel there is only a handful at best of rappers in Wales that could match Jake. I would personally like to see Brave Mugraw battle Jake The Ripper as they are both of the highest quality battlers around and everyone they battle they destroy. I wonder if they would be up for the challenge?
Final Score
Deviant - 10
Jake – 15
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