As I entered into Lokko House for Lethal Dialogue IV, I was shocked at the number of people there. I mean, this was supposed to be a battle against someone from Nigeria, so where was everybody??
The usual lyrical wars events are packed with little space to move around. I began to blame the Lyrical Wars team since they only began promotion just a week to the event.
When I got there, Lykay, Chief Kellz and Kojo Trip were on stage looking all friendly, I was honestly surprised when I overheard A-Clipse say these three people on stage were some of the rappers he fears the most.
On Fabolous’s Breathe Instrumental, the three rappers spit some hard-hitting bars. The moment I heard Lykay, everything started to make sense. I later understood why there weren’t too many people, this was meant to be an intimate event.
Then it was time for Smif and Dejinious. Smif never ceases to amaze me Since his first appearance (against with Ecribz), his intricate wordplay and never heard punchlines were all over the place. You could see that he wasn’t impressed with the reactions he was getting, considering the efforts he put into penning it. Listening to Smif reiterated the fact that battle rappers are the ultimate writers. He was penning proses.
Hearing Dejinious and seeing him steal the crowd was fantastic. I mean he’s playing away, he’s a stranger on the land of Osu, I wondered if the crowd was going to let him take the W to Lagos. I very much appreciated the sport seeing how unbiased the Ghana battle rap crowd was. Dejinious, who put up a great performance, made this battle a great start for the expansion of the battle rap across the African continent.
Berch and Phrame, in my opinion, was the battle of the night… seeing Phrame off a battle on another league, I didn’t expect much and boy did he surprise me! Battle rapping in Twi really is the wave, Phrame was very metaphorical spewing proverbs all over while ridiculing Berch’s character… I did see one lady laugh till she teared up.. Kidd Berch oh Kidd Berch, I’m totally convinced that all the people that have been battle rapping in English should try their hands at their mother tongue. Ankwanda was flawless, Amakye the rapper and Bobo were extraordinary. Looking at their numbers, lyrical wars should do more Twi battles. I’d like to see a Berch vs Amakye battle any day!
Overall, Lethal Dialogue was a great success. Lyrical Wars is heading in the right direction and it won’t be long for the continent to realize the role they’ve played in African hip-hop. On behalf of the culture, we say thank you.