Hold your cheesesteaks! Hold your motherflubbing cheesesteaks! For the first time in the history of the league, SMACK URL will host their first battle rap experience in Philadelphia, PA on the Lock Down card on October 6th. The announcement was made exclusively on the SMACK URL app.
Emceeing and Philly actually goes hand-in-hand.
Approximately 94 miles up i95, access to the bubbling rap scene in the 70s was easy and open. In fact OG’s from the Hilltop section of West Philly, Lawrence “L.G.” Goodman and Dana Goodman, made that b-line up to the Big Apple with their early rap label Pop Art Records. Contracts in hand, they created reality out of the dreams of many of Hip-Hop’s early stars (just ask Salt-N-Pepa and the entire Juice Crew)! Out of this lot came the Godmother of Battle Rap, Roxanne Shante… and so having an eye for battle rap is something in the Schuylkill punch.
But you don’t have to go back into the glory years of Hip-Hop to find that NYC/ Philly connection. Over the last 15, artists like Beanie Sigel, Freeway, Shawn Smith, E Ness, Black Thought, Meek Mill and yes, Cassidy have kept bars alive by see-sawing between the commercial success of the industry and having one foot squarely in the sand of underground Hip-Hop. They all have done this by performing in cyphers, spitting fire freestyles and battling.
And so today, what in the name of Ishkabibles does that really mean?
It kinda means that SMACK URL took too damn long to set up a franchise event in the City of Brotherly Love. It also means that now that they they are scheduled to execute this card, the ink is dried on the contracts and fans have been alerted… fans will experience one of the most incredible explosion of battle rap culture and authentication ever seen in the culture. Headlining will be Philly hometown hero Cassidy (who contends he is 5002-0).
No one can deny that Cassidy is instrumental in building the legacy of battle rap. Arguably one of the best to ever touch the mic, he is about to face one of his toughest opponents ever in Arsonal da Rebel.
READ MORE: Cassidy Throws Shots At Tsu Surf, But Does He Really Want That Smoke
Both incredibly cocky. Both incredibly skilled with the lyrics. Both on a mission to cement their legacy. This is gonna be a battle for the ages.
It took years to come… but now that it is here…and the city where the underdog Rocky is the municipal god, the soft pretzel is the city staple food, they laugh at Auntie Annie’s pretzels (what are those) and hoagies are not subs is about to get SMACK!
