As posted on Freestyle Monday's website " N ow in their 13th year, Freestyle Mondays has built a faithful following by their unique gameshow format freestyle battles, raucous live band, surprise guest performers, and engaging cohorts internationally–acclaimed emcee/DJ iLLspokinn and NY-based chanteuse/songwriter Mariella, who ensure that the event embraces everyone". Freestyle Monday's is one of the most energetic and artistically gratifying events N.Y.C. has to offer. Hosted by EmCee/DJ Illspoken, a charismatic and funny Host, right at the beginning I knew by his witty punchlines that this was going to fun. It was a packed house, and an engaging one as well. As a fan of Freestyle battling from organizations such as King Of The Dot and Grindtime, I was expecting a very aggressive, machismo mostly male crowd. However, to my surprise the crowd was as diverse as a NYC Subway cart. There where both male and female Mc's and fans from all parts of NYC. The event started with the infamous rap battle (Hence giving the event it's name). You can check out a clip here on our Instagram of the first round. Round after round, The MC's where just destroying each other with punchlines and jokes. One of the best punchlines came from the winner of the rap battle Lex Rush. In the final round between Lex Rush and Syanide Lex Rush said a line mentioning "Puetro Rican Goya Beans" which really set the crowd on fire. Even I had a really hard laugh. After the battle, I had a brief interview with Lex Rush. I asked her "What Rappers have inspired your style?" and she gave an interesting response. She said no one really has inspired her style but herself. That's a bold statement to make as an artist in general, and especially as a MC. With Hip-Hop now a days being on top 40 radio, some of it's fans have argued that some MC's are just repackaged versions of one's that have come before, just to sell records. Some rappers are even proud to admit that they just recycle other rappers lyrics. However, I didn't see that in Lex Rush. I didn't see her trying to imitate the style of any MC I had heard before. Every round that she was in, she analyzed the lines that where being said at her, and she wittingly made every statement backfire at the other MC. She would respond to the other mc's claims early on in her freestyle, showing that she was thinking of a rebuttal on the spot, nothing was rehearsed. And of the magic of it is that she never exaggerated her lines by yelling, or pushing out her chest, or funny body movements. She would say these really heavy hitting lines effortlessly, which gives her her unique persona and made the crowd have more of a reaction. I look forward to covering more of these Freestyle mondays and hearing more from Lex Rush! Written by: Gabriel Castellar Guitarist of LTrain https://www.facebook.com/LTrainBand http://funkadelicstudios.com/ https://www.facebook.com/freestylemondaysNYC #FunkLifeNYC#LiveMusic |