In Rap Battle, Armenta Wins and Hitler Loses
By Jacqueline Wong-Hernandez
Editor-in-Chief

"My favorite part is the crowd involvement ... making sure everyone had a good time. Battles are part of hip hop culture, and we wanted to put one on and have it taken seriously, and not as a trivial form of entartianment. It's not just watching people make fun of each other," explained Yohance Serrant '03, the co-host of Saturday night's freestyle battle. The battle, billed as "8 Mile-style," was sponsored by Pitzer's Black Student Union.

Crowd participation was high as both students and community members packed into Pitzer's Gold Student Center to watch 16 contestants try to out-flow one another. By the end of the first round, the accordion doors that separated the battle room from the other meeting room had to be opened to accommodate the people pouring in. Contestants were each given a number and they competed one-on-one in brackets until there were only two artists remaining in the final round. Serrant, along with co-host Seth Miller, encouraged the crowd to cheer for flows they liked and to outright boo those they did not. Serrant told the crowd, "you gotta be real about it." However, both hosts continually stressed that freestyling is not easy and anyone that stepped up to battle was worthy of admiration.

Unworthy of admiration was a competitor who called himself "Hitler." After asking the competitor what he'd like to be called, Miller looked confused by the response. "Hitler?... Hitler?" he asked. Many audience members began to look at each other and shake their heads.

While Hitler's first round flow was relatively benign, his second round freestyle included rhymes in which he said he was the "white man" and his opponent was the "Indian." Hitler also made himself akin to the "slave master" about to whip his opponent. Eventually he was booed off the stage by the audience. In a situation in which a contestant has to freestyle an attack on his specific opponent whom he probably doesn't know, I'm shocked that none of Hitler's opponents launched a full-scale attack on his name. The name could have provided fodder for a whole new level of creativity in insults and rhyming. As soon as Hitler introduced himself, I wanted to jump up on stage with my own flow.

Pomona and Pitzer students were well represented in the competition, as were students from outside the five colleges. There were also two contestants from Harvey Mudd-a surprise to the crowd-who ended up garnering a fair amount of audience support.

The event ran smoothly, for the most part, with ties being decided by a panel of judges comprised of CMC alumnus Andre Bryan, and Pitzer BSU members Jameela Hammond and Monya Morrow. The one setback in the event was caused by audience members wanting to join the competition after 16 had already been confirmed. Initially the hosts decided to allow four more competitors, but the numbers threw off the brackets-there ended up being five contestants vying for the final round's two spots. The judges then decided that the additions were illegitimate, and added individuals were disqualified. The decision caused some commotion, and a male student got on stage and asked the hosts into the microphone, "Why are you picking on the white guy?" The hosts apologized for having to disqualify the contestant and offered qualify the contestant and offered him a consolation prize.

"Everyone else was okay, but [Balogun and Armenta] were the only ones that deserved to be in the final round. They are both really talented," said Pitzer senior Judyth Hermosillo.

The final round featured the obvious crowd favorites Olatunji Balogun '04, and Whittier College senior Steven Armenta. After each made a fantastic showing, the hosts asked the audience to cheer for the artist they thought should win. It was close; both were greeted with considerable applause and shouts, but Armenta emerged as the winner. He received a cash award of $100, and Balogun received $50.

Armenta has been rapping for six years and battles around Los Angeles. He said, "It never changes. You're always nervous, because whatever you say has to come from off the top of your head. The hardest part is adapting to the person you're up against. You have to draw the energy away that [your opponent] has given to the crowd."

BSU members were pleased with the event overall. "We were excited to put it on. We did a lot of work to publicize it, and we got a good turnout. This is definitely something we'll do again in the future," says Hammond.