Mohalenyane Phakela
THE third edition of the Dirt Mouth monthly rap battles lived up to its billing as rappers TURK and T.I.E.H.O dished out splendid ‘diss rhymes’ that had the audience in raptures at Cuban Linx on Friday night.
Ha Hoohlo rapper, Turk gave a top notch performance which left the T.I.E.H.O from Moshoeshoe II tongue-tied. TURK deservedly walked away with the M3000 winner’s purse.
Dirt Mouth, also called Versus Lesotho, was launched in June this year to ensure that the ‘beefs’ among local rappers ended in friendly contests instead of violence. The idea is for two rappers to do battle in rhymes before the judges and audience in a friendly manner and also promote rap music in the country.
This edition was the most anticipated one, one of the reasons being that the prize money had been increased to M3000 from the M1000 which previous winners received. The promotional videos which were posted on Facebook prior to the battle had also created more hype, particularly the one where T.I.E.H.O appears to slap Turk during their interview ahead of their Friday face-off.
The two rappers competed in three rounds and in each of those Turk spewed rhymes laced with venom including intimate attacks on T.I.E.H.O and his love-life rattling the latter from the word go.
The result was never in doubt and not even the support of his former D2amajoe crew could help T.I.E.H.O recover from the barbs he received from Turk who had clearly studied his opponent and realised how sensitive he was to any mention of his girlfriend and love-life.
D2majoe founder Kommanda Obbs had taken to Facebook a few minutes before the battle asking T.I.E.H.O to make D2amajoe proud but even that could not rally T.I.E.H.O who had times stood speechless with his tongue in knots as Turk seized the initiative and fired salvo after salvo which the capacity crowd greedily lapped up.
Turk used the final round to deliver the knock-out blow and T.I.E.H.O threw in the towel, leaving the trio of judges, Mr Maps, Cymtom Beats and Pharaoh with the easiest of tasks of crowning Turk the winner.
Local comedian, Skaftin, opened the floor by tickling the ribs of revellers.
Turk later told Xpress People that he never left any room for disappointment and had been “in it to win it”.
“I know I can rap and there was no way that T.I.E.H.O could beat me, Turk said.
“Besides, I studied him during the promotions before the battle, so I came knowing I would win.
“These battles are good in that they provide an opportunity to assess competency and winning boosts confidence while losing allows you to identify your weaknesses so that you can rectify them.”
The battle was supported by performances from rappers such as Sadon, Blitz, Prime Zeik, Iso and Nirex. DJs Da Starr, Hitman and Hobbs manned the decks.