Rap Olympics
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rap Olympics is a freestyle rap battling competition that was originally held in Los Angeles, California in 1997. It was resurrected in 2005, with Miami, Florida as the new setting. The event was originally founded by Wendy Day and the Rap Coalition, who also helped to revive it. Rap Olympics has gained the notoriety of being one of the most important venues in the freestyle battling scene despite the rarity of the event.
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[edit] Famous Battlers
[edit] 1997
Eminem is the most famous battler in the history of the event and many people believe that this is where he truly got his start. He was allowed to enter the first Rap Olympics in 1997 after a chance meeting with Wendy Day, during which he handed her a demo tape. Eminem went on to finish second that year to rapper Otherwize, catching the attention of producer Jimmy Iovine. Iovine presented Eminem's demo tape to Dr. Dre who signed him soon after. Another famous battle MC that participated in the 1997 event was MC Juice, winner of the 1997 Scribble Jam.
[edit] 2005
Swann won the 2005 Rap Olympics, marking his first freestyle competition title despite a lot of previous experience. He was a semi-finalist at the 2003 Scribble Jam and had a good showing at Scribble Jam 2004 before being ousted by the eventual champion iLLmacuLate. More recently, Swann captured Vh1's Freestyle 59 championship.
[edit] MTV's True Life
Rap Olympics was featured on an episode of True Life entitled I'm a Battle Rapper, which focused on the lives of competitors Swann, Apollo and Just BAM. Swann was depicted as a sex addicted veteran struggling for a record deal, while Apollo and Just BAM were shown to have more stereotypical rap struggles, being a white emcee and a female emcee respectively. That year, Swann was named the champion after having to defeat a friend and fellow road-tripper in the finals.
