Scribble Jam

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Scribble Jam
Location(s) Cincinnati, Ohio
Years active 1996-present
Founded by
Date(s) August
Genre(s) Hip hop
Website scribblemagazine.com

Scribble Jam is an annual hip hop music festival hosted in Cincinnati, Ohio, which has been called "America's Largest Hip Hop Festival." The festival was founded in 1996 by Fat Nick, Founder of Scribble Magazine. Recently, the festival has grown in popularity as tens of thousands of hip hop fans flock to its grounds in early August.

Contents

[edit] Competition

The centerpieces of the Scribble Jam festival are the five competitions, four of which are designed to highlight the main aspects of hip hop culture. They include the emcee or freestyle battle, the DJ or scratching competition, the B-boy or breakdancing competition, and the graff-writer or graffiti competition. Recently, a Beatbox Battle has been introduced and become a fan favorite. Historically, the most popular of the competitions has been the freestyle battle, although all aspects of the hip hop culture are well represented. In the last five years, guest performances have come to the forefront, bringing in great numbers of fans. Past performers have included Big Daddy Kane, Lyrics Born, Masta Ace, Prince Paul, Wordsworth, Blueprint, Sage Francis, Brother Ali, Slug, Eyedea, MURS, DJ Vajra, The Animal Crackers, Glue, Immortal Technique and many more.

[edit] History

The first ever Scribble Jam was held in 1996 at a small parking lot party. By the second year, however, word quickly spread around about the event and more hip-hop fans came to be a part of it. Since then, every following year seems to bring about twice as many spectators, participants, and performers to the now-heavily erect forum.

Some of hip hop's most well-known and well-respected stars got their start at Scribble Jam. The most famous Scribble Jam competitor of all time is Eminem. He participated in the 1997 emcee battle, managing to make his way to the semifinals along with MC Juice, Rhymefest and Dose One. In the semifinal rounds, he was defeated by both Rhymefest and Juice. Despite his good showing, Eminem has been criticized for using the same "freestyle" punchlines in both the 1997 Rap Olympics and the 1997 Scribble Jam competition.

Veteran Rhymefest competed in both Scribble Jam 1997 and 2003. This is the largest gap between Scribble Jam entrances in any of the champions, as he managed to become the MC Battle Winner in 2003 and placed Second in 1997. He also wrote Jesus Walks for Kanye West, becoming Scribble Jams second MC to win a Grammy.

In 2003, veteran rapper Deuce Leader went fat and jumped off the stage during a battle against legend MC Juice, being the only known emcee to do so in the middle of a bout. He suffered minor bone fragments and a casted leg.

Artists associated with underground record labels such as Rhymesayers Entertainment, anticon., and Molemen Records have thrived in the Scribble Jam environment; capturing titles in the competitions, performing songs off of their albums, and selling their albums at booths. The record labels themselves have used Scribble Jam as a way to find up and coming artists. Rhymesayers Entertainment as a whole has benefited from Scribble Jam more than any other record label. This seems only fair, considering that current members of the record label were instrumental in first getting Scribble Jam off the ground.

Riding Shotgun, a show featured on Onloq.com presented a Best of Scribble Jam edition, which featured historic battles and graf bombing.

[edit] The Emcee Battle

The emcee battle at Scribble Jam is arguably the most competitive in the country. Since its inception, the number of emcees eager to participate has increased immensely. In the early years, any MC with enough credentials and could show up on the correct day would be allowed to enter. More recently, regional qualifiers have been instituted, where emcees are forced to defeat the other battlers in their region before they can participate in the Scribble Jam festival in Cincinnati. The youngest MC to win the Emcee Battle was iLLmacuLate at age 18 and Justice is the only non-American citizen to win an Emcee Battle. Hailing from Australia, he traveled a fourteen-hour flight from Melbourne and managed to claim the $10,000 grand prize.

In 2006, Deuce Leader, Reef The Lost Cauze and Skech185 participated in Scribble Jams first ever Three-Way Battle. Deuce Leader won the Three-Way and Advanced to Battle TheSaurus in the next round.

[edit] Past Winners

[edit] Emcee Battle

[edit] DJ Competition

  • 1998- DJ Precyse
  • 1999- DJ Precyse
  • 2000- DJ Precyse
  • 2001- DJ Sprite
  • 2002- DJ Squint
  • 2003- Skratch Bastid
  • 2004- Skratch Bastid
  • 2005- Spare Change
  • 2006- DJ I-Dee
  • 2007- Skratch Bastid

[edit] B-boy Competition

  • 1996- Forrest Gump (Individual)
  • 1997- Self-Explanatory
  • 1998- Phase II
  • 1999- Midwest Junkie Cats (Group with members of the Junkwartz and the Battlecats)
  • 2000- Junkwartz
  • 2001- Motion Disorderz
  • 2002- Motion Disorderz
  • 2003- Motion Disorderz
  • 2004- Motion Disorderz
  • 2005- Brickheadz
  • 2006- Brickheadz
  • 2007- Motion Disorderz

[edit] Beatbox Battle

  • 2003- A Train
  • 2004- A Train
  • 2005- J.Beetz (from SICK.SOUND.SYNDROME) Toronto, Canada
  • 2006- DJ Snuggles
  • 2007- Poizunus Toronto, Canada

[edit] External links