Fighting club

If you try to follow the Russian rapp, then the word Versus probably heard. Moreover, most likely, your opinion has already developed on your account. Moreover, it is hardly neutral. For some reason, it turns out that Versus either really likes-and then a person freezes every Sunday in anticipation of a new release. Or he annoys and angers so much that people begin to write on Twitter something like “How can it be watched in general? How can you participate in this? "

Versus is not the name of the new artist and not the name of the album. But not a single artist and not a single album called in the second half of 2013 such a hype as Versus -rap battles, invented and created by three inhabitants of St. Petersburg, about which no one knew about six months ago. Although from the outside it might seem that the team of talented marketers refuel everyone, events developed so successfully.

In the summer, rumors began to appear on the Internet about the secret (!) Battle in some Petersburg bar. The bar hid in the back streets between Ligovsky Prospekt and the Moscow Station. Narrounds are not allowed there. It was not possible to find intelligible information about this “fighting club”. But there was no shortage of teasers. That “for the perimeter” was penetrated by photographs, from which it followed that Versus is unprecedentedly the representative composition of the participants. That GQ editor-in-chief Mikhail Idov reported on Twitter: “I'm going to closed rap battles.” And so on. In the end, the organizers laid out a trailer in which they promised that everything that was happening in the 1703 bar will soon become the public. And then the first release of Versus appeared on You T Ube - since it is customary to say in such cases, the world has not been the same as before.

Probably the most sensational battles of the first season of Versus. One rival is Johnyboy, a young artist in the spirit of "Eminem meets Justin Bieber." It is believed that his audience is girls, but at the same time it has a battles experience and does not climb a word in a pocket. His colorful opponent of diabetes ate a dog on Internet battles and compositions of dissens-offensive tracks of “teaser”, so many put on his victory.

In the first issue, a better -famous participant forgot half the text and lost it devastated, which not only did not damage entertainment, but even vice versa, only added topics for conversations. In the second, two absolute beginners fought, whose audience in the half hour that lasted the release increased thousands of times. In the third, the Russian-London rapper Oxxxymiron and the legend of the St. Petersburg rapped-ending kripples came together in St. Petersburg-and the views of this video quickly exceeded a million. So the online project with a meager budget has become a real hit of social networks and the main topic of conversation among fans of rap.

Judging by the number of views on YouTube, the most popular match Versus is Oxxxym I Ron against Cricopa.

The success of the film "Eighth Mile" once made everyone think that Battle is a key element of rap. Although it is hardly so. In addition to Eminem, it is not possible to recall a single significant artist who previously cooked in the kitchen of rap battles. Battle REP and the REP industry itself are parallel worlds. In Russia, as always, its nuances. The industry is weaker here, so the battles, which existed in the form of Internet carriers, gave young artists a good (if not the only) chance to attract attention. That is how, for example, he received the first fame of Noize MC . But the popular offline battles did not appear in all this time. Although the curious among them were - for example, St. Petersburg with the eccentric name “huyaks”, whose participants simply gathered on the street, chose opponents and competed sometimes witty, sometimes not very, but almost always the most offensive freedals with black humor in the spirit of the American program “Yo Momma” . Among the few unwritten rules of this cheerful holiday of disobedience was this: "You can’t touch the mother of the restaurateur."

The restaurateur is the name of a tall, short -haired guy 25 years old, and he came up with Versus . The restaurateur really gives the impression of a person whose mother, just in case, will not say anything ambiguous. “Then I actually worked in a restaurant,” he recalls. - The weather was cold, I suggested: “Let's spend my battles in my restaurant.” So the nickname took root. ” Two more people who stood at the origins of Versus are participants in the Cuts & Scratches association who shot clips for the rappers of Oximiron and Luperkal. “I met them in some kind of inspection,” says the restaurateur. - My status at that time? No status. It was some kind of random. We wanted to occupy ourselves with something, decided to do Battle. The guys understood how all this could be removed. Was it difficult? It was not difficult - they sat on a bicycle and went. Someone doesn’t succeed like this, someone is outweighed with someone, but everything turned out to be fine with us. ”

Only four months have passed from their acquaintance to the first battles. They acted on pure enthusiasm, spent their own money, involved acquaintances - so, the 1703 bar provided its premises completely free of charge. The phrase “Surely, Bl*di!” Born in the process of a long -term enumeration of options behind beer circles and was met by a universal positive. And from the working version the name "Suppitive" eventually refused in favor of the less original Versus .

"We ourselves are waiting for the first fight on the air."

Six months later, rappers of varying degrees of popularity line up on Versus . But at the initial stage, convincing famous people (and the star composition of the participants in many ways became the key to success) was the most difficult task.

“We had to look for artists through common acquaintances or for a long and tedious corresponding“ VKontakte ”, explaining on the fingers what it will be like,” the restaurateur recalls. -Often we came across refusals, the answers “I am an artist, I have such and such a fee”. The person asked for a sufficiently significant amount for us and, in addition, set the conditions: for example, that criticism should be justified. Despite the fact that there was a person who was ready to make this money so that the duel took place, but for me it was unacceptable. But someone, on the contrary, immediately grabbed the idea. Kripple agreed the first time. True, I could not get the first time - and the shooting of his battles had to be transferred for a week. ”

Those who travel to Versus from other cities pay the road, but they are not to pay fees to participants or judges by budget. The fuel of the project is the enthusiasm of its creators and participants - and, oddly enough, you can go far on it.

“The project was interested in the A1 television channel, even at the initial stage,” the restaurateur tells about the interaction with the mass media. “But they wanted the issues to go out on their platform, but for us this is unacceptable.” We ourselves want to control everything in order to say at a certain moment: “There will be no noise” - and cut down electricity. ” It does not seem that today the authors of Versus consider that decision a mistake. Their product is not adapted for television, and a low -fat censorship version would hardly have such a success. “We do not strive for dirt,” the restaurateur explains. “We want to show Versus to our friends, who are far from this so that they have no disgust.” And the smaller the mat, the better. But this is a rap-battles, and how is it in it, damn it, without a mat? ”

One of the most discussed battles of the season. Harry, who did not lose to anyone on Versus, challenged Noize MC, who came to Battle in a state in which it seems to be more correct to go to the hospital. Like a good series, Versus constantly throws surprises and dramatic plot turns.

“We ourselves are waiting for the first fight on the air - either jokes, or he seriously answers the question of whether passions boil during filming. “This, of course, will tear off the battles, but interest will warm up.” Indeed, on Versus , rivals do not choose expressions and sometimes allow themselves to say that even the viewer in front of the monitor becomes uneasy. One rapper once announced a reward of $ 1,000 to the one who “asks for the curve bazaar” from the opponent-that is, it must be understood so, he will apply physical strength in response to an offensive line. But either the prize turned out to be not generous enough, or there is another reason, because even the hottest fights on Versus are still ending with handshakes. The only incident happened on the open Versus in Moscow: a man from the environment of one participant dropped his opponent on a column - and pierced him with his head. “In general, the atmosphere is always very friendly,” the restaurateur explains, “before starting, everyone squeezes each other's hands, and at the end they often remain to drink beer together.”

“I agree that any idea is obsolete over time, but we are tuned to break the system,” the restaurateur argues about the prospects of Battle. In the final of the first season, Versus reached offline: the first open battles took place in the Moscow club Plan B. Tickets scattered, the club hid to capacity, the continuation did not force itself to wait-the next open to the audience will take place in the historical homeland of Versus , in the St. Petersburg club "Cosmonaut", which doubles twice as much as the audience. But “closed” fights-shooting in the “1703” bar will not go anywhere. They will return in late February - early March.

“We spent more money than we could return it back,” the restaurateur sums up the intermediate results of the season. - But we do not be upset, but even vice versa. What was earned at the Moscow event, we invest in development. The budget of the first half of the new season is more than spent on the entire previous one. We want to take a chance. "