The Bazooka League is part of the written battles.
Photo: Juani Aguilar/Red Bull Argentina/Liga Bazooka
Throat on fire, expanded veins, wild eyes, screams, references, technique… A punch line that is shouted like a goal, like a title. The stand wants to fall. Defeat or victory are a syllable away, a point, a mischief, a genius.
In their reactions to the 2023 Córdoba, Mendoza and Buenos Aires regionals, Mexican content creators Jony Beltrán and Tess La made it clear. “Argentina shows the world how it’s done,” said one. “Argentine freestyle is unbeatable,” said the other.
In a scene that they try to tame with refined techniques, sophisticated references and puritanism far from art, Argentine freestyle is revolutionized. It is a counterpower. He behaves like the young rebel in the class who, although he is brilliant and does not miss classes, is popular and not very well behaved. A dirty face that doesn’t rap for points. That he raps to feel alive and to make us feel alive.
We spoke with Chang, a Venezuelan rapper who competed in the FMS Argentina last season and has a clear diagnosis of free argento. “The guys understood that there are no longer many elaborate sentences that surprise and decided to bet on net repentism, pure and in real time. They don’t mind nailing deep or difficult to understand phrases, but rather they go directly to the core.” The technique and sporting profile that freestyle is acquiring are not defeating suddenness. He can’t reach it. “The educated man,” as El Deto once said, falls short.
And you have to see a battle: they are crazy, the public is crazy, the juries allow the madness and I hope they don’t manage to find the screws that came loose, because that beautiful madness is missing from the circuit. In other countries we will find flow; in others, techniques; in others, references; in others, staging; in others, Aczinos and Chutys. In Argentina there is a little bit of everything and nothing, but there is madness. There is passion. There is the origin of this movement that transforms and navigates between the old and new school.
“Argentina’s transition is faster. In other countries it is only about finding the new subject, the figure; but in Argentina every year a new Jesus Christ appears. They learn the new game, they acquire the modality of the new freestyle trends, they adapt it and enhance it,” says Chang.
The Venezuelan, who has competed in squares and stages in countries like Mexico, Venezuela and Colombia, talks about the public, that element of freestyle that is so necessary and vital, as well as harmful and toxic, but essential.
“It is the best audience there is. They are guys who understood the game perfectly. They shout a lot and there is respect. Argentines are crazy about the topic of bars, fans and football, which is why they also recognize it in the world. And the public that goes to watch freestyle has things from the public that watches football.
The Argentine who listens to freestyle is quite educated. These people understand that shouting is not going to help anyone win. They go to see freestyle and support everyone and that makes each battle unique and high level,” says Elías, who has nothing basic.
Although many of the MCs from the old school of Argentine free music took different paths, the representatives of the new blue and white school present an explosive cocktail. “Argentina’s old school is crazy. “These are people who are flying.”
And now the Bazooka League adds to the madness, a written battle competition organized by Dtoke, a living legend of Argentine freestyle. Rolling Stone magazine explains them this way: “Multiple-round confrontations between rappers who, instead of improvising, now arrive with routines methodically prepared in advance and, therefore, with greater lyrical sophistication and technical display.
The dynamic is like this: about three months before, the confrontations are announced. Since then, each battler has time to write, memorize and develop the staging of three rounds of three to five minutes. During the battle, the participant recites his round in a row, then his rival does so, and so on until the three rounds are completed. If freestyle values improvisation, here the pen is valued. In the style of the tiraderas. It is about demonstrating ingenuity by writing well about oneself, but, above all, badly about others.”
Luna Park and Gran Rex, two of the main venues in Buenos Aires, recently hosted two events of the discipline. The table is set and everything indicates that in addition to FMS and Red Bull Batalla, the Bazooka League will sit at the table of the big events. Will it have the strength to land in other countries in the region?
