SECRET WARS BHAM: October 2008

Hello wars fans..
apologies for the delay in my getting this blog to you all until now, hectic week!

We knew we were in for a nutty one, but maybe not quite as hectic as it became!
An epic battle and some seriously heavyweight musical treats were on the cards with young Trav taking on veteran Tony Cryze and champ Newso taking on our one and only female contender Lady Rinth. Resident dj's Royal and Skeleton, Jem Atkins and friends were to hold down the back room with the help of Reeps1, Evolucian and Guardians of the Ancient Wisdom...
Whilst in the front of the infamous Ranbow Pub dj's Nuk and Dr Tra, Didi and the Whomanity crew made sure a steady stream of hiphop and dub flowed.. it was gametime once again.

The Rainbow filled quickly with the usual random blend of Brum Secret Wars fans, and the tension began to mount. Jem and friends had 4 turntables set up and Royal and Skelly alongside the Guardians dj Ferndo were feeding the people some lovely beats.. and the battles began.

All the artists immediately went for it with loads of interesting lines and shapes hitting the panels straight away. Tony went straight in with text as his opponent Trav started some kind of bizarre torso as the central part of his piece. In the other Battle, champion Newso kicked off scribbling some kind of huge head on the left hand side of his panel whilst Rinth started some kind of skull chav?! onlookers watched intentaly as our 4 judges circled the area with a watchful eye...

About half way through the battle, The Guardians along with Royal and Skeleton provided some very slick live hip hop with their guitars and vocals.. these guys are next level, watch out for 'em! The battle raged on... the venue was packed and an every hungry crowd watched the artists rock their eddings. A somewhat worse for wear Tony finished first (claiming later he thought we shouted 15 minutes left, when we actually called 50..lol) as Trav added tons of small detail to his panel. Meanwhile Newso depicted one of Rinths characters being strangled and taunted by a sock puppet?! (you have a sick mind Dan) By now Rinth (the only artist who wasn't cheating i might add! as she was the only person to not use a sketch!!! - we are going to tighten up the rules on this people) finished off her skull chav with shady hat and hoodie holding one of newso characters decapitated heads in his hand, the lady gets dark! big props to her for representing the ladies.. girls we want you for series 3! stop Brum becoming an all out boys club, we know you got skills and Rinth proves it can be done, much respect out to ya LR..

I wasn't comparing this one so i watched on as the clock ticked to the end.. Reeps1 the king of the human sound proceeded to kill it for about 10 minutes to a crowd now at fever pitch, This badboy gets better by the minute, seriously.. The crowd vote followed and was so so close on all counts, but Tony Cryze and Newso both took a vote each. Judging followed with the same 2 battlers both winning additional votes to therefore go on to the next round.

So..
Tony Cryze v's Trav - winner Tony Cryze
Newso (series 1 champ) v's Lady Rinth - winner Newso
These 2 Brum locals will now meet each other the in the second quarter final.

Big Big shouts to Slobs, everyone who helped, reached, made noise and partied till the early hours.. A blinder as always. Watch this space and http://www.myspace.com/secretwarsbrum for more photo's and videos real soon, but for now heres a few flicks..