As most of you would have heard, the internet has been buzzing with talk of the Lord of The Mics 3 - the ultimate clash for budding and rookie grime emcees alike. But in the age of Twitter and digital downloads why should anyone care about a bunch of emcees clashing? Infamous grime head, Frankie Frank (aka Frankstah Grime) take over our guest blog section yo tell us exactly why we should be paying attention...

In the summer of 2004 one of grime's leading figures, Jammer released a DVD/CD package entitled Lord Of The Mics (LOTM), a slightly more professional take on battle rapping which saw clashes transformed from street corner scuffles and moments of spontaneity at youth clubs filmed on Nokia teardrop phones, to organised lyrical battles in which emcees would try and attain the votes of viewers via text messages.  The DVD’s success was so widespread that a second volume followed two years later.

Subsequently born out of late 80s and early 90s hip hop, and the post millennium generation of garage emcees, grime stands firmly as the most personality driven and pride-rife genre of today's UK music scene. Despite the fact that ‘War dubs’ (diss tunes) have since declined in their original popularity when the moment arrives for a DJ to premiere the latest scorching diss track theemphasis on clashing becomes apparent and now with the return ofLOTM3 in 2011, the war dub has once again stolen the spotlight.

The original LOTM saw the epic reality of how pride and the will to show that you were not someone willing to "take it" (the diss) existed not only in grime but in youth culture in general; manifested in hostile environments such as club rooftops and basement recording studios and ultimately personified by the likes of SLK, Younger NASTY and Crazy Titch, clashing of that era was epitomised by Wiley and Kano and their stairwell confrontation (WATCH HERE). With both at times looking trumped by the opposition only for one another to turn the tables with a mind-blowing reload line, the constant egging-on of the duo by MC, Esco Big Bars (RIP), the eyes in the background summarised the determination to come out on top.

The crop of emcees participating in this year's edition, LOTM3, have a distinct advantage over their former lyrical combatants - social networking. When the original DVD emerged there were no hype sessions or warm-up interviews and the only time you had a peak at what went down during the clash was when the DVD was released. Whilst this has lead some fans to lose interest and encouraged several outbursts of Twitter-based arguments across the scene, it’s actually given us all a chance to scope and review the relevant talent before they enter their more-than-likely career defining conflicts. There are a range of grime newcomers and veterans amongst the host of names that have been revealed so far such as Desperado and Diesle aka D Power, whose names will ring bells for the majority of older viewers whereas the new generation of fans will be impressed with the less experienced likes of Sox and Jammin.

Some clashes however are teetering on the verge of worthlessness with a very thorough transparency in the lyrics and attempted twitter jibes between proposed adversaries, although there are a few videos circulating the web which offer an abundance of relief (WATCH HERE). Veteran emcee Roachee (of Ruff Sqwad affiliation) took to YouTube to call out Scorcher, but the former Movement emcee declined rather quietly  to mass disappointment yet scarce surprise. East Londoner, Rival has enjoyed the tenure which has brought him to the forefront of the scene and his clash with OGz' Desperado will be an interesting watch, particularly as the two have a notable similarity in style and content, whilst Kozzie and Sox’s Warm Up Session freestyles have left many optimistic about LOTM as a whole.

By contrast, No Lay versus OG Niki has rather inadvertently become one of the headlines to emerge from the project, but to suggest that Niki is anywhere close to the bracket of talent No Lay possesses is somewhat farcical. However, where negatives concerning LOTM3 arise the positives quickly balance them out. Also, the prospect of anyone clashing with Jendor or Chronik (both of whom making freestyle videos taunting for challengers to no avail) is delightful and the concept of emerging emcees as possible headliners of the future (Marger, Jammin, Wariko and Tre Mission to name but a few ) is simply brilliant and is why LOTM3 is bound for glory.

For the latest updates on Lord of The Mics, visit:

www.youtube.com/officiallordofthemic

www.twitter.com/lordofthemics

WORDS: Frankie Frank

www.twitter.com/factoryelectric