The Rotunda on 40th and Walnut is known for its support of the Philadelphia hip-hop community. It is the home to "The Gathering," a monthly jam session featuring open ciphers, live painters, break crews, and guest djs. It also hosts many local hip-hop acts though out the year. This past Friday, I attended the Art of War Lyricist competition a contest pitting polished spoken word artists against quick-lipped freestyling MCs. It is a interesting concept, as the line between a poet and an MC has always been fuzzy. Well, on Friday the answer was clear.

First round was an open sixty-second a cappella with the theme "If this was the last performance you ever gave." The span of participants style ran the gamut from Mesa, a tall plain shirted freestyling Italian humping the stage on impulse to Lone Ans, a female MC speaking a calm piece off page to Amun Mircaj, a born actor inhabiting a death row inmate's last words to an audience suddenly stunned silent.

Second round featured a common freestyle challenge. A table was setup onstage, topped with an umbrella, a trophy, a VCR, and other random crap. Contestants were required to freestyle for a full minute, weaving as many of the objects on the table into the performance as possible, all the while staying on beat. To those that have not seen a freestyle competition, it is a compelling sight. Some long-time wordsmiths stream through objects at a breakneck pace all in the context of still coherent story. Some were battle rappers, making punchlines from the thumbs up the Mickey Mouse phone was giving 'em or swearing: "You can't beat me like you be 100,000 leagues under the sea" while holding up the paperback provided before promptly throwing it to ground. Poets fared worst here, caught without time for dramatic hand movements or prepared pregnant pauses. Many stumbled, either loosing the beat or just not able to think quickly enough. But even this was compelling to watch, as each stream of thought lost or discovered was clearly seen in each combatant's face.

Third round introduced the concept of the battle. In its most common form, battle rapping takes the same forms as those old yo mama joke fights. Art of War tweaked the format, giving pairs of poets a question on which they had to create a verse answer. Topics ranged from the controversial (the leading mixed raced battle on the appropriateness of the N word), to the silly (what movie is worse: Glitter or Gigli?). My favorite moment was by Has-lo who, in a flight during a battle on political correctness, confessed to the audience he was a black Republican and proud he voted for Bush only to then ask why the audience were looking at him like he was a terrorist.

The fourth round gave poets one last chance, as each person spit a prepared piece description of their super hero/villain alter-ego. Costumes abounded. There were several working-man hero pieces. One plain clothed MC ripped a nice verse describing the disaster of his villainy and closed with a (surprisingly) unexpected, "I'm the greatest super villain of all...George Bush!" Ohhhhhhhhhhhh!

In the end it was Amun, the dregged dramatist from earlier, who won the $1,000 cash prize. There was a sense, though, that the money was just icing on the cake. As Amun said in his acceptance speech, there was a clear respect among the participants. Everyone on stage was a clearly a true MC, each sharing in the other's trials and training. This sentiment was made manifest in a high energy cypher lasting long after the contest was over. At least half of the thirty-two participants and more then a few audience members bounded to the beat on stage passing a microphone around for any who felt like spitting. The most beautiful moment for me was when one audience member, his son cradled in his arm, busted a intricate, soulful freestyle on the love of his god and the love on the stage around him. It was all on beat, all coherent, and all off the top of his head.

For those for whom these scenes and this art seem compelling, Freshout Media is hosting Flava Fest from September 20-22. It will feature four days worth of breaking, battling and beats, all topped off by a performance by the incomparable Pharoahe Monch. Some of these and many other events will be featured at the Rotunda, which always features fly Philly based events of all kinds. You will not be disappointed.