“Versus” is the largest rap battle in Russia; it is a prototype of an American show on the Internet, during which participants take part in reading prepared excerpts of texts in the style of rap and hip-hop, standing opposite their opponent. In Russia, more than 1 million 33 thousand people subscribed to the “Versus Battle” page on the Vkontakte social network. The same number of subscribers are on the YouTube video channel.

Versus - no restrictions

In Russia, rap and hip-hop culture is inferior in scale to the American movement, and domestic performers of this genre have not yet become global stars, such as Eminem or Jay-Z. And yet there are enough fans of the “black neighborhood style” in the country - and recently the opportunity to hold a speech duel between rappers has expanded the horizons of this trend and attracted hundreds of thousands of fans to the culture.

Stars who take part in rap battles and perform at a decent level secure their place on the Russian hip-hop walk of fame.

In this regard, “Versus” is a kind of platform for the release of emotions through creativity, an opportunity to prove to oneself and fans of the genre that not everyone can “read” with dignity.

A distinctive feature of this channel is the absence of lexical restrictions in statements to your opponent within the round: that is, curses, insults and swearing at the enemy in Versus battle are allowed if they are not immoral or calling for hostility on the basis of nationality. Such “low blows” will not go unnoticed by the judges (most often there are three of them, but there may be five), and a participant with such a meager vocabulary and the inability to use it will not win the battle.

A little about the creator of the battle

The father of “Versus” is a restaurateur, the permanent presenter of each episode on the channel and the main organizer of all meetings. He received his nickname due to the fact that the first battle was organized right at Timartsev’s workplace - in a restaurant.

Subsequently, he and his friends came up with the idea to transform the idea into something larger. And now “Versus” is a full-fledged, mature project that gave birth to such a star in the rap and hip-hop industry as Noize MC.

Timartsev, without hesitation, openly says that the project has not yet brought in millions of dollars, which many people mistakenly think - the reason for this is, of course, that this movement is only gaining momentum in Russia, and for the idea to bear financial fruit, you have to wait more than one year.

"Versus": how much?

The rules of rap without rules are simple: there are always two participants in each battle, they know each other in advance. Before the start of the verbal battle, each of them must prepare 3 passages (one in each round) addressing their opponent and read them out. As a rule, the form of address is “tasteful insult.” The brighter, wittier, and sharper the participant’s reading, the more chances he will have of winning.

Victory is awarded based on the decision of the judges, each of whom is an expert in his or her field. But the results, as a rule, become clear to everyone even before the end of the battle - spectators who directly observe the process along with the restaurateur and judges can support or boo the participant.

Fresh blood: rappers from the yard rock stadiums

To expand the boundaries of the battle and give aspiring rappers a chance to become famous, the organizers created another platform for those whose names are known only in a narrow circle - “Versus: Fresh Blood”. At the qualifying stage, the winner in this category is determined only by the viewer of the channel - which balances the chances of all beginning artists, and makes it possible to gain instant popularity among fans of the genre.

Did the Restaurateur guess back in 2013 what his project would grow into? In three years, “Versus” has achieved the almost impossible: hundreds of thousands of fans, millions of views on YouTube, participation in “Evening Urgant”, and, in the end, the planned fight between Oksimiron and Disaster! If it weren’t for Versus, such a fight would not even be discussed.

Let's figure out how the project came about and what it has grown into in just over three years.

How it all started

On September 1, 2013, the Restaurateur uploaded it to YouTube. The first fight, the first participants, the first phrase “Let’s make some fucking noise,” which eventually became iconic.

At first, the audience did not understand why there was no music; some completely believed that this was a freestyle (oh my god, where could one find such a freestyle). It turned out that you can live without and without the other. By doing their homework, rappers can do good work and find interesting dirt on their opponent. The absence of a beat gives room for creativity: you can change intonations, add props, theatricality, etc.

Thus began the battles.

Versus rules

A small bar in St. Petersburg (the legendary 1703 on the neck of Oxy, this is not only the date of the founding of St. Petersburg, but also the name of the bar), light, a backdrop, a couple of cameramen and a crowd of spectators. The participants have only one task - to morally destroy the enemy. How to do this, everyone chooses for themselves. Someone is looking for incriminating evidence, someone insists that #mommyfucked, someone accuses the enemy of homosexuality.

Three rounds, there are no special time restrictions, the longest were (50:37) and (52:44), the shortest were Artem Tatishchevsky and a certain rapper who simply didn’t show up (11:45). Yes, yes, the guy read three rounds alone.

Whoever spoils the result is a rooster!” – the Restaurateur warns every time before the battle, but cases still happened. For example, the results of the battle between Oxy and ST were leaked to the Internet media the very next day. Typically, participants are not paid to perform. In the history of the project, only two people demanded money - and.

They shoot the video in one take, and a month later the video appears on YouTube. Usually several videos per month: mixed with the main league and Fresh Blood. But there are also long pauses, more than a month.

Where do legs grow from?

Of course, not from Russia - the restaurateur was not a pioneer. Battle leagues have been around the world for a long time. In Russia, and are more or less known. By the way, celebrities do not participate in American rap battles.

“Versus” is not the only one of its kind in Russia. There is an active Krasnodar league SLOVO, which has grown into a huge network throughout the country, and their former branch, which has separated into an independent platform.

Another project is Versus Fresh Blood, a kind of league for juniors. Anyone can get there, regardless of the degree of popularity. The winners advance to the main roster of Versus.

Who are the judges?

On “Versus” there is a bunch of judges who appear from battle to battle: Roma Another Hip-Hop,

Read with this article:

On February 6, 2018, the Versus battle between Guf and Ptah was filmed in the legendary St. Petersburg bar 1703. This was the most expensive since the launch of the site in 2013.

As you know, Guf (Alexey Dolmatov), ​​responding to the challenge of Ptah (David Nuriev) in his online broadcast on social networks, said that he would agree to visit the most popular battle site in the country on condition that he pay the rapper 2 million rubles.

Ptah turned out to be more modest; his fee should be 1 million rubles.

The organizer and creator of Versus agreed to these conditions on the part of the participants, and all battle fans, and those simply interested in hip-hop culture, began to wait for the showdown to move from social networks to the Versus site.

The first judge at the battle between Guf and Ptah was one of the most influential hip-hop artists in the country - (Vasily Vakulenko). Also among the judges were Nigativ and DJ 108th, whom the Restaurateur has repeatedly called the best judge on the popular battle platform.

The upcoming event was actively discussed not only by young battle fans, but also by hip-hop performers, bloggers and judges of the famous battle site.

The issue of Guf and Ptah's fees became controversial: some said that such a mercantile and pragmatic approach only harms the culture, while others believed that the rappers did the right thing and decided to fight for money.

For example, ex-Centr member, rapper Slim, in an interview with The Flow portal said that both rappers never promoted battle rap and no longer liked it, so they don’t need to battle for free.

Everyone was sure of one thing: if the participants did not resort to the help of ghostwriters, Guf would win. According to many, he is more talented and has a better command of words.

In addition, the battle can turn out to be really impressive, because behind the large fees there is a real conflict that lasted for more than one year. Both rappers have something to say, the main thing is how well they can express their feelings to each other.

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And the predictions of many came true. The result became known almost immediately. Guf defeated Ptah on Versus with a crushing score of 3:0. Bird himself soon confirmed this in an Instagram broadcast.

The release date of the battle between Guf and Ptah is unknown, but usually such high-profile news events try to publish quickly enough so that the bar public does not leak all the details of what is happening on social networks. So, approximately, the battle should have been expected on the Sunday closest to us after filming.

It was the same with , he appeared on the Versus Battle channel the next Sunday after filming. However, Versus of Guf and Ptah still came out late in the evening of February 18, 2018.

Unfortunately, after filming, Guf and Ptah did not stop conflicting. After the battle, Ptah accused Guf of violating the agreements: in one of the rounds, Dolmatov insulted Nuriev’s fiancee, and they agreed not to touch on the topic of family members.

Ptah hinted that if Guf does not apologize to his girlfriend Lana, Nurieev and Dolmatov will no longer sort things out verbally. Guf did not aggravate the conflict and apologized to the enemy’s girlfriend.

By the way, Guf’s ex-wife also couldn’t help but speak out about the past battle on her Twitter.

Versus is famous for its strange and funny performances during some battles. Some participants like to dress up and even bring strange or simply funny props with them in order to further offend the enemy.

Now all that remains is to rejoice for all those who were able to make money from the conflict. Both participants at the battle itself talked a lot about additional fees and money received from sponsors. Some ads looked ridiculous, while others were less intrusive and annoying. But we can say for sure that all participants in what was happening were winners.

Let us recall that in September 2017, rapper Ptah, after long conflicts, called Guf to Versus. The squabble between the ex-members of the Centr group continued for a long time: the group broke up and reunited again, and Guf and Ptah continued to constantly conflict.

In an interview, Guf said that he regrets that the group reunited. Note that Guf continues to communicate with the third member of the group, rapper Slim, after the group’s breakup and records joint tracks.

Versus battle is a duel between two participating performers (Rappers, MCs), who, over three rounds, must verbally, in a close circle of spectators, “take out” the opponent. In this case, profanity and profanity may be used. The fight (versus battle) is judged by judges - experts from the hip-hop industry, rap artists or famous public figures.

Versus Battle - History Versus Battle

Battle has always been an integral part of human history.With their help, the world gained leaders by weeding out the weak.Became stronger and more perfect. Times passed, and the attribute Battles no longer required bloodshed.

The battles were embodied in competitions. And they, in turn, creativity.

First shoots similarities to poetic duelsoriginated inScotland16th century, when two poets, in a tavern,insulted each other with unpleasant rhymesfor the amusement of the public.

Reminds me of something, doesn’t it?

Interesting facts about Versus Battle:

• Since 2017, all participants receive a fixed fee of 70.k. rubles
• The phrase “Make some noise, damn it!” came to the restaurateur came to all the feasts
• Initially, “Versus” could be called “Suprotiv”
• Initially, SLOVO could have been called “Versus”
• Nationalist, religious and political inserts are not allowed in Versus
• The first years of the battle paid off at zero

The history of rap battles

Hip-hop culture gradually filled the information noise, transforming from street performances into a full-fledged musical genre.

Besides rap starswho boldly took their place in the pantheonlegendary artists, on a par with Hendrix and Morrison,local points appeared around the world where newcomers gathered,honing your freestyle skills in fights.

These were offline battles in whichrappers met with an opponent, causing the enemydamage with rhyming lines, punchlines and extraordinary flow.

“Go forward where they are not expected; attack where you are not prepared.”

Sun Tzu

By the end of the first decade of 2000, this phenomenoncomes out of the shadows of the underground, becoming publicly available.

In the USA, Canada and European countriesthe first battle platforms are born -KOTD , GringTimeNow And Don't Flop who will become ideological inspirersVersus Battle , increasing the scale of each of them.Opponents battled with prepared texts, competing with each other.

“Versus Battle is one of the unusual ways of handling language, a way to look at language, at versification differently, because in the end it is also versification, just with different meters, sometimes without meter at all, there are just rhymes, there are special meters - for I found this a very interesting experience working with language. . ”

Versus Founders - Restaurateur Founder of Versus

Behind the appearance of suchphenomenon How Versus Battle , which radically changed the culture,there was a team of peoplewhich ultimately came down to two individuals -Alexander Timartsev, he is also Jan .

Firstis involved in the organizational part of the event,second— Internet promo.

Besides, to the ideological component and primary organizations put his hand in with whom I was well acquaintedRestaurateur .

He helped the guysbring together and interest rappers before Versus became national treasure.

How did Versus Battle come about?

At the beginning of 2010, returning from the armyRestaurateur was a regular at variousfreestyle battles, simultaneously keeping an eye on their foreigncolleagues on already formed platforms.

One day he saw a battle between a teacher and a student on “Don't Flop”, which sparked the idea in his head that it was time to create a local equivalent of the event.

On that moment Restaurateur was cookin a restaurant, and the first organized battle(even before Versus)passed right there. It's funny that nick Restaurateur was invented by a rapperJubilee when he came to visitAlexandru .

For 2.5 years, the restaurateur hatched the idea of ​​a full-fledged battlebefore the first one took placeVersus. Moreover, the first 200 thousand rubles for providence were borrowed from Ilya Mamai, general director Booking Machine - label Oksimiron .

With the embodiment of the ideaRestaurateur the Krasnodar guys managed to overtakePLC and Hyde , releasing the first episode“Word Battle 2012” , six months before “Versus ”.

“On Versus there is a more comfortable atmosphere... As for the battles themselves, there is no difference: at these moments you forget about everything, the venues, views, etc. don’t bother you.”

Bar 1703 - Where is the Versus Battle held?

This is now a St. Petersburg bar“ ” impossible to imagine withoutVersus , and a couple of years ago he wasn’t the same at allhome of battle as we know it today.

For a long time Restaurateur was looking for place, which would be durablepeople associated with his brainchild, considering that holding battles indifferent locations will have a bad impact on the brand image.

And he was right. As a result, his acquaintances introduced him todirectors of bar 1703, named after the year of foundationPeter the Great of St. Petersburg.

In the meantime, howVersus Battlecontinues to gain popularity1703 sells outany day of the week.As the Restaurateur noted, before Versus is herethere were practically no people, and now the place has deteriorated a little...

Versus Battle: The Beginning

First issue of Versus Battlestarts on September 1, 2013, and its participants areand Billy Milligan (ST1M ).

Restaurateur admits that if not for authorityOksimiron , hardly guysagreed to come . Media support waspublic pages and VK pages dedicated to hip-hop.

Episode by episodeVersus is gaining momentum.Its members includestars of the first magnitude — , Johnyboy, Noize MC and others.

In one of the episodes of the show Evening Urgant Versus became the theme for the sketch. We met in a battle Ivan Urgant and Sergey Shnurov.

“The last time I spoke at the versus was about a hundred years ago. At one time this happened so often that I was so sick of it all that I not only stopped going there, but also stopped watching the episodes. Now the battle culture has definitely changed (they said), many superstars have appeared (they said), but I’m watching a video here where blogger Larin can’t hit the beat for 5 minutes, and I’m amazed.”

Versus Battle - Main Event

In December 2013 Restaurateur starts first attemptsmonetization of your project,organizing battles on a large platform with ticket sales. The format of this event was calledVersus. Main Event

The rappers met thereone on one or in groups on a big stage. Soon from this formathad to refuse, because the organizers were faced withpremature “leaking” of results to the network by people from the crowd.

“Here, just like on the football field, you throw out a lot of emotions. I am standing in a close circle of people, looking into the eyes of my opponent. Battles are the same sport! There is both excitement and competition here. People around you look at you and worry with you. I like it! I always liked to compete in what I can do, and not just talk about what I don’t have or measure myself against something.”

Versus Battle Fresh Blood

March 5, 2014spin-off launches this yearversus, entitled: “Fresh Blood” league, which aims to identify young talents.

Judging systemstructured in such a way that participantsfighting with each otherdefeating opponents andround by round, climbing up the standings.In the final, the strongest rappers fight for the titlewinner of the season.

To dateFresh Blood totals 3 full seasons.

Fresh Blood “Battle of Styles”

Not so long ago Restaurateur announced a new seasonFresh Blood “Battle of Styles”, in which a still unknown format will be appliedmentoring.

The battle will be divided into two recruited teams, for each of which an experienced MS is responsible:

Versus Battle BMP

At the end of 2016 Versus Battle introducesanother format -BPM.

If we haven't heard music in battles before (except round 3 against ), now it has become possible.

BPM- abbreviation forbeats per minute/beats per minute. In it, MCs battle to fastgrime beats.

The first participantsVersus BPMbecome representativestwo competing sites— from Versus and from Slovo.

One of the most striking performances in this format can undoubtedly be called the battleDrago vs No Limit. Such charisma, artistry And pressure more battles did not see.

Versus Battle Crowd - how to get to Versus?

An interesting fact is T olpa on Versus. From the very first release thereIt was possible to get in only through exclusive lists.To do this you need to befriends of the performing rappers, the Restaurateur or someone who was invited to Versus.

True, there are funny exceptions, such as withSerega , which slipped unnoticed ontoevent, causing surprise to everyone present. Especially Oxy .

Strict adherence to this rulealmost always guarantees safety of resultsbattle before release. Besides, the crowd found its heroes, whose faces appear time after time onVersus— Ivan Grachev a.k.a Hindu And Ekaterina Crazy a.k.a Horned Woman

Versus Battle Judging - Judges at Versus Battle?

Judging at Versus Battle has always been Achilles heel of the event. Remembering the first battles, we can conclude that inthe judges were almost always people who had nothing to do with rap.Like for example the group “Amatory ”.

Now the situation has leveled out, although at times there are also gaps. Like a comedianRuslan Cherny, judged the legendary battleOksimiron and Gnoyny.

On standard VersusThe verdict for the winner and loser is given by an odd number of judges.On BMP, the crowd decides.

Many rappers have voicedpositionwhat judges arelast century. Must It's up to the listeners to decide.

Versus X SlovoSPB

2016 was rich in new formats.The next thing is a battle between battles, no matter how strange it may sound.

Restaurateur And Dan CHEYNannounce a high-profile event - venue battlesSlovo SPB and Versus Battle , in which the best participants will collide.

The most striking and memorable meetings can be called battlesPurulent against and the same against Oksimiron. An event that made the world look at battles from a different perspective.

Versus Battle Now

Today Versuscontinues hisrapid development, attracting attentionall over the world. In addition to rappers, famous bloggers began to participate in battles. For example,Dzharakhov, Larin and judge Yuri Khovansky.

One of the permanent judges on Versus is

After all, not one Western site can boast40 million views of your videos,how it was at the battleJohnyboy vs Oxxximiron.

The sponsors of the event arebookmakers, banks and even cars.

No one will be surprised if after a whileEminem or Busta Rhymes will judge the next battlePurulent and , A Lamar decide to battle with . The truth for thisdinosaurs will have to improve their Russian.

In addition to the main releases, there are two spin-off projects: "Versus: Fresh Blood" (“Versus: Fresh Blood”), in which beginning and little-known rap and hip-hop artists take part in a tournament table type (as of 2017, the project has three seasons), and "Versus X #SlovoSPB" , where in June - July 2016 the finalists of “fresh blood” competed with representatives of the St. Petersburg battle platform “SlovoSPB”, the results of the performances were evaluated by the public.

In April 2015, the battle Oxxxymiron vs Johnyboy received one million views and entered the history of world hip-hop as the most viewed battle in a day. On March 21, 2016, this record was broken by the battle between video bloggers Yuri Khovansky and Dmitry Larin, which received more than two and a half million views in one day. In June 2016, Oxxxymiron’s battle against him overtook the most popular rap battle in the US at Summer Madness 2 between Loaded Lux ​​and Calicoe in terms of views. The current record for the number of views per day belongs to the BPM battle of video bloggers Eldar Dzharakhov and Dmitry Larin, which, after its release on April 16, 2017, gained 7.7 million views in 24 hours.

Battle scheme

The battle itself takes place without microphones or accompanying beat. Before the battle itself, each of the participants is filmed separately, where they introduce themselves, talk about themselves, their future opponent and their personal opinion about him. The participants prepared a text for three rounds in advance, which they read in turn, standing face to face with their opponent. After this, three (sometimes five) judges give their votes to one or another participant. After the host announces the victory of one or another participant, the judges give mini-interviews one after another, where they explain the reason for their choice, and the participants talk about their impressions of the battle.

Also sometimes there are battles in the Main Event format (open event), where participants compete against each other on stage and the winner is determined by the vote of the audience.

Scandals and incidents

It is worth noting that participants are not limited by censorship. So, this moment during the first season has already become a cause of conflicts between judges and participants. In particular, the battle between the 18-year-old (at that time) representative of “CAO Records” Basota and the Moscow rapper SayMeow aka Myauritsio aka MeoWizzy became very discussed, in which the latter used a punchline mentioning Sergei Bodrov, which one of the judges, a poet from St. Petersburg to Ivan Pinzhenin, who later gave his vote to Basote.

It is worth noting that Myaurizzio himself was quite sarcastic about Pinzhenin’s reaction and ridiculed the judge. However, after the battle at an open event in the Moscow club “Plan B”, the same Myaurizzio was criticized by two members of the battle’s judging panel - stand-up comedian Yuri Khovansky and Nikita Gusinsky, better known as Papa Goose - one of the members of the legendary association “Baltic Clan” . Both were outraged by Myaurizzio's text, in which he allowed himself jokes with elements of racism about his opponent - Beslan Almov, the finalist of InDaBattle IV, performing under the pseudonym Bes.

However, Myaurizzio again responded sarcastically to both criticisms, saying that he and his opponent have quite friendly relations, which were not influenced by racist jokes, and the judges should reconsider their views.

Performance by Pasha Technician at the Moscow battle Main Event (04/11/14)

Pasha Technik, a member of the Kunteynir group, put on a real show at the Main Event in Moscow at the Volta club in a battle against Brol. Coming onto the stage with a mug of beer, he poured it onto the first rows of the audience. At the beginning of the first round, Pasha took off his pants, while shouting insults at the audience, which, apparently, was not happy with his performance. Throughout his performance, he threw various objects at the audience, including: bath salts, a banana, a dildo, about 6 CDs with his album and several bottles of water. As he himself said, he did not prepare for the performance, and showed the audience pure freestyle.

Fights on Versus: Off-season (09.09.14)

On the day of the battles, many fights took place. For example, the conflict between Noize MC and standup comedian Yuri Khovansky has been brewing for a long time. Yuri Khovansky repeatedly spoke poorly of the work of this musician. As a result, Noize MC hit Khovansky in the face several times.

A former member of the group “Sins of the Fathers” - Galat was beaten by St. Petersburg rapper Dimasta. The conflict had been going on for a year and a half, when D.masta “gave bream” to all members of the “Sins of the Fathers” group for making unflattering statements about him. During the battle, D.masta violated the rules, interrupted and prevented his opponent from battling. At the end of the battle, D.masta hit Galat with the well-known quote:

End of Season II of Versus Battle

In the last battle of the season, Artem Tatishchevsky and TricoPuchon were supposed to fight, but the latter did not show up for the event and received an automatic defeat - 3:0.