King Of The Dot's Blackout 3 @ Guvernment

Toronto’s Guvernment nightclub became a war zone last Saturday as King Of The Dot presented Blackout 3, complete with superstar co-host Drake, for a full day of intense battles from some of the biggest names in battle rap and a title match between Dizaster and Arcane. The venue was packed wall to wall, with over 1200 people in attendance from all over Canada, the United States and overseas from countries such as England and Scotland.
Battle rapper Soul, the winner of the event’s first battle against Wize Guy, travelled all the way from Scotland to Canada for the first time, anticipating his King Of The Dot match-up. “[KOTD] is huge over there. It’s worldwide and has a cult following everywhere. You’ll find people in every country that know about King Of The Dot,” he said after his win.
Big Blackout winners included Soul, Tycoon Tax, Charron and Uno Lavoz, but there was also some controversy in a few of the battles.
In the battle between England’s Shotty Horroh and Atlanta’s Ness Lee, Lee was announced as the winner of the battle, but unexpectedly passed on his win to Shotty. The ATL battler says that his ego could never get in the way of reality and in turn was humble enough to pass off his win, which is a rare trait in his industry. “I can’t take that win. I’m a real dude. Shotty did great, plus he didn’t choke. The biggest battle that happened last year was Loaded Lux versus Calicoe. Loaded Lux brought a whole new aspect to battle rap, but he choked. Everyone still gives him the win, but he choked. So he lost. I pretty much live by that right there. I choked, I can’t let myself take that win,” he says.
The much-anticipated Main Event with Pat Stay and Math Hoffa was nothing less than the greatness that was expected from the two. Stay brought his renowned ‘larger than life’ energy and Hoffa used his comedic style to his advantage in a battle that many will be debating on the winner for a long time.

When it came to the moment everyone had been waiting for, the title match between KOTD champ Dizaster and challenger Arcane, the Guvernment was rammed to its capacity and the tension was colossal.
Before the battle even started, Dizaster began to read off a printed sheet of paper to the crowd exposing how Arcane had allegedly bought his bars. The crowd chaos ensued when Dizaster threw stacks of the same PayPal and Facebook statements for the fans to read.
To the surprise of many of his fans, the crowd turned on Dizaster when they became displeased with his lines and began to boo the renowned battler. Dizaster retaliated, screaming profanities at the mob, asking the booing audience to step forward. When nobody came forward, he even threw a full can of beer through the air, soaking many.
The tension in the air was at an all-time high during the second round when Arcane was spitting and he tapped Dizaster on the shoulder with his finger and Dizaster hit it away aggressively. The two got in each other’s face about to fight, but Organik and other rappers were in the ring before it got out of control. After a close third round, the judges deliberated and Arcane was announced the new King Of The Dot champion, for the second time. He threw his fists in the air as they gave him the chain and a $1,000 cheque and the crowd cheered. It seemed that not even Dizaster’s props and attempts to expose the Steel City battler worked, but it has caused lasting controversy on the Internet that will probably be discussed and debated for several weeks to come.
Photos By: Khrangg

KOTD Blackout 3 Pre-Coverage

What started in a Toronto alleyway in 2008 has become one of the premier battle leagues of North America and an international platform for battle rap in just a few years. Now it’s about to put on its biggest and most anticipated event yet. King Of The Dot’s Blackout 3 takes place this Saturday at The Guvernment with a day of battles, a main event and the most coveted title match yet, between returning champions, Arcane and Dizaster. The chain, the money, the bragging rights — this is the heavy weight championship with a lot at stake.
Battle emcee Charron, who has the most wins in the league and faces his friend and peer HFK at Saturday’s event, has witnessed the growth of the movement from its early days. “I’ve been involved with King Of The Dot since 2009. I started when we were battling in alleys. I was Greyhounding on my own dollar to get there, performing in front of maybe 25 people. Since then, I’ve been involved in every opportunity provided to the battlers. It’s opened up opportunities to battle overseas in Sweden and England and platforms such as BET,” he explains. “As far as Toronto goes, it doesn’t get much bigger than Guvernment. If you really stop and look, it’s a huge accomplishment and milestone for King Of The Dot.”
Blackout 3 will be an upgrade from the all of the other events, says KOTD host/founder Organik, through the venue, crowd capacity and technology, as those who cannot make it out to the event can Ustream view it by ordering it via the KOTD website. “It’s going to be our biggest event, by far,” he says.
Two-time Grand Prix champ and former King Of The Dot champion Arcane faces defending champion Dizaster, who is a legend in his craft and highly regarded as one of the world’s top battlers. “It’s going to be intense. Arcane is one of the best rappers that King Of The Dot has to offer and Dizaster is one of the most entertaining rappers, period, so it’s probably going to be the best title match that we’ve ever had at King Of The Dot,” Organik says. The tensions are high between the two battlers, who recently displayed their animosity for each other through Twitter, drawing even more attention to their already publicized battle.
Toronto Battle rapper Kaliente, who is back from his hiatus to battle Tycoon Tax at the Blackout 3 event, says that he is looking forward to the title match between Arcane and Dizaster as both emcees deserve the opportunity to be crowned champion.
“It’s a good match up. Arcane is awesome and he earned his spot up there, but the Dizaster situation, it’s cool that he’s the champion, but I just feel that a lot of rappers got to do what we went through to get a title shot in this league. A lot of us started a foundation for these battle rappers, but it is what it is. I can’t wait to see that battle; it’s going to be hectic. Arcane is tricky and Dizaster is a monster,” he says.
Toronto is set to become a battlefield this Saturday but by the end of the day, only one will be recognized as the King Of The Dot.

Arcane Preps for KOTD Title Match

Renowned battle rapper Arcane will face Dizaster in a title match for the name of King Of The Dot (KOTD) champion at the upcoming Blackout 3 on January 26. This comes after winning the KOTD Grand Prix championship for the second time, this year against Chedda Cheese. The innovative artist is ready for the main event, but his first concern is to propel the culture forward.
WHAT ARE YOUR GREATEST ACHIEVEMENTS AS A BATTLE RAPPER SO FAR? I’ve had a lot of achievements in King Of The Dot. I’ve won the Grand Prix tournament, which is probably my most esteemed achievement, just because of the difficulty level of the competition… The competition level now in today’s battle world is so much more vicious and you really have to be on point and show different aspects of your game so to be able to win that tournament twice in a row and be undefeated in that format is probably one of my greatest accomplishments in battle rap right now. Also, winning the King Of The Dot chain in 2010 is up there too and I’m hoping to win the chain back.
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT YOUR MOST RECENT GRAND PRIX WIN? The Grand Prix final, to be honest, was one of my best performances so far. I think I’ve come a long way. The new era of battle rap is a lot different than how I got started and the era that I came from, the freestyle of battle rap was all about one or two punch lines and more simple raps but something that would get the crowd responding. Nowadays, it’s a lot more technical and people are doing a lot more multi-syllable word play, schemes and all new elements to the game that you have to master. In this Grand Prix, what I tried to do was prove that I can do anybody else’s style better than them and that all culminated in the last battle.
WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE PART OF BATTLING? The crowd reaction and the atmosphere. In this day and age, the battles are all written, who you will be battling months before you’re battling the person so it’s a lot different from the freestyle era when you never knew who you were going to battle next. Now, with so much put into it, so much time invested going into the battle, the payoff is the day when you perform your stuff. You are basically writing specific material that you can only spit one time. It’s not like writing a song, where you’re going to go in the studio and record it and tour around and perform that same song at a bunch of different locations. You are writing the best material that you can possibly write and you only get one chance to deliver that material and you have to do it properly. You can’t have any slip-ups. So the real payoff at the end of the day is to be in front of the crowd and everything culminating in that one moment. When those punch lines start to hit and you see the crowd reaction, it is the payoff.
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR STYLE OF BATTLING? I’m very versatile. I can do everything it takes to make a good battle rap. To be a good battle rapper, you have to be able to do comedy, you have to be funny, you have to have charisma, you have to have personality, but you also have to have serious wordplay and bars that make the crowd go “oooh, that’s just mean.” You have to have the ability to get personal… I think that is a quality that’s lost in some of the bigger names in battle rap. A lot of stuff is too generic. You have to be able to switch into different cadences with your flow, you have to use multi-syllabics to your advantage, but not overused. I think a lot of rappers use that as a crutch. I think that what battle rappers need to have is a blend of all those qualities and that’s what I would consider my style. I guess I would call my style the full package.