Loose Cypher: A Few Words
This will be my section of the mag for a few weeks and then ongoing should it all go fairly dramaless. I will compile my personal top 5 verses of the given week and present them here for the mag. These opinions are mine and mine alone, not influenced by votes or of any influence from mods or members of the RSTL. If you agree with my list then fine, if not, that's fine too. You may feel you wrote a verse better than my 5th place, that's your opinion. You may even win against a verse I select for my top 5 and yet your verse isn't on here, that's how the cookie crumbles. This is MY top 5, not THE top 5, as I would't accept this section of the mag if I was just to gauge the breakdowns and votes of others and collect them as statistics to present a top 5 list. My lists will also be composed as I read and vote, so most of the time, my breakdowns will not be aware of whether the given verse actually won it's given battle or not. The verse of the week and runner-up are presented in order (quite obviously), but the lower 3 of my 5 will be given in no particular order. I will also never enter my own verses into these lists, even if I feel my verse could even be 'verse of the week'. I am explaining this for this week only as future lists will be headed with a similar "Loose Cypher" where I will take a moment to comment on an issue or the week in general before the list. So here goes the first Top 5 as selected by me, Lucifa aka LokStok.
Lucifa's Verse Of The Week
Daht Cahm
A new screen-name on the RSTL block and by all means this was an impressive "hello". I won't mention names but we have seen competitors make a good impact on their first week and then fade to the 'also ran' list, so I hope Daht Cahm will buck that trend. His verse was not original in concept, but against the back drop of this weeks verses it did have a freshness to it. A metaphorical piece with some nice wordplay in a switch between a saxophone and assault rifle. The fine use of poetry mechanics whilst keeping a hiphop feel was executed rather well and all in all was a very complete verse worthy of top spot this week. Welcome to the RSTL, looks forward to seeing more from you.
Lucifa's Runner-Up Verse
.:Pain:.
I'm surprised myself that out of my top 5, I have selected the non-story piece to be my runner up. However, we had a debate last season where we discussed RSTL being Rap Story Telling League vs Rap Story 'and' Topical League. It's still clear as mud, but I think we can all appreciate topical pieces when they are written well. This piece was indeed written well and as I said in the breakdown, "would seem more suited to the open mic forum", however never felt out of place either. It competed well against an opponent that delivered a decent story piece that lacked in presentation. The ego trip topical is far from a new concept but Pain didn't leave his piece cliche ridden or boring like retreading very old ground. Well structured and well written, given the content and concept.
Completing The Top 5 (in no particular order)
Got Life?
This verse had to go up against Dougie G, a guy constantly improving and that's good to see. However, (and Dougie himself agrees) he is not a strong opponent for the cats with a more 'veteran' status. True to form, the result looks to be as clear cut as anyone would have predicted. You can't help but smile at Dougie's verse but as 'entertaining' as that was, it wasn't near the standard of writing put forward by Got Life? this week. A well structured verse where the content wasn't the strong point but certainly wasn't bland, it was just outshone slightly by some experienced mechanics being bought into play. Got Life? has written far better verses than this but the verse this week is deserving of a top 5 allocation given the standard in general.
Insanevillian
This is an odd one for me to critique as it is against my own verse, a verse I feel was very competitive given the league standard. The votes are somewhat irrelevant in the reasons I compete in the RSTL, as the feedback is my main objective and I have to give props to IV for a PM he sent me at the weekend. Some people may have read IV's post about exploiting a weakness etc., and although I personally don't feel he really blew me away with what he tried to exploit, he did bring an enjoyable verse to read. It will be a sad day in the RSTL when 'mechanics' are what voters center their attention on, but yes, IV showed some text tricks to catch the readers eye. There's an awful lot to be said about the content and entertainment value though, and without multis etc. I don't think the verse was jumping through loops. It was easy to read with the novelty factor of using RM members and it does stand out from the crowd. So gets on to my top 5.
Bonnie Bathory
This saw a no-show homo opponent, which was a shame, cos this verse will not get the feedback it deserved. In true Bonnie fashion, she crafted a verse that flirts with abstract wording and ideas. The 'Lullabies' topic was a popular one this week and each of the members that used it, used it with their own flavours and approach to crafting a verse. Bonnie's verse felt fluid and she has a nice way of only meeting the reader half way in terms of entertainment. She writes for herself with her fairly distinct style and leaves it up to you as the reader to take from it what you want. A really enjoyable verse that deserved opposition.