[MAG] The Tribune: Vol. 2, Issue 2, Week 5

[Quriosity]

The RSTL Tribune: Volume 2, Issue 2, Week 5

Contents

I. Introduction
II. The Explanation
III. Family First
IV. Bill of Rights
V. Weekly Highlights
VI. Got Life's Breakdowns
VII. Lucifa's Loose Cypher
VIII. TheReturn of TheStatistician
IX. Official Rankings
X. TheReturn's Power Rankings
XI. Predictions
XII. IV's Top 10 Countdown
XIII. IT's Weekly Blog
XIV. Interview With a Villian
XV. Outroduction


I | Introduction

All in all, this past week was the best so far this season. However, I won’t hand that credit over to Got Life? just yet. Of course he has been a major help in regards to my time management, but I don’t believe that his presence influenced those that did to show up for their matches. No, I give all the credit to you, the participants. And I thank you deeply for striving to show up and perform to your best potential. The weeks are only getting better and our numbers are only growing stronger.

At this time, I would like to extend a warm invitation to those who disagree with the way I write my magazines, or to those who may disagree with my views or the way I express my opinions, or simply to those whom may just want to help out and have a sincere concern for the future of this league. Please feel free to email me at usadesigns1@gmail.com . I am always open to suggestions and help from those who are truly interested.

[Quriosity]

II | The Explanation

Quite a few standout matches, or more importantly, stand out verses from last week. There were some exciting bouts and some unfortunate upsets. But my biggest beef with last week was the fact that there were no shows in the top eight matches. Now, some of you may partially blame the moderators and our ranking system, which by the way is quite simple. Many of you may feel that some competitor’s do not deserve to be ranked where they are. Well, let me briefly discuss just exactly how our ranking system works and stress the fact that the longer the same people stay signed in and perform, the better the rankings will reflect the actual skill level of our participants.

The explanation is simple: winners move up and losers move down. Last season’s formula was a bit different than what me and Got Life? have just recently implemented. In the past season, losers moved to the bottom of the ranks and winners moved to the top, leaving new signs smack dab in the middle. But, to be fairer, we have placed new sign-ins at the bottom and then new sign-ins with records, followed by losers, no show winners who failed to vote, and winners; thus, producing the current rankings that you see today.

Simplistic in nature and very easy to understand. I am sure that there are many more formulas that you self proclaimed statisticians have developed which may or may not work better than the current, but as for now we will stick with this and observe how it pans out.

I hope that clears a lot of minds and eases a lot of hearts. I see people take this league more personally that I ever imagined, complaining of their spot. I appreciate participants, like Lucifa, who have proclaimed time and time again that they are purely here to produce and perform. This is not a popularity contest, and no matter the formula your skill level will always speak for itself. People such as Dougie G reach the top off pure chance, luck, and persistence. But it is unfair to place a “Dougie G” in his rightful position based on the rules set before the league solely because we feel that he does not truly deserve to be there based on skill. His progression is a direct result of the chain reaction of no shows within the top portion of the ladder.

[Quriosity]

III | Family First

Voting has been great for the most part, although there are still those that drop one-liners, which means more work for us moderators to ensure that those law breakers not slip through the cracks and receive undeserved wins. I like to view this league as a family in the sense that its success sits on the shoulders of us all. We must work together as a family to ensure the upward progression of this league in every aspect. Those who fail to vote or vote properly are only hurting the family, the league, and repeat offenders will be dealt with in the near future. Right now I just want to reach out to all of you and stress that this league is built on feedback. Most of us participate only to receive constructive criticism from a community of creative writers. If we fail to see that, we tend to lose interest those injuring the family. Therefore, we must not only post our verses and expect the same in return, but we must give what we wish to receive.

Now, obviously I am not speaking to everyone as we have many who continue to vote and vote early. Lucifa, being one of them, has been a stand up participant since his early entrance of last season. There are many others as well and I would like to acknowledge those, such as Insanevillian, who have taken heed of the new rules and have been informing other participants to avoid such idiotic technicalities.

[Quriosity]

IV | Bill of Rights

Many new rules have been set into place, one in particular that I feel the need to stress to all participants. Recently, there has been a significant increase in free posting within threads either from the competitors, other participants, or outsiders such as TheReturn. This must stop. Clogging of threads is not only an annoyance but a hassle for us moderators to seed through worthless posts and determine the correct vote count. Nonetheless, it takes the spotlight from other battles that have yet to receive sufficient votes by dropping them to the bottom of the forum. The new rule set in place will attempt to alleviate from this grave annoyance by allowing only the necessary amount of posts within a match.

Also, rules have been amended pertaining to extensions. Any extension of 24 hours, or beyond Friday, must be cleared by a moderator. Otherwise, all battles, regardless of extensions, will be void 11:59PM EST Friday. In simple terms, this means that any extension within 24 hours must still be cleared by each opponent and any extension granted of up to 24 hours will still pertain to each opponent. However, 24 hours is the limit and will be for the majority. Any extension over 24 hours must be submitted to a moderator accompanied by a legitimate excuse. Repeat offenders will be handled accordingly. No show rules are also in effect.

For further clarification, here are the current standing rules:

----- The RSTL Official Rules & Regulations -----

"GENERAL RULES"

VERSUS DUE: Every Thursday @ 11:59 PM EST
LINE LIMIT: Minimum of 16 lines, Maximum of 64
** NO RECYCLING, NO EXCEPTIONS **
• Recycling is the equivalent to that of a no-show and will be treated as such, thus resulting in a loss in favor of the participant whom chose to recycle and a win in favor of his/her opponent

• Extensions may only be granted if a moderator has given consent prior to a verse being posted in the match OR your opponent gives his consent
• If granted, the extension will override deadline for both participants extending it for no more than 24 hours
• CHECK-INS are encouraged, but not required
• Verses MUST incorporate AT LEAST 1 of the provided topics
• A failure to show will result in a loss and a sign out by default
• If your opponent fails to show, you MUST STILL post AT LEAST 4 lines (4-15) AND 2 voting links in order to claim victory
• A Championship Title WILL NOT be decided by way of no-show!!!
• If an opponent fails to show in a Championship match, the remaining participant will be ranked as the number 1 seed, but will not be considered a Champion until a win by vote
• Upon your second no show, you will be suspended for two weeks of competition. A third no show will result in a three week suspension and a fourth will result in a suspension for the remainder of the season. There is no suspension for first time no showers.
• Competitors are limited to posting 3 times in their own match, which allows for checking in, posting votes, and posting a verse. For each post over 3 unless deemed necessary by the mods, the competitor will be docked one vote.
• Each competitor may only post once in another competitors battle allowing for a vote and nothing more, if you would like an explanation or to explain as to why a vote was cast a certain way, you can pm them or point things out properly in the vote to begin with.





"VOTING RULES"

VOTES DUE: Every Sunday @ 11:59 PM EST

• You MUST vote on AT LEAST 4 matches AND post links in your thread
• EACH link NOT POSTED will result in a 1 vote DEDUCTION
• Voting on the Championship and Contender matches is mandatory
• Your votes MUST be AT LEAST 2 FULL lines in length per verse in order to be deemed valid
• If your opponent fails to show, you are still accountable for voting on AT LEAST 2 matches as well as posting those links in your match!!!
• Votes posted AFTER DEADLINE will NOT COUNT!!!
• Voting is open to PARTICIPANTS, RSTL MODERATORS, and PAST CHAMPIONS ONLY!!!
• PAST CHAMPIONS MUST vote on a MINIMUM of 4 matches in order to be counted as a legitimate voter
• Editing your vote for any reason must be done within the hour of the original post time. Otherwise, the vote will be null and void.

----------------------------------------------------------------

Any changes must be agreed upon by both participants and cleared by a moderator

MODERATORS ARE LAW OF THE LAND

[Quriosity]

V | Weekly Highlights

Week 4

Match of the Week
Pain v. MetaSin

Best Verse
Daht Cahm

Worst Verse
Blackanese

Best Flow
Pain
Insanevillian

Best Story
Insanevillian

Best Imagery
Daht Cahm

Best Overall Mechanics
Got Life?

Best Story Progression
Daht Cahm

Best Voter
Kid Phikshen

Biggest Surprise
MetaSin winning

Biggest Upset
Pain losing
Rymaholik/Bodian being another Baron Mynd alias

[Quriosity]

VI | Got Life's Breakdowns

With Jook’s departure the league was looking a little unstable, but with the addition of the wonderful and all mighty Got Life? hounding you fucks things look back to normal. This week in particular I was quite impressed with the battles that went down and how many truly quality verses caught my eyes. If anyone thinks holding the crown will be easy or even attaining it, they have another thing coming. But with that I bring you the breakdowns from this past week.


1. Lucifa 13-4 vs 2. Insanevillian 3-0

Well these two certainly did not disappoint and pulled out a match worthy of two beasts that are competing to try for that first title shot. As predicted though Lucifa is allergic to police badges, I say this because while his story had character development, a creative subject, and smooth progression the ending never really hit home and left readers disappointed with the content. On the other hand IV honed his proverbial missles in and didn’t disappoint the crowds as he picked poor Lucifa off. He did it by using creativity, a flow like hot lava, and a story that just kept everyone entertained with it’s comedic value. At the end of the day the votes don’t show how close this was because if Lucifa pulled out a good finish to his verse I think this would have gone either way, but as it stands the self proclaimed diety continues to make quick work of the RSTL in his climb towards the top of the mountain.


3. Pain 2-0 vs 4. MetaSin 1-0

In another great match this week we saw two entirely different styles of writing clash. On one side we had veteran favorite pain who ran with a more topical based style that favored his natural rhyme scheme and flow while producing a story that really drew in the reader and played off the pictures he used pretty well. On the other hand though MetaSin demonstrated what we’ve all come to find. That point being, that topicals really don’t hold much weight in the league anymore as more people favorite a good story over a good topical. That was definitely the case here as both writers shined in what they wrote, although MetaSin’s piece about a soldier and his mental state after what he’s been through definitely was able to capture readers due to the emotional impact of the writing and of course the main factor in it all. The reader’s ability to relate it all back to their lives. I think Q was definitely on point in picking MetaSin as one of his favorite up and coming writers as he is definitely opening more and more eyes with each week.


5. Got Life? 12-4 vs 6. Dougie G 2-1

A lot of people said that this battle was close, personally I don’t see it, I guess it’s a matter that I didn’t go out of my way to blow Dougie G out of the water more than I needed to. At the end of the day I know I did more than enough by writing a piece that slightly reflected about my life, but stemmed into how reflecting on my life allows me to get over writers block. Whether or not I have writer’s block right now is a secret I’ll keep to myself, so don’t get to excited IV ;). Dougie G on the other hand actually had a pretty good comedic value present in his verse when relating to the topic of A.I.D.S. and I’m glad to see that he continues to struggle it out and progress more and more with each week. Keep at it, you’re an inspiration to midgets and cripples world wide.


9. BaySick 0-0 vs 10. Daht Calm 0-0

Well, not that many people knew what to expect out of Daht Calm other than me and my boy did not disappoint. Q was left crying at the end of everything as he saw another TMU prospect decide that their blood boils heron and cooks crack and in truth Daht was always meant to be a Hooligan. And as a hooligan in typical fashion Daht made very quick work of BaySick writing one of the better verses I saw last week which progressed from the picture of the boy playing a saxophone into a piece about how youth corrupts and turns to turmoil and war and how as a child he loved jazz, but now his expression is found through his gun as he is a soldier. Baysick on the other hand wrote a rather simple and seemingly incomplete piece about a black presidential candidate who gets assassinated. Something that might catch the eye of the patriot act, in which case if we are now being monitored I will kick Baysick in the throat because that stops me from drug trafficking through this league and a motherfucker’s gotta eat…but yea…moving along.


15. inkwell (chris) 2-1 vs 16. Stars€reen 0-1

I think Star is definitely the new Dougie G of the league or maybe it’s Dougie G just giving us double the trouble in disguise. I say this because their talent is virtually on the same level so when you pit him against Inkwell, no one expected much to come of it. As it stood Inkwell wrote a pretty good emo piece that captured enough of the readers attention to win this week, but at the end of this battle I was left with a taste in my mouth that resonated of a Second rate TheReturn vs a second rate Dougie G with Inkwell being the victor.


19. Craccer_Jacc 0-1 vs 20. Blackanese 0-1 vs 21. Rymaholik 0-1

This battle actually had a lot of turmoil behind what was going on, the biggest issue being with the whole extensions scenario, which is why I’m encouraging people to post early and get things out of the way. Waiting till the last minute is not always the way to go. As far as the verses go, Black wrote a quick 16 that needed work on just about every element of writing you could think of other than some decent imagery and a little shred of emotion that was spotted. Craccer wrote a pretty good verse that showed much better consistency than his verse last week and with the addition of a better structure I expect to see him finally acquire some success in the weeks to come. But at the end of the day the dark horse Rymaholik aka Bodian turned out to be Baron Mynd. One of the more controversial but at the same time extremely successful writers all time in the RSTL. Baron made quick work of the competition with a verse that hit harder as far as all elements of writing are concerned. Only time will tell which Baron has returned and what will come of it. For now though I will believe that he is genuinely back and desires to compete.


And with that I leave you fuckers to ponder over what happened last week and looking forward to the week ahead of us.


*Ghost*

[Quriosity]

VII | Lucifa's Loose Cypher

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.

[Quriosity]

VIII | TheReturn of TheStatistician

League Statistics - Volume 1
Courtesy of TheReturn

Since the rebirth of the league last year, over 110 different people have signed in to compete in the newest version of the Rapmusic Storytelling & Topical League. One problem, however, was the ability for someone to sign out if they lost more than they wanted, and sign back in with a fresh record. Sure, you can fool the new sign-ins with that pretty little undefeated record, but you can't fool me. I went back and tallied up everyone's total record (minus Baron because 1. I forgot all the aliases he used/wasn't sure of ones he was rumored to have used and 2. He's a biter and recycled more in three weeks than Got Life? has in two seasons) along with some other random statistics, which I will continue to update each week and post every 4 weeks or so to show how much has changed. So, with that said, I present some statistics since the league's rebirth.



Top Five Most Regular Season Wins

Eye-Rime a.k.a. Norrin Radd - 14
Lucifa a.k.a LokStok - 13
Got Life? - 13
Vern Acular a.k.a. Vada - 12
TheReturn - 10



Highest Percentage Time at Number 1 (Titles + Defenses / Weeks Active)

TheReturn - 0.417
nah son - 0.364
Eye Rime a.k.a. Norrin Radd - 0.105
Vern Acular a.k.a. Vada - 0.059
Got Life? - 0.050



Longest Regular Season Winning Streak

TheReturn - 9 wins in a row
Eye-Rime a.k.a. MCQuriosity - 7 wins in a row
nah son - 5 wins in a row
SacriFICE - 5 wins in a row



Longest Active Regular Season Winning Streak

Insanevillian a.k.a. Pusher - 4 wins in a row
Cane - 3 wins in a row



Longest Active Regular Season Losing Streak

rocket - 6 losses in a row
Unavailable a.k.a. BaySick - 6 losses in a row
King Grimet - 5 losses in a row



Most No Shows

rocket - 5
TeKneeK - 4
Alias2 - 4
King Grimet - 4
3 tied at 3



Highest No Show Percentage (At least 2 sign ins)

Event Horizon - 1.000 (2 out of 2)
Vigil - 0.750 (3 out of 4)
MC4SIGHT - 0.667 (2 out of 3)
Ribo Nuke - 0.667 (2 out of 3)
King Grimet - 0.571 (4 out of 7)
rocket - 0.556 (5 out of 9)
6 tied at 0.500

[Quriosity]

IX | Official Rankings

Contender 1. Insanevillian 4-0
Contender 2. MetaSin 2-0

Contender 3. Got Life? 13-4
Contender 4. Daht Calm 1-0

5. Kid Phikshen 1-0
6. inkwell (chris) 3-1

7. -Sephiroth- 2-2
8. Bodian 1-0

9. Bonnie Bathory 7-2
10. Juked 0-0

11. Craccer_Jacc 0-1
12. .ApoGee. 4-4

13. Smoke Trail 2-2
14. Lucifa 13-5

15. Pain 2-1
16. Dougie G 2-2

17. BaySick 0-1
18. Stars€reen 0-2

19. Blackanese 0-2
20. DopeVisuals 0-0

21. Infinite Truth 0-0
22. Insanity 0-0

23. Master Peace 0-0
24. SpeedyCalhoun 0-0

25. rocket 0-0
26. Pharaohe Def 0-0



No Show List:

Condescending 1-3
DiggityDiggs 0-1
Memorie 0-1
Memento 1-3

[Quriosity]

X | TheReturn's Power Rankings

Season 2 Power Rankings
Courtesy of TheReturn


With the absense of J o o k, the league lost its statistician. What Got Life? can make up for in rankings and keeping track of the point system for the playoffs, I will make up for with a system of my own to rank the league's competitors week in and week out. Wins and losses will hold most of the weight, however whether you win by decision or no show, whether you posted a full verse or a no show verse, as well as vote margin and opponent's record will also be taken into account. Heavy significance will be put on winning the title and defending it, and penalties will be enforced for recycling (lol), which will finally amount to my Top Ten Power Rankings signed in for the current week.

The first number listed is what the writer is currently ranked, the number in parenthesis is what the writer was ranked last week, followed by the writer's name, the points they received, and what happened in the past week that justified the change.


TheReturn's Power Rankings for Week 4

1. (n/a) Insanevillian a.k.a. Pusher (21.1 points) - Coming off of a wide margined win against the other top contender, Lucifa, IV solidifies himself at the top of the rankings after four straight victories to open up the season.

2. (n/a) Got Life? (17.4) - After cleaning house with Dougie G, Got Life? returns to the top two for the first time since his trip to the Recycle Bin.

3. (n/a) MetaSin (12.6 points) - A big win over Pain catapulted MetaSin to the top three, where he gets a shot at his first title against top rated Insanevillian.

4. (n/a) inkwell (chris) (11.3 points) - A stronger schedule helped inkwell edge Lucifa for the number four spot after improving to 3-1 with a win over StarsCreen.

5. (n/a) Lucifa a.k.a. LokStok (10.8 points) - A loss to IV broke the tie for the top ranking and caused Lucifa to fall to fifth, where he looks to regain momentum (lol Q) in hopes for his first title.

6. (n/a) .:Pain:. (7.7 points) - Losing to up and comer MetaSin knocked Pain down a notch, but previous wins over Eye-Rime and TheReturn keep him from falling further in the rankings.

7. (n/a) Bonnie Bathory (7.3 points) - A no show loss killed this femcee's chances of breaking the top five, but if consistent, she will be right next to Lucifa as writers chasing their first championship this season.

8. (n/a) Daht Cahm (6.8 points) - A newcomer to the league that flawlessed a lackluster Baysick, yet nonetheless proved that he has the skills to compete at the top, and gets his first crack at competition this week against Got Life?.

9. (n/a) Bodian (6.6 points) - Baron Mynd is back with an all new alias, and should move up quick as long as he keeps fresh verses coming

10. (n/a) ***** a.k.a. Kid Phikshen (4 points) - A no show win in his first week puts KP in at number ten before even having a chance to test his skills.