A judges perspective...

From the outset I knew this was going to be a great night. The Islington O2 Academy had filled and the crowd were buzzing. After the Ill Commotion DJs played their first set and Stig stepped onto the stage, there was a ripple of excitement in the crowd. Everyone expected great things. To the left of the stage the beatboxers were beginning to gather. Stig brought me on stage to warm up the crowd, explain a bit about the rules, things to look out for, etc. The crowd needed little warming up and they were totally up for a good night. Zani came on and blew them away with a demonstration of awesome skills, then it was straight down to the wild-card round, to get 12 people down to 8 with a set of four battles. After this it was straight into the Quarter Finals. I won't describe a blow-by-blow account of each battle, however, there were some highlights. Firstly, it was good to see some battling going on, rather than solo performances. The standard of the beatboxing was the best I had ever seen and us judges had to work hard. Some of the battlers took it hard when they lost, but there were no losers amongst this lot - they all deserved to be on stage. There were several split decisions, however the four that got through the Quarter Finals were definitely the best on the night.

The anticipation prior to the Semi Finals was tangible. However, before we got underway with the Semi Finals, the Boxettes came out and blew the crowd away with their tight harmonies and thundering bass lines. The O2 Academy security guard standing next to me kept smiling and telling me he had never seen anything like it, and he was right. Then it was to the Semi-Finals themselves, and this is where things began to heat up - or rather, got red hot. The battle between Laythe and Reeps One was nothing short of incredible. I have never heard such intricate, fast, spot-on beatboxing - ever. Laythe was like a machine and he sounded like one. This was the speed-battle of all speed battles. With each round each competitor raised his game. It left Zani, Bellatrix and I exchanging glances, laughing, and yes, at one point, I confess to being moved to tears by being in the presence of such incredible talent. The battle finished with all three judges unable to split the two beatboxers apart. It had to go to another round of one minute - of pure brilliance. At the end of which, the judges could only go with gut feeling - Reeps One just clinched it, and the crowd thought so too. It was standing ovations all round, and I felt I had to get on the mic and give credit to these two astounding beatboxers.

We hardly had time to recover when it was yasSon and Hobbit to the stage. These two old friends slowed the pace a little, but this time the battleground was not speed but variety. Despite having a difficult first round against Lucas, yasSon proved he was worthy of being in the semi-finals. It was pure entertainment but Hobbit had the edge over yasSon. The two brothers hugged as they left the stage and the crowd went wild. The final was going to be off-the-scale, and it was.

Everyone knew that Reeps One was the faster, more technical beatboxer, but Hobbit had a greater variety of skills and more crowd-pleasers - perhaps a wider appeal than Reeps? Only time would tell. We were not disappointed. Hobbit moved Reeps One out of his comfort zone and Reeps One forced Hobbit to raise his game. The battle was sublime. It was fun, exciting, and edgy. It had highs and lows, and kept us all guessing. What would they pull out of the bag next? Hobbit took the first round, and although the judges thought that Reeps One took the second round, the crowd were still on Hobbit's side. At this point, Hobbit had won and it was in the bag - but the judges were split. Two of the judges wanted a further round of one minute each - a fair request given the standard of the beatboxing. This is where it sadly, all went wrong for the tricksy one. Hobbit went first, and instead of playing to his strengths and doing routines that Reeps One would have to match, he walked straight into Reeps One territory with an attempt at some speedboxing, drumandbass and dubstep. It was a fine attempt but Hobbit was tired. However, this was exactly what Reeps wanted to hear. He took the mic, said something like, "Don't try and beat me at my own game." and let fly with a delivery of faultless rhythms. Hobbit was beaten.

For a final to swing from one beatboxer to the other shows how good these two are, but in some ways it is not comparing like with like. They are both accomplished and Britains finest but they both bring something unique to the beatboxing scene. However, it was the right decision in the end. Reeps One delivered a better battle, he was consistent and constantly raised his game. Here is one beatboxer I will never get tired of listening to.

Massive respect to all the competitors. Reeps One, you are incredible. Hobbit, you are 100% enterntainment. YasSon, you make me laugh and you're getting scarily good. Laythe, you are a machine. May God bless you all.

Words: Tyte
Images: Paul Carroll Photography 2010

Links

• UK Champs site
• 2010 Battle Results
• 2010 Battle Videos
• Image Gallery
• Grand Final Review (The Hub)