A battle rap video turned ugly. And then, someone stepped in and made it inspiring.
Set scene: A woman is on stage with her male opponent in an MC rap battle in London when all of a sudden the dude makes a rape threat. Not cool at all. The misogynistic dude tries to calm the crowd down as they look on in disgust. Then suddenly up pops visibly pissed-off BBC radio presenter Nihal, who decides to step in and rip into the rape-threat dude with his own, much better verse.
I want to be clear on two points before you watch it: 1) The young woman didn’t need him to step in, but I’m appreciating this as a “see something, say something” moment, and it’s great to see that others have her back in such a hostile environment. 2) The fat-shaming in his verse isn’t cool either, and I wish that wasn’t in there, but I still appreciate this moment of solidarity and outrage.
NSFW language NSFW language NSFW language.
Originally appeared at Upworthy
Photo Eric Flexyourhead/Flickr
About the author
Rossalyn Warren
My British accent makes it sound like I know what I’m talking about. I am in a complicated relationship with the Internet, and I obsess about all things political, popular culture, human rights, and digital media.
Pretty sure I just lost some brain cells watching this.
Instinctually I probably would have done the same thing if I could rap, however it’s a ‘battle’, no holds barred presumably, so you have to assume anything goes and it would have been interesting to see what the young lass came up with rather than being rescued by Nihal. It’s unlikely that anybody steps in and tells the male rappers to stop dehumanizing each other with threats of violence or ass rape, or do they? I’m happy to be shown different. Personally standing on stage calling each other names, even if it rhymes, even if it uses clever vernacular or… Read more »
How is Guy #2 placed on such a higher moral ground than the first guy’s? Sure, it’s not not AS bad because he’s not condoning sexual assault and sexism, but there were no real points made by the ‘hero judge’ – all he did was make derogatory comments about Guy #1’s weight. Not inspirational at all. Disappointing post.