School Of HardKnocks Edition 5 - 04-11-2000, Frascati. It's all about getting your name out, speaking of which, the 5th edition of School Of Hardknocks was promoted quite nicely (Eline even went to a youth-hostel a little before 10 o'clock to spread the word and some flyers). People started to drop in at 10 o'clock and the list with entries was full in no-time. P.W. the Paranoid Wizard, 7th Foul Nation and Coup de Villz already had come by to ask if they could write in for the night but as it said on the flyer, the doors were open from 22:00h. That is the time when the game starts. Although they couldn't enter yet they were still the first three groups to get their names on the list. The first once get the best spots.

It is important to be there on time, or maybe even early, since there can only be eight entries for the first round, and some artists were just too late. If you are too late to get your name on the list you can still challenge the 'champion' of the first round if you think you can do better than that artist. But you will miss the chance to shine and promote yourself for ten minutes. A lot of heads came to check the 5th edition, among them were a lot of familiar faces and even ART12's own Mickey came trough although she was kinda very ill. Other people included Q.F., Brainstorm and of course all the heads who helped making (well ART12's Melle Mel was on a short holiday) this a successful night.

Of course the hosts, Shockwave & DJ Precise, were representing and getting the heads warmed up for the night. Mic Shots, Large and FunkAteer had to bear the brunt and had a hard task to get the audience warmed up for live performances, like they mentioned they weren't really prepared for the night but still brought their beats and wrote some rhymes just before they got onstage.

One of the members sung the intro and the chorus to one of their songs for which he had to check the lyrics sometimes which were laying on the sound-installment. Like a lot of artists the crew thought they were having mic problems but the audience didn't noticed none of them, they still dropped some nice rhymes and after their ten minutes the crew gave their mics to the next artists to perform. NOD first popped in some beats over which they started rhyming, eventually pitching up to some freestyling and eventually had some spare time so their DJ could show of his skills.

The next challenger was Mind Controller who didn't brought any beats with him but asked Precise to drop some instrumentals over which he started freestyling. Often beginning his next line with the last words from his last line he wasn't always rhyming very clear so sometimes the crowd wasn't able to make up what he was saying causing them to loose their interest quite quick. The last artists before a short break were Coup de Villz, who brought their click and video camera and clearly wanted to have a good time too. They brought their own beats and gave a good show which the audience clearly appreciated while they were nodding their heads and moving to the beats. They were the first crew who really had the majority of the audience on their side as the crowd showed their appreciation by cheering in between the tracks (a total of three) they performed with a lot of energy. They wanted to go on more than ten minutes but Shockwave had to cut it of because it's ten minutes and no excuses.

As Precise played some classic tracks a circle was formed in the crowd to make room for the dancers who represent that night too. Some of them were breakers who just came to check the show, but still had a chance to give their own show, two of them formed a crew called Funky President who were too late to enlist for any of the ten minutes, but were dancing every time Precise was keeping the audience's acoustic ducts, busy with moves that were a mix between breaking and street dance, best to be described as 'quick'.

After the break it was time for Amsterdam's own 7th Foul Nation who brought a couple of people from their click. They made a CD especially for the night so they could use their ten minutes to the fullest. This included an intro over which they introduced themselves and some of their tracks, of course including the track Amsterdam which made the crowd mad hype. Rick D: "I imagined that it would be nice if the audience would sing the hook. But I would never have anticipated a response like this." Complex: "I am so impressed by the massive response." It was evident that the majority of the people in there was from Amsterdam, and although a lot of them didn't know the lyrics, everybody was chanting the chorus after the first time they heard it. This track was, let's say 'a good foundation' for the rest of their time, which was one piece of energy, and when they felt the mics weren't turned up enough they didn't rely on blaming the soundman but improvised and grabbed two mics turning up the sound a few decibels.

Following their performance was the spoken word act by Soulartic, only 17 years of age but still ready to take stage on her own to do her spoken word act a cappella, which deserves props. As we only had seen MC acts for the night this was for a lot of people a surprising alternative of deep lyrics, which wasn't respected by everyone, as some people started talking during her act, and that's not polite, but Soulartic had her comment ready as she interrupted her verse to tell them to: "Shut the fuck up!", causing the noisy heads to stop talking and other people to start cheering for this comment.

The next person to take stage was P.W. the Paranoid Wizard who was already mad hyped before he had to perform running around all night with sunglasses on and socializing with everyone. This artist came all the way from Den Bosch without back up or a beat so Precise spinned some instrumentals for him over which P.W. dropped pre-writtens, and although the crowd didn't really respond to his stage presence (he was on a level with the most couldn't relate), he still made his 10 minutes full with rhymes over several beats and nobody can question this mans eager, fanaticism and good personality as he got onstage on every occasion he saw, ending his perfomance with shout outs. Last up were Sunz of Rah who we already have seen at the 3th edition of School of Hardknocks. The brought their beats, but these weren't recorded very good so their performance was a little bit influenced by the unclear sound which made it so that one couldn't understand what they were saying a lot of the time. And they really have to work on their stage show.

After all eight entries had done their thing onstage Shockwave asked the artists, or at least one member of each performing group to come onstage and get ready for the response ther audience would give them, some of the artists felt they didn't get the response they deserved giving the audience the finger while walking off-stage. As most people in there already would've guessed the winner was 7th Foul Nation with Coup de Villz also getting a lot of cheers.

Shockwave already was waving around the ten bills of a hundred bucks as he asked if there were any challengers who thought they should be getting this dough instead of 7th Foul Nation, and if so they could write in for the finals. After having said this Shockwave was almost suddenly surrounded by people who were ready to prove they deserved to take home the grand-price. Among the competitors were a split up Coup de Villz: Slow Go, DNG, Diversity and Cavy G each solo. Very smart as they understood the rules allowed this. Terilekst (TooRelaxed) who used (wasted) his 30 seconds to explain who he was and what he was up to drop a verse what was a result of a conversation in our guest book, only remaking: "So I guess you wanna hear something". After his time was already up, once again verifying his moniker. He still got back up from the crowd when he said he wanted to rhyme in Dutch.

Other challengers were Funky President the dance duo who mysteriously disappeared after having announced they were ready to participate, Funketeer & Large, P.W. and Mind Controller (who directed the freestyle he kicked towards Complex of 7th Foul and dropped his mic to the ground after his verse, causing Shockwave to educate him: "Yo be careful with the equipment this is expensive stuff, if you won't be careful you will have to pay a thousand bucks instead!". Mic Controller wanted another chance to show what they could bring but the crowd anonymously decided they wanted to see the Wax Wankers to battle 7th Foul Nation for the dough.

Looking at Rick D's face, he seemed kinda surprised they would have to battle a group of DJ's in the final round, as 7th Foul Nation already expressed they were battle-ready, but battling another element of HipHop than the one you're mastered in is a story apart (check the 4th edition of School of Hardknocks where Cane battled DJ Rockid and DJ Extraa in the finals and the 2nd were DJs Killa Tactics smoked a bunch of MCs). A nice anecdote: DJ Kypski did the scratches on the recorded version of 7th Foul's track 'Amsterdam'.

Funny detail; Funketeer remarked how a lot of people in the crowd were booing when people had to make noise for a certain act if they liked it unknowingly supporting that act with booing.

After having installed their equipment, The Wax Wankers, a collective formed by 4 DJ's, gave 7th Foul a run for their money as they collectively created a couple of classic beats by cutting and scratching records. This piece of masterly turntablism caused a variety of 'oohs' and 'aahs' by the crowd and eventually earning a applause and great response from the crowd.

Rick D. and Complex once more realized they still weren't the owners of the grand prize and had to come with some dope shit to impress the audience again. Popping in a couple of other beats, they stepped from pre-writtens to freestyling and Rick D started off, taking the challenge with dope battle rhymes alternating with Complex to give the crowd what they wanted to see in a final: two dope contestants and a dope show from both. When the five minutes were over the famous ritual once again took place: Shockwave asked the crowd to make noise for the Wax Wankers first, and man there was a lot of noise, but not enough as hell broke loose when people were asked to cheer for 7th Foul Nation. They clearly had earned the respect and favor of the crowd during both their first and second performance. Although the Wax Wankers didn't get to take the 1000 bucks home they did receive a special prize which was reserved for the most original act of the night.

Once again we can say the evening was a success, with a lot of dope acts, showing an open stage is one of the best platforms to check out talented acts. 7th Foul Nation took home the 1000 bucks, but they weren't the only ones completing their mission. Heads will recognize the names of some of the people they've seen tonight, they heard what people had to say, the know what's cooking in our culture, but most of all a lot of people had a good time, connecting with other people within our culture and people interested in the culture, and that's the most important aspect. Once more since the B-Boy Extravaganze days there is a place where the national scene can see and be seen.

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Text: Loot
Pics: AQ