Epic Pod Battle, Karaoke Rhymin

Fresh & fun. Its been a while since those 2 words could be used to describe any night up in da clubs. Shows are in a different category, you go to see bands play. For DJs, it really depends which ones are good, who plays the music you like. There's always the universal lure of booze and hunting for the opposite sex. There used to be freestyle mic flexin, DJ competitions, bboy battles, etc but you often had to be more of a hip hop head to really appreciate those. Anyone however can appreciate songs that are dope played straight off an iPod. Anyone can appreciate who's got skills in doing karaoke hip hop songs. These 2 concepts, the iPod battles at Sup Fu Wednesdays and Hip Hop Karaoke, both at Fortune Sound Club, have got to be the freshest and funnest nights right now in the city. This past Wednesday night, 10 different crews (Alife, Boardroom, Dipt, el Kartel, Zebra Club, Replay, Stussy, Livestock, Underworld, Coastal Riders) from various shops around town battled each other, not with their turtables but with their iPods. Each side had 30 seconds to play 3 songs head to head. Loudest crowd reaction won....

ALife crew: J Jungles, Greg, Rose (w/ Pod in hand!), Jaykin Photo by Mark Gutknecht And boy, was that crowd loud that Wed. And there was something about the simplicity and unpretentiousness of a simple song to song, iPod battle. No scratching, no remixing, no mashups. Just the crew and their favourite songs on their iPods. After the preliminary rounds were done, 2 crews were left standing: the Boardroom and Dipt. I cant remember if they played these 3 songs early in the night or in the final but Martini and the Dipt heads got the crowd off their rocka with 2 Unlimited: Yall Ready for This?, Reel II Reel: I Like to Move it and 2 Live Crew: We Want Some... The Boardroom had, like, half the crowd in the club on the stage with them. After the smoke cleared, Dipt were crowned the champions. Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin had nothing on this rumble in our Chinatown jungle. The next Pod Battle is staged for WED, JUL. 28 @ Fortune: Fight Club 2 - iPod Battle. Combatants are: Man Hussy Winnie Cooper Party Snake Boombox Saints Wobangs Friendly Children Goth Mouth Jackson 5 Pussy Party Kell&Sabastian Trappers Delight Team P.O.S. Milt 'n Bradley Team Cream Chinese Connection The Old Greg I'll be there rooting for my boys Christian & Tristan of Winnie Cooper! I also happened to roll over to Fortune on a few weeks ago after the Jamie Lidell show at Venue. A bit loopy by that time, I was still able to witness some average Joe's and Josette's flex some real mic skill in doing their karaoke renditions of their favourite hip hop songs. There was a girl who did a couple songs who was really dope. A guy doing Blackalicious' Alphabet Aerobics (below) was also impressive. Caught a facebook video of Ms. Anne Marie Corcuera doing the Lil Kim part of Junior Mafia's Crush on You. Another video of Scott & Nigel doing Jay-Z & Pharell's I Just Wanna Love You, ha. Again, the simple nature made for a vibe really accessible and most importantly, just real fun.

Hip Hop Karaoke Vancouver from Japfunk on Vimeo.

If you wanna get up there and represent your karaoke skills, the next Hip Hop Karaoke @ Fortune Sound is this coming MON/JUL. 12. Battle of the Shops, iPod Battle pics (Wed, Jun. 30, Fortune Sound Club) All photos by Mark Gutknecht