Scribble Jam: According to Scribble magazine is the biggest hip hop event in the world, and to some people is a long anticipated three day event that is held annually every August 9-12 in Cincinnati, Ohio, by its founder, DJ Mr. Dibbs. This event consist of the five elements of hip hop. These are: turntablism, break dancing, beat boxing, graffiti writing and freestyling. Each one of the elements is then competed in for a grand prize of $10,000.
Each one of the battles is organized a little differently than the other, for instance the DJ battles are usually prerehearsed and the skills that are examined are mostly the complexity of their scratching and beat juggling, while the MC freestyle battles are just that, freestyle no rehearsals just the test to see who has the most bashing rhymes and punch lines against their opponents within two rounds in thirty second intervals. That’s not the only prize; since this event is witnessed by so many people and is filmed and distributed throughout the world the winners of Scribble Jam are granted with much respect and a name for themselves as talented artists. Many of the artists that have won and even ones that have only appeared to participate have often gone off to make careers out of there talented abilities. Some of the known artist that have gotten there names out after Scribble Jam are. Eyedea and Abilities, Sage Francis and Slug of Atmosphere and these are just to name a few. The latest appearances in 2006 who have won the most recent scribble championships are: MC Battle - Thesaurus, B-boy battle - Brickheads, BeatBox Battle - Snuggles, and DJ battle - I.D.
If you don’t know about Scribble Jam already should consider checking it out. YouTube has many clips you can check out if you can’t make it to the event yourself, and many students at Olde Columbine have seen the films that are available to purchase at Bart's Record Shop in Boulder or at the official Scribble Jam website, and only good things are to be said about them. Zach H. of Olde Columbine is one of the students who has seen the film. “I like Scribble quite a bit. My favorite parts are the MC battles, they're usually pretty hilarious to watch, just them all bashing each other, and with the rhymes makes it a lot more entertaining.”
I also spoke with Paul M. an OCHS student as well, who said, “From a true hip hop fan’s point of view, Scribble Jam is a very good source to see what all the elements of hip hop are all really about.”
Scribble Jam has been an ongoing event since 1996 and has been getting larger every year. This year will be its 12th anniversary and will not be a regrettable experience to witness.
