News & Announcements: January update

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    Posted: 01 January 2016 at 2:22pm
January Update

A new year and a fresh start for LA, we're looking to build on our momentum in 2015 and make 2016 a great year for everyone involved.

Battle Royale

We're close to closing out the Battle Royale with surprise package Ridley Squat facing DJ Flame to determine who goes on to challenge Concrete for the LA Text Title. Hopefully you'll all agree this has been a successful follow up to the Heat Wave tournament & I encourage you all to get involved with the voting to close out the event in style.

Once this is complete we'll be launching the following initiatives...

Open Mic King

An open mic event where contestants will be challenged to drop the best verse on a topic determined by Zinaii. Will you be crowned the inaugural Open Mic King?

Word Drop

The LA classic will be making a comeback under the watchful eye of Exoduzt. The idea is simple, Exo chooses 10 random words and you have a maximum of 10 lines to come up with the best verse you can manage.

Classic verses returns...

Speaking of classics, I will be launching a new set of criteria for classic verses. When you nominate a verse you will need to pick a category you think it's eligible for. If I think the nomination has merit, it will be taken to a panel of LA experts who will decide if it is worthy of classic status. If it is, it will be announced as a classic. If not, then we will explain why we think it doesn't quite meet the requirement.

Battle League

We are working behind the scenes on a format for a battle league. I think we're all aware that no shows are a potential pitfall in a strict league format, so we are working on a proposal that gets around this weakness and hopefully maximises the upsides of a league. Arthur is behind this initiative and with his battle pedigree I'm sure we'll finalise a format that will revitalise the battle scene on LA.

Roast

We're actively considering bringing in a Roast feature. If you would like to run this please let a member of staff know and we'll consider applications.

Revised battle rules

We will shortly be announcing a revised set of battle rules for the site. If you have any suggestions or problems with the rules now would be a good time to let us know so we can take this into consideration before we relaunch the rules.

Expanding the user base

A personal priority of mine is to expand the user base on the site. As I think you've all noticed we're putting in a lot of effort to make this a great place to be. We'd like to be able to cater to an ever expanding user base. We don't want to advertise of others websites (as we wouldn't want others to come here and do the same) but if you have personal links with people who use other sites I'd encourage you to ask them to come over to LA to see what we're doing here. Whether former LA member of the past, someone completely new or an up and comer. Everyone is welcome.

Closing statement

I'm looking forward to continuing the work we've put in to build new and interesting features. We're seeking to involve more members in the running of features (both Zin and Exo aren't part of the mod team here) and if you want to be involved please let one of the staff members know what you're interested in. We currently have a vacant mod spot but aren't in a desperate rush to fill it, we also welcome additional innovative ideas for new features for the site.
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Mission Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 January 2016 at 2:42pm
Bruh lemme do the roast thing my roast game on point every day lmao
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote rektassaurus Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 January 2016 at 3:06pm
Looks really nice. Just one question, all the these things will start right after Battle Royale ends, or will you be 'releasing' them throughout the year?
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote IsaiahtheGreat Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 January 2016 at 3:22pm
"Open Mic King" and the "Roast" looks real interesting.

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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Cuba Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 January 2016 at 4:00pm
They won't all immediately be on the site the second Battle Royale is finished...but you won't be waiting until May for them either.

Think you should be able to tell the ones which are likely to be sooner from the status update (if we have someone lined up to run it & we're naming them here you can imagine that is closer than one where we are looking for someone to run it & we say we are still ironing out some of the creases in the update)
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Titu Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 January 2016 at 4:05pm
Looks dope. Lets see how it goes
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote alicewonder Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 January 2016 at 6:05pm
I'm really looking forward to this, sounds like a great concept overall. Particularly the "word drop" and OM scheme. 
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Rutter knows best Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 January 2016 at 6:47pm
Some interesting stuff there

Interested to see what the battling rules will be.
I mean i don't really think the rules need changing that much. I think a slight change in the culture of battling would make sense. For example, personals are when used properly are great weapons in a battle. They aren't the only thing you can use though. A good word play or name flip are equally good weapons. There is an argument that having to force yourself to use personals it means you have to be extra creative. My argument is you can't make a silk purse out of a pigs ear. Alot of people are don't like putting out personal information, or getting in arguments encase it can be used against them. Thsi has limited the quality of material at hand for personals. These battle royals are really good for this i must admit, we've seen a multitude of battles and arguments (Your welcome) that create a nice chunk of material that can be used. A good personal will always beat a good generic but i think we should keep more of an open mind on that and not discount it because its not a personal.

There are several ways to deliver a punch, not just similes. You have double entendres, metaphors, word association, harshly done statements are legitimate too. I'd really think alot of people would improve their arsenal by watching some live battles. See how battlers use these techniques, and what is and what isn't translatable to text battling(2 lines, 1 set up, 1 punch). Also look at how other writers battle on other sites. Do we do it like everybody else? Are we a completely different beast? here on L.A. This is the biggest problem i have had with getting people across and believe me I've tried. Well that and the voting. Also being an individual is great, and variety is the spice of life n all, but there should be a general consensus of our identity. Are we a long bar site? or are we a short bar site? They really are 2 very different things. I'll leave it at that for now but i'm always happy to give input, i'm never shy of an opinion as you've probably noticed.


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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Cuba Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 January 2016 at 8:12pm
The rule changes shouldn't really affect established battlers tbh...designed to avoid having battles languishing without votes & to prevent inexperienced battlers coming up with strange rules that discourage voting. You will see when it's announced.

As for battling culture...I partially agree, but don't really see how we legislate for it (I.e. What rule do we say that "you must have a better understanding of battling"). Culture is a bigger change but ultimately comes from members with more knowledge passing on their knowledge to other members. Through active voting, participating in crews (recruiting members who need guidance) and doing other things...I am open to ideas.

On the style point, I kind of disagree...think LA is better with diversity of writing styles & people get better through breadth of experience. I prefer an 'audio style' as that is a much more natural approach, which is effectively a short line style which reflects being able to rhyme it to a beat. But I wouldn't want to tell people how to write & even if I did I don't know what you'd say in rules or a culture that would limit people's style anyway.
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (2) Likes(2)   Quote Neek Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 January 2016 at 8:24pm
no process like progress, am I right?

that word drop joint, sounds dopeeeeeeeee. I am all for that. most of this shit is really positive and looks promising.

also, on the style tip. kids definitely gotta have their own flavor, if everyone wrote within a certain context, it would become predictable. one of the last battles I voted on, the kid came outta left field with some shit, that wouldnt have worked with a short line..well..maybe if he took some wording out, but it worked. its also all part of growing, eventually they'll get to a place where its natural to write a certain way, or cut out some excess.

cheerio.
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Rutter knows best Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 January 2016 at 8:53pm
It just feels there is alot of confusion around what is the "ideal" is. A bar written to be done in a live battle style and one to a beat are different in tempo. I never write to a beat. If your writing to a beat your gonna want to match your line lengths. It has certain constraints for it to work. your lies gonna 
wanna be
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if you look at live battling, you can write like that to because it works either way. Alot of bars are wrote like this though

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now to a beat thats not gonna meet the same ideals, the reader has to ad lib the speed he reads it and at what point to make it to work. The bar when you break it down alot of the time it broken down like this 

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its been around and alot of people use it. 

I just think everyone could be a little more on the same wave length. Nobody discusses this shit. When its one of the main reasons people come here. Meh you can't force people to talk but we all really should talk more as a site. 



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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Cuba Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 January 2016 at 9:03pm
I agree that it's good to talk...maybe an LA magazine thread where we discuss styles and what makes the perfect battle verse?

On the style clash we're talking about I think that's a minor difference. My flow will be a bit more natural/slicker but your punchline should be emphasised. Ultimately it's the quality of disses/punches which will win you a battle. Things like flow should really only come into play if one is really bad or if the punches are equal and you're trying to equal an otherwise close battle.
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Rutter knows best Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 January 2016 at 9:16pm
If people are interested, sounds like a good idea. 

All that stuff right especially the first part. I just don't think that's whats what some of the newer battlers can differentiate between, but i suppose i come with time.
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Cuba Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02 January 2016 at 10:44am
If we educate them & they are prepared to listen then the journey should be quicker and less painful...
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (1) Likes(1)   Quote Beans Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02 January 2016 at 5:18pm
Looks cool. Let me know if you need help with the battle league. Good work mods n Cuba
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote D.Von Doom Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 January 2016 at 12:39am
May I suggest stricter punishment for no shows? That's a waste of time and effort building a verse to kill the opponent and they just a get slap on a wrist a.k.a no show. Way too lenient
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Absolute Abomination Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 January 2016 at 2:03am
@DVon, they get a DQ point and an affected reputation. Obviously not much but harshly punishing people because something got in their way of posting is a bit ridiculous. I don't think there's anyone in particular that constantly no shows, which to me means there's no need for a change so drastic in that particular area.
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote D.Von Doom Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 January 2016 at 3:58am
But for them to no show and log in the same day and after is ridiculous and kills the thrill especially if I dropped a verse in time. For example, iziah challenged me...set a date, I dropped...he logged in the day of it and dropped for a text battle instead. And said nothing about dropping afterwards . just erks me
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Cuba Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 January 2016 at 10:17am
Open to suggestions...we tried being stricter during the Heat Wave tournament and it didn't work. We gave people a one month ban for no showing. Didn't stop people no showing.

Personally I think the rules are as good as they can be right now on no shows. You're allowed to reuse part or all of your verse in a fresh battle. Realise that is less useful for audio but at leaSt you don't HAVE to waste your verse if you don't want to.
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