Shack Waikiki: local vs. Mainland battle

On Sunday night at The Shack Waikiki, Skytzo and Side Bang productions held the first local versus Mainland emcee battle to showcase Hawaii’s hip-hop scene.

Osna Ronquilio coordinated the event and said he and other hip-hop feens wanted to create an event to put Hawaii on the map. Every Mainland emcee who competed had a Hawaii tie. For example, Washington-based emcee Mic Phenom used to live in Pearl City Palisades. California emcee Fredo has family here in the islands.

“I want these Mainland emcees to go back home and show their fellow emcees that Hawaii is representing hard,” Ronquilio said.

Rarely do you see emcee battles here in Hawaii, and trust me when I say it was no scene from Eminem’s movie “8 Mile.” It was even better because it wasn’t scripted. It takes a lot of skill as an emcee to have the confidence to go up against an opponent that may diss you left and right about issues that may or not be true. What I loved about this event was that it wasn’t about the cash or personal props, but about the love and respect of hip-hop. I’m happy there are hip-hop lovers out there still practicing the craft of freestyle.