- Perfect 10 — Challenge from Ben Tarkus · Mark Cooper · Richie Branson
- Full Package audio + art + lyrics + both writeups
TOTAL REACH — 15 plays rank 22 / 24
- VPC SITE 15
TOTAL LIKES — 3 rank 22 / 24
- VPC SITE 3
POLITE-OFF (feat. Slippy Thumbsticks)
Vocalist's challenge writeup
Hug it Out - as per the group challenge we had to collab with 1 other person, that being Slippy Thumbsticks of Couch co-op. We had a compliment battle, or a good old English Polite-Off as we call it.
Producer's challenge writeup
Animal Kingdom - A track of Lions, Tigers (Tony the tiger) and bears... And a morning dove, just in case you didn't class my boy Tony as an animal.
Lyrics
[VERSE 1: BANDITT] OK… Let me teach you how to spit on a synth beat, This kid’s heat, I really like him, he’s a bit of me, Tell his story, he don’t toy with it, Disanee (Disney) He’s got a buzz, and he’s light years ahead of me, Mr Thumbsticks don’t miss when the drum hits, Ba-dum-tss, and he ate like a drumstick, On an 8/8 sounds great, like a drumstick, He could make America great, no trump shit, Two brits on a synth, no Depeche Mode, You can’t even tell us both apart like an echo, This the friend zone, me and Slippy sound like a A couple old men spitting bars in a rest home, But we dishing out, knuckle sandwiches, a backfist, Track flips, backwards like a backflip, Sick bars, that’s the play, it’s the tactic If you don’t know Slippy, then you def’ know his tracklist, [VERSE2: SLIPPY THUMBSTICKS] Talk about sick bars, bro, when you spit hard, You’re the main event, I’m a muddling mid-card Wanna have a swift jar? Fuck it, it’s a drink date, See you in Leeds with some weed cause it’s midway Bandit's ill cause he’s sick in a good way Listen to your quips and licks like all day, Hear you down the hallway, wife’s through the doorway, She plays you on repeat, in the sheets when we foreplay, I think your underrated in the way the tourneys graded, Yo, the Judges holding grudges cause your shits too complicated, Galileo Galilei, said the sun was in the middle And they locked that guy away, One day they’ll understand your riddles, And I won’t belittle Hegadrive he makes a mean song, But “pew pew” is the best shit I’ve been on, And I’ve never been wrong, won’t rap better, Than when lords of the north start kicking it together [CHORUS: SPLIT] SLIPPY Let’s thelma and louise this bitch and ride off, Bottom of the cliff light a spliff from the write off, We’re just two brits, couldn’t give two shits, But this track ain’t a diss, no it’s a polite off. BANDITT Let’s thelma and louise this bitch and ride off, Bottom of the cliff light a spliff from the write off, We’re just two brits, couldn’t give two shits, But this track ain’t a diss, no it’s a polite off. [VERSE 3: BANDITT & SLIPPY] BANDITT A polite off. Admire him? I might of, He ends all debates, when he spits like a mic drop, SLIPPY Why stop the anthem, Deadspectre fandom, Calls for respect so let’s make an album BANDITT “Allow them” they cry, as they beg for the heat rays, Slippy and Hegs drop bangers like a DJ’s SLIPPY And just like the relay, you pass the mic, But I’m a “choke brother” cause your rhymes are tight B: I’m out and about, S: You’re welcome to my house, B: Too right, I’m en route, S: play co-op on the couch B: You be Pyro, I’ll be scout, S: We could both run our mouths, B: Like a vocal joust, S: but you’d win cos you’re scouse SLIPPY And when you start to write, knowing Alchemy’s code, Cos you turn lead words into lyrics of gold, BANDITT So cold, frozen, Slip making shit explode, Kaiju with a blizzard flow, but it ain’t a gimmick though S: I’m a little North East, B: I’m a lot North West S: Bro, you rap like a beast B: But your rappings the best, S: You can take it to the bank, B: In this rap contest, S: And round 5 ranked B: Like it’s Clark Kent’s chest. It’s and “S” [CHORUS: BOTH] Let’s thelma and louise this bitch and ride off, Bottom of the cliff light a spliff from the write off, We’re just two brits, couldn’t give two shits, But this track ain’t a diss, no it’s a polite off
JUDGES' BREAKDOWN
Mark Cooper
8.00/10 score rank #15 of 24VOCALS 7PRODUCTION 7CHALLENGE 10very solid vocals and production overall. I would of enjoyed a little bit more changes in the beat melodic and drum wise simply because its dope but it could be much more as the track progresses. good submission, level out vocals throughout the track.
Klopfenpop
8.00/10 score rank #14 of 24VOCALS 8PRODUCTION 7CHALLENGE 9Hell yeah big cat samples. The morning dove is a cool usage too. You really got a cool call and response with those. This is the most British rap of all time lol. "upon my couch" broke me. Y'all got some bars, for sure. It never occured to me that there is a "North West" identity in the UK. That's cool af, I'm from the Pacific Northwest (PNW) of the US. If the one melody is intended as a bassline, I think it needs to be an octave lower? It's hitting more like an oboe, than a bassline. Reverb can be really tough on bass. Sometimes it's the vibes, but it can also lift the bass up out of the foundation of the track and into the more active melodic focus. It can also put it into a different space than the rest of the track, which can make it feel a bit out of place. When using reverb on bass, it always best to roll of most of the low end and low mids, which it sounds like has been taken care of here, but also you want to keep it pretty dry. Trailing effects like reverb and delay can get too loud real quick. On a bass reverb, I might be putting it at 3% on a dry/wet knob. 13% if it's supposed to stand out to the ear, mayyyyybe? Some light compression after the reverb can help reel in the space a little, but will also make the tails more prominent in the pauses. Love the vibes!
Richie Branson
8.33/10 score rank #20 of 24VOCALS 8PRODUCTION 7CHALLENGE 10"see you in Leeds with some weed" is going to a phrase I use often. The hook is very clever. Beat has a catchy melody, and it complements the hook nicely. The lead synth in the beat melody could be a bit more expressive, maybe an octive switch every 8 bars. Vox could use another mix pass. Love the vocalists energy here, flow switches up.
Ben Tarkus
9.33/10 score rank #10 of 24VOCALS 9PRODUCTION 9CHALLENGE 10Oh my god GET A ROOM! No seriously, the number of compliment battles this round surprised me, but I really enjoyed this one and the 'Polite-off' coinage I thought was a good way to own it and make yours stand out. The morning dove was my favorite little addition to the track <3 * All teams receive a '10' in their challenge category from me this round. This has to be one of the most randomized challenges and can seem insurmountable with the wrong pairing. As such, I am thoroughly impressed with everyone's ability to rise to the task.
LEX the Lexicon Artist
8.67/10 score rank #14 of 24VOCALS 9PRODUCTION 8CHALLENGE 9I loved the idea of a brit-off, it's a perfect way to show solidarity with your fellow countrymen and have a unique edge/concept within the competition. I feel like the writing and delivery were strong, especially Slippy's verse. I do feel like the beat was kind of simplistic with a repetitive drum pattern and synth bassline, and that the "wetness" of Slippy's vox vs the "dryness" of Banditt's vox detracted from the cohesiveness of the track. I do appreciate the chorus (strong chorus), and that the first chorus is each vocalist doing it once and the last chorus is layered. But I think this chorus would be stronger if you traded off vocalists in each bar of the chorus, and in the repetition chorus had the other vocalist do the bar they didn't do last time. Does that make sense? Let’s thelma and louise this bitch and ride off, <-- vocalist 1 Bottom of the cliff light a spliff from the write off, <-- vocalist 2 We’re just two brits, couldn’t give two shits, <-- vocalist 1 But this track ain’t a diss, no it’s a polite off. <-- vocalist 2 And then switch for the next repetition. Challenge achieved but I took a point off just because I feel like some of the animal sounds felt forced and didn't feel integrated into the context. One of my fav things about judging the VPC this year is that the Brits and Australians smashed it! I feel like I don't get to interact with y'all or be familiar with the scenes since nerdcore is so... "American"... geographically. But it's been great knowing so many fun and talented groups exist across the world and can collaborate across borders. Quite nice innit!
Audience score and rank
AUDIENCE SCORE
Aggregated from 119 ballots cast by the public.
AUDIENCE RANK
Out of 24 teams competing this round.
- 53 voters ranked them in their top 10
- 16 voters had them in their top 5
- 0 voters picked them as their #1 favorite
FINAL BLEND
The final score was a 7.56. The song received an average voter score of 4.83 from the community, and an average judge score of 8.47.
The display score blends the audience and judges' contributions at 25%/75%. Here's how DEADSPECTRES's 7.56 broke down:
(4.83 × 25%) + (8.47 × 75%) = 7.56
YOUR SEASON SO FAR
- Round 1 6.68 / 10 rank #14
- Round 2 6.41 / 10 rank #17
- Round 3 6.73 / 10 rank #18
- Round 4 6.44 / 10 rank #19
- Round 5 7.56 / 10 rank #17 PERSONAL BEST