ROUND 5 · FEEDBACK

Obvious Corruption

...Five years and the corruption has only gotten more obvious.

RANK #6

DISPLAY SCORE 8.45 / 10

Perfect 10 — Vocals from Ben Tarkus · Klopfenpop · Richie Branson
Perfect 10 — Production from Ben Tarkus · Klopfenpop
Perfect 10 — Challenge from Ben Tarkus · Klopfenpop · Mark Cooper · Richie Branson
Vocal Standout 9.4 / 10 avg across judges
Challenge Champion 9.8 / 10 avg across judges
Perfect Card 30/30 from Ben Tarkus · Klopfenpop
Wide Appeal no judge ranked you in their bottom third
Crowd Surfer on 61/119 ballots (51%)
Local Hero top 3 in VPC-site hearts with 15 likes
Full Package audio + art + lyrics + both writeups

TOTAL REACH — 41 plays rank 3 / 24

VPC SITE 41

TOTAL LIKES — 15 rank 2 / 24

VPC SITE 15

A Big Caper (feat. navi)

Vocalist's challenge writeup

Alphabet Aerobics. Each line starts with the next letter. Collaborator was Navi on vocals.

Producer's challenge writeup

Gone in 90 seconds. I ran an MPI simulation across 200 nodes of TACC's Frontera to compute the exact BPM that would land the song at 89.97 seconds. Then I threw it out and winged it.

Lyrics

Alright, assholes
Break it down, bomb down the blast doors
Crack the code, crashing all the chateaus 
Drag race to place, call it drag show
Everybody enters through the back, we'll exit last though
First flood the failsafes. free the finance from fool's goals. 
Guap, gold and guidance. 
Hauls homie, heck high-risk highlights.
I invest in iron-tested IEDs at eyeline.
Jamming cameras, the jawn is jacked in
Keycard cracking contraption
Leave the lights dim
My man's movements mapped out in the blackout
Navi not nobody gonna know how we got out.
Obviously outta obfuscation 
Placing pic points, paragliding past police stations (Shh)
Quietly, quality and quantity, the quartermasters qualms cue a questline for robbery, but 
Rest rookie. (Right)
Something seriously seems to be sent south
Tripped traps totally tipped off the town (Ow)
Usually undercovers underestimate us under
Value, veni, vidi, vici vaults via vegas
Woah woah woah wait wait wait wait woah wait wait woah we're waving wildly will we wiggle our way out, only one way it's too late to walk out (What?)
eXtraction imminent we execute an exiciting exit
Yapped for yonks, yikes grapple hook yeeted
Zipline zoom to the zenith, let's get zooted, zone mission completed (The score?)
A-

JUDGES' BREAKDOWN

LEX the Lexicon Artist
9.00/10 score rank #8 of 24

VOCALS 9

PRODUCTION 9

CHALLENGE 9

I feel like the first half of the beat (with piano and strings) was great but not a super standout. However that glitchy second section starting from 0:53 went super hard. Feel like in 90 seconds we could have used a little more of this. I feel like it was cool that you were using lots of alliteration although the challenge only asked for the starting letter to be alphabetized. It was a fun self-imposed constraint but I do feel like it limited your ability to make the most of the 90 minutes. I do love the concept though - a heist song made in the backdrop of an "MPI simulation of TACC's Frontera" although I don't fully understand what this is. I was hooked on Obvious Corruption starting from Round Zero and you have had a wonderful showing and put out many tracks that were up there for me. One of the most skilled teams where I could also sense palpable growth and experimentation. Love to have discovered the both of you! Keep up the great work!
Richie Branson
9.67/10 score rank #4 of 24

VOCALS 10

PRODUCTION 9

CHALLENGE 10

This is creative AF. That tempo change was executed flawlessly, both in production and vocal performance. Maybe the bleeps and bloops in the second half kinda overpower the vocals, but that’s all I care to complain about, this is dope!
Klopfenpop
10.00/10 score rank #1 of 24

VOCALS 10

PRODUCTION 10

CHALLENGE 10

This is fantastic. A lucky combo of challenges, honestly. I love the creative approach to the line rule. The leading lyrics at the ends of preceding lines, the tempo shifts. Well done. A short track is a welcome reprieve this round!
Ben Tarkus
10.00/10 score rank #1 of 24

VOCALS 10

PRODUCTION 10

CHALLENGE 10

I'm thoroughly impressed with the direction, impact, and quality of this track for being only 90 seconds. No points lost for use of extraction, because everything else about this absolutely slapped. * 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.
Mark Cooper
8.33/10 score rank #12 of 24

VOCALS 8

PRODUCTION 7

CHALLENGE 10

love the lyric scheme of going from a/z! very clever! beat was very experimental and innovative throughout the song. The vocals could use a little bit more love mix-wise. very well written and overall dope track.

AUDIENCE SCORE

5.59 / 10

Aggregated from 119 ballots cast by the public.

AUDIENCE RANK

5 / 24

Out of 24 teams competing this round.

61 voters ranked them in their top 10
34 voters had them in their top 5
3 voters picked them as their #1 favorite

FINAL BLEND

The final score was a 8.45. The song received an average voter score of 5.59 from the community, and an average judge score of 9.40.

The display score blends the audience and judges' contributions at 25%/75%. Here's how Obvious Corruption's 8.45 broke down:

1.40 from audience

7.05 from judges

(5.59 × 25%) + (9.40 × 75%) = 8.45

YOUR SEASON SO FAR

Round 1 6.90 / 10 rank #10
Round 2 7.69 / 10 rank #9
Round 3 7.86 / 10 rank #7
Round 4 8.13 / 10 rank #6
Round 5 8.45 / 10 rank #6 PERSONAL BEST

TOTAL REACH — 41 plays · rank 3 / 24

TOTAL LIKES — 15 · rank 2 / 24