- Perfect 10 — Vocals from Ben Tarkus · Richie Branson
- Perfect 10 — Challenge from Ben Tarkus · Mark Cooper · Richie Branson
- Crowd Surfer on 66/119 ballots (55%)
- Full Package audio + art + lyrics + both writeups
TOTAL REACH — 30 plays rank 10 / 24
- VPC SITE 30
TOTAL LIKES — 6 rank 14 / 24
- VPC SITE 6
Killin This Shit (feat. navi, Imp, Joey Z64, Damn Selene, The Epitome)
Vocalist's challenge writeup
Vocalists performed tha sounds of many animals including cats, crows, snakes and bees, a cow, a pig, and a lot, a LOT of dogs
Producer's challenge writeup
Beat switches into minor key in several parts, most prominently in bars 9-12 of Joey Z and The Epitomes verses Producer Collab: River Sanzu Vocal features: navi, Imp, Joey Z64, Damn Selene, The Epitome
Lyrics
KTS [Ish1da] Three fire signs so I'm rash Three burners on me so I'm Vash I got three thirty three on some gas Hit this shit three times three times then you pass Pull up bumpin Unc slop, let tha trunk pop Akira Toriyama, I can tell it all in one shot Blop, son dropped, flip it if I flaunt it There's a phantom overhead, ain't just Europe gettin haunted Community Revolutionary, I might git committed Meditative mystic, gettin real scientific wit it Stay crossed, at peace in tha chaos Stage boss, so KC I bleed Gates sauce Ryuko Matoi, Bitch boi, tha fit speak for me She got absorbed, her mouth on my groin, we git horny I'm all for splittin a politician servin AIPAC Carry on tradition of opposition to alternative facts From birth to death, these devils out here murderin babies Got that little drummer, boy, filled with thirty 380s Flip a table, slap a priest, fuck tha pigs, hit tha streets What's a king to a god, what's a man to a beast [navi] Now lemme clear my throat Docs orders Fortune 500 word essay: no borders Chinga la Migra ICE kills and tortures I spill the details on wax worn mortars Man it’s a scorcher Find an angry orchard Weaponize a pitchfork like that one portrait Orchids up in panorama pixelated blobs Break apart the bars, Navi yugoslaviiiiiia That’s specifically for genius Beyond it all now, not significantly meatless tho On a fast break, Navi going Eid guest, address yall when I post that kazinsky Didn’t really need or take a lot of hard convincing When it comes to breaking beef Words need mincing Seasoning gets pinching Da Vinci My infernal engine Hiding in the sauce with Tommy Pynchon [Imp] Putting rappers in the dog house from new tricks traumatic shakedowns Chronic pressure got em dogsick, pound for pound they played out I've got a leg up, crippling anxiety make you stay down Synopsis: putting me on the mic make the nervous breakdown It's fate how I keep all of my affairs under wraps Uncanny stay ahead of the game like a hunter's plaque Buckshots aplenty, I'm up in brush orange vest on Keep it a buck, you should be a deer and get the F awn I'm doe eyed but turn all the emcees into poltergeists On tour, not the open mic, the aim on "Goldeneye" Killing's an Oddjob, and the penning is top notch Venomous as mambas and the testaments unconscious Got a buzz from being the bees knees, it put in the honey pots My style's untouchable, your's be a touch-me-not The formalities of this and that ignored? Get solved Trust me! You get ~jumped~ if you get this shit Kriss Krossed [Joey Z] "I fucked up my mascara At the edge of it all, stalling Im more scared of the drop than the bottom The terror of falling Failure was never an option But to be honest, I'd probly prefer switching the topic" I said, smiling, With my hands in my pockets Wondering "Why did I say that?" Now the party's weird, yall should let me replay that I been down, ducking away, letting love decay So stuck in my ways Saw my dad in the mirror & it fucked up my day I'm shotgunning bong rips to the brain I need enough to make it hard to think or keep me awake And I'm tanking all that Fuck it, I'm back at the party Screaming "Where my dogs at?!" Hand me another drink & make it stronger than it should be And grab me a beer too I poured a few shots, here's me & here's you Lets forget as much of this entire convo as possible To remember would be completely irresponsible Bottoms up [Damn Selene] Tops down? Drop a pin I'll think about it Be a triple threat about it and/or just plain do without it I get loud a lot for reasons From fingertips to seasoning The long long quiet My internal fucking bleeding I’m a need reprieve from automated industrial grief Sleeping in a bed of lettuce Wake to shaking hands with beef No, I'm just passing through your DMs to make bomb threats and leave Pulling plot threads through the eyes of needles, tigers, wolves, and leaves Built a house out of the latter but there's bullshit in the margins Exit Zip to break the confidence and giant fucking pirates I'm a chip off of the ol shoulder Down and out on witches’ roads Yellow bricks to precincts Click my heels to make some necks explode Counting or not counting the collecting of the crows We got rows of teeth and eyes all wet by time the curtains close I'm not sorry papa But I did lie to you a bunch Turn around and drop the mug Yeah I don't think we'll keep in touch [The Epitome] Blunt big as oompa loompqs got the runts from Willy wonka beguiled that’s that sonic boom the pack looking like blanka A wizard with the stick won’t say my name like Voldemort It’s Mystical nigga no goemon they know that it’s war I piss on your porch the fuck these ninjas feeling you for If that’s your gai den he a pusssy I den sniffed it before And I be Cheesing at conventions taking pictures with the baby Down north I’m a vet yo dog ain’t die from rabies You know I got the keys she let me crack her fruity loop Then I shoved her nose in manga while I beat her Doonies blue skip skap a skallywag gang eater hooty hoo You rootie Pooh I kick ya candy ass like whoopty doo Stone cold with the saucing 316 leave ya nauseous gang that I’m rolling got mo sticks than lacrosses Shikamaru in the shadow ego bigger than colossus feel like Michael Scott I got mo paper than the office
JUDGES' BREAKDOWN
Klopfenpop
7.33/10 score rank #20 of 24VOCALS 9PRODUCTION 7CHALLENGE 6I don't know what Gates sauce is, but that bar goes hard. I must taste of the Gates sauce. Hella bars in this one. The big vocal lyrics that build under the verses is kind of overwhelming to the vocal processing part of my brain. I have to like consciously try to tune it out to process the content of the bars. I'm not sure about that production choice. In the mix of the sample, the vocal is front and center way out on top of everything else, and that carries into your track. Some classic hip-hop production moves to process samples that include vocals for use underneath vocals are to use a low-pass filter to roll off the high and mid frequencies that compete with vocals; use some EQ to do that more subtly without fully filtering the beat; bring the level of that sample down and compensate with other production; or to pitch or time shift the sampled vocal to deprioritize it in the listener's speech processing ear, but also aesthetic value. Hell, you can even vocode, talkbox, or otherwise process a vocal sample to make it sound more like an instrumental element. Overall these bars are fire. Other than the earlier comment, this beat is great. I had to rewind to try and find the animal sounds besides Imp's. Putting them all in the ad libs feels a bit like the safe route. I would have loved to hear more of a "Rah, rah! Like a dungeon dragon!" type use where it's a proper part of the main lyric. But they're there! So points. This does also feel like the same key. The verses and hook all start on Cm and don't really stray from the key center. For a major to minor key change the easy way, it's kind of got to be a change from Cm into C major, if you're starting in Cm. The harder way, would be to do an otherwise very obvious key change where you are clearly jumping head first into a totally new key center without a composed harmonic transition to guide the listener more naturally to the new key, but ALSO you shift the mode of the key into major and map all the melodies into the new major tonality. A tough draw, for sure, but there were a whole lot of tough draws this round. And the easy way is pretty straightforward to accomplish, just maybe more difficult if you're relying exclusively on samples for the harmonic content of your beat. From a purely song standpoint, this track rips. I would love to hear a cut with less prominent not-lyric vocals.
LEX the Lexicon Artist
8.00/10 score rank #18 of 24VOCALS 8PRODUCTION 9CHALLENGE 7I think, like most Tha Go Hamurai songs, this was a fairly strong track, vox, performance, and writing were good, nothing mindblowing or particularly stand-out, but good. I think maybe I am a little tired of "bars for the sake of bars" and it was many many 16s of that. I feel the same about the beat. Clean, beautiful, the vocal sample was really nice for the chorus, I almost feel like that alone should've been the chorus, but the rapping does lend a percussiveness to the singing that's pretty pleasant to the ear. I did not notice any key change in this, it was entirely in C minor (the chorus notably heavily uses the minor 7th and minor 3rd which are both minor tones). So I took points off from that. Animal sounds were present but sort of hidden in the background, but still counts. Ish and Scotty, you two are undeniably skilled creatives making tight, appealing, radio-ready songs throughout the comp. Even if it's not always my cup of tea and even if I never gave you particularly glowing feedback, you both know that you're dope beyond my own personal taste. There is a huge market for what you do and you'll never have a shortage of opportunities. FWIW you have truly impressed me with the sky-high production value of just about everything you make. Keep making cool shit!
Ben Tarkus
9.67/10 score rank #7 of 24VOCALS 10PRODUCTION 9CHALLENGE 10I SEE YOU NAVI, WHAT A FEATURE HERE!! Also, is this a fuckin anime opener gone nerdcore? This shit rules. Y'all ARE killin this shit. A final round feature worthy of the occasion Hootie hoo! * 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
7.67/10 score rank #20 of 24VOCALS 7PRODUCTION 6CHALLENGE 10good song! all the artists definitely had fire verses overall. Just wish the beat was more leveled in the overall mix. it had great potential but its a little too low and could be more powerful. I also wanted the hook to have more impact in the mix which could have also been help with the production in the mix. good submission overall.
Richie Branson
9.67/10 score rank #4 of 24VOCALS 10PRODUCTION 9CHALLENGE 10The hook intro on this is cold AF. The rapping on this is really good. Y’all was barring it out on this, sheesh. Production is great here, reverse sung Vox are layered in a way that doesn’t obstruct from the rapping. Beat is a banger, could use a bit of variation given the song length/format, but it’s nothing major.
Audience score and rank
AUDIENCE SCORE
Aggregated from 119 ballots cast by the public.
AUDIENCE RANK
Out of 24 teams competing this round.
- 66 voters ranked them in their top 10
- 31 voters had them in their top 5
- 3 voters picked them as their #1 favorite
FINAL BLEND
The final score was a 7.74. The song received an average voter score of 5.56 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 Tha Go Hamurai's 7.74 broke down:
(5.56 × 25%) + (8.47 × 75%) = 7.74
YOUR SEASON SO FAR
- Round 1 6.79 / 10 rank #13
- Round 2 6.67 / 10 rank #15
- Round 3 7.20 / 10 rank #14
- Round 4 8.00 / 10 rank #8 PERSONAL BEST
- Round 5 7.74 / 10 rank #14