The 39-Year-Old Battle Rapper

My name is Pete. I am 39. I have grey hair, mild sciatica and occasional haemorrhoids. I get wheezy walking up hills. I enjoy pub quizzes and seaside away days. And I am also, at the time of writing, an unbeaten battle MC. In fact, I specialise in gun bars. FUCKING SICK ONES MATE.

In 2010, I started getting interested in, and then writing about, the Don’t Flop battle league, specifically their star, MC O’Shea, who I'd heard mentioned in passing in an article elsewhere. As I started attending the events more, I became involved with the movement more, covering it a couple of times and even contributing to Don’t Flop’s blog. When, in early 2012, it was mooted that I and the organisation blog editor Bentlegs, might enjoy an informal “battle” at their annual off-the-wall April Fool’s event, I almost wept. See, I’d recently added “doing a rap battle” to my bucket list, and now I was going to get to actually do it, but without all the unpleasant terminal cancer stuff.

Read the full story over at Noisey.