Battle rap: The good, the troubling and the future of the art form

As with a lot of people, your first introduction to battle rap might have been from Eminem's 2002 film 8 Mile. Battle rap is where two opponents go head-to-head and use their lyrics to taunt each other in front of a live audience who decides which one wins. 

The battle rap scene started out in little hole-in-the-wall venues, but in the last few years it's exploded into a huge industry. Now, heavyweights like Drake and Diddy are involved. 

This month is a big one for battle rap in Canada. A famous league called King of the Dot just turned 10 and there's a new battle rap movie out called Bodied, produced by Eminem.

Culture critic David J. Dennis Jr. and Toronto-based writers and rappers A. Harmony and Addi "Mindbender" Stewart join Tom Power to talk about the history of battle rap, its evolution and some of its controversies. 

— Produced by Tyrone Callender

Miss an episode of CBC q? Download our podcast here.