Hadrian, Emperor of Rap

Red Bull Batalla de los Gallos saw the crowning of the glibbest rapper in the Spanish-speaking world. MC Hadrian proved he had the best rhymes. But Mexico City’s local hero had a few other talents up his sleeve that garnered him the winning title.

The Roman emperor Hadrian, who died 1870 years ago in Naples, was multi-talented: esthetic poet and celebrated commander; a top swimmer, horse rider and hunter as well as a fashionable trendsetter all in one. (All Romans worth their salt wore their beards like the emperor.)

Versatile style; outstanding creativity

And there are a few things that his Mexican namesake MC Hadrian has in common with the Roman. He also writes ingenious rhymes, is stylish, shows combativeness on stage and is talented in a number of disciplines. "His style was more complete; his flow and ingeniousness were outstanding," praised MC Juaninacka from Spain, one of the adjudicators at Red Bull Batalla de los Gallos, the first and only international MC battle for Spanish-language rappers.

Four-minute duels on stage

The 13 finalists who competed against each other on November 23 in Mexico City’s Anahuacalli Museum had had to prove themselves in national qualifying events beforehand. At the finals they dueled it out in four-minute, head-to-head battles: with words but without false diplomacy. The art of dissing their opponents at the ‘cock fight’ with the sharpest formulations was also well managed by Hadrian’s competitors. Vendetta from Venezuela and Bandi2 from Puerto Rico were intimidating enough with their names alone; in the finals Mena from Columbia gave Hadrian a good run for his money.

Victory for the local hero

But Hadrian remained unbeaten. One of the judges Siete Nueve from Puerto Rico explains: "What I concentrated on most was the precision at the end of each beat as well as the inventiveness of the rhymes and the contestants’ rapping skills. MC Hadrian simply had it down in all these areas. He was the best." The democratic decision to proclaim Hadrian the emperor of Spanish-language HipHop world was accordingly unanimous. The only downer: while the historical Hadrian reigned for a comfortable 21 years, the Red Bull Batalla de los Gallos title will be decided anew when the next contest comes around again in 2009.