By Jonathon “Bizz” Brown

The much anticipated, much heralded, much talked about annual Battle of the Beatmakers is at Opera House tonight. The home to one-on-one beat battles from some of Canada’s best producers is officially a staple in the urban arts community and has been for some time now. This year, they took the opportunity to use the most successful participant in BBM’s history, Boi 1da, as the face of the competition. Pre-Best I Ever Had, Boi 1da was on the radar of everyone who attended these events dating back more than half a decade. He won, he won again, and I think he even won again. He even lost to the talented Arthur McArthur of Northern Profit, but nevertheless remains one of the pillars of this competition’s history. This year, he acts as a guest-judge (even though he’s the closest thing there is to a regular, faculty judge) and will hear beats from a new flock of producers ready to test themselves and each other. And while you might not consider a beat battle to be a particularly important or monumental opportunity, in reality it is an artist’s dream.

I’ve said this before, the production coming out of the north has consistently achieved more industry recognition and penetration than the artists themselves for years now. Realize it or not, this is a hotbed for hot producers. We’ve seen the fruits of this talent pool in major placements from the aforementioned 1da Boi, Tone Mason, Northern Profit, Rich Kidd, T-Nyce and many others. So if I’m an artist, looking to connect with talented producers in a region making a name for its talented producers, it would be logical to attend an event built to test the talent of producers. No?

I’m not a rapper. I don’t hit high notes. I sometimes play the spoons at the camp site, but I’m no artist. But I’d say if you are one, The Fine Print of this competition is that Battle of the Beatmakers should be your dream. A Mecca of beats, a concentrated environment full of musical minds, a comparative display of production value – Battle of the Beatmakers is valuable to more than just the producers.

That’s The Fine Print.