Verses: An MC Battle

“People will get their feelings hurt.” That’s what local rapper Vertigone promises about Verses: An MC Battle, which goes on Friday at the Record Bar. A key practice in underground hip-hop, freestyle battling pits two MCs against each other in a verbal fistfight of impromptu insults and rhyming punch lines that’s as down-and-dirty as a schoolyard brawl but also requires tremendous verbal acumen and imagination on the part of the contenders. You try getting up onstage and dissing someone in a way that’s spontaneous, clever and in rhythm to the DJ’s beats — repeatedly. Some of the first local battles were the Heet Mob-hosted nights a decade ago at club Mardi Gras at 18th and Vine. Since then, Kansas City has produced some excellent battlers, from the Mob’s Taha (who’s on hand to judge the event) to next-generation killers such as Approach and Mac Lethal. Hoping to join their ranks are the 32 upstarts slated to rile up one another and the crowd at this first of what may become an annual event. “Controversy is good for the scene, and it’s great to watch people go head-to-head and be competitive,” says Vertigone, who, with Verses co-organizer Sephiroth, battled not so long ago themselves. Preceding the MC battle, at 9 p.m., Reach hosts a Producers’ Forum, wherein four local beatsmiths play instrumentals and see who can make the best beat from a sample given to them on the spot. At around 9:30, the three-hour battle — fuck it, war — commences. Along with Taha, Seph and Sike Style, I, Jason “The Outside Perspective” Harper, will determine who takes home the $500 all-or-nothing grand prize.