"You're gone.”

Jack Flash is no stranger to being on stage, and he's even less of a stranger to stepping up as a battle MC.

When he comes on the offensive, on stage in front of a live audience, this is what he's thinking: “You're just doing your thing. Your conscious mind is not working on anything except rhyming. You're not even registering what else is going on… I always come off stage and think, shit, that went too quick, I wanna go back out there! I really feel alive there. I'm on my toes, someone's testing me, this is MCing, you've gotta kill it! Not just some mediocre, everyone-can-rap shit. I really gotta come strong in this moment. I get a buzz off that sort of thing.”

This might sound like crazy talk, but Jack (pictured) is about to represent the UK in what is arguably one of the most prestigious battle competitions in the world. Others might claim more credibility, but none has got the rep that End Of The Weak has.

Where events like Scribble Jam or Fight Klub are strictly about in-your-face insult trading, End Of The Weak (EOW, or E-O-Dub as it has come to be called) is a more technical, subtle challenge for an MC. DJ Snuff, the UK's organiser and lead driver behind the MC Challenge World Final at Brixton Jamm this month, might agree with Jack's mindset, but calling it a battle? Nope.

“A battle is strictly cusses. It's strictly breaking someone down. What we do is not about humiliating anyone, it's about everyone showing themselves to be the best that they can be.”
Snuff is adamant that EOW is about testing every aspect of an MC's skills - and that victory doesn't mean the end of, well, the weak.

“One of the things that is different about EOW fundamentally is that we're promoting the culture,” he says. “We want to look out for our artists, take them on board, push them. Everyone gets involved with us; all of our champions - even people who did well but didn't win - are now EOW MCs. We help them and support their shows and product… We're more proactive.”

EOW competitions - which take place worldwide from New York to Ghana and have been going since 2000 - have five challenges. The first sees MCs performing one of their own, prewritten tracks. The second is an acapella verse to test coherence and depth. The third round is a big draw: a man comes out (“Black Santa!” says Snuff) with a grab bag full of topics written on pieces of paper. MCs draw three or four, and have to link them together in a freestyle.

“When I was in the US final recently, this guy Mongoose put this whole scene together [with what he drew] like it was forensics. He made it up into a murder scene! It was really clever,” says Snuff.

Then, in the fourth, the DJ or drummer switches up rhythms while the MC tries to keep pace, and finally, in the fifth, the MCs go head to head.

“One thing is, this round is not a battle - if you battle you'd lose points! MCs go four bars, back to back. You've got to come in off the MC before you.”

Judges - which this year include bilingual YNR rapper Jyager and Germany's Hoycke - grade the MCs based on stage presence, delivery, lyrical skill, creativity and crowd response. The EOW setup is complex, tricky and demands attention, but there's no question of its status in the world of MC battles.
Back to Jack. The Huddersfield rapper is supportive of the setup.

“Every EO-Dub that I've done… because of the unique set up of it, the only thing you can focus on is your own performance,” he says. “It's not like a traditional battle. You can't control what your competitors do. You have to come with your best game. The other unique thing about is that there is only a certain amount of preparation you can do. The acapella round and the track round can be prepared, the other rounds are freestyling. That's where your mind takes over on the night.”

And what a night. In fact, the EOW World Final must go down in history as one of the most densely populated events in UK hip-hop history. Scanning the press release, we count twenty-seven acts on the bill, plus a good twenty or so producers on hand for the Louis Den Beat Cypha, an event within an event. Oh, and that's not counting the four challengers: Flash, Dirty Mac from the USA, Chefket (Germany) and Mic Orni (France). Asked how he manages to corral such a vast mix of rowdy artists into one venue, all Snuff says is, “I've been in the business of making miracles for a long time.” He'll be performing himself on the night, as will his Speakers Corner Quartet, a live jazz act and long-time EOW-affiliate.

There is one potential stuttered line here: the current world champ. Stig of the Dump - one of the finest MCs the UK has produced, and the current world champ - will not be defending his title. Why?

“He isn't entering because I won't let him!” laughs Snuff. 'He's been building his rep for a long time, and when he won the title in the US it was fantastic. But he's already in the hall of fame. He didn't need to prove anything.” We could not contact Stig for comment, though he is hosting the show.
So how is Flash feeling, faced as he is with a formidable gauntlet of challenges and holding the hopes of a country on his shoulders? “There's nothing I can't hold it down in. That's gonna be it. Everyone has a personality and rhymes, but I'm at a point now where I feel like I'm the MC I always wanted to be, I've got my skills at a good point, my stage presence is down, I understand everything a lot better, I'm more comfortable than I've ever been on stage.”