Lister

By Karsten Baun
Translated by Frederikke Lindholm

Per Vers opens the Roskillz grand final by apologising for his rusty voice and explaining that it is a result of the preliminary rounds in freestyle rap. These were held from Sunday to Wednesday at Skate, Agora B and are where the contestants for today’s final were found. The combination of an eager imagination and the gift of the gap ensured that rhyming rap had been delivered in all shapes and sizes. Only the sharpest contestants were left standing, and the high standard was reflected on the oscillation of the centrally located ‘applause’o’meter’ which was measuring the applause of the audience’s favourite.

Cheesepuffs and headless chickens

In the first round, the contestants had to rap a rhyming soundtrack to video clips about Roskilde Festival. In the second round, Per Vers had asked his friend Master Fatman to come up with words that the rappers had to incorporate, and they ended up lecturing the audience on things like cheesepuffs, headless chickens and underground parking facilities. The third round gave the rappers free rein and 16 bars within which to summarise and comment on others’ entries as well as to indicate to the crowd who was the best of all.

A fatal ’your mother’-joke

In the final, it was up to each of the four contestants to persuade the crowd that he had the grooviest rhymes and was the rightful winner of Roskillz 2008. Wikkles and Funkmaster battled each other in the first round, and after three close races, Wiggles was dancing around on stage to the applause from the audience who had declared him the winner. The rappers Swiff and MC Rap Dawg went head to head in the second round. After three rounds and a fatal ‘your mother’-joke from Swiff, MC Rap Dawg picked up the pieces with vigorous press-ups on stage, and 117,2 decibels from the roaring crowd sent Mc Rapdog to the final.

A lot at stake

In the final round, the battle was between MC Rap Dawg og Wikkles who both seemed tense and had replaced the beers that had accompanied them in the prelimenary rounds, with water. There is a lot at stake. Apart from the kind of respect that money cannot buy, the grand prize was two VIP tickets for next year’s Roskilde Festival, a gourmet meal on Sunday and a spot on Orange Stage with Jay-Z. So, the rappers were on their marks to win.

Liberating triumph

After intense three rounds, MC Rap Dawg's previously superior style deflated into a more timid expression as he was desperately struggling to get the audience to contribute to his act. But it was Wikkles who won this year’s Roskillz and was subsequently showered with presents while De Glade Sømænd (The Happy Sailors) sang their version of Nik & Jay’s “Lækker” (Hot). In the end, Per Vers and the crowd retired and concluded the successful final at Cosmopol with a shared ‘Peace’.