Yeah I 'toasted' for a couple of year's but all my love is in production and dj'ing now. The word toasting is probably one of the reason's I don't MC anymore!!
Mcing has got a lot of bad vibes now man, its all attitude and no talent (not every MC but more than I care to compete with). Toasting is when the MC is letting rip.......HARD! God know's why its called this but I think it probably originated as a patois saying or something. A lot of MC's seem to think when your 'toasting' the mic your trying to 'test' the other MC's 'style', thus leading to 'battles'.
Personally I think these 'battles' can be good cos your always trying to better your 'style' and better the 'nexman's' 'style' so therefore only good, fresh, original freestyle lyric's come through, which is cool........to a certain extent. Most MC's deem it neccesary to start 'cussing' the other MC(mainly down to lack of originality), which also can be light hearted and fun but as long as it doesn't go over the top. Then MC's start taking the 'cussing' off the stage and start to spread rumours and shit so when your next on they can make a new lyric up about that rumour.
Childish pricks............as you can probably tell this happened to me!!!!!!!!
I used to spend a lot of time writing lyric's and i'd always chat about the music, never the drug's(maybe a few references to weed), women, cars, designer labels, etc, etc. This didn't mean I did an IC3 and just shouted the DJ's name and called for rewinds! I learned the golden rule's of being a DJ's MC(without the DJ there aint the MC) and I always gave the mix time to breath. However the sad truth and reality is the mass general public prefer attitude and upfront stage presense to on topics lyrics that slide in the set like i'm not really there. My main issue was to mould into the tune and make it sound like my lyric was made onto the original press!! Not whether the crowd wants a rewind or that 'nexmans' mum smells of crabs.
Sorry bout the lecture but it's a subject i've been wanting to get off my chest for a long time and i'm glad I did!
Long live D'N'B and lets hope this dissing culture will stay with Hip-Hop and let D'N'B make its own gimmick (producer's dissing!!!!!!!
jokestep
)
Also as your French I took the time to '' slang words you may not understand:
'Toasting'=Patois for exceeding your normal level of expectations
'Test'=Somebody who try's to MC better than the other MC as to make him jealous of his 'style'(see below)
'Style'=For most MC's this means how fast can he spit his lyrics, for me it mean's lyric's, trained voice,speed,delivery,knowledge of tune's,aknowledging the DJ and giving him space to mix,etc,etc.
'Battle'=When an MC starts to freestyle a cuss and the other retalliates with a similar cuss and so on and on and on and on until theve cussed eveything in sight!
'Nexman'=The MC to your right or left(or maybe he's behind you!)
'Cussing'=When an MC creates a lyric about another MC in a derogatry fashion. can also be done off stage!
This is sad and nerdy
so i'm gonna stop talking now as this is probably the longest i've ever written a post!!!
Hope I didn't bore you too much
