Get ready for some epic live rap battles.
TownTV will present an eight-matchup event at 6 p.m. this Saturday at the Northwest Fighting Academy, 17519 N.E. 67th Court in Redmond.
The all-ages event will benefit YouthCare, a Seattle nonprofit that provides outreach, basic services, emergency shelter, housing, counseling, education and employment training. Doors open at 5 p.m. and tickets are $10 presale and $15 at the door. Advance tickets are available at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2498396.
“As a rapper and former homeless teen, I think it’s really important to use the hip-hop culture we identify with to raise awareness for the challenges that affect us. That’s why we do this,” said High-Noon Entertainment owner Travis Rybarski, who noted that he expects 200-plus attendees on Saturday.
High-Noon is a small business dedicated to promoting hip-hop shows to raise money for homeless youth.
The matchups will feature Dennis Good versus Young Nate, Emery versus Starr, Civic versus Heretic and more. The battlers hail from Seattle, Spokane, Tacoma, the Tri-Cities, Bellingham, Olympia, Federal Way, Burlington, Portland and Vancouver, BC.
“The whole card is really, really high caliber as far as battlers from the Northwest,” said Rybarski, adding that other battle promoters are calling the Redmond showdowns as the “event of the year for 2016.”
Rybarski said there are battle leagues in Seattle, the Tri-Cities, Tacoma and Olympia, and although the rappers aren’t well-known on a grand scale, “in the battle-rap community, they’re absolutely legendary.”
The Redmond event is a collaboration between Rybarski, a 21-year-old from the Tri-Cities who books the performers and staff and communicates with sponsors and media; Jordan Callahan, a 20-year-old from Seattle who owns TownTV and promotes the shows (his family also owns the Northwest Fighting Academy); and Jimmy James, a 27-year-old from Tacoma who owns The Produce Aisle store, which is sponsoring and financing the event.
Along with the trio, Rybarski said the whole Washington battling scene is pitching in to bring this event to fruition.
J Michaels Pub and Eatery, 15770 Redmond Way, has gotten in on the action, as well, and will host an after-party at 11 p.m. Saturday. They will pledge a percentage of the party profits toward YouthCare.
Rybarski said a city like Redmond fits into the trio’s overall game plan: “The smaller communities are more supportive of our cause and in what we believe in. There aren’t as many things being promoted to the community as there are in the bigger cities.”
He added that the entrepreneurs — who have raised more than $3,000 in their four previous battles — share the same vision and have created something “we hope will inspire more young people to step up and make something happen for their communities.”
