The freestyle cypher is a staple of Hip-Hop. It’s so ingrained in the original culture that it’s impossible to try and discredit it’s importance. But that’s not to say it’s always executed correctly. In fact, one would argue that unless the cypher is composed of veterans who can adjust and adapt to the rhythm of it all, then it’s pretty much always awkward. Such is the case in the following clip I came across in the twitter verse. Dumbfoundead recently had a show in NY and a lot of different hip-hop heads came through, including special guest Decipher. Well when it came time for an open mic cypher, too many MC’s got caught up in tryna grab their time to shine without paying attention to who’s in line to spit next. Case in point, watch Decipher get M-C-blocked numerous times. Disrespectful? Arguably, perhaps. Awkward? Completely. The art of it all is knowing when it’s your time to step up, and your time to fall back… something that mainly comes with experience.
Worst Ever: NYU Freestyle Ettiquette
4 thoughts on “Worst Ever: NYU Freestyle Ettiquette”
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a-Tunes 
looks like decipher got his two rounds in just like everyone else…as a freestyle MC myself, I don’t see the issue….to be completely honest none of those dudes are built to spit off-the-top in front of a crowd other than Dumbfoundead so the point is really moot…
plus as an MC it’s your job to control your turn, there’s no hyung status in a cypher
Perhaps, but I’d argue that since this was a show, a non competitive environment, there is a natural ebb and flow to be felt and respected. As a performer, it’s one’s job to be in tune with your surroundings and fellow artists. You don’t deliberately cut some one off. If this was some battle on a street corner then I’d completely agree with you. And it’s not just the incident with Decipher, my main point was the whole thing came off as sloppy. Long story short, it could have been much smoother.
a-tunes,GT agreed,it was’chaos’ but we had fun
the show was great but yeah !i have to agree with GT i was also there live up front it was total “chao’s”with the freestyle(pun intended as it was a taiwanese event) dumb was great up there but everyone was cutting eachother off ,rex(white tee) was already blasted on stage(blame it on the alcohol&redbulls) and some of the others also were cuttin in before the other finished to pass it along ,decipher was good though,we all had fun during and way after the show,nobody was pissed off after the freestyle and we all had a great time,Dumb &Decipher did rule the stage though even thru all the ‘chaos’on stage