By Team Gom Sa Bopa Media Team
After almost two years of fierce competition, the Cypher Champion for the 2021/2022 Street Rap Battles has finally concluded with Zuel Doff coming out victorious over seasoned rap battler Kandalit at Alliance Franco on 29th October 2022. The finals of the Cypher 2021/2022 competition featured four rappers battling it out in the semi-finals and final round.
The competition which is organised by Team Gom Sa Bopa is refereed by three independent, well respected and accomplished personalities in the Gambian music industry that are not members of Team Gom Sa Bopa. The three independent referees for the finals were Bilal Bin Kebba of Poetic X, popular AfriRadio host Queeny and Mass Murda, an accomplished rapper at the top of the game. The previous rounds of the Cypher competition were refereed by Bilal Bin Kebba, Queeny and Bankie Grey Johnson of Hot Ink Media who couldn’t make the finals, instead, Mass Murda fulfilled his role.
As usual, the Cypher Finals started with the Open Mic session where anybody from the crowd can grab the mic and freestyle for the crowd. After any open mic performance, the host asks the crowd “Majohkoko” meaning should I give him another round and the crowd would oblige by saying yes “johkoko” meaning give it to them. After the Majohkoko session performances from established hip hop artists took centre stage featuring performances by Lil Omz, Qiblah, Lyrikal Yapseh, Awa Bling, Binzy, Mass Murda, Chronic Bob, Bilal Bin Kebba, Talibeh Izzy and Killa Ace.
The finals were hosted by Tijan Babou Jaw the Vice President of Gom Sa Bopa and Killa Ace the President.
Zuel Doff faced stiff competition from Badibou Boyo in the semi-finals. After the first three rounds, the judges scored both artists equally forcing judges to call for another round to settle the semi-finals. After the fourth round, Zuel Doff took the lead against Badibou Boyo to qualify for the finals. The second semi-finals featured a showdown between Nakarr and seasoned rap battler Kandalit who defeated Nakarr to proceed to the final.
However, this did not go down well with Nakarr and his fans who threatened to run riot after the judge announced Nakarr’s loss. Nakarr’s fans started rushing in and out of the venue and the artists took to the stage firing abusive words at the organisers which lead to judges disqualifying him from the competition. With Nakarr disqualified this paved the route for Badibou Boyo to claim third place.
The prizes were shared as follows first placed Zuel Doff was awarded D50,000 with an album and music video production. Second-placed Kandalit received D30,000 while the third-placed Badibou Boyo received D20,000. The winner will be given the opportunity to travel to Dakar to perform at a hip-hop festival to expand their fan base.
