Infinite Inside Baseball
The final ballot for SUMMERSLAM is packed full of lessons about why democracy is mostly a mistake. Let’s start there.
For instance, despite securing dozens of nominations for “Best Producer,” XP has never made a beat. I could and should have done better research there, but it wouldn’t have changed the standings (10+ nominations was the baseline). Among the actual producers who did not get included and flat-out should have: Crusty Cuts, David Chief, FATE, Instinct, Jarv (fight me), JL, OldGold, Skywise, Teece Luvv, Wes The Best, and Wool/See.
So to be clear, despite getting a grand total of 44 votes, XP was disqualified from competition. To be even more clear, though, he still would have lost outright to Skysplitter, who took home 53 votes for the SUMMERSLAM Championship.
For another example, emcee / DJ Framework of The Loyalists left the Green Mountains more than a decade ago -- and he’s been making dope rap ever since, as part of Windmills. Despite that, he still secured 21 nominations, just barely making the cut-off to be the Heavyweight Champion of a state he very seldom sees. Is that really a problem? Has he not paid his dues or something?
Eliminating most of the rappers proved less controversial than expected, however. It was a necessary move, and exactly the kind of heel behavior that Mr. McMahon would condone, too.
Still, it’s worth mentioning that a lot of legends and serious talent got 86’d: Asah Mack, Mister Burns, Vazy, Drive, Sasha Travis, Nahte Renmus, LC of Lynguistic Civilians, and Ferragamo Face; all some of the best pure spitters in the 802. So obviously, the methodology here is suspect from the very start.
Five rappers came very close to the Heavyweight division: Dolla Day, D. FRENCH, Humble, Jibba “The Gent,” and of course, Konflik. One big lesson from SUMMERSLAM 2019: everyone respects Konflik, who also received a number of nominations for the Good Citizen category.
Speaking of which, I should also give props to some other near-nominees for Good Citizen of the Year: Big Homie Wes, Cal Rawlings, DJ Kanga, Es-K, Fattie B, Humble, ILLu, Jarv, Jibba “The Gent,” Josh Kerman of Church Street DJs, DJ (& Originator) Melo Grant, Mycelium MC, Princess Nostalgia, Que Beatz of BloodPressureMusic, Rivan C, Steve Shannon / b-boy Wish, THEN WHAt, Yung Breeze and the Bad Art underground show kingpin himself, Zesty Boi.
That is some damn good company to be in, and whatever you are doing to get on that list, please keep it up. It is awesome to see so many generations represented at once, too -- deep roots are important for healthy soil.