Essential New York Hip-Hop: Freestyle Mondays Celebrates 15 Years

Long-running, interactive hip-hop performance series Freestyle Mondays celebrates 15-years of hosting unique weekly and monthly events that merge improvisational rapping, live band instrumentation and crowd participation.

The “gameshow”-styled competition, which has since expanded to France and the Czech Republic, is a crowd-pleasing battle of wits, with MCs engaging in punchline pugilism, each trying to cleverly out-rap the other while top musicians jam out a energetic foundation.

With subject matter chosen on the spot, and no pre-conceived verses at their disposal, competitors trade witty verbal barbs at an often-mindboggling pace, demonstrating the enormous skill involved in this art form.

The Freestyle Mondays event series once ran weekly at various locations in New York City, including the now-shuttered Sin Sin and Bar 13. Each week was an open mic jam session where aspiring rap artists could sharpen their skills on the mic, culminating with a semi-frequent edition of the battle. After more than a decade, event organizer and host Illspokinn switched the format and frequency to deliver the fan favorite gameshow battle in a combined, monthly event.

With New York’s ever-evolving nightlife landscape, securing a regular location for Freestyle Mondays has occasionally proven difficult, but a loyal fanbase continuously shows up in force, no matter the location. Artists who once graced the FM stage have gone on to become successful artists touring the world, including Illspokinn himself, and other fan favorites, including Queens-bred Stones Throw recording artist Homeboy Sandman.

The Freestyle Mondays anniversary events often showcase the ‘best of the best,’ with expert-level improvisational rappers either competing in the battle, joining in on the open mic segment or appearing as a featured guest artist.

Expect all of the above and more at the 15-year anniversary of Freestyle Mondays. The event will take place on Monday, January 30, 2017 at Sunnyvale at 1031 Grand Street, in Brooklyn. The show is set to begin at 8 p.m.

For more information, visit www.freestylemondays.com