Another Monday night in Chicago and another Hip Hop showcase. Mondays are reserved for Hip Hop events at Innjoy Wicker Park. While they provided the event space, they were not the hosts. Innjoy is a lovely venue, with friendly bartenders. It’s somewhere I’d go to even without an event. As we promised last time our Chicago correspondents would be keeping tabs on Erb Dean’s career in the Chicago scene. He invited us out and is the reason behind this coverage.

Compared to the previous event, this one seemed a bit off. The performers brought their A-game, with several flying in from out of town. There was some confusion regarding the start of the event and line up. Unlike at most events where you have a doors open time and a performance time, we just had a general event start time. If you’re running late you would think you would miss something. Thankfully, the event did not start at 9 pm but shortly after. Our correspondents did not stay past the battles, as the Starz (Top Flight) Security Team deemed it time to go.

The Performances

Wilhelm Duke: To start off the show, Wilhelm performed a few songs. He knows how to work a stage and a crowd. As always, he makes us think when he raps. It was great seeing him live; he is an excellent choice to start us off. We also got to chat after he got off stage, and he is just as cool in person as he is online.

Yung Tact: Next up, we had a long-time mutual follower Yung Tact. Another excellent performer. Seeing him live, I get the sense that he is the embodiment of a rapper. Something about his swag and how he carries himself speaks volumes.

Nai The Most High : This is the first time hearing about Nai. I loved her energy and how she engaged the crowd. She got an immediate follow from us after her performance. New fans over here.

The UA: The best way I can describe this group is quirky and fun. They really just came out there and had fun with their set.

Alexander Pi’erre: He switched up the vibe during his set. A bit more slow downed but still involved the crowd.

The Battles

It seems most of the crowd was here for this part of the event. There was a lot of buzz leading up to it. The crowd came for a show, and they had an idea of who would be the last two vying for the crown. Sadly, this is where the majority of the issues seemed to happen. The performers kept their cool and tried to keep the show going despite the chaos. The crowd was not as forgiving about the issues.

The first battle round was Dead Caeser versus Double R Da Great. This was a close one, but Dead Caeser did have some slip-ups, which may have cost him the win. Conversely, Double R had to restart his performance based on a crowd control issue. Once that was ironed out, he brought the heat. Dead Caeser had fun through his performance, even when he knew he made a mistake. The crowd gave the win to Double R.

The second battle is where things got interesting. It was Erb Dean versus More Malichi. They did the first round where Erb did mess up and Malichi did his thing. However, the crowd went wild and it was a close call. This led to a sudden death round.

The second performance was palpably different. Malichi had more fun this round and did have some slip ups here and there. Erb went all in on this performance. When it came down to picking a winner, it was chaotic. The crowd had to scream at least three times. The first one did not have an announced winner since one of the hosts stopped the voting midway. He was outside and came running in while the crowd was voting. The second time around the winner was announced as Erb Dean. The artists walked off the stage to enjoy the night or prepare for the next battle with Duble R Da Great.

Then apparently, after some deliberation among the hosts, they decided the results were wrong. We did not include this clip in the video since it could cause some controversy. They called the two artists back on stage to redo the vote once again. This did not sit well with the crowd. Ultimately, More Malichi was crowned the victor. It is challenging to know who the real victor was with so many issues and redos going on. A perfunctory phone app might not be the best tool in these circumstances.

The crowd initially thought the final battle would be Erb Dean and Duble R. But it was Duble R and More Malichi. Duble R Da Great went first and surprised us with an outfit change. By this point crowd participation was dissipating which sucks. Duble R has amazing professionalism and deserved more crowd enthusiasm.

I did not catch his entire performance or any of More Malichi’s. I did catch the voting before we left. Once again, one of the hosts came running in from outside for the voting. I guess the best part of the event was happening outside unbeknownst to the patrons. There was some heckling about the previous voting as the crowd was still reeling from it. At some point, a winner was announced.

Additional Performances

It is unfortunate that I had to leave following the battles since I missed the second half of the performances. Although I was not there, the remarkable artists who hit the stage are worth mentioning. The artists we missed that were on the lineup include:

Cordero Eubanks: be on the lookout as he will join featured artists in Mellsville very soon. This is one I was looking forward to but sadly missed. From the videos I’ve seen, his performance was ridiculous. As he said, “Our meeting is inevitable.” For now, you can stream the song he dropped the day of the event, “Show N’ Tell”

Sadly I have no other information or assets for the following performers. The second half was clearly stacked with some heavy hitters.

Apologies if your name is not here. Feel free to reach out if you performed and are not mentioned.

Final Thoughts

Overall, this was fun and a good networking experience for the artists. There were quite a few hiccups throughout the event. Being that this is the third in this circuit, you would hope they would have been ironed out. With additional organizing, media outreach, a better battle prize, an artist liaison, and professionalism, this could be an incredible opportunity in the future. I hope to see changes moving forward if this battle circuit continues.

Ultimately, it is and should always be about the artists and they did exceptional. I think the person who put it best was Duble R Da Great which you will see during the video recap. It is great to see artists featured in Mellsville, performing live after so many years of mutual ongoing support.

If you have an event you want coverage for send us an email at mellystarzsubmissions@gmail.com or head over to our contact page.

Disclaimer: The event and host name omission are intentional in the post. The event name is provided in the video recap, filmed before the write-up. Melly Starz Media is not affiliated with or hired by the hosts or event space for this honest event review.