I was a cocky,  self absorbed 20 year old who liked to wear du-rags, Airforce 1s and (as you will see in the following clips) oversized Enyce sweatsuits.

I had been living in New York for about 6 months, leaving my hometown of Miami following 9/11. Primarily to stay close to my family who had all migrated up north as well, the move to the Big Apple was also a great opportunity for me to further pursue a fledgling rap career, ultimately in hopes of securing a record deal.

I hit the ground running. Battling any and everywhere. Open mics. Showcases. A majority of my time was spent roaming the streets of Time Square and East Village making ends meet the most traditional of Hiphop ways.. selling mix tapes out of my book bag. Technically, they weren’t tapes but CDRs burned with a collection of audios from past battles of mine collected thru out the years.

If you were in Manhattan in between October of 2002 to around March of 2002, I may have very well approached you and asked, “Yo, you listen to Hiphop? Check out this CD I got.”

It was around February of 2001 that I got word there would be an open casting call in Harlem (106th Street & Park Ave) looking for contestants to be on Freestyle Friday. Now, anyone who had even the slightest of interest or involvement in the battle scene knew about FF at the time mainly because it was the only platform for the sport on a nationally televised scale.

Needless to say, I didn’t think twice before deciding to attend…

I remember walking from the 6 train to the BET studio and as I approached the block that it was on all I saw was a sea of rappers. I’m thinking at least 20-30 from each borough. 20-30 multiplied by 5.. you do the math. Aside from the rappers themselves, most of them also had their crews and neighborhood block associates with them.

The formula isn’t too complicated. A bunch of rappers (battle rappers at that) and their crews + the confines of one NY city block = recipe for chaos.

In the midst of the madness, you have me… Florida boy with my book bag on.. one man army  style.

One would either assume I was born with Rambo like DNA or I was just totally naive to what was going on.

Either way, thank God I made it out of there alive.

The audition process wasn’t too complex. Two rappers at a time would battle in front of a panel of about 5 judges (the programs producers, writers, etc.). Each would have 30 seconds exactly like how it is on the actual show. The only difference is, afterwards, as opposed to deciding on a winner/loser, both contestants receive the same “We’ll give you a call if you’re selected” farewell and sent on their way.

I left feeling confident about my performance but unsure of what to make of it all. I don’t even remember if I went off the top of the head or if I kicked a written during my 30 seconds. I guess it didn’t matter cause about 3 weeks laters I got a call out of the blue and the voice on the other end said, “Hey Jin, this coming week you’ll be the challenger on Freestyle Friday.”

March 2012 marks 10 years since I received that phone call so I