During a recent trip to London, URL’s Norbes spoke with NKE Media and disclosed his vision to bring North America’s leading battle rap league to the United Kingdom.
“I’m trying to establish the URL out in London,” Norbes explains while sitting with U.K. emcees Flexplicit, Tony D and Locksmyth. “I ain’t gonna front, when I first came out here and the nigga’s like, ‘Yo, we got an event, come check us.’ So I’m thinking, to be honest with you from what I’ve seen, I don’t wanna hear these goofy niggas rap, I’m not even gonna lie to you.”
“I really feel like London has a bad reputation of people that really can’t rap and after being around a lot of these dudes it kind of really inspired me to be like, ‘Damn, why not bring the URL over here?’” Norbes continues. “From what I’m hearing, from the people out here, there’s no street element and they want SMACK out here. That’s what I’m really trying to bring out here. That’s my main focus at this point.”
Norbes subsequently reveals plans to create an event tentatively titled “The Invasion” that would pit American emcees against their European counterparts.
“I would like to come up with something called ‘The Invasion.’ That’s the event I have in my eyes and in my mind,” Norbes says. “Do some U.S. vs. the Europeans. But at the same time, it don’t have to be like that. Once you’re a URL emcee, you’re a URL emcee. At first you’re gonna see the rivalry and I wanna do the rivalry thing, it’s dope. But once you’re a URL emcee you can battle whoever.”
The move wouldn't be battle rap's first cross-continental migration. U.K. league Don't Flop already branched out to Australia earlier this year and has its first U.S. event, titled "The Revolution" on Nov. 1 in Atlanta.
Check out Norbes’ full interview below:
What do you think? Would the URL be a success overseas? Let us know in the comments section.
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