Co-hosted by Fancy Ray (“The Best Looking Man in Comedy”) and Truth Maze (IRM, Mixed Breed, Micranots, Dijionettes).
It all comes down to this, the best of the best. All-city champions will duke it out to be crowned champ in 11 different battles–MC, DJ, Graffiti, Beatbox, B-Boy, Poetry on the Page, Slam Poetry, Bands, Spoken Word, Film/Video, and Poppers. The Finals showcases 35 performers who beat out over 150 other competitors over 2 months, 30 competitions in 10 different venues.
Judges for the finals include Chaka Mkali (Micranots), Wes Winship (Life Sucks Die Magazine and OX-OP Gallery), Damian “Daylight” Day (Battlecats and Junkwartz B-Boy Crews), Sarah White (Traditional Methods), and EG Bailey (Minnesota Spoken Word Association).
BELOW THE BELT IS CO-PRODUCED BY THE MINNESOTA SPOKEN WORD ASSOCIATION AND WALKER TEEN PROGRAMS. CO-PRESENTERS INCLUDE DINKYTOWNER CAFE, JUXTAPOSITION ARTS, LOFT LITERARY CENTER, NUBIA, OAK STREET CINEMA, RADIO K, RHYMESAYERS COLLECTIVE, SEVEN BRIDGES WORLD MARKET, AND SASE: THE WRITE PLACE.
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