One of the biggest battle rappers in the world who goes by the name of Dizaster has recently made a huge announcement that shook the world of battle rap to its core which was that himself and both former Grind Time owners Lush One and Drect are teaming up to launch a brand new league that goes by the name of GTX. The announcement came in the form of a YouTube video that you can watch at the bottom of this article which was posted on Rap Grid’s YouTube account which is also owned by Drect. According to the new league they are looking forward to bringing back the “grass roots essence” of battle rap that was around in the days of the Grind Time battle league which turned out to be the launch pad battle rap needed to find its way into the mainstream music business which opened the door for some large hip-hop artists like Canibus and Cassidy to actually take one on one battles and put their names and reputations on the line. 
As with a lot of things in sports and art, once a product goes mainstream the focus always seems to shift into being about money and slowly the art form, the joy and the entertainment that the fans initially got from the product slowly fades away. Looking at how battle rap has evolved starting in the late 2000’s which was when leagues like King of the Dot and Grind Time first showed up which was visually presented as pit style battles with little to no money being exchanged and usually taking place in small roomed venues with small crowds compared with how it is today with leagues like URL/Smack doing huge events on stage in front of thousands of fans. It was only a matter of time until the essence of what this art form was meant to be was going to become polluted with greed and by people that don’t even like battle rap and are only concerned about dollar signs. I feel that GTX is sending a strong message with their new promotional video which distinctly suggests that they will be bringing the original spirit of battle rap back with this new league and give the true fans what they have always wanted bringing back what has been lost after almost 15 years since rap battle organizations first made they’re charge using YouTube as the medium which would make it all possible.
There are many curiosities and questions surrounding this new announcement as there usually is with big announcements, I think one of them surrounds the new CEO of GTX which is Lush One who has announced that he will be stepping down from his position in KOTD after the Season One playoffs conclude so a lot people are wondering what Lush One’s involvement will be with KOTD moving forward if any at all. Another question fans have regarding GTX is how large will the league become, if it will stay US based or will it hold events in other countries across the world and if it does are we on the brink of a new battle rap war with leagues like URL, KOTD and now GTX all competing against each other. I’m personally unsure if the battle rap market is big enough at the moment to support three major leagues competing like this while being highly profitable at the same time but only time will tell. It’s possible we will see a major boom of the art form once COVID19 restrictions totally end and large events start taking place once again as they were prior to 2020 and large crowds become a regular event in our society.
GTX has announced its inaugural event powered by Band Royalty taking place on April 22nd in LA which features a full card with lots of dope match ups with the main event being Dizaster him self going up against Mexican heavyweight rapper Aczino which is slated to be highly entertaining. For further updates on GTX check out the official Instagram page @gtxbattles.
Check out the full GTX promo video below:
