For a little less than a year now, Tucson has been the arena to a rap battle royale called, The Voicebox Battles.
It's a place where wordsmiths throw verbal jabs, lyrical left hooks and insulting uppercuts at one another, all in the name of battle supremacy. Although this showdown takes place two hours away, Phoenix hip-hop heads are not without representation.
Local rapper Phal Kilmer is a regular in the circuit and on March 16 he heads back down to battle for the championship belt. Battles can be one-on-one or even two-on-two, but either way it gets personal, offensive and downright funny, so the faint of heart need not apply. In a Phoenix versus Tucson battle last year Kilmer and fellow Phoenix rapper Floyd Write quipped to their opponents, "I hear this little bitch talking shit about Phoenix on his Facebook, all mad, and the reason's cause his penis don't know how his face look."
We caught up with Kilmer to talk a little about his recent collaborative effort on Span Phly's Spy vs Spy Vol. 3, and you can also peep out a video of from a Voicebox Tournament after the jump.
Up on the Sun: How did Span Phly approach you about becoming involved in the project?
Phal Kilmer: This is the third installment in the Spy vs Spy series. I believe Span is doing five all together. Span approached me to do it about a year and a half ago. He picked the artists he wanted to collab with on them pretty much from the jump.
Is this the first time you've collaborated with him?
Span and myself are close friends. We both were apart of the Death Starz Cult along with Floyd Write, Arsenic and DJ Elixir. So we have worked together several times. He is producing a couple of tracks for my upcoming project as well.
What's your favorite track on the album?
"I Know" is my favorite for sure. I dig the whole back and forth thing we did. I am partial to tracks with high energy.
And when can we see you again live?
On March 16 I am battling for The Voicebox Battles' championship belt in Tucson and then I will be in Long Beach, California performing that weekend as well.
