Page 29 of Love U Down II

“So you got jokes?”

“Just a little bit.” She shrugged.

He laughed loudly. “Fuck out of here.”

“Alright, alright, alright!” A loud voice echoed through the building and we all turned to look at the boxing ring in the middle of the floor. “What’s up, y’all? Thanks for coming out. Y’all ready for some heat?” He paused while everyone yelled and cheered. “We’re going to do this bracket style. We’ve got sixteenMCs signed up. We’ll do the first round and take a lil break. Then we’ll come back with the top eight and top four, then one more break before we hit the finale. Y’all ready?” He looked around and cheering echoed again. “Then let’s do this shit.”

Rome, Charm, Hazel, and I moved closer to the ring while Alan went in search of drinks.

Drix ended up being chosen for the second matchup. He looked confident, his hood pulled on his head. He flipped the microphone a few times while he, his opponent, and the adjudicator spoke.

When they finished, they did a coin toss that Drix won. He chose to go second and took a step back while his opponent started rapping. He listened with his eyes closed and his head bobbing. I felt nervous for him even though I wasn’t sure why.

“Stop fidgeting.” Hazel nudged me. “Drix used to battle back in the day.”

“Yeah. He took a few greats down in his time.” Rome shrugged. “But it’s been years. Shit. That nigga has barely been rapping his own shit. He’s been producing more than anything.”

“You don’t just wake up one day and not be talented anymore,” Hazel said.

“Nah, but practice truly does make perfect, and being out of practice but jumping into the real thing isn’t always a good idea.”

“If he loses, he loses. At least he got into the ring,” Alan said as he forced his way into our little semi-circle.

He handed beers to everyone then cracked his open.

I took a slow sip of my beer with my eyes focused on my husband. When he opened his eyes and lifted his head, my nervousness for him was immediately gone. He flipped the microphone one more time then leaned in and started rapping and it was good, really good.

It was almost annoying how fucking good he was at everything. I was in awe of his wordplay and showmanship.When he finished, he was announced the winner for his match, hopped out the ring, and made his way to us.

We congratulated him and he smirked as he took a sip from my beer. I let him keep it while he stood behind me, one hand holding the bottle and the other wrapped around me, keeping me against his chest while we watched the rest of the battles.

There were only five women out of the thirty-two MCs performing and one of them was so good it was impossible to look away from her. She had all of her hair thrown on top of her head and some of the prettiest shimmering makeup on her face. She danced a little bit as she rapped and had a slightly deeper voice that hit my soul just right every time she cursed.

When she finished, she looked around the room and the crowd went wild, making it clear she was the people’s pick.

They said her name was Genie.

From there, Dashawn ended up going in the fourteenth matchup, which he won. Drix’s artist Shade went in the last matchup and also won his round.

After the last battle, it was announced that a brief break would be happening.

Drix whistled and made the come here gesture to Shade. His eyes went straight to us and he grinned as he walked over.

“What’s up?” He gave Hazel a one-armed hug.

“What’s up?”

“This is Shade,” Drix announced. “Shade, this is my wife Myome, her friend Charm, and my brother Rome. You know Hazel and Alan, right?”

“Just Hazel.” He dapped Rome up then Alan. “But nice to meet y’all.” He shook me and Charm’s hands.

“Shade is signed to Trill Loyalty.”

“That’s right.” He smirked. “And we gon’ make some crazy fucking cash working together.” He lifted his beer bottle andDrix mirrored the movement. “But if you have to get in the ring with me, you know I’m gon’ kill you, right?”

Drix lifted an eyebrow.

“You don’t even believe that shit.”