Freestyle Friday

Freestyle Friday is a segment on BET's popular show 106 & Park where two rappers compete in a freestyle battle before the studio audience and the cypher (from 2006) and three celebrity judges (the DJ sometimes acts as the 3rd judge). Each competitor alternates freestyling for 30 seconds in each of the two rounds (originally only 1 round when the segment first began). The rappers are not allowed to use profanities or sexually suggestive lyrics, punishable by disqualification (notable street-oriented rappers such as Reed Dollaz from Philadelphia and most recently Pop De Neero from North Trenton who have violated this rule, disqualifying themselves from otherwise-competitive battles). After the battle, the judges decide the winner, per majority vote. The rapper who wins each week wins a prize and returns the following Friday to defend their Champion title. After seven consecutive wins, however, the rapper is retired and inducted into the Freestyle Friday Hall of Fame, but if the Challenger card is picked by either two or three of the Judges, then the Champion automatically loses the Champion title.

History of the Show
On Friday, September 21, 2007, DJ Pro Style announced that Freestyle Friday would return to 106 and Park on October 26, 2007, which was ultimately pushed back to January 2008. The segment was previously in danger of cancellation due to the contestants regularly breaking or ignoring the contest's rules, including swearing and using inappropriate phrases and rap verses. BET also had the challenge of finding MC's comparable to the crowd-favorites Lethal and 2007's recent Hall of Famer Nickel-US F.

When Freestyle Friday returned on February 22 of 2008, it debuted with a new format. Unsigned rappers were then able to compete with the chance to enter in the Freestyle Friday All-Star Bracket. The winner of the bracket would then win a single record deal with KOCH records. The Freestyle rap section of the battle was removed from the segment because of the previous issues with the content rules, with mixed reviews from contestants and viewers, alike.

List of Hall of Famers (in order of year)

2001:
* Poster Boy
* Avalanche

2002:
* Jin
* Backland

2003:
* Shivere
* Whyteout
* LaJune

2004:
* Sincere The Great

2005:
* SunN.Y.
* Streetz Da Block
*

2006:
* Big Will
* Twilight A.K.A. Tha Futcha
* Hollow
* Oun-P
* C. Fashion

2007:
*
* Loaded Lux
* Nickel-Us F

List of 6x Winning Champions

* Nova (considered a winner by first round by still defeated by Hasan on another round after a camera problem)
* Hasan (defeated by Jin)
* Red Dott (defeated by LaJune)
* Vocab (defeated by Zoo)
* K.S. (puts the mic down on the second round)

List of 4x Winning Champions
* Orbit (defeated by Shelliano)
* China Black (defeated by Dreamz)
* P.L. (defeated by Madison)
* Jaha (defeated by Hollow)
* Lotta-Zay (defeated by J-Focus)
* Yung Butta (the judges picked C. Fashion instead of Yung Butta)
* P.S. (disqualified for saying the N-word)

Trivia

*The 106 and Park Freestyle Friday auditions will begin on July 18th. One of BETs staff members "Terrence Clayton" will be the one to book two people at a time out of group of four contestants. You are free to use strong language and vulgar words that is usually inapproprate for the children, but if you curse too much, you will not be booked to be a Challenger on 106 and Park.

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