Why Twitch Chose This Project
Twitch needed cultural programming that could live on the front page beside gaming and hold viewers week after week, not just during one off event spikes. I built two original live formats that delivered more than forty hours of exclusive content each month and pulled hip hop audiences into consistent return traffic on the platform.
Amazon Music was expanding into performance based content and needed formats with structure, story and retention rules. What I designed gave Twitch something they could schedule like sports and promote with confidence instead of treating battle rap as a novelty stream.
This was not a one time collaboration. It functioned as a broadcast property with rules, pacing and identity that Twitch could position as part of their programming calendar.
The Tournament That Kept Battle Rap Alive
When live shows stopped, I built a Twitch exclusive tournament that kept the scene active and gave artists a real stage. It was the largest battle tournament to run during the pandemic and it set the tone for what came next.
Designed as scheduled programming to fill hours, retain viewers and bring in new audiences beyond gaming. It proved that battle rap can operate as a live property on a major platform.
Creative Direction
- Built a broadcast identity that covered logos, palettes, motion, lower thirds, timers, match cards and interstitials.
- Updated the Grand Prix look into a modern sports style language that reads clean on Twitch.
- Planned rollout across front page placements, VOD packaging, YouTube thumbnails and weekly social to drive appointment viewing.
- Kept the underground feel while lifting delivery to league grade inside small room builds.
Production and Operations
- Ran a moving production across multiple cities under restrictions with small room builds and limited attendance.
- Handled routing, access, crews, travel, hotels, testing, timing and contingency rebooking.
- Wrote SOPs for check in, safety, lean crew builds, fast strikes and time coded run of show for live pacing.
- Owned budget control from start to finish including fifty thousand dollar prize payout and artist payroll.
Format Design
- Brought back a regional bracket with clear advance and elimination rules.
- Set four week prep windows between rounds to raise performance quality and build anticipation.
- Built a weekly cadence with faceoffs, features and recaps to keep momentum and meet programming targets.
- Created a ten point battle scoring system with judge ranking so the best evaluators worked playoffs and finals.
Impact
- Finals weekend reached more than one million live viewers with global front page placement.
- Kept the culture moving during the hardest stretch for live entertainment and stabilized the league.
- Proved the digital tournament model and opened the door for Season One.
- Left a clear blueprint for lean, high stakes, broadcast quality battle rap.
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North (Detroit)
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East (New York City)
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South (Atlanta)
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West (Los Angeles)
Over 1 Million Live Concurrent Viewers; A Global Twitch Takeover
The First Ever Battle Rap Season on Twitch
Season One was the first time battle rap operated as a league with a set schedule rather than one off events. I built the full system: divisions across four cities, artist contracts, salary caps, judging infrastructure and a weekly slate that Twitch could program like a show block. It ran for nine months with consistent front page placement and a production rhythm closer to sports than music content.
S1 - League Architecture, Integrity Systems and Weekly Broadcast
A season first model for battle rap. Four regional divisions, a transparent scoring framework, salaried rosters under strict caps, and a weekly cadence built for Twitch programming.
League and Format
- Four divisions across North, East, South and West with standings updated weekly from June 2021 through playoffs in April 2022.
- Regular season into a sixteen man sudden death playoff bracket. Finalists competed for one hundred thousand dollars. Semifinalists received five thousand dollar bonuses.
- Salary cap roster model enforced across all regions for fairness and parity.
Judging Commission and Scoring Integrity
- Commission staffed weekly. Pool of sixteen judges. Four per season battle and six per playoff battle.
- Standardized ten point round scoring summed to a total battle score. A live fan vote adjusted close outcomes based on threshold.
- Judge performance ranked against the aggregated fan vote to place the most accurate evaluators on playoffs and finals.
- Electronic scorecard submission and one minute decision clips integrated into the live broadcast.
Regional Reps, Contracts and Caps
- Reps recruited and contracted to scout, sign and mentor twelve artists per division within defined salary caps with tiers from two hundred fifty dollars to two thousand dollars.
- Rep duties included artist onboarding with contracts and tax forms, logistics triage and event readiness with local production support.
- Central ops handled SOPs, budget controls and approvals to keep parity and momentum across all regions.
Programming Model and Live Ops
- City stops filmed six battles each. Three broadcast live and three aired as live the following weekend to maintain schedule.
- Weekly slate included faceoffs, recaps and companion shows to meet Twitch content targets.
- Rolling crew, travel and accommodation management and safety runbooks for repeatable builds.
S1 Programming & Broadcast Cadence
A fixed, repeatable cadence balancing live events and as-live broadcasts to maintain quality, control cost and keep a reliable schedule Twitch could program against.
- West Match Up 1W
- West Match Up 2W
- West Match Up 3W
- West Match Up 4W
- West Match Up 5W
- West Match Up 6W
- North Match Up 1N
- North Match Up 2N
- North Match Up 3N
- North Match Up 4N
- North Match Up 5N
- North Match Up 6N
- East Match Up 1E
- East Match Up 2E
- East Match Up 3E
- East Match Up 4E
- East Match Up 5E
- East Match Up 6E
- South Match Up 1S
- South Match Up 2S
- South Match Up 3S
- South Match Up 4S
- South Match Up 5S
- South Match Up 6S
Supporting Weekly Shows — Programmed to Meet Twitch’s Weekly Slot Commitments
The Kick Back (Bishop) • Flavor Junkie (Lush) • No Studio'N (Geechi) • The Community (Lil Sazon)
Judging Commission
The governance layer that staffed, standardized and quality controlled scoring across Season One, from regular season to finals.
Mandate
- Independent oversight for judge selection and policy.
- Staff each card with the right mix for the matchup.
- Integrate on air decision flow and sixty second rationale clips.
Operating Roles
- Standings and data: compile weekly total battle score tables.
- Judge ops: curate the pool and handle weekend staffing.
- Board: resolve escalations and rule updates.
- Workflow: electronic scorecards filed before on air.
On Air Protocol
- Lock the live panel before the event and screen for conflicts.
- Submit scorecards before decisions go public.
- Each judge records a short video justification clip.
Accuracy was tracked weekly. The most consistent judges were elevated to playoff and finals panels.
The World's First Regulated Judging System
'TBS' = Total Battle Score. Objective standings in a subjective art form reward clean performance, opponent strength, and consistency (not just W/L).
How It Works
- 10-point must per round; totals summed per judge
- Per-judge max ≈ 30
- Panel max (4 judges) ≈ 120
- Live fan vote applied as 30–27 or 29–28
Why It Matters
Clean, competitive rounds score higher than messy wins; strength of opponent is reflected in judges’ totals. That’s how the best performers rose to the playoffs.
Artist A Record 3–0
Several stumbles & deductions → lower judge totals.
Result: Lower TBS → lower seeding.
Artist B Record 1–2
Clean rounds vs tougher opponents → higher judge totals.
Result: Higher TBS → higher seeding.
Scoring Deductions Framework
- Minor Slip (–1 to –2): brief stumble without breaking cadence
- Full Choke (–3 to –5): round halted or momentum clearly lost
- Time Violation (–1): exceeded round time beyond grace
- Content Violation (variable): off-format/flagged content after Commission review
Deductions standardized across judges, logged weekly, and tied to judge-accuracy metrics to prevent bias and drift.
Playoffs Readiness
- Top TBS performers advance on transparent criteria
- Live audience engagement via fan votes
- High-accuracy judges prioritized for playoffs/finals
- On-air rationale clips build audience trust
Official Judge Scorecards
Clean, standardized scoring per judge. Three rounds scored on a 10-point must system with deductions logged. Totals contribute to the battle TBS and roll up into the season standings.
| Round | Artist A | Artist B | Deductions |
|---|---|---|---|
| R1 | 10 | 9 | — |
| R2 | 9 | 9 | –1 (A) • slip |
| R3 | 10 | 8 | — |
| Round | Artist A | Artist B | Deductions |
|---|---|---|---|
| R1 | 10 | 9 | — |
| R2 | 10 | 8 | — |
| R3 | 9 | 9 | –1 (B) • time |
Division Standings
Transparent, performance-weighted standings. Last Battle TBS reflects the most recent card; Season TBS (Cumulative) is the sum across the season.
| Artist | Record | Last Battle (Judges) | Last Battle TBS | Season TBS (Cumulative) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Artist Delta East | 3–0 | 30–27 | 150Perfect | 450 |
| Artist Bravo West | 2–1 | 30–27 | 150Perfect | 420 |
| Artist Alpha North | 3–0 | 29–26 | 138 | 410 |
| Artist Cipher South | 1–2 | 29–28 | 135 | 360 |
S1 Playoffs — Official Bracket
Top-ranked artists advanced to sudden-death playoffs based solely on cumulative TBS standings.
Special Guests
Featuring ICE-T, Treach from Naughty By Nature & Immortal Technique, T-Pain & More
