Conceited (battle rapper)
Prologue
Earlier this month, life just absolutely handed my ass to me. In response, I developed a simple, three-part coping process:
And it was during my Wild N’ Out bender that I was first made aware of Reggie Sergile, (AKA Conceited).
Con stands 5'4" and radiates a kind of NY-gangster swag one might assume had died out in the 1940s. The razor tongued Brookynite was the first battle rapper to be brought on the cast — a gamble by producer Nick Cannon that has paid off in spades. The show has since acquired three more of the biggest names in the sport; Charlie Clips, Hitman Holla, and Charron (all of whom have become staples of the show).
A love of Con’s performance on the program led me to binging his top rap battles.…Which led me to confusion; his puns are laid on so thick, that they push his lyrical style toward inaccessible on first listen. For every punchline caught by the battle’s live crowd, two more go unnoticed. (I should note that most current battle leagues don’t judge performances, but rather, televise the battle and then encourage fans online to debate the winner)
Which then led me to the community of fans who’ve poured over his wordplay; decoding his double (sometimes triple) entendres and deep-cut references. I was soon watching fan-made video compilations of Con’s greatest punchlines, and reading through the genius annotations to understand his most obfuscated bars.
And it has all lead me to here.
I usually try to write about artists whose work I feel I can provide a unique insight into..this time it’s a little different. The heavy lifting has been done — Con’s dense witticisms have been painstakingly teased out by people far more clever than I, and there’s little left to do aside from appreciate what they’ve uncovered.
This will serve as more of an introduction to the rapper: presenting his signature devices, most compelling bars/punchlines, and hopefully exposing a few readers to the remarkable poetry & comedy alive in the sport.
“Slow it DOWN, I just DISSED you!”
Not all of Con’s puns are hidden, and he often offers us a lifeline in the form of a catchphrase : “Slow it down, I just dissed you!” .
This is really only understood in practice, so let’s look at perhaps his most well known use of the device:
“You guys wanna take shots? Then Captain Morgan’s come out
SLOW IT DOWN I JUST DISSED YOU
You guys wanna take shots? Get capped and more guns come out
SLOW IT DOWN ONCE MORE!
You guys wanna take shots? Get capped and them organs come out”
Captain =capped and
Morgans = more guns
Morgans= the(m)organs
Conceited’s opponents are quick to dismiss the tagline as a cheap gimmick, but it remains an absolute fan favorite. His theatrical delivery, explanation, and the subsequent “Ah hah!” moment shared by the live crowd really is remarkable.
**A very patient and generous YouTube user compiled the best of these, with subtitles
Gotta be Quick
Con’s explanations using “Slow it down..” is used relatively infrequently. Most of his wordplay is presented a la carte. Some are quite accessible even without the assist of the catchphrase. Other punchlines take a minute, like this one against rapper “GOODZ” :
“And I swear GOODZ , I ain’t gonna front; that name is clever.
I’ll get rid of the “O,Z” and send you up to the remaining letters”
I’ll admit that I didn’t even register this as a punchline until a few beats after its delivery, when a crowd member let out a delayed “godDAMN!!”. As you may have worked out: GOODZ minus the letters “O, Z” spells GOD (Conceited is thus threatening to kill his opponent).
This is the level of lyricism that Conceited expects his live audience to keep up with. Any lags in their understanding exasperates him, and there is no shortage of moments in which his punchlines die in the air — victims of a crowd not quick enough. (This enrages the online viewer, who assert that they followed Con’s bars in real-time). *see the comments on this battle
While I fancy myself sharp, these puns elude me often. And yet, I appreciate Con’s high expectations for his audience — his belief that the fans of the sport will respond to, and reward the rapper with the most wit.
For the Love of the Sport
“It’s the rawest and purest form of lyricism and hip hop…as battle rappers, we get to say whatever we want to say one time. Competition is at the highest. That’s what I love about it, it’s a fight, a blood sport.” -Conceited, 2016
There is a third type of verse Conceited writes, that does not rely on audience’s immediate comprehension. These odd word plays are cloaked in generic battle-rap platitudes, so that they land — regardless of anyone’s ability to crack their ciphers.
Nigga, you know damn well you ain’t got the Glock on
So what you gonna do then, mark?
You won’t cap at all, you sweet and you left the stock home
Then mark= Denmark
cap at all= Capital
sweet and = Sweden
stock home=Stockholm
Now I don’t know about you, but I certainly didn’t catch that Con was referencing Scandinavia. But it didn’t matter: Even without the entendres, Con is calling his opponent (Charlie Clips) weak, doubting that he’s the type to even carry his gun on him.
Just for kicks, let’s look at another one, this time against Tsu Surf:
I know you fear a Con
That’s a lie if you think you could run after I muzzle em
Fear a Con=Farrakhan
A lie = Allah (When said with his accent)
Could run=Quran
Muzzle ‘em= Muslim
Again, we have a topsoil of a common , effective battle-rap sentiment (shooting one’s opponent). Under which are several puns. Compare this to his punchline against GOODZ, the impact of which hinged on our understanding of it.
These are the lines that Con knows won’t be understood on first pass. I’m not even sure that they’re meant to be understood by his opponent, as they seldom relate to the other rapper. In fact, they’re pretty damn random. (I should add that Charlie Clips is not Nordic, and Tsu Surf has has no ties to the Nation of Islam that I could find).
So, these wordplays are usually entirely inconsequential, hard to find, and rather obscure. Yet Conceited and his fans holds fast to them — united in love of language, the love of a challenge, and love of the sport.
Sources
“Best of Conceited’s SLOW IT DOWN I JUST DISSED YOU and SAY IT AGAIN SUBTITLES.” YouTube, Masked Inasense2, Jan. 2019, www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pjRwjuXaEA.
Chen, Tanya. “We Talked To The Guy Behind The Best Meme Of 2016 And He’s Been Laughing Nonstop.” BuzzFeed News, BuzzFeed News, 21 Nov. 2016, www.buzzfeednews.com/article/tanyachen/the-real-conceited.
“Conceited’s Best Rap Battles, Top Freestyles & Most Vicious Insults (Vol. 1) .” YouTube, Wild N’ Out | MTV, July 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOWMilTj-MM.
Hardy, Jasmine. “SMACK Says He’s Creating A Judging System For URL Battles.” Battle Rap, 7 June 2014, battlerap.com/news/2014/06/1384-smack-says-hes-creating-judging-system-url-battles.
“King of the Dot (Ft. Charlie Clips & Conceited) — Conceited vs Charlie Clips.” Genius, 24 Jan. 2014, genius.com/King-of-the-dot-conceited-vs-charlie-clips-lyrics.
“KOTD — Rap Battle — Conceited vs Charlie Clips.” YouTube, King Of The Dot Entertainment, Mar. 2014, www.youtube.com/watch?v=6o6c9lTG5_E.
“SMACK/ URL PRESENTS CONCEITED VS TSU SURF.” YouTube, Ultimate Rap League, Dec. 2012, www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BLk6AZ7jhU.
