Illab (left) battles Spy in the final. Visit the photo slideshow, where you can see most of the rappers referenced in the story.

You can also see videos at the Twin Cities Battle League MySpace page.

Battling is an impromptu art, and many who excel their flows are scripted have trouble in this format. "There are some MCs that are good on the mic, but they can't freestyle, they just write," Truthmaze told me. "Some popular MCs would get murdered in a battle."

So I asked him to name a few legendary Twin Cities battle rappers. Here's what he came up with.

Kel C, a.k.a. Kelly Crockett: "He was one of the main MCs that influenced a lot of local artists," says Truthmaze. Kel C is featured in Peter Scholtes' oral history of Twin Cities hip-hop, 1981-1996.

Derrick "Kid Delite" Stevens: Along with Smokey D, Kid Delite made up the Boys in Black. Stevens now works at Beat 96, but you might know him best as MC Skat Kat.

I Self Devine: Truthmaze's comrade in The Micranots, I Self Devine also is interviewed in Scholtes' hip-hop history.

Truthmaze also cited MC Sugar Free and MC Kool Aid (who I couldn't find more information about, and whose names are oddly concordant) as two of the leading voices during a previous era.