Red Bull Batalla De Los Gallos, the biggest freestyle rap competition in the world, revealed new details about its International Final taking place in the Dominican Republic on December 12.
Despite the circumstances, this has been the biggest year for the Red Bull founded project. There have been over 17,000 competition entries via the official app, more than doubling the previous year’s record, with the best entrants competing in 11 national finals around the globe. For each National Final the ‘Gallos’ were placed in isolation before competing. The International Final will take the same approach, with the competitors and crew entering an NBA-inspired ‘bubble’ 10-days prior to the event.
Last year’s International Final in Madrid welcomed over 14,000 fans into the WiZink Center for a lively competition. On YouTube alone, the event had 1.6 million concurrent viewers. To compare, Beyonce’s renowned 2018 Coachella set, at the time described as the most viewed performance in the history of YouTube Live, had 458,000 concurrent viewers.
This year, the International Final will have 0 audience members at the event. Instead, the MCs will perform together on a green-screen TV set at the Pinewood Studios in the Dominican Republic. For viewers watching at home on Red Bull TV, the MCs will appear to be in a fully virtual world that steps beyond reality. This is a world first for a freestyle rap competition.
Performing together in front of a green-screen at the studio in Dominican Republic will be a seismic shift compared to performing in front of thousands of fans. This will present a new challenge for the MCs. The 2019 international champion, Bnet said:
I’m definitely going to miss the audience because I think their feedback helps my performance, but my focus is going to be the same as last year, centering on and perfecting the kind of freestyle that I like to do. I’m heading into this year with that mentality. I want to focus on improving what I did last year because, though I won, I know I can do better.
The Red Bull Batalla de los Gallos International Final will take place on December 12 at 19:30 UTC with an exclusive pre-show featuring the artist bracket selection on Red Bull TV starting at 19:00 UTC