In the vibrant city of Manchester, Red Bull recently orchestrated an electrifying event with some of Manchester’s most promising talent.
Taking place at Gorilla, a well-known live music venue in Manchester’s city centre, “Raise the Bar” brought together eight MCs from in and around Manchester for a chance to showcase their talents and compete for the title of Red Bull Raise The Bar Winner for Manchester.
The event aimed to elevate the city’s creative spirit by providing a platform for emerging artists, shining a spotlight onto a city that hasn’t always had its talent showcased. The event presented a tempo-switching cypher where competing MCs went bar-for-bar across rap, grime and drill instrumentals with the crowd deciding who won through live voting. As the first Red Bull Raise The Bar in Manchester, the event delivered an unmissable night of unmatched energy and fast-paced freestyles. Celebrating the rich tapestry of talent within the local music scene, the handpicked MC’s each brought their unique style and flair to the cypher as they battled on stage.
Before the cypher started though, the winner of the London edition of the show Caspar came out to warm up the crowd, setting the tone for the evening. Then surprise guest Skrapz came out to the crowd’s delight, with the energy in the building turning electric before the main part of the show started.
With the audience pumped and ready, the first heat of the cypher started with the host for the night Faro introducing the MCs to the stage. The first heat started with TrueAubz, GillyMCR, MC Nelson and Blind MIC. The heat was closely contested with Liverpool’s MC Nelson bringing the fast-flowing bars and grime flows, Gilly MCR’s confident conviction, Blind MIC’s energetic flow and True Aubz’s off the dome freestyles. Ultimately, True Aubz and Gilly MCR were chosen by the audience to advance to the final.
The second heat saw Chie Bad, Sleazy F Baby, P1 Caps and Comfy go head-to-head for the last two spots in the final. P1Caps’ veteran skills on the mic and Chie Bad’s interactive, energy-raising performance saw them advance to the final despite Comfy and Sleazy F Baby being close contenders with their hard-hitting delivery and bars.
The final was then underway with True Aubz, GillyMCR, Chie Bad and P1Caps all continuing to showcase their talent. A standout moment arose when True Aubz sent some shots to the other MC’s much to the delight of the crowd. P1Caps fired back on his next round, however, which excited the crowd even more. Ultimately, P1Caps was crowned winner by the audience which saw one of the loudest cheers on the night. The MCs came together one last time on stage for pictures, showing love to each other for the night they collectively put on.
I had a chance to chat with the winner P1Caps as well as trailblazer Comfy and emerging artist Chie Bad, getting their thoughts on the event, their excitement at being able to work with Red Bull and what’s next for them all individually.
How does it feel to be the winner of Red Bull’s Raise The Bar, Manchester Edition?
P1Caps: “Yeah, do you know what? I’m feeling very righteous, feeling very energised, feeling grateful.”
How are things going for you musically? What headspace are you in at the moment?
Comfy: “The headspace that I’m in right now is, I’m comfy, but I’m not comfortable enough. And I don’t want to get too comfortable. Crazy play on words. But what I’m saying is, I feel like I’m doing well. I’m not where I want to be but I know how to get there. So I’m just working towards it right now. I feel like TikTok came true, flipped the whole music scene on its head. And I feel like true artists are just adapting right now, man. Trying to find a way to use it to their benefit and get back into that headspace.”
What are your thoughts on the event itself and kind of being able to work with Red Bull?
Comfy: “I think the event’s cool, you know. To be fair, if you listen to my music, you know that I’m more of like a writer. I’m more of like a storyteller. I’m more of like a deep-spoken word, sort of like Cadet. I’m on that sort of side of things. But when they brought this, I was like, do you know what? The opportunity sounds sick. It sounds great. Red Bull in general, they’re doing a lot of stuff in the UK right now. And just in the music scene in general, I think, it’s just a cold concept, to be fair. So yeah, I like the event. I like the setup. I like all the lights that they’ve got going. I like the people who shouted. It’s a good competition. Good square competition, you know what I mean? Everyone’s bringing something to the table that’s, different to the next person.”
P1Caps: “It’s a very insightful look. It’s very good, like collaborating with a big global brand. The concept is music, so it’s like they’re a big brand that they’re bouncing to different niches and whatnot. There’s a certain level of professionalism, which is good. So, it kind of like builds boundaries as an artist or musician to be working with Red Bull.”
Chie Bad: “It’s exciting because I don’t really make drill or grime so I feel like when they picked me for this I had to really like figure it out and be like okay let me try for my own spin on it so I feel like it was a challenge but I love to challenge myself to know that I’ve done it and I can do it.”
What’s your favourite part of performing?
Comfy: “Obviously, you’ve got the cypher. Had the cypher at the pre-party as well. But yeah, what’s your favourite part of being on the mic? My favourite part of being on the mic is, I don’t know. I’m someone who picks up my work a lot. I’m someone who picks up my creativity. So when I go on stage and I get that feedback, like last week, I went mad on a 16. And everyone was just like, ah, da-da-da-da-da. But it’s good reassurance as an artist. I think that’s my thing when I get that feedback from the crowd live.”
P1Caps: “Just letting loose, innit, really, because there’s performing and then like, there’s performing your song and then like performing to the crowd. It’s just like, it’s just letting yourself go. So, like, yeah, I like performing, man.”
Chie Bad: “I feel like my favourite part about performing is that I feel like I’m conquering a fear. When I’m on that stage I’m always nervous but then when you’re there and you’re doing it and the crowd is loving it and you’re like wow I’m making these people happy.”
What does it mean for you to be able to represent your city on a stage like this?
Comfy: “It means a lot. It means a lot. Anywhere that Manchester wants to take pioneers, or they need reps or they need whatever for the music scene, for the creativity scene, whatever. If I’m one of them, then I feel more than blessed. Do you know what I mean? There’s a lot of cold people coming from the underground. So for me to be the face almost, you know, for today, yeah, very proud, very, very, very excited.”
P1Caps: “It means a lot, man, because obviously it’s not just Manchester that’s hard to get a look in, but like from first-hand experience, like there’s a lot of talent up here, but sometimes we can get under looked. You can’t really say that these days because there’s a lot of big artists that come from the city, but like just knowing the foundations, it’s very exciting, knowing we’re changing the narrative.”
Chie Bad: “I think it’s big because I feel like there’s so much talent in Manchester, but it’s not really focused on as much as it should be. So, I feel like it’s good for people to invest in the scene here.”
What excites you most about the Manchester rap scene?
Comfy: “I think what excites me most about Manchester is the fact that, so London’s got its own little thing going on. America’s got its own little thing going on. And that music-wise, really, that’s kind of about it. Well, it’s growing now, but that’s kind of about it. Whereas Manchester’s very different in a sense where it’s not just a bag of people who sound the same, no offence to any other city, but it’s like we’ve got so much. Like, we’ve got grime artists coming through. Like, you’ll see today we’ve got grime, like, P1. We’ve got rappers that are in their own lane and doing their own thing with videos and visuals-wise. And they’re tapping into it. And I think it’s just an unspoken thing where Manchester’s not really been doing that. They’re not really being shown that much love. I think Bugzy, you get me, big up Meekz, big up Tunde, big up Aitch, big up, you know, Jordan. The bigger people that are pioneering in Manchester, I think they’ve opened the door. But now there’s a whole world of underground artists that are just ready to just beat off every door possible.
P1Caps: “There’s always someone new. Yeah, people, people will help where they can. There’s different genres you can tap into from grime rap, garage, D&B, hip-hop. With the Manchester music scene, there’s little scenes within it as well. “
Chie Bad: “I just love that everybody here is creative everybody’s so creative and collaborative. Everybody’s like yo let’s work together and make something crazy so I feel like that’s the best thing because there’s no pressure so everybody’s just like let’s just make something fun and crazy.”
What’s next for you?
Comfy: “Well, I’m not going to put anything in stone. But, you can expect a project, or two or three, maybe, you can expect a lot of projects this year. You can expect a lot of music. You can expect my face everywhere. 2021, we went mad. We did a lot of shows, did a lot of whatever. And yeah, I lost a lot of people, family-wise, friends-wise, a lot of people passed. And so I had to take a bit of time. But now there’s no mercy for anyone, not even for myself. We’re coming back for the whole, everything. You know what I’m saying? So yeah, man, we’re here. We’re back. Takeover ready.”
P1Caps: “I’m just trying to keep my foot on the gas, trying to drop tunes. Yeah, trying to bang out some freestyles, some videos, you know, like the format of what an artist would do. But not just trying to do it basic though. And I think I’ll be collaborating with Red Bull again in the near future. So that’s good to know. And just trying to keep myself creative and productive. And obviously with the artists I’ve met today, definitely trying to tap in with them.”
Chie Bad: “Personally next for me is just dropping more music, especially summertime. I’ve got a few summer tracks coming out so I just can’t wait to drop them and get the whole of Manchester vibeing.”
Red Bull’s Raise the Bar served as a launchpad for aspiring talents looking to make their mark in the scene, and showcase their work to a diverse audience, potentially opening doors to new opportunities and collaborations.
As the night drew to a close, and the echoes of the performances faded into the night, attendees left with a renewed sense of inspiration. For many, the event served as a reminder of the potential that lies within the city of Manchester. Red Bull will continue hosting their Raise The Bar events with the Birmingham edition of the event taking place next month with winner P1 Caps performing on the night as well. As Manchester continues to evolve as a hub of creativity and innovation, events like Red Bull’s Raise the Bar serve as a spotlight on the city’s near-limitless pool of talent and expression.