Apologies that I can’t give the feedback everyone deserves but the whole procedure clashed big time with my working schedule in the last days. Usually it’s a litle more chill around this time of the year.
My vote:
Big ups to all the participants, looking forward to the next one!
It’s already been said, but quality output by all. Hope the contest continues.
1 @the_PMO - This one really just felt like it served the vocal in a great way. Nice groove and economic timing/use of samples if that makes any sense.
2 @rockpapergoat - Another one where it just felt like everything weaved together into a cohesive aesthetic and flow.
3 @LyingDalai - The spoken word, for lack of a better expression, really spoke to me. Thought it was an interesting sample to try and work around. All the different musical ideas coming in/out and worked successfully in their own context. Lots of replay value for me on this one!
Y’all didn’t make this easy. Literally every submission was killer.
This list changed a few times over the week, eventually settling here, mostly based off vague instinctual gut feeling.
My picks…
@Sleepyhead (I wanted to bump this and return to it the most)
@LyingDalai (sounds like Amy Goodman on an acid trip in the best way possible, just weird enough to edge out the rest)
@woops (the sample flips won my heart here, I found myself wanting to listen and again)
My runners…
@the_PMO ( having hiero vocals didn’t hurt 
)
@NeonMelk (holds its own as a good beastie boys remix.
@Doug (another that made my top six because of it getting stuck in my head a bit and the amount of times I circled back to listen closer).
My takeaways….
.
.Here’s my vote:
My delay in voting was not from lack of listening - I kept listening over and over and struggled to pick a top 3. A diverse set of vibes from everyone, I genuinely enjoyed each track 
Shout outs to @sezare56 for that sample flipping mastery, @Unifono for that tight production, and @rockpapergoat for that fun, loose beat.
Thanks to @Sleepyhead for organizing this and for the whole community for being welcoming and encouraging!
It has been really tough to pick a top 3, but eventually decided on these:
Honorable mentions to @Affectionate-Bee-781 for his first battle submission (and my partner in crime on the Colab mission brief), as well as all the other folk either doing this for the first time or just out of their comfort zone.
Thanks again to @Sleepyhead for pulling this together, been a lot of fun. Made some notes as I was listening to submissions which I may as well share (not going to @ everyone):
DimensionsTomorrow - good chill beat and vocal use was 
RockPaperGoat - really nice use of the strings and vocal
Doug - nice bass, great sounding beat as usual!
DrRumble - old school vibe, nice chops
TheGhostCat - props for working with that sample, turned it into something very laid back
thePMO - liked the drums a lot and the subtle delay FX low in the mix
Sleepyhead - just an all round great sounding beat
Unifono - chops worked really well, nice sub too
Kpuski - a bit different, which really appealed to me
NeonMelk - bass was great as was the “B” section part
Woops - intro and use of the vocals were top notch
Yabba - liked how you use the samples and props for the Flair!
Boxymusic - piano chops really stood out for me
Sndrsklr - bass and drums worked really well together
Looking forward to the next one! 
My enthusiasm about your contributions has only risen, and I had a pretty hard time to decide.
I don’t have enough time to write about every entry, but the following could be exchanged with my top 3 in any order.
@sezare56 - probably the most interesting to listen to. Total respect getting all these samples go along so nicely.
@Maisin - super nice vibe. Great sample choice, chopped so nicely and the different parts went so well together
@the_PMO - super dark oldschool vibe. Great collage of all these different samples.
Other honorable mentions (sorry for not giving more feedback)
@Sleepyhead, @rockpapergoat , @LyingDalai
I could name everyone, cause I really honestly enjoyed each beat.
But so far so good.
Thanks @Sleepyhead, this was a great Battle!
sorry to be so late with my votes. as everyone said, voting was super tough. everyone here is so talented and i’m very much looking forward to the next battle.
@woops the vibe totally fits all my favorite beats, especially that intro and first section were so dope to me, the composition/arrangement is amazing
@DimensionsTomorrow just a super solid production all around- i can tell you’ve been doing this a while, very mature style- simple but impressive
@the_PMO as said, the sound is very nostalgic, i’d be curious to know what you used to process the samples and mixdown the track. very very dope
there wasn’t a single track that was underwhelming in any way, they were all so unique- so fun and inspiring to listen to it all
totally agree with this for the next one ^
@LyingDalai suggested I should vote last so I could avoid a possible tie for first place , so thats why I’ve waited till now. The good news is the way I intended to vote did indeed break a tie for 1st place. The bad news is that it did cause a tie for 3rd/4th place 
I listened to all submissions as they came in, and then sat down yesterday to listen to everything back to back on my studio monitors. Is has been said by others but wow, the overall quality of beats that came out of this battle is amazing. Most of the beats would easily be a top3 submission in any other battle I’ve ever done. I love the old school vibes, the originality and experimental nature of most beats, and I really appreciate the great atmosphere here, this really is a forum full of talented yet friendly people! Thanks for joining this battle, and I really hope this will start a run of productive battles!
My top 3:
Honourable mentions:
@Doug: a nearly perfect submission by one of the masters of DT hiphop: a dope groove, great sample chopping and use of the DT, and I love the fact that you showed us the samples used. You mainly fell short of the top3 because I feel the beat is better without the vocals.
@the_PMO: Love this track, the style fits the vocals like a glove, and this is def something I would listen to. You were also just short of the top3.
@Kpucski: This track is seriously something special. The music is perfect for the track, and definitely something I would listen to.
@Yabba: You used the same piece of sample I took (great minds think alike!) and i’m really impressed with how you used it!
@sndrsklr: very unexpected and unique use of samples and synths, you’ve done something very different from everyone else, props for that!
And with that, I am proud to announce the winner of this first beatbattle! I discounted all the votes from people who didn’t participate, and I gave @the_PMO’s top 3 2 points each, because he didn’t rank them. In the end 4 people where clear favourites, but the fact that most people received votes or honourable mentions, and 7 different people received 1st place votes speak to the overall quality in this thread! (btw: I hope I my math is correct, please correct me if I made a mistake here )
Final score:
Thanks everyone for joining, I sincerely enjoyed listening to your music, and I love all the samples you shared. I hope @DimensionsTomorrow will set up a new battle!
Congrats to @DimensionsTomorrow! A well deserved first! To clinch it even further, given that I didn’t think order would affect the vote/scores I would have put @DimensionsTomorrow beat as my first pick.
Thanks again @Sleepyhead for coordinating this. To be honest, every vote for my beat filled me with joy first and then quickly changed to dread with the possibility I may have to be the chosen one to sort out the next battle. 
Props to everyone on this one!
Yeah well deserved winners there, great job all and amazing organisation @Sleepyhead. That was my first battle of any kind and it was really solid motivation, so thank you.
Wow, I am really honored to have won that and honestly thought @the_PMO would take it for sure! I am off from work today and tomorrow, so will try to put together something for the next one.
@Sleepyhead is probably the classiest and most organized host I have ever met (serious props!), and there is absolutely no way I will ever be able to match his amazing work, but I will try my best to keep the momentum going.
We had a really amazing turnout for the last battle and I hope that we can get even more people to come out for future ones as I strongly believe that there is no better way to learn your gear than doing these things and it’s a fun way to build/hone your skills.
I strongly believe this is one of the best spaces on the internet, so I can’t think of a better place to give this kind of thing a try if people are interested. I want to keep this open to everyone so will not place any gear restrictions on the next one. I will also not make any major rule changes since things worked so well, but will introduce a couple of small battle-specific restrictions to keep things interesting. More on that later.
Thanks again everyone!
Congrats to @DimensionsTomorrow and also to @the_PMO , @sezare56 and @woops !
A big hurray for @Sleepyhead !
And remember kids, if you can flip it, you can do it !
Congratulations everyone, and particularly @DimensionsTomorrow: can’t wait for the next battle!
And thank you for @Sleepyhead for this excellent organisation from A to Z!
@Doug:
@drrumble
@TheGhostCat
@drrumble
@the_PMO
@Sleepyhead
@sezare56
@Unifono
@Kpucski
@new_drugs
Sorry about not doing this sooner, but just wanted to let everyone know the new battle thread is up and I hope many (all!) of you will participate in the next one.
I set up the schedule to give two weekends to work on the beat as I know weekends are the only time many people have to work on music and people’s schedules are likely busy this time of year. Let me know if you have any questions or concerns. Thanks again!
https://www.elektronauts.com/t/elektronauts-hip-hop-beat-battle-2-escape-from-new-york-edition
@Affectionate-Bee-781
@NeonMelk
@woops
@garfield
@Yabba
@Boxymusic
@Maisin
@sndrsklr
@LyingDalai
@Kuro
(Had to split the list)
Wow that was quick @DimensionsTomorrow ! Thanks for the kind words, and the theme already makes #2 a better organized battle than this one!
Start of a four-day weekend here in Japan and we are under another state of emergency declaration. I don’t get my second vax shot for three more weeks, so perfect timing to setup a beat battle.
Congrats @DimensionsTomorrow and everyone. Honored to be 3rd ex æquo, thanks !
Will try to participate to next battle but I’ll be very busy…
Congrats everybody! I was amazed by the quality of the submissions! 