Somebody get the Vitamin C because Springfield’s own Agent Orange got absolute sick against Mic Ripz on last week’s edition of BET’s 106 and Park Freestyle Friday. Orange (né Zach McCoy) triumphed in the nationally televised rhyming battle over the
Danbury, Conn., rapper Ripz in what was likely the first time ever that the
phrases “Springfield, Illinois,” “Danbury, Connecticut,” and “hip-hop” were uttered in the same sentence.
Seemingly oblivious to the absurdity of this tack, Ripz, himself Caucasian
resorted to hackneyed white rapper insults, calling Orange “Asher Roth’s fan club president,” a “slimmed down version Bubba Sparks” — both men are well-known white rap artists — and “John McCain’s ugly son.” For his part, Orange noted in one verse the irony of “two white rappers on BET,” Black Entertainment Television, to the amusement of the crowd, judges and host Terrence J.
A lifelong Springfieldian, Orange seemed to especially take exception to Ripz’s vow to send him crying all the way back Chicago, providing a brief geography
lesson: “I’m not from Chi-town, I’m from a few miles below that,” and Orange ultimately dispenses his lyrical foe with, “The day he beats me, Michael Jordan’s coming back again/The day he beats me, Michael Jackson is turning black again.”
He defends the title again this week, at 5 p.m. Friday on BET. Because the
network doesn’t pay expenses, Orange, a customer service agent at Blue Cross/Blue Shield,
estimates each appearance on the NYC-based program costs him about $600 out of
his own pocket.
This article appears in Apr 30 – May 6, 2009.
