Battle of the Big XII MCs

Two legendary freestyle rap videos featuring former players from Big XII schools can be found on Youtube. In one, all-time Husker greats Tommie Frazier & Terrell Farley tag team a rhyme over the Luniz "I Got 5 On It" in an Arizona hotel room in the days leading up to their thrashing of the Florida Gators in the 1996 Fiesta Bowl. In the other, Oklahoma Sooner Malcolm Kelly celebrates a Big XII Championship in the Arrowhead Stadium home locker room after defeating Nebraska in 2006. Here we will be compare the two to determine who is the top MC in Big XII history...

First Up: Terrell Farley and Tommie Frazier:

Best Lyric:

We steppin' high, we steppin' low.

My Name is T-Fraz, not Kurtis Blow.

Worst Lyric:

I move around move around move around,

a-Humpty Dumpty fell down on the ground

Highlights:

- Frazier spit hot fire with the hot sauce mic, inspiring this shirt.

- The clairvoyance of Farley.

First Farley's opening verse:

In a second, we gonna play them Chumps, them Gators

They don't want none of that Big N. U.

Cuz we take 'em to schoo'

Cuz we run it through the end zone

We gonna sco' every play, every down

Tommie's gonna clown

and Terrell's gonna get around.........on the field.

and his this excerpt from his second verse:

National Champs again,

ninety fo', ninety six, and it might be ninety seven again.

Farley predicted the Huskers would take 'em to schoo'. He also predicted Tommie was gonna clown "them Gators" (see The Run), and he predicted the Huskers National Championship that year and predicted that they 'might be' National Champions in 1997....Again. And Farley wasn't even going to be on that team. Bonus points for that, Mr. Farley.

Lowlights:

- While Farley's ability to see the future is impressive, his overall performance is lacking. Traditionally rhyming and some rhythm are key ingredients to a good rap song. Farley struggles with both.

- Frazier's dead air filling dance at around 1:07.

Summary:

Frazier proves to be just as smooth and stylish on the mic as he was running the option. Farley struggles with the fundamentals, but comes up with some predictions that would impress even Jimmy the Greek.

And here's Malcolm Kelly:

Best Lyric: (tie)

Maybe back do', maybe fall off

Sippin Codeine cuz I got a killa cough.

And the always classic:

because I'm a playa

from the Himalaya

Worst Lyric:

Messin' with Smitty, in the summertime

He get pissed if we don't make our time.

I'm sorry, but you can't rhyme 'summer time' with 'time'. That's worse than Akon rhyming with ooh-wee.

Highlights:

- Getting the whole OU team to 'Yo' on cue.

- The remix. Kelly's rap was good enough to inspire Youtube sensation Ronald Jenkees to put together a nice remix, which is available for download at Jenkees' website.

Lowlights:

- Kelly's rhymes were so solid that its hard to believe this was a true freestyle. (Some Sooners say the 'killa cough' line right along with him)

- This guy over Kelly's left shoulder who spends most of the video staring at the camera.

Summary:

Kelly put together a solid and even performance. While his rhymes may have been a bit pre-meditated, a little effort in the production department could have made this a top 40 hit.

Verdict:

Kelly had superior lyrics and delivery, but Frazier & Farley were superior on the field and get big style points for brash predictions and the hot sauce mic. The lows in the Frazier & Farley rap were definitely lower than Kelly's........which is why we name Malcolm Kelly the Greatest Big XII Rapper Alive.

But don't feel too bad for Tommie and Terrell. At least they aren't Texas A&M's own 'Black n Brown'