Zazo Wan, Nico B & AdonysX prepare to battle in Miami at Red Bull Batalla

Zazo Wan: My name is Agustín Esquivel, also known as Zazo Wan, and I am from Mendoza, Argentina, though I've been living in Dallas, Texas for five years. I make music, I rap, and I compete. I actually got into the culture through graffiti, when an artist friend invited me to Plaza San Martin, back in Mendoza, for a freestyle competition. We signed up for fun but I started coming back whenever I could, and that taught me way more about hip-hop. That became my school.

Shortly after I started rapping I noticed a very particular lyrical style in my friend, Yeso Wan. He's excellent at wordplay and it almost sounded like he was rapping in cursive. He's one of the first “Wans,” and I took on this sort of surname after training and hanging with the collective, which was actually started by Little Wan, one of the best rappers on the scene at that time.

My mother lived here for many years and in 2015, with my father's passing, we started talking about how I should come North. Four years later the paperwork came through and I got on a plane. Funny enough, my first week here I received a message from a friend about a local BDM tournament, so I was able to hit the ground running. I knew that in a plaza I could find people with experiences and interests similar to mine, so it became like a home away from home.

In 2021, I won my first national title at Supremacía MC, and because of that I traveled to Peru to compete at the international tournament. There I met a bunch of rappers I'd only ever seen on YouTube, so that whole experience opened my mind of what all this could become. I love competing out of state. I also reached the qualifiers for Red Bull Batalla USA but was knocked out by Cuban. Last year, though, I finally made the cut and I was excited about the challenge, since being complacent in your scene can kill your ambition. I loved my experience and soaked up feedback from the judges while also observing how my peers competed.

This year my levels are all the way up and I'm bringing 300 days of training with me. I've been analyzing the rappers I'm going up against and I [even want to move] to Miami so I can compete and train with the local talent. I like understanding how things work, so I want to be in Miami, in the lion's den. I've been working diligently, traveling all over the United States so people know my name, and this year I’m taking it all.

Nico B: My name is Nicolás Blanco aka Nico B. I love music, rapping, and just generally making art. I'm from Barranquilla, on Colombia's Caribbean coast, and [even though salsa and vallenato are very popular there] I was one of those kids that only liked listening to music in English. My dad would play the radio station Power 96 over the computer so I got into Lil Wayne, Eminem, and Snoop Dogg. Then I saw Eminem's movie, "8 Mile," which gave me an idea about freestyle until I started watching Red Bull battles online. That's when I was hooked.

Yeah, I've competed in national tournaments since 2019 and gone to New York, Los Angeles and more. When I competed last year I'd been inactive for a long time, and while I wouldn't usually celebrate placing third, I got there having barely trained. Watching videos of the tournament, I wasn’t satisfied with my performance so I'm grateful to have this opportunity to come back and really show my skills. I've been competing and training way more, so this year I want to go in and actually show my best.

The Miami scene has changed a lot, and even though last year I was unhappy with a lot of local dynamics, fresh blood has changed things. This year, with Misión Hip-Hop and Miami Freestyle, who are now doing competitions with DEM Battles, I've felt a lot more motivated to participate and compete. I'm not just representing myself anymore; I'm representing Miami. It feels like a family, so that makes me want to do my best. I really want to win Red Bull Batalla USA, and that could be a great boost for my own music. So I'm coming with everything.

AdonysX: Hi, my name is AdonysX, I'm 24 years old, and I'm Venezuelan of Dominican heritage. I was actually born on the Isla Margarita, and I started freestyling in high school. Once, I saw Akapellah performing in a plaza, and he's one of the pioneers of this movement so it really inspired me to keep coming out and practicing my rhymes. I love music and crafting bars, and battles are fascinating to me because it's like a sport where we all want to win and have fun, but it's also a space to vent your emotions.

When most people think of Venezuelan freestyle they talk about scenes in Caracas, Maracaibo, and Barquisimeto. Margarita is small so people don't really look our way and rappers usually compete on the mainland to have greater visibility. In my case, I got attention when I moved to the Dominican Republic in 2018. There I started battling at Duelo de Maestros and Circuito Cerrado, and those videos got uploaded, receiving a really positive response. I was on the island for almost four years before I moved to Puerto Rico.

Since I had a USA visa I would often visit Puerto Rico, but in 2022 I officially moved. I was cast in a film called "Todo Por Amor" and I really liked the energy on the island. The beach, the people, the music – it's all amazing. I was always in the studio and partying; next thing I knew almost a year had gone by. That's when I decided to make the leap to Miami.

Miami is experiencing a boom and there's so much diversity of culture and rap styles that competing here elevates your skill. Last year, I went to Misión Hip-Hop almost every weekend. I've gotten busier since then, but I still try to drop in at Margaret Pace Park every once in a while so I don't lose touch with the feel of battling in plazas.

The way this works is that if you win the national title, you get to go compete at the Red Bull Batalla International Final. So even though I won my regional qualifier and was slated to compete at nationals, I didn't have my paperwork in order to leave the country in the event I actually won the whole thing. We decided it was best for me to drop out while I sorted out all that business, and to instead compete in 2024. It was a tough decision because, man, I was hungry for it, but I'm grateful to have a chance again this year.