Police in Massachusetts Are on the Lookout for Men Challenging Residents to Rap Battles

A group of guys in Central Massachusetts are attempting to start rap battles guerilla-style. WCVB 5 Boston reports that authorities in Charlton, Mass. are investigating a complaint about a group of men running up on teens and challenging them to a rap battle.

According to the report, a black SUV with two or three men in their late teens or early 20s inside, pulled up to three young teenage boys at about 3 p.m. on Saturday (March 12).

One of the men, described as having brown hair and pale skin and wearing gray sweatpants and open-toed sandals, got out of the car and started rapping at the boys while the other men in the car asked the boys if they wanted to "spit some bars" with them. The boys declined. The van drove off. Weird.

"Although this was suspicious behavior and frightening to the boys, nothing made this appear to be an attempted abduction," Charlton Police assured via their Facebook page.

Although the battle rap scene has been flourishing on its own for years, battle rap has become a mainstream sport in recent times. Eminem's 2002 autobiographical film 8 Mile told the story of the Detroit rhymer's rise to rap battle supremacy. In 2014, Run the Jewels' Killer Mike and Action Bronson went head to head in a rap battle while running on treadmills for The Eric Andre Show. And let's not forget when WWE's John Cena and LIVE with Kelly and Michael host Michael Strahan partook in a PG-rated rap battle on daytime TV. Even the Six God has expressed interest in entering the rap battle scene.

See 40 Hip-Hop Albums Turning 20 in 2016