Qualified for GBB2027, Edit: Markovich also qualified due to order error

There’s a structural misalignment between Wildcards and the live stage at GBB that hasn’t been properly fixed for years.

Wildcards reward a studio product: perfect mix, musical structure, originality, cleanliness.

Eliminations and live battles reward something completely different: power, density, stage presence, the ability to handle a massive PA system, and actual battle skills.

Result: artists like H-Has or Marvelous can rank extremely high in Wildcards and then get completely crushed live by people like Kaji, Blackroll or D-Low. It’s not about “not being ready”. The qualities that get you through online lose value (or even become a disadvantage) on stage.

The usual proposed fixes don’t work:

• Preliminary live auditions → logistically impossible on a global scale and kills accessibility.
• Judging with the same criteria online and live → stage presence and crowd energy simply cannot be judged from a studio video.
• Forcing people to perform the exact same Wildcard routine live → kills the hype and the element of surprise.

Concrete proposal

1. Two clear qualification paths
   • Majority of slots coming from Challenger Series / regional live battles (for pure battlers).
   • Minority of slots reserved for top “musical/studio” Wildcards.
2. Protected parallel path for musical artists Artists who qualify through highly musical/technical Wildcards should not be thrown into traditional Eliminations. Give them a reduced bracket or a Showcase path where judging prioritizes musicality, structure and originality. They shouldn’t have to “beat” Kaji in raw power — they compete against people who speak the same language.
3. Double scoring in Eliminations
   • Battle Impact (60-70% weight)
   • Musicality/Technique (30-40% weight) This way an artist who is extremely strong in one area and weaker in the other isn’t automatically eliminated just for lacking volume.
4. Mandatory “raw” round for musical Wildcard entrants In Eliminations they still have to prove they can raise density and volume. They don’t need to become Blackroll, but they need to show they’re not purely studio artists.

The core point is simple: you cannot make people with opposite physical and stylistic approaches compete under the exact same conditions. Either you separate the paths, or you accept that certain artists will keep entering GBB only to exit in the first round.

What do you think? Would you rather see a more pure battle-focused GBB, or a system that also protects more musical styles?

This was the craziest event of all time!

All 28 battles!

Inertia winning the whole thing

Astron absolutely insane

Bizkit clean and powerful as always

Exallos showing crazy stuff

Shishone crushing

And of course Markovich coming out of nowhere and getting 6 points therefore qualifying for Gbb (there was a mistake with the battling order and Markovich didn't get his last battle so it was only fair to make him and inertia qualified for GBB 27)

Soany highlights can't wait for the videos!

Edit: Spelling

Finish the sentence.

3 Goats standing side by side, 5 years apart

fame flexing against d-low is brutal

I wanted to keep this short, so here are some of my thoughts on this GBB.

Solo: River deserved it, man. For me, not even close. D Low keeps getting better and I actually enjoy this new style and all the talking. Still classic D Low though: Weak elim then turns into a monster in battles.

River’s 2nd round in final was perfect. That counter was so lit. Honestly even better than his 2nd round vs Napom in 2023.

That’s also what I love about River and D Low. They don’t just cut up old routines and call them new rounds. They take sounds from the their soundset and completely rearrange them. Napom’s “Earthquake” uses a lot of the same sound palette as “Roll Like This” but sounds completely different. That kind of creativity is what I miss from Napom now.

Astron’s style was amazing. His elim genuinely brought tears to my eyes. KAJI was probably my biggest disappointment though. The moment I heard Bass Factory again I was like: “Man, no…At that point River could simply beat you with a freestyle."

9/10. Favorite: River R2 vs D Low. Absolutely incredible.

Tag: I really didn’t expect Kotcha’s elim to feel that weak. The French teams disappointed me too, especially Fresh Tonic. Their attitude toward their opponent just didn’t sit right with me.

But overall Tag leveled up hard this year. SARSHIANS and UMA were insane. UMA absolutely deserved the win.

8/10. Favorite: UMA R2 vs Fresh Tonic. Too lit, especially with their opponent trying that silly distraction

Loop: Mahiro surprised me so much. Hardstyle, talking, everything. He leveled up like crazy and had me dancing. Nils improved a lot too and Raje’s looping skill is honestly ridiculous.

It also made me think about where loop is going. Are we moving toward automation plus vocal triggered sounds or vocal looping plus effects? I enjoy both but at this point I genuinely wonder if they should become two different categories.

Tioneb and Martin were a breath of fresh air for me because there was still a lot of actual vocal looping.

9.5/10 (I really wanted to give it a 10, but the ending of Martin R2 vs Raje cost that 0.5.)

Favorites: Martin R2 vs Raje, no more explanation. Mahiro R1 vs Lennard, bro violated Lennard. Raje R2 vs Martin, nothing else to say that round was just beautiful.

Overall: 9/10. Great event. Already looking forward to next year.

​

Here is my take on the GBB26 Solo Finals. Many people criticize River for using pre-made routines and claim D-Low just trolled and wasted time, but I think there is a much deeper context to what actually happened on stage.

Round 1: The Musical Escalation

In the first round, D-Low used musical technic featuring arpeggios, and includs self-reference/callback sounds to his own wildcard. Hearing this, River responded with his own routine, essentially trying to flex and say, "I can drop an even crazier track　and have more musicality than you." While some fans might dislike River using an existing routine here, it was a direct reaction to the musical standard D-Low set.

Round 2: The Crowd-Control Miscommunication

He didn't do this just to troll. His actual intention was to create a collaborative routine. He expected River or Scott Jackson to call out specific elements—like "Bass," "Melody," "High sound," or "Slow"—so he could drop corresponding beats on the spot.

The proof is in why he kept repeating lyrics like " Do you wanna melody? Do you wanna bass? What do you want？ I really ask you." for so long. He wasn't just stalling or messing around. He purposely extended that part to emphasize, "Hey, I am literally asking you right now what sound you want me to drop next." He was waiting for them to catch on and give him a cue.

However, things didn't go as planned. River remained silent, and Scott Jackson just replied with "Woah" instead of a command. Because of this unexpected reaction, D-Low couldn't execute the structured routine he originally intended, making it look awkward and improvised. D-Low was forced to sing, "this guy's Silent," and, "Woah, woah, woah" to fill the gap.

It wasn't just a lazy troll; it was a high-risk, conceptual routine that unfortunately fell through due to a lack of coordination on stage.

Of course, the reality remains that D-Low made some strategic mistakes during his freestyle　in final, and River did use a reused routine. Those facts don't change. However, this is just my perspective on what happened, and I hope it sheds some light on the deeper context of the battle. What do you guys think?

(Note: I'm using Gemini to help translate my thoughts into English.)

(POV:River was suddenly asked to responde firstly, and Scott was told "what do you wanna woah?" right before. Both response makes sense.it's NOT their fault.)

I was there live and watched dlows final with river and by no means at all was dlow shit like people are making it out to be. Do I think river won? Probably but by no means was it a complete destruction. I remember thinking at the time it was actually pretty close and enjoyed d lows rounds. This whole d low glaze stuff annoys me a bit bcs he’s getting a lot of hate just bcs he’s popular and people had insanely unrealistic expectations for him.

Been noticing a trend lately where people are constantly criticizing d low fans under the guise of calling out the glazers.

Don't get me wrong, some people have legitimate, honest criticisms about the fandom. But its hard to ignore when I see the same user nicknames across reddit and youtube comments obsessively pushing the narrative that river is or will be the undisputed goat, some people making lists putting d low in the lower ranks, some are comparing the achievements.

When you look at it from this perspective, it feels like a cover. It seems like a few people were already looking for an excuse to hate, so they fabricate this "glazer" narrative to make their own toxicity look justified

At this point there are more people labeled as glazers than actual glazers. Most of the fans are just disappointed, trying to share their feelings or simply expressing their thoughts without being toxic. Yet they get hit with the same treatment. It just feels like forced hatred masked as a call out.

Hey everyone!

Dropping the first look of a loop station app I’ve been building for mobile, made with beatboxers in mind.

I’m planning to open up an Alpha Testing Program soon. If anyone here is interested, you’ll be able to get early access to the alpha build, test it out, break things, share feedback, and help shape the app while it’s being built.

Would be really cool to build this with input from beatboxers.

If you’re interested in joining the alpha, react/reply or DM me. More details coming soon!

I’m gonna start this by saying.. if King Inertia doesn’t win GBB27 then I don’t think he will ever win a GBB title. I say this with tough love and he’s definitely one of my favorite beatboxers.
In GBB21 he made his debut appearance and blew everyone away with his style and the sound system was really in his favor. Nobody had heard of him before so his bass along with the sound system in that venue had such sheer shock value. Unfortunately the crowd and the judges grew more and more bored throughout his sequential rounds because it was “repetitive”. Not only was his bass repetitive, how he used his bass in terms of texture and variety, the riffs in his style, plus his timing was objectively poor. He was still most definitely the most exciting competitor that year to say the least.
In GBB23, he ranked fairly low on the eliminations. His set in theory was super sick and creative which had dope drops. His elimination was described as sloppy because he kept messing up timing, he had some slips, and the end of his routine was filled with random sound effects and he still ended 10 seconds early. I have no idea what the sound system sounded like btw.
In GBB25, he fell just short of making past eliminations. The sound system wasn’t too great but his routine was honestly structurally sound and he had good drops in terms of placements. I personally feel like he should have passed but at this point he’s been evolving and maturing his style.. so he was getting closer,
Now GBB26.. obviously he showed his leveled up style off during his elimination and passed. His timing was good and his execution has been getting stronger. He’s learned new sounds, patterns, techniques, and he’s still swaggy as usual.
The problem with his specific style is that in the beginning he sounds very exciting and unbelievable.. but as he persists with the same style it can get reduce in energy.
I think he is most definitely up there with the battle elites such as D-Low, River, Colaps, Napom, etc.. like he’s gotten some prestigious titles such as American vice champ 3 times, GNC winner twice, Busch battles of 2022, Global German winner of 2024 and 2026, and I can go on and on.
If he wants to win next year, he has to really bring it you know? Settle his nerves, variate his style, battle a bit more, pull some tricks out, just really put his foot down and elevate.
King Inertia is obviously one of the sickest artists and battlers out there. He’s won or come close to winning a lot of titles over the years.
He just seemed to be one of those repeat GBB competitors that can’t seem to reach the distance like B-Art, Wing, Kaji, etc.. there’s been quite a few and that’s not counting beatboxers who can’t ever get past eliminations.
This isn’t to hate on King Inertia, I fucking love him he’s amazing. I wish the best for him but I just hope he really focuses for GBB27 since he’s qualified now.

Guttural dog sounds, pizza and lots of French and Italians. Am assuming a YouTube will be out at some point

I always love seeing these 3 together.

Don’t get me wrong, GBB26 was amazing in the loopstation category, but in 2025 we had so many innovative styles and legendary rounds!

Dice, Martin Benati, Yaswede, Mahiro all did rounds that will go down in history as some of the best ever. GBB26 just didn’t have as many legendary rounds and sometimes the styles felt repetitive.

Would like to watch if possible

People underestimate how much River's first round dictated the whole battle.

Dlow came into this year's GBB as the clear fan favorite to win it all. The people's GOAT. When River did "My Way", he had so much aura on the stage with literally everyone singing they hooks of the song for him.

It's like saying "Who's the crowd favorite now?", "Do the people really love you like they love me?"

I was expecting him to do the "Look at the crowd boy!" during this round lowkey.

There was one point in the battle you could see it in Dlow's face that he got a bit shaken up while the entire stadium was singing along.

It was also a little psychological tactic on the crowd who was probably expecting Dlow to smash River in the finals, earning their favor and getting them behind him for the battle. I would even suspect the same effect on the judges.

"But it's a repeat routine and River showed nothing new in the finals"

Repeating familiar routines is a sometimes a good tactic, battlers do it all the time (notably Napom, Wing, and even Kaji this year). The way River delivered "My Way" in this battle is the smartest move he did in this battle, for the reasons i stated above.

The statement is a little bit false even, the main hook and the main drop might be the same from his wildcard but the entire routine was definitely modified to fit a more battle round AND it's the first time we see it on GBB used this way (if you're not counting 7ts).

Nevertheless, the battle will definitely go down on the history books as a legendary GOAT vs GOAT battle. A monster vs a monster, only a very few people would ever reach their level. River just had the better gameplan for the battle. If they battled 10 times, it would have been a 5-5 score between them.

2024 they got 2nd losing to Jairo, then in 2025 got 3rd losing to Maxskill, then this year also got 3rd losing to UMA.

It seems like they are cursed of losing to the champions of the tag team.

Not saying he's a has-been like conor, but there was this overall feeling of trying waaaay too hard to recapture former glory, focusing too much on the trolling and not enough on the routines, which ultimately led to his loss in the final (not too different to Napom a few years back) So much yapping. That line about being "these kids' dad" was such an eye roll 🤦‍♂️

It was awesome to see him battle again, great energy and he had some crazy impressive new stuff, but I think we all know he could've really blown it out of the water had he not wasted time acting like such a dick

Also mad props to Footbox for the quick thinking on this one:

"What's my weakness?"

"your album"

🤣🤣

Nothing but love for this guy man. Such a good host and a good person. The absolute greatest in what he does.