A movement in Youngstown is making a lot of noise, in a very unique way.

“Intense, like intense and… it’s interactive. If you’re here you’re gonna feel apart of everything,” said Reggie Wills.

Wills is the host of the Clash Battle League in Youngstown. A league that allows rappers to showcase their skills by battling other rappers.

“If you were to tell somebody, like there was a rap battle in Youngstown, people would automatically think the negative, they won’t see positive but, we actually have a lot of talent,” Wills said.

Unlike some other music showcases, the Clash Battle League allows rappers to perform raw and uncut. That means we can’t play some of the explicit lyrics for you.

It’s a form of entertainment, but also a way for artists to show off their skills in a competitive nature.

“So our first battle was December of 2016, and we packed the entire place out, like we didn’t even know it was gonna be like that,” said Lisette Encarnacion. “We said well let’s do another one, and another one, and another one, so we threw one almost every three weeks I think and it just kept going and here we are three years later.”

Encarnacion founded the league along with Felix Negron. She is also a host. She says more than 30 rappers have competed in the league over the last three years.

After Encarnacion and Negron founded the league, Wills joined in to complete the team.

“I can get it roused up, I guess you could say I could spark that little ignite to make everything just flame up,” Wills said.

Rap battles have been traced back all the way to the 70s, and here in our own community there is a high interest just waiting to be uncovered.

“Youngstown is very slept on when it comes to music. I mean people just, they don’t even know what’s here. So as far as talent, music wise there’s a lot of people that are underground that need to be noticed,” Encarnacion said.

The Clash Battle league is held on the east side of Youngstown on the corners og Livingston and Oak Street. Rappers from other cities and states even travel here just to be apart of it.

“If You never came to an event, you gotta make it man, it’s definitely, it’s an experience that you would wanna be apart of with it coming from Youngstown itself,” he said.