It may come as a surprise, given that it is an art form based on the lyrical humiliation and systematic dismantling of an opponent's life and personality, but the UK battle rap scene is one that heartily embraces difference. At this current moment, there are gay battlers, disabled battlers and battlers with self-confessed mental health issues. Among this diversity, though, Marlo and Shuffle T stick out like a sore thumb, because they are, to put not too fine a point on it, really rather posh.

They may not be the first middle-class battlers in the UK scene, but where some try to keep their background very much in the background, Marlo and Shuffle's heritage have become their USP. It's something that could be cringeworthy and gimmicky, were it not for the fact that both Marlo and Shuffle T are also incredibly skilful rappers, ripping through multi-syllabic rhyme schemes at breakneck pace without sacrificing any of their lyrical impact, consummate performers and utterly hilarious too.

Their self-consciously awful "bad bars" battle against each other for the all-conquering UK league Don't Flop ("I'm so sick, I need to take a week off / you're not sick – you only fake a wee cough") has chalked up 198,000 Youtube views and was a fixture in bloggers' 2013 battle top tens the world over, with the likes of Rizzle Kicks and Ed Sheeran as celebrity fans. Yet, as Marlo (Theo Marlow, a 23-year-old film studies graduate from Reading) and Shuffle (Adam Woollard, 22, from Bracknell, who works for the not-for-profit fashion organisation We Say No) explain, it might never have happened, feeling that it wasn't a scene they could "ingratiate".

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"We weren't even thinking, 'Imagine if we did this'," says Shuffle. "It was more a case of, 'Imagine if we ever went to one of the events?' Our middle classness was the main issue, but what you don't get from the Youtube videos is that battle crowds are very accepting."

"The class thing comes up in battles," adds Marlo. "But only in a playful way. Really, the whole scene is populated by misfits of various types."

Their entire, very rapid career trajectory can be seen in microcosm in their recent Don't Flop battle against the hardened Detroit veterans Marvwon and Quest McCody. Over the course of three rounds, the Americans' veneer of cold disdain slowly crumbles, via stunned bewilderment, into guffawing at the absurdity of their opponents. Britain and the world's battle fans have been won over via much the same progression.

"I guess it's sort of a metaphor, put like that," says Shuffle. "[Marvwon and Quest McCody] came from a part of the culture where you have to maintain that rigidity, that integrity. But there's nothing more satisfying than making your opponent laugh when they're trying to do that. It also means you have a relationship of some kind with that person."

"That battle was a total mismatch," adds Marlo, "which is what makes it beautiful."

Their class, though, is not what really sets this pair apart. They bring a loose-limbed theatricality to their performances, their comic timing, facial expressions and double takes.

"It comes from the kind of comedy we consume," says Shuffle. "In Brass Eye, the little things Chris Morris does between dialogue are the most important things. It matters what one of us is doing while the other is spitting."

Simply by being an exaggeration of who they are, Shuffle and Marlo are doing the very thing that rap fans have insisted on for the last two decades, keeping it – sort of – real. "Although they may play up aspects of their character, they bring a very honest approach to battling," explains Don't Flop's co-host Joel "Bamalam" Watts. "Anybody feels they can get behind them. It makes the average Joe realise that there is no set format to battling. As long as you're being yourself – you'll be accepted."

"Some of what we do is hamming up our middle-classness," concludes Shuffle, "but the main part is just being silly. I've tried taking myself seriously in battles. It just didn't work."

Picture (article top) by Darren Johnson