FilmOn Networks launches Battle Rap channel with street rapper Lush One’s Fresh Coast Media Group

The world’s leading online television provider joins with the man who rekindled interest in hip hop tradition to produce original content and pay-per-view events for a 24/7 television channel

Beverly Hills, CA (August 18, 2014) Promising to do for battle rap what the UFC did for MMA, a newly announced partnership between FilmOn Networks and Fresh Coast Media Group will be raw, visceral, and dedicated to building a massive audience for what has been an incredibly creative, but underground, part of the hip hop scene until now.

Fresh Coast Media Group, the company led by rapper Lush One, has joined with Greek billionaire Alki David’s Beverly Hills based company FilmOn Networks to produce content, pay-per-view events and high stakes challenges around the newly reborn genre of battle rapping—one of hip hop’s most revered traditions. The content will use FilmOn’s Battlecam platform to enable live interaction with fans, and will be streamed over the Internet on FilmOn.com and broadcast via FilmOn’s over the air channels in the U.S. and the U.K.

“There’s nothing grittier or more real than battle rapping---it’s how all of hip hop began on the streets really, “ says David. “The stuff that’s out there now is for lightweights. MTV’s TotalSlaughter allows Viacom to neuter Eminem and has no street cred. It’s a joke, and has nothing on the raw experience we’ll deliver with Lush One’s crew and an uncensored forum for the top talents in the genre.”

“This partnership allows us to take everything to a greater level of professionalism and to have deeper pockets behind the budgets and everything,” says Lush One, the rapper and entrepreneur who has led the creation of a distinct brand of West Coast independent hip hop that’s synonymous with his company Fresh Coast Media. “It’s just on a higher level. Our artists battle against the mainstream music industry in the same way Alki has the entertainment industry. They’re renegades for truth and innovation.”

He adds: “This is the time. It’s going down right now.”

The first pay-per-view event will air on FilmOn Networks’ new Ether TV platform in early December 2015. “Our events will honor the epic face offs from the golden age of hip hop,” says Alki David. “And future generations will be reciting the names of the winners of our battles. No holds barred. No weak tea watered down by a 90-year old Chairman of the Board with a catheter, holding Eminem's hand and deciding what gets said or not."

Rappers who will appear on Battle Rap include Dizaster (arguably the biggest in the genre), Daylyt (also huge), Cali Smoov (the hot up and comer who will be seen soon in the feature film on NWA), Laylaw (who wrote Tupac Shakur’s last songs), Lil Eazy (son of Eazy-E). In addition to Lush One, other artists who rose to prominence with Fresh Coast who will appear include: Conceited (star of MTV’s Wild ‘n Out with Nick Cannon), Dumbfoundhead (the Korean-American rap star with huge YouTube following), 360 (the multi-platinum artist who is the biggest rapper in Australia), Shotty Horroh (who is working with legendary EDM producer Deadmau5 of Jay-Z’s Roc Nation), and Hollow Da Don, Murda Mook, Illmaculate and many others who have proved themselves on the streets and at Fresh Coast’s live events, inlcuding on its earlier productions with the site King of the Dot.

Co-hosts of past Fresh Coast shows have included Drake (who is a huge supporter), Wu-Tang Clan, and many more. NBA stars and other celebrities will make guest appearances as well.

BattleRap joins FilmOn.com’s offering of over 600 linear TV channels and 50,000 VoDs which reach 40 million unique monthly users worldwide. Outspoken CEO Alki David has created entertainment events featuring boxing, MMA stars, Jackass-like stunts, extreme reality television and major pop music stars. He is also a pioneer in the field of Social TV with BattleCam.com being used by a devoted audience of millions of users. FilmOn recently announced a co-production deal with Relativity that will produce a major feature film, Bob Thunder: YouTube Assassin, which depicts top YouTube stars and top BattleCam stars.

For more information please contact: Jeff Stevens [email protected] 310-383-4991

About FilmOn Networks: Founded by Greek billionaire and media entrepreneur, Alki David, FilmOn is the world's number one free TV service and number one live TV app with 40 million downloads. FilmOn offers over 600 live TV channels including original programming, 600 video and audio podcasts from premium brands as well as over 45,000 video on demand titles at FilmOn.com and other destination sites online, including BattleCam.com. Last month the site's 40 million users generated 1.2 billion video streams. The service is available globally via computers, smartphones, tablets as well as the FilmOn App for iOS 7, Android, Windows 8 and IP-enabled set-top boxes and devices. With offices in Beverly Hills and London and data-centers in Los Angeles, London, and Geneva, FilmOn curates the best of free televised entertainment from around the globe. FilmOn TV is an Independent TV Broadcaster with stations in the UK (Sky Channel 292 and Freesat channel 410) and throughout the US. For more information please visit FilmOn.com and connect with us on Twitter and Facebook.