What is Hip Hop Karaoke? Think of normal karaoke, take away the bouncing ball above the song’s words displayed on a screen. Take away the words themselves and then invite entrants to get up on stage an perform selected hip-hop songs from memory. In reality this is nothing like Karaoke. Its not cheesy or clumsy but was sometimes painful and slightly embarrassing watching some performers – and these were the best from around the nation at the 5th annual Championships.

The songs of choice for the night were dominated by what is referred to as the “golden age” of hip hop, when the music was more about celebration than gangsta posturing. This was a time when New York hip-hop led the way with acts like Audio Two, Slick Rick, Eric B & Rakim, Gang Starr and A Tribe Called Quest. So when the music of each of these acts, along with others from that era, predominated the night’s playlist the event was instantly elevated into full-on hip-hop golden era revival mode. And as the dozen contestants of the night, over instrumentals spun by DJ Wex, rapped their way through three rounds for a chance at the $1,000 prize they revived such much loved songs as “Half Time” (Nas ‘92), “Scenario” (Tribe ‘91), “Slam” (Onyx ‘93) and “The Choice Is Yours” (Black Sheep ‘91), the loudly enthusiastic audience chanted along with every word. The music ended up becoming the star of the night.

So even when some of the participants, including 33-year-old Brooklyite Charlie and 28-year-old Queens native Jessica, didn’t quite do justice to their songs the benevolent crowd cheered them on regardless. In fact even the generous judges—Big Daddy Kane, Buckshot and Hot 97’s Peter Rosenberg—were so swept up in the vibe that they handed out some points based purely on sheer love for hip-hop. Hence the reason how the enthusiastic but sub par Jessica took the grand prize when the clear crowd fave Doni D, a rap-star-ready 30 year old from Harlem, only came in second place.

Have a look at the clip below to get an idea of what the night entailed.