- [Woman] This Great Big Story
was made possible by P&G.
Love over bias.
(hip hop music)
- Battle rap is a competition.
It's gladiator-style without the weapons.
It's a verbal warfare.
It gets ugly.
But, it's the most entertaining thing
you will ever see in your life.
(crowd cheering)
(upbeat music)
My name is Sara Kana.
I've been in battle rap for over 30 years.
I'm New York City born,
Bronx raised.
Battle rap is one person versus the other person with words,
and it's just a battle of wits.
Of back-and-forth banter.
One of the reasons I decided to battle rap is because,
when you come from the Bronx and you're a kid
and you're running the streets,
you're hip-hop's child,
and that's just what I am.
Prism Battle League is the only platform right now
currently concentrating on opening the doors
for LGBTQ in battle rap.
I started Prism Battle League in January 2016
because there needed to be a platform
for lesbian, queer, bisexual, transsexuals, gays,
whoever you are.
Being LGBTQ and anything hip- hop is usually frowned upon,
and Prism is changing that.
(Tez rapping)
- I don't wanna hear, you know,
“Oh, you're dope for a gay guy;
"you got lyrics for a gay guy."
I just wanted you to hear the bars.
Never take away my sexuality,
because I'm proud of who I am at the end of the day,
but I want you to hear what I'm saying.
Homophobia is real in hip-hop.
Prism gives people a voice,
it gives people an option to speak out.
It gives people a home.
- My name's Philipe,
I've seen you since I was in high school.
(Sara laughing)
No, for real,
I used to watch Grind Time since, like,
the very beginning.
It's nice to finally meet you.
- One of the reasons why I decided to self-fund Prism,
and why I'm so passionate,
is because I grew up being a different person.
And I'll never let nobody do that to anybody there.
People to this day look down on me,
and no matter how many times they look down on me,
I rise above it.
- Sara has definitely guided me in the right path.
She showed me, you know,
that you can do this,
and I am forever grateful to her.
- When I was somebody from Prism Battle,
it's an overwhelming feeling,
almost like a mom feeling,
like, you know, these are my babies.
Seeing these people get on platforms they would never be on,
get the recognition they deserve,
I'll go broke before I let them down.