Biggie vs. Tupac, Jay-Z vs. Eminem in SVP’s 2012 MC Bracket showdowns

More than 2 million votes have been cast in the Scott Van Pelt Show‘s 2012 MC Bracket, a “tournament” to determine the best rapper in hip-hop history.

Your votes have whittled a field of 64 of music’s most storied beat poets to four.

Tuesday into Wednesday, The Dirty South region’s No. 1 seed Notorious B.I.G. meets West Coast top-billed Tupac Shakur in one semifinal; in the other, East Coast No. 3 seed Jay-Z meets Eminem, the No. 5 seed representing the Eight Mile Region.

Voting for the eventual champion will conclude Friday.

What’s the story behind the concept?

Microphone fiends and show co-hosts Scott Van Pelt and Ryen Russillo and producer Rappin’ Ray Necci dropped some knowledge.

How did this tournament to determine the best MC get started ?
Necci: During last year’s edition of “fun” brackets [regarding sports cliches], the show researcher (Justin Ray) suggested the idea. He even put together his own field of 64. Justin even sent a few updates in the months that followed. The final edition came from Ryen submitting his “64” and numerous tweaks from the rest of the staff.

Who’s Van Pelt’s favorite rapper?
Van Pelt: Rakim.
Russillo: Probably one that stinks.

Who’s Russillo’s favorite rapper?
VP: Del the Funky Homosapien.
Russillo: The guys that said zoom, zoom, zoom and a zoom zoom a lot.
Necci: Me? Beastie Boys.

Any surprises in the voting?
Van Pelt: There have been a lot of bad results. Slick Rick lost too early, Rakim lost too early.
Russillo: Yes, never thought Del would get bounced by anyone.
Necci: There were some early upsets and complaints over who did not make the field of 64, but no one with a real chance to win it all was overlooked. We were also reminded that the “popular” vote doesn’t always match the skill level.

What was last year’s SVP bracket about and how did the voting go?
Necci: Last year’s poll was based off sports clichés and phrases that we wanted “banned.” I do not have last year’s numbers, but this year, as we head into the Semifinals of the MC Bracket, we have 2,157,945 total votes. That’s up from last year’s bracket.