Rap Traces Roots Back To Scotland?

I’ve got 99 problems, and they’re all Micks. It seems the storied history of the rap battle might trace its roots all the way back to Scotland. Apparently, back in the day, angry Scotsmen would systematically punish fuck each other auditory-style in a war of words called flyting. Outrageously profane, some of these confrontations reportedly took place between poets and wordsmiths and the King would watch. No, I’m not kidding. Sorry Tupac and Biggie. Your so-called feud had nothing on these Highlanders.

According to The Telegraph, Professor Ferenc Szasz’s research claims ill-tempered Scottish slave owners brought the surly practice over to the New World and passed their custom down through the slaves, who then slowly morphed it into what we’d now call a rap battle. The more you know…

I’ll be honest. I have done no research to verify these claims, nor have I read anything more than the paper’s abridgement, but it seems just the right amount of bizarre to be true. Let’s go ahead and take it as fact.

If you’re keeping score at home, the Scottish also invented golf. Scotland 2 Belarus 0.