Poetry Teacher Takes On Pupil In Rap Battle (VIDEO)

Poetry Teacher Takes On Pupil In Rap Battle (VIDEO)

WARNING: VIDEO CONTAINS BAD LANGUAGE

The crowd parts and out from the sea of caps, chains and hoodies emerges a nicely dressed man in a suit and a tie. He’s probably a dad, here to collect the baby-faced MC Blizzard who stands opposite him.

But as he opens his mouth and the words flow, we realise he’s actually here to battle.

The video above shows poetry teacher Mark Grist taking on his 17-year-old pupil MC Blizzard in a freestyle rap battle. Unsurprisingly, it's become a viral hit.

Once you get past the faux aggression and expletives, Grist's powers of wit and improvisation really shine through as the elder man's more 'bookish' crudity spars with his young opponents rap-style put downs.

He's so good you begin to suspect this is not Grist's first exposure to hip hop.

In fact it isn't - Grist is one half of Dead Poets, a Peterborough based group who fuse hip hop with poetry. He and collaborator MC Mixy have toured the UK, played at The Edinburgh Fringe Festival and done much outreach work with schools.

But who wins, master or apprentice? You'll have to watch the video to find out...

To see more from him, follow Grist on Twitter or view the Dead Poets website.

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