Corey Charron, just Charron to his fans, waves his arms robotically as rhyming metaphors flow passionately from his mouth.
The crowd gasps in awe as he annihilates his opponent with words – and not the kind your grandmother would use.
Forty thousand YouTube viewers have seen Charron win this battle, and it is one of many victories.
But Charron is out of place among the baseball caps, baggy pants and bulging chains. This 18-year-old rapper is lanky, white and an employee at the local Rogers video store.
“I’d be lying if I said 8 Mile didn’t influence me,” Charron said of the movie that launched his battle rap fervor.
As a Grade 6 student in Winnipeg, he said he was inspired to perform Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” for the 2004 school talent show.
“I had my . . . black hoodie down to my knees, baggy jeans with holes in them,” he said. “People thought I was good. Looking back, I probably wasn’t,”
Shortly afterward, he said his family moved back to Ottawa where he had been born and spent most of his life. But living out his rap star fantasy remained a one-time affair until Grade 9
In his first year at St. Peter Catholic High School in Orléans, Charron said he started learning about battles and watching them online, rapping a bit at lunchtime and recess.
“I found it really cool that people . . . were connected by the sole reason of battle rapping,” said Charron, who describes the hobby as stand-up comedy that rhymes.
At first, he said he was embarrassed to admit he rapped because he didn’t fit the stereotype, but he slowly gained confidence and, in Grade 11, signed up for a rap battle event hosted by an Ottawa clothing store called Rugged Culture.
Charron ended up becoming the Rugged Culture freestyle champion for 2009 after winning seven battles in a row.
After that, Charron said King of the Dot, Canada’s premier rap battle league, saw his videos and let him try out. After battling there a few times, the American league called Grind Time flew him to California to battle their runnerup champion, who he beat.
“I watched religiously like anyone with a favorite sport. It’s just like if you watched Georges St-Pierre [from Ultimate Fighting Championship] and you had your chance to fight in front of him,” he said. “I remember standing before my battle and my heart was just racing [and] pounding because I was really excited [and] nervous.”
While in California, Charron also became the first Canadian to win the Tourettes Without Regrets freestyle competition, hosted by Jamie DeWolf.
To date, he has won seven King of the Dot battles. As well, he is the 2010 winner for King of the Dot’s Proud 2 B competition, which took place in December.
Whereas most battles are a capella and allow for about one month of preparation, Proud 2 B is a freestyle battle tournament set to a beat.
“It’s kind of cool because . . . I’d be on Facebook all the time contacting [battlers] as a fan . . . and now I get two to three messages a day from fans. So I slowly watched myself evolve to what I wanted to become,” Charron said.
He said he is currently taking some time off school to battle, work on an album, and possibly put together an event for the Ottawa scene, one he calls “dry.”
He also said he might try to break the Guinness Book of World Records for longest freestyle – currently eight hours – to raise money for charity.
“My parents are nice enough to let me stay home and do this,” Charron said, noting his parents’ initial thoughts that there would be drugs and guns at his battles.
“Then they realized people actually enjoy it and people were coming up to me in public … they kind of grew to love it. Now my mom’s pretty much addicted to rap battles,” he said. “She tries to give me lines like ‘oh, you should tell so and so they probably got bad marks in school.’ I’m like, ‘No. That’s not really how it works.’ ”
Charron said he would like to study psychology at the University of Ottawa and eventually become a teacher. For now, “I’m just kind of going along with the ride,” he said.
Within the next year, Charron said he has plans to travel to England, Australia, a few places across America, the Maritimes and the Philippines for battle rap. He jut finished touring Ontario with rapper Choclair, and is presently participating in King of the Dot’s Grand Prix 2011, a two-on-two tournament.
“Usually anywhere I go I have to end up rapping,” said Charron, specifically mentioning parties with friends. He said lines constantly revolve in his head.
“All the stories are people thinking I’m a dweeb and then they’re like so nice to me after [I rap], treating me like a superstar. The expectations are so low . . . it’s that much better because they didn’t expect it. So, really, I wouldn’t have it any other way,” he said.