"I didn’t get into hip-hop. I’m young so hip-hop got to me. You know what I mean? It was real simple. I needed something to do to keep myself out of trouble and in school,” says 24-year-old Tony Adams, left, who performs under the name T.W.I.Z., after beating friend, Omar Rashon Maurice Jacobs, right, in the 16-man Hip-Hop Battle Royal at The Brewery in Raleigh. The event attracted freestylers from across North Carolina, and Adams walked away as the 2005 Carolina Cup Champion. “I just started becoming the thing that I just did as my pastime,” says Adams, who started by writing rhymes when he was bored. An assistant manager at Sears Portrait Studio in Raleigh during the day, Adams is establishing the new record label, Darksyde Franchise, in Raleigh. Although he thinks that sometimes his generation focuses only on making money from hip-hop, he also thinks many artists pay attention to the message while picking up their paychecks. “When I do my music, I do my music for people who actually go to take, listen to and learn something from it. There’s a lot of people from different backgrounds who don’t understand. There’s a lot of stereotypes but within our music, reality music, you’re going to hear the fact that on a lot of levels we’re the same and on a lot of levels we’re different. Our music accepts that,” he says as friends gather to congratulate him on his win. Shout-outs and laughter, car horns and stereos sound as the excitement from the beat battle spills out into the small gravel parking lot behind the club and Adams’ voice once again captures a crowd as he recounts the evening’s events.