A while back, in the hay-days of steem, there was a guy named @jamesgetsit. This guy was an inspirational person and someone that was always willing to share his talents (And, man! Does this guy have talent!).

Back when he was an active member amongst the steem community he ran a weekly competition, called #killthepad.

(Artwork by @scuzzy)

What is Kill The Pad Challenge?

"Kill The Pad challenge is a weekly topical text-based rap competition for SBD. Why am I starting a text-based rap initiative? We have many creative writers in the hip hop community. One doesn't have to get onto the mic to show their prowess with lyricism. This will benefit the less experienced and the more experienced alike. Topicals are always a good exercise. It's all about elevating together, learning from each other, and growing as an artist."

source

The competition used to be formatted thusly;

All pretty simple, right? And other than replacing the word "Steem" with "Hive" there is little else I would like to change. One difference I would like to make is the "weekly topic". Usually, this would be a suggested phrase to write about, such as the one you see above. Just to freshen things up I would like to introduce an idea I have seen on another social media platform whereby participants are asked to write about an image, rather than a phrase. Below is an example of the kind of image I would ask you to write about;

pic-source

This contest was sponsored by the SMA(Steem Music Alliance) community and also supported by Dsound. Now I'm not too sure what's happening with either of these communities at present, or even if they still exist. Besides, much has changed since #killthepad was last around and, quite possibly, these supporters are inactive or haven't migrated to hive.

Nonetheless, I would like to breathe new life into this competition and would welcome any support regarding participation and/or prize pools(Which could be via a generous upvote to a weekly competition-post or more directly). Because I have no idea what kind of support this project will get, I will put up the prize fund myself from the post payout and from my own liquid stash. Hopefully, this will be enough to generate interest but with the right support, a higher prize fund could be offered.

I'm going to get in touch with some of the old participants and inform them of my moves and I've already sent a message to @jamesgetsit about my idea. Due to his knowledge and skills, it would be great to have him on board. Still, if you know of anyone who would be interested in giving critique and helping to judge entries that would be just as good.

So, please let me know what you think about this project and whether you would be interested in joining in or supporting it.

Personally, I think it would be a great way to enrich the hive blockchain and give people the opportunity to interact with others and indulge in some creative writing.

Who knows, maybe you have a Gangster-Shakespear just waiting to be discovered...