In rap-battle arena, Marine corporal shows mad skills - Entertainment, Music - Navy Times

In rap-battle arena, Marine corporal shows mad skills

He may not look like a hard-charging Marine when he’s sporting his trademark bow tie, but don’t judge this lyrics-lobbing leatherneck by his cover.

When 25-year-old Cpl. Derek Meitzer steps up for a rap battle, he drops rhymes like he’s landing full-body blows in a head-spinning pugil stick match.

The bow tie, he says, is equal parts style and strategy.

“If I show up wearing pajamas, they’ll go after that,” says Meitzer, known among his growing freestyle fan base as D’Meitz. “So this helps me prepare my mind for how they’ll come after me.”

Meitzer was already a veteran rapper when he joined the military more than four years ago. “I fell in love with hip hop when I was 6 years old,” says the Cleveland native. By the time he was in middle school, he was landing knockout blows in a local rap battle league.

Amid tours that have taken him from Okinawa to Serbia to Iraq, Meitzer has crafted three albums, drawing on influences from Biggie Smalls to Bob Dylan to 1920s poet Dorothy Parker.

“She could pack more into a few lines than most put into an entire book,” he says.

This fast-paced firepower has helped Meitzer make a name for himself in the YouTube-fueled underground hip-hop scene.

He packs D.C.-area hip-hop clubs and has performed in London and Canada as part of an international competitive rap battle league. In March, he took second place in a talent competition at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va., where he works as a combat videographer.

He plans to move to New York City when he gets out of the military in November.