In THE BATTLE FOR L.A., words are the weapons and pride and honor are the rewards. Director Darren Doane has gone underground to document the world where hip-hop began and 8 MILE ends -- it's a place where MCs battle it out with words, wit and the most basic beats. There's no bling-bling, thong things, gangsta frontin' or any other B.S. This is hip-hop the way it was intended to be, before it was all about the Benjamins. In a world in which everyone talks about keepin' it real, THE BATTLE FOR L.A. actually does.

Shot on location at the Green Club in Venice, the Poetry Lounge in Hollywood and various streets of Los Angeles over an intense three-day period in July 2003, THE BATTLE FOR L.A. is the culmination of a filmmaker's search to find something real and fresh in a pop culture scene that has been watered down and sold out by get-rich-quick wannabes and greedy businessmen in search of their next meal ticket.

Known for his work on music videos for such alt-rock stalwarts as Deftones, AFI, Jimmy Eat World and Blink-182, Doane became disillusioned by the fact that the underground had become the new mainstream. Sure he -- as well as many of the artists that he worked with -- benefited from success, but the filmmaker longed for that sense of discovery, danger and excitement he felt when he first started working with garage bands as a teen.

Just as Doane's passion for documenting rock was on the wane, he acted on a tip from his pal and future BATTLE FOR L.A. co-producer Dax Reynosa. The pair had met years earlier when Doane lensed a video clip for Reynosa's underground hip-hop collective The TunnelRats. After discussing the merits of Eminem's 2002 box-office blockbuster 8 MILE, Reynosa informed Doane the rap battles portrayed in the film weren't just Hollywood-by-the-way-of-Detroit fiction; it's a real phenomenon happening on the streets of L.A.

"With all the information the Internet today, there's not really anything underground any more," says Doane, "but this was. These are people without contracts, with nothing to promote, no tapes. They're on the street and known for battling."

With Reynosa as his "ghetto pass," Doane quickly assembled a camera crew and hit the street. Initially Doane wanted to capture all of hip-hop culture, including graffiti art, but once he hit the clubs it became clear that the battles were the story.

"This is timeless," says Doane. "It's about two people squaring off. We live in a time where it's politically incorrect to disagree verbally. Discourse is not very popular any more. This is public discourse with the same attitude of a boxing match; same level of energy and it involves people's minds and charisma. The mind is the sword and you've got to be quick and smart enough to cut someone down in a verbal battle."

The nearly dozen of MCs featured on THE BATTLE FOR L.A. have diverse styles and ethnicities, but all have one thing in common: They're in it for the thrill of competition and the need for self-expression, not for fame or money.

Featured battling MCs include Propaganda. Dreadlocked and rail-thin, he might not look lethal, until he opens his mouth and spits out his venomous rapid-fire rhymes. Then there's IN-Q, a white boy with slicked back hair and a goatee. He looks more like some baseball jock than an MC. But when he steps up to the mic, he delivers an aural assault that leaves the competition shaking in their Adidas.

The action isn't limited to

TheBattleForLA