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Battle Rap News

Legend of the Fall-Offs: Why a return to battle rap isn't for everyone

September 2, 2014, 8:27 pm

Image by Rehab Regime

 

LEGEND OF

THE FALL-OFFS

WHY A RETURN TO BATTLE RAP ISN’T FOR EVERYONE

 

By Dutch Vega

 

Most rappers don't want to admit when their time is up.  They don't even realize it most times.  That's because most people once in a position of power or popularity, surround themselves with yes-men who aren't willing to tell these artists the truth about themselves.  The legend of the fall off's is probably one of the scariest legends that exists because eventually, EVERYONE falls the fuck off.  Not to be sensationalist but even fucking Michael Jackson fell the fuck off.  Feel how you want to about that sentence but its TRUE!  I remember the year before MJ died - NONE of you mofuckas gave a flying fuck about Mike and the music he was releasing, but SOON as he DIED?!?!  Y’all were falling all over each other trying to show your "appreciation" ... foh b.

 

Battle rap fanatics are some of the most illogical misinformed group of niche fans to ever exist.  I've heard battle rap fans say some of the most illogical shit EVER.  Battle rap super fanatics believe all sorts of imaginary fairy tales.  They're like religious people to me (but hey this is about battle rap, so let me not get religion involved.)  Battle rap fans SWORE that because once upon a time Canibus was a dope rapper that somehow would translate to him being a good battle rapper.  Now that the "Tom Cruise Mom's Shoes" moment is behind us, its easy for TONS of you to say, "Oh I knew that was going to happen."  AFTER THE FACT, after it happened anyone can say that.  I have been saying that shit.  I said it about Canibus, I said it about Joe Budden, I'm SAYING IT NOW about Cassidy and even to a certain degree about Fredro Starr and Keith Murray.

 

ITS NOT JUST THEM!  O-solo, Reed Dollaz, Madchild - the list goes on and on and on.  Battle rap in the '10's isn't as easy as it was back in 90s.  Trust me, I've done both.  That is the main difference between battle rap fanatics who don't actually shit about this culture and guys like me, who leaked over from the streets of NYC battle rapping back in the 90s to this present era.  You guys think that because Joe Budden is in Slaughterhouse that somehow he would be different from Canibus. There are Joey fans out there still pretending ya boy was actually doing "ok." BAHAHA I won’t quote him, but (he had) so much shitty material.  Such a shitty PERFORMANCE of said shitty material, such shitty DELIVERY on top of shitty PERFORMANCE on top of shitty material.  You want ME to give THAT bullshit props?!  If he actually got paid 200k or whatever silly, "I'm gonna say i'm getting paid an astronomical number so that it negates when i'm losing and doing horribly" number he said he got paid??!?!  That shit was a WASTE of money.  (Hey Eminem if you're reading this, next time save ya Slaughterhouse boys the embarrassment in the eyes of those of us who actually KNOW what's happening and just pay them that money out right and save ya boys the public humiliation.)  On another note, Joey is so used to being embarrassed, does it even count?  Can you actually embarrass someone who isn't embarrassed by ANYTHING!?  I digress.

 

 

My real point?  Y’all need to STOP wanting to see washed up rappers and battle rappers of the past in this present setting.  Cassidy is going to get WASHED by Dizaster (as badly as Canibus?  Probably not, but it will still be bad, and Cassidy fans will pretend he wasn't "THAT bad," same as Joe Budden’s fans.)  I fully believe Keith Murray is going to win that battle vs Fredro Starr and I am curious to see future events and endeavors from MC War (I would have preferred to watch Black Rob vs Keith Murray which was the original battle, but I'll watch Fredro get washed up too.)  That battle doesn't have me excited, I highly doubt its going to be “a classic."

 

Why?  Because, it's a waste of money, time and resources.  Its just an outright WASTE.  Most of the modern day “classics” that have come about in the past few years do not involve an old rapper who is no longer signed to a major label or some battle rapper from the "golden era" coming back and getting washed in the modern era.  Honestly, name me ONE of these situations where you brought in some 90s rapper or some battle rapper from the pre-youtube era of battling and it was a CLASSIC?  I'll wait ... YOU CANT!  Some guys did ok: Mac Lethal proved he can do pretty fucking good, but that's the EXCEPTION, not the RULE.  THE RULE IS: Washed up rapper gets paid MAD money to fumble around and put on a half-assed performance while the super fans pretend like it WASN'T the body that it WAS.  The real fans are disappointed, the battle rap community gets raped by said washed up rapper, some angel investor is jaded after said shitty performance, and the battle rap movement is no closer to this pinnacle we're trying to reach!

 

But that ain't really none of my business.  [sips tea]  If the superfans and uninformed angel investors want to WASTE, both time and money (two incredibly valuable resources) then go right ahead.  I'll just be sitting here, sipping my tea and saying "I TOLD YOU SO" after every attempt at the same exact broken idea/system of, "Lets bring in ‘such and such’ to do something COMPLETELY OUTSIDE of their comfort zone."  YEAH!  That’s gonna be the "winning formula."  Surely, that will be the move that catapults battle rap to the forefront of the mainstream.  Don't even get me started on that whole desire to see battle rap on a mainstream level - personally, I know better than that shit, but that's another article for another time.  For now, I'm just gonna get my "I TOLD YOU SO” ready for Dizaster vs Cassidy and Fredro Starr vs Keith Murray.

 

Sincerely,

Paragraphs Vega

 

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