Murda Mook vs. Jae Millz

YouTube celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, and while it’s the way most of the rap battle audience catches their lyrical combat now, there was once a time when you had only two ways to watch a battle: 1) live or 2) by knowing somebody who knew somebody who knew somebody who could copy you a 5th generation VHS tape. That all changed in the early 2000s with the advent of independent DVD distribution, and the first must-see battle of that medium was Murda Mook vs. Jae Millz.

The family tree of each and every battle you watch today can in some way be traced back to this infamous collision. To this day, it’s essential viewing for any rappers wanting to know how to win a crowd and make their presence known in a rap battle.

In a Forbes DVD interview with Mook from 2014, he spoke on the battle, saying: "That was the first time I was born on the cameras, man,” he says. “Nobody [knew me], that’s why when people ask me who won that battle, I always say, ‘I won that battle because I wasn’t nobody before.’ I wasn’t nobody, but once that battle dropped, everybody knew me."

He went on to explain how the match was set up. "I started just going everywhere. Any camera that I could find that was on, I’m saying, ‘Yo I want to battle him.’ They had little DVDs out — this was before the Smack — they just had little DVDs in the hood ... We put a bet up, it was $5,000 ... once that happened, we set the date — I didn’t know shit about Smack or none of that — and I came over there and it was just mad motherfuckers. I’m just looking like, ‘Damn, what the fuck did I get myself into?’ There was mad niggas there. He was up there. He was cocky, like, ‘Yo, hurry up man, I got somewhere to go.’

“I see cameras in your face," Murda Mook continued. "I don’t know what’s what. I just started doing what I know how to do. Just rap. Even when I watch that battle, obviously I’ve grown, but certain other shit I could’ve delivered better, like when I see it, if I knew what I knew now type shit, it would have been a whole different [situation.]”

Every Thursday, BattleRap.com posts a classic battle that you should know about, or at least be reminded of occasionally. See them all here.

Who won? Let us know in the comments below.