With the Shady Records- and Slaughterhouse-backed Total Slaughter event less than a month away, King of the Dot’s Lush One spoke with TheBeeShine about his view of the event and why it’s beneficial to Battle Rap at large.
“There’s been some negativity though,” he said of the event. “In particular I’ve noticed a sentiment among organizers and league owners—my contemporaries, the people that have helped build this culture to what it is, to create this platform as to where Battle Rap is relevant enough for a major entity to come and take it to that next level. Me personally, I think it’s awesome. I think it’s really great for Battle Rap culture. I think it’s bringing a lot—I understand why people are frustrated—but I have a few different thoughts on it.
“First of all, the individuals involved—Eminem in particular and Slaughterhouse and all of them—are deeply involved in battle culture,” he added. “It’s pretty much the same fans of Slaughterhouse are fans of Battle Rap because it’s the fans that are into the art of lyricism. Pushing that line super tough. It’s a similar market right there. They’re not stupid. They got an album coming out. They gotta promote it somehow. They’re on Shady, I’d imagine [they have] a substantial budget. A lot of this is speculation, educated speculation you could say. That [budget is] being put wisely towards this whole thing. It’s a giant platform. That’s what it’s designed for, Battle Rap. It’s designed for promoting artists and things like that. That’s one of the reasons I got into it myself. I’m a rapper, I make music. Boom, here’s my shit. I battle so you could hear my shit. Okay, I’m done battling, I’ll host this shit and organize this shit so my partners can get some shine. And you could hear my music ‘cause it’s dope...They’re doing that same exact type of thing.
“At the same time they’re bringing a lot more attention to Battle Rap,” Lush One continued. “They’re making the whole stadium a lot bigger for all of us. There was an article on People magazine and different things, huge outlets that would never cover Battle Rap are now aware of it. Whether or not you like the particular battles that are on there, it’s gonna bring battling in general more shine. All the leagues are gonna benefit. In particular, these rappers that are a part of the show, that’s a huge outlet for them and all this is about is creating outlets."
Detailing his approach to organizing battles himself, Lush One explained shying away from the signing battlers to exclusive contracts.
“Dude, if we really wanted to we could have signed a gang of motherfuckers to exclusive King of the Dot contracts,” he said. “Exclusive you have to [have] Lush One management deals and all this extra shit. I’m trying to do things that are beneficial for them. I got my own career to worry about. I’m not trying to have a million rappers under me or whatever. These are dudes that I believe in, artists I believe in, that I know are gonna get shine so let me help get them that extra push. That’s what my platform’s designed for. The Total Slaughter thing helps bring that to another level. If I could be in the building that day, if the stars are aligned, you might even just see me up there.”
Total Slaughter is scheduled to take place in New York City on July 12. Slaughterhouse's own Joe Budden is slated to battle Hollow Da Don on a card that also includes appearances from Murda Mook, Loaded Lux, and more.
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