The battle rap world got its first real taste of what to expect from the Dizaster/Cassidy match-up at the debut press conference for the Fresh Coast/FilmOn "Ether" event in Los Angeles this afternoon (September 4).
The press conference was broadcast live on FilmOn's "BattleCam" online network, which is where BattleRap.com caught it. [UPDATE: You can watch the recording here.]
The main lessons? This is the beginning of a fiery rivalry between Diz and Cass, and battle rap now has holograms.
Cassidy appeared as a seated, ghostly figure and got into several heated arguments with Dizaster about their battle careers and who would win at the "Ether" event slated to go down on December 6 at Belasco Theatre in Los Angeles.
Fresh Coast boss Lush One said Cassidy was broadcasting from the Bahamas, but our sources say he was just in another room at FilmOn Studios, where the conference was held. That Lush's friend G Money also appeared briefly as a hologram sitting next to Cassidy would seem to confirm that. As would all of the photos of Cassidy in the building.
Cassidy and Dizaster outside. Photo by @IAmHBY
In any case, the technology (made possible by FilmOn's CEO Alki David) worked perfectly and there was no lag as Cass and Diz argued on stage.
The conference launched with Lush giving some background on how the partnership with FilmOn came about, covering the same territory he did in his recent interview with BattleRap.com.
He then introduced the battlers, starting with a "lyrical weigh-in" where Dizaster was happy to freestyle for him.
When it was Cassidy's turn to kick a verse, he declined, inciting catcalls from the crowd. Cass shot back, telling them "From that shit that Dizaster just spit, I don't wanna show him up already... You can't be serious saying I don't got bars. I gave you bars for over a decade. Constant bars. Nothing but bars. That shit niggas did freestyling off the top, that shit ain't nothing to me. But they ain't pay me to go on interviews and start going back-and-forth. They paying me to step in the ring. So when I step in the ring y'all going to hear them fuckin' bars."
This was the tone of much of the 50-minute presser, with Cassidy regularly going on aggressive rants and dominating the stage even without actually being physically present on it.
When asked about how they planned on keeping the event violence-free in the wake of Dizaster punching Math Hoffa in his most recent battle, Lush said they would have their own security. (He emphasized the point enough that we're curious if they've got a celebrity referee the same way Total Slaughter hired DJ Kay Slay.)
"There ain't gonna be no need for that," Dizaster added. "Whatever happened last time was a fuckin' mistake. We ain't coming for none of that energy. Cassidy is supposed to feel the most comfortable he is, and we all should be comfortable having fun. It ain't no need to worry about violence."
Despite that, a few exchanges between the two rappers got pretty heated, pretty quickly. The peak came when Dizaster called Cassidy an "ungrateful faggot-ass" while they were bickering about Twitter and Instagram.
Lush stepped in to lighten the mood, interrupting them with: "Ok, this shit is getting heated as fuck."
Cassidy also addressed his perceived historical place in the battle scene and responded to online critics saying he was taking the battle for the money and not the good of the culture.
"No disrespect [to any battle leagues], but before all them battle leagues existed, I was running around doing what I was doing. That Freeway battle was like the fuckin' bridge that let all these battle leagues get off the ground. So if anybody can talk about doing something for the fuckin' culture, it's me. I live for the culture."
Dizaster replied to him, saying: "You have to respect that we've put in work and you've never battled in front of a huge crowd in your life. So it doesn't matter how many dudes you've killed in the studio, how [many people] you've killed off camera. Dawg, at the end of the day, there ain't no receipts for that."
Cassidy responded, again taking a shot at Diz. "I know you like to talk. Like when you be rapping, you be rapping for a long-ass time and don't really be saying shit. But at the end of the day, I'm the foundation of this battle shit... You just happy to be on stage with me. At the end of the day, I'm a different type of nigga with this rap shit. If I don't show up, I got way more shit to lose than you. You always losing. This ain't gonna be your first time losing. You lost wild times before and you the same nigga. You come back to the same battle, making the same little bit of money, with the same little bit of fans and it's the same shit. I got way more to lose. I'm a made nigga. I got fans in continents that you ain't been to before, nigga... I got wild shit to lose so I ain't coming out here to play."
Dizaster admitted he'd lost before, but that it's a part of battling. "Let's talk about the losing thing. You gotta be a real soldier to be able to go on the battlefield and lose. You ain't never really battled. I have 70 battles on camera. Of course I got loses. You ain't got shit but one battle. Do 70 battles on camera and then come back and say 'I ain't never lost.'"
Cassidy jumped again. "Nigga, I got more battles than all y'all niggas combined. Real ganstas. I'm talking 'bout the niggas that made the industry billions of dollars. Ask them niggas how many battles I been in. I used to do this shit four or five times a day. On sight. No preparation. No four or five months to prepare for it. I'm talking about on sight. I did this shit thousands and thousands of times and I got a deal from it. I sold records from it. I got plaques on the wall from it. I'm a household name from it. What the fuck did you make from it? You still just battling on camera."
The event wasn't without its absurd moments as well, with Dizaster pulling out a chicken statue to mock Cassidy's recent interview where he kept using the slang term "chicken" to mean money.
Diz with the chicken. Photo by @IAmHBY
ALSO OF NOTE:
-In the building: Malik Spellman, DJ Vlad, Sticky Fingaz from Onyx.
-Lush mentioned Conceited and said they were trying to get him on the "Ether" card.
-The first two rounds for Diz/Cass will be three minutes long with the third being five minutes.
-Cassidy suggested Chubby Jag battle Cortez at the event.
Click here to watch the full press conference.
For all of BattleRap.com's coverage of Dizaster vs. Cassidy, click the tag below.
Photos by @IAmHBY
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