Following Arsonal’s announcement yesterday (Sept. 10) that he's withdrawing from the Ill Will battle at “Summer Madness 4,” SMACK/URL rep Eric Beasley spoke with “The War Report” to address the situation, also saying that Arsonal's replacement would be revealed the day of the event.
“For the most part [Arsonal] said that he didn’t feel Ill Will was a worthy opponent for him and it wouldn’t benefit his career. It’s unfortunate because people may have wanted to see him on the card and stuff like that but I think that everything happens for a reason,” Beasley explained. “I’m actually glad that he did it now as opposed to closer to the event. I mean it’s still a few days away so we were able to scramble and find another opponent. Shout-out to Ill Will because he didn’t complain at all. He was like, ‘Just get me somebody else and I’ll be prepared. I’m not gonna let anybody down, I’m gonna be ready and I’m gonna be prepared to go in.’ That was dope so shout-out to him, salute to him for hanging in there.”
Despite Arsonal’s exit from the event, Beasley is enthusiastic about about the replacement.
“I just think that looking back overall, when you look at the Summer Madness 4 card – which I’m so crazy about, that shit is dope – that may have been the match that people wanted to see the least,” he continued. “Maybe [Arsonal] felt that that didn’t give him the energy ... Sometimes things happen for a reason and they work for your benefit. Right now, the opponent that we have for Ill Will, I am crazy about it, man. I’m ecstatic about it.”
Since the news broke that Arsonal was no longer part of the SM4 card, fans have been asking who Ill Will’s replacement opponent will be. Despite revealing no names, Beasley disclosed that the announcement will be made on the day of the battle and insists it’s a worthy opponent.
“That announcement is gonna happen on the Summer Madness stage,” he explained. “So if you appear at Summer Madness, you will know who Ill Will is battling when his opponent walks out on to the stage. All I can say is that he’s an ill opponent [and] it’s gonna be dope. It’s somebody official and it’s gonna be a bar festival, man. We are truly excited about it, man.”
Adding to the speculation, (notorious troll) Daylyt has said he'll be stepping in.
@DAYLYT2k Come On Mannn U were Not Suppose to say anything about battling @illwill6deep We had an agreement http://t.co/I71v6Snw15
— Ultimate Rap League (@urltv) September 11, 2014
YOU DEAD!RT @DAYLYT2k: to all i want to appalagise to the @urltv staff for speakn on my match to soon!
— ILL ABDUL JABARZ (@illwill6deep) September 11, 2014
sm4 here i come!
There has also been buzz on Twitter that it could be Jaz The Rapper or Detroit rapper Calicoe.
Whoever the opponent, Beasley specified that both Ill Will and the replacement already know they’re facing each other.
“Let’s not confuse the listeners either, Ill Will knows who his opponent is,” he said. “He agreed to his opponent. They are writing for each other so they’re both on the same page. Ill Will knows who he is facing, he’s not in the dark. It’s not like it’s a surprise guy that we’ve just thrown at Ill Will out of the blue. I think it actually makes a better match-up ... I don’t even wanna say unfortunately ‘cause in this instance, one opponent stepped out but I actually think it’s going to be a better match-up. I’m really excited about it, everybody’s happy. I almost wish I had thought about doing this match from the onset but sometimes when you’re busy setting up matches, you don’t see things that are obvious and that are in front of you that make sense. But, luckily we got it together.”
When asked whether or not URL was informed of Arsonal’s exit prior to his tweet, Beasley assures the New Jersey battler did the “professional thing” and informed the league before making the announcement via Twitter.
“Let’s be clear, we knew he was going to be pulling out. But we wanted to make sure that we had an opponent on deck. He just didn’t announce it suddenly out of the blue and then we had to call him to find out,” Beasley said. “He did the professional thing and actually called us prior to backing out.”
Later in the interview, Beasley broke down how the match-up came about and explained that Arsonal is in the process of returning the deposit he received for the battle.
“Yes, this was agreed two months ago, Arsonal did take a deposit, he was paid, he signed a contract but he called, he asked [and] he said that he was backing out of the battle,” Beasley said. “He is in the process of returning the deposit and he’s stepping away from the match. I didn’t wanna try to hold him legally to do the battle and say you’ve signed a contract because if his heart isn’t in it, it wouldn’t have been a good match-up anyway. I guess this’ll be one of those match-ups that people talk about but it probably will never happen. That’s fine. I don’t actually want the match to happen seeing as both guys are not interested in battling each other. Sometimes things just turn out to be about the money ... I like battles where both guys are angry at each other like Tsu Surf and Hitman [Holla]. Like [Charlie] Clips and [T-Rex]. Like B Magic and Conceited. These are matches where these guys have stuff on the line or have something to prove.”
Beasley also stated that every party involved is happy with how things have turned out, including both Arsonal and Ill Will.
“I guess in a way it’s better that he actually decided to fall back because it wasn’t a battle that he was interested in doing,” he said. “And from talking to Ill Will after, he was kind of excited because he said, ‘Actually Beas, I didn’t wanna say anything but I wasn’t really interested in him neither.’ It’s good because no one’s angry. We’re not mad at Arsonal because we were able to recover from it and keep on track. Ill Will’s not mad at him, he’s actually happy. And Arsonal’s happy because he didn’t have to do that match that he didn’t wanna do.”
Arsonal has since deleted all of his tweets from yesterday regarding his withdrawal from Summer Madness 4.
Finally, Beasley also said he will be releasing the “Warm-Up” card (Sept. 27) of the SM4 weekend sometime today (Sept. 11). Be sure to check BattleRap.com for the full list of battles.
The full episode of “The War Report” is below:
Who do you think the opponent will be? Who do you want it to be? Let us know in the comments.
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