Calling into AngryFans Radio ahead of tonight’s "Gladiator School" event for the BET Hip Hop Awards weekend, Murda Mook spoke about turning down Snoop Dogg’s initial offer to battle Arsonal at the event.
“That’s really why I’m calling up,” Murda Mook said of the decision not to battle. “Is this Angry Fan? I thought me and you had a better understanding than that. I was a little bit surprised at you man. I was a little bit surprised that you would think I would even entertain battling a pot battle. Alright. So, let’s look at it from the standpoint of what’s going on. They got top-tier, they got middle-tier, I guess you got low-tier, even the lowest of the lowest that get paid, they still get paid for their services, correct?”
Speaking on his own history of taking little to no money for battles, Mook explained the origins of his current asking price.
“That was when battling wasn’t generating any revenue,” he said. “That was when we would just battle anywhere. We was just betting our own money to bet. This is not when they charging people to get in whatever prices, VIP. This is before they were able to make money off of us. So now when there’s money to be made off of us, $25,000 in the grand scheme is nowhere near a lot of money bro. When an event could make half a million dollars. Am I wrong for that?”
Explaining Snoop Dogg’s early offer, Mook detailed passing on the battle to co-host the event instead.
“He told me, he brought it to my attention, he said, ‘I want a $25,000 winner-take-all.’ I said, ‘Yo, Snoop, I got more money than that on Total Slaughter.’ So, for me to backtrack and go back, that’s not a smart move for me period, to take less. Once I told him that, he said, out his own mouth, ‘I knew you wasn’t gonna do that shit. I just had to ask you ‘cause I had to try.’ He already knew he wanted me to be hosting it with him. He wanted it to be me and his event. But he wouldn’t be the nigga he was if he didn’t at least try to get me to battle. You understand what I’m saying?”
Addressing a possible next match-up, Mook claimed to be in negotiations for a six-figure battle.
“Right now, as we speak, this is real life, I’m in negotiations with six figures easily right now,” he said. “Easily six figures to do my next battle. No disrespect to Arsonal or anybody else, but right now we in the age [that this is] nigga’s careers. We don’t got no jobs to go to after — well I know I don’t. If I’m gonna treat it as such my business mentality has to overshadow what I feel in my heart. As fans, fans just wanna see battles. They just wanna see niggas battle, no matter what it is. But from a standpoint of me and my brand and career moves and everything like that, you gotta know you can’t do that. You know $25,000 winner-take-all is not something that’s happening. Not for me. It would be a good move for somebody else definitely.”
Mook also clarified his position and allowed the possibility of a battle against Arsonal nonetheless.
“I never said I wouldn’t battle him,” he said. “It’s not like he said battle him and I was like, ‘Nah, I don’t wanna battle him.’ I never said that. It just didn’t make sense for me from a dollar standpoint. I had previously said that if money was offered that was right and made sense I would battle. Arsonal is somebody that I would entertain battling.”
Addressing the place of high-stakes battles among mainstream rappers not known for the sport, Mook acknowledged the influence of cash in the industry.
“Fredro Starr and Keith Murray, even though that’s not a desirable battle for most, I still can understand ‘cause they were at a point battle rapping,” he said. “They were still in it. I can almost guarantee you Mike Jones and Bone Crusher weren’t involved in battle rapping. That’s the only thing I don’t want, muthafuckas coming in here from just anywhere, thinking, ‘Oh, let’s just do that.’ I don’t control that. I can’t control that. I don’t worry about shit I can’t control. It’s sad, but hey, it’s hustling. You can’t be mad at a nigga getting money ... It’s a double-edged sword. I don’t like it. I’m totally against it. But, I get it. If you can make money, who are we to tell a nigga not to go make money?”
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