While a headlining battle between Keith Murray and Fredro Starr was cancelled due to non-payment after being scheduled for MC WAR’s botched “New World Order II” event in Atlanta over the weekend, the league also allegedly failed to pay eight other artists and was forced to call off two other battles as a result. One of the battles scheduled was set to feature Georgia emcees Ness Lee and Syahboy but fell through after promoters continually came up short with performance fees.
Speaking with BattleRap.com, Ness Lee explained how his planned battle at “NWOII” suffered the same fate as the high-profile industry match-ups due to the league’s inability to pay the performers. Ness added the event itself was poorly planned from its inception.
“First of all they opened the doors at 10:30 and started the battles at 12:00 on a Sunday night,” he said. “And instead of keeping the battles and momentum going it felt like these niggas did they best to make the time between the battles last longer than the actual battles. They succeeded.”
Ness reported that of the half-dozen battles booked only three took place. Additionally, the Georgia-based rapper claimed that of the 12 rappers booked for the event, only four received any money in the form of pre-performance deposits.
Addressing the breakdown in communication and scheduling, Ness attributed the failure on the league’s poor planning.
“They're delusional idiots,” he said before recalling previous issues with the MC WAR league. “They think they can throw not only an event, but a mega-event, without any fucking money bruh. This isn’t the first time they've done this. They did the same thing last year with me and Syah as well but I knew better and didn’t spend any energy on it. I took it seriously this time because they came to me with a contract, that and all of the other things surrounding the battle made it make sense to me [and] then that bull started. Contract states that I be paid half on Sept. 9. Sept. 9 comes, no money. I was lenient: ‘We have a contract right?’ Waited a few days then asked about the money. ‘We'll get it to you in a few days.’ Ok, we have a contract right? I chilled and was patient. A ‘few days’ turned into ‘next week’ turned into ‘when you get to the battle’ etc. When I get to the battle first thing I do is ask for my money. These niggas had the audacity to ask me to perform without it and they'll get it to me later. I assume they had this same conversation with the rest of the artists. They lied to get me in the building then lied when I was in the building. ‘Syah is here right now with his crew,’ they said. ‘Nigga I just texted Syah.’ Nigga was at home prolly watching updates about how ridiculous this event was and laughing because he dodged an ass kicking. I was about to do that boy dirty. Anyway, these weirdos still somehow convinced six of the battlers to go on without having being paid a dime. Lotta Zay drove down from New Jersey on his own dime expecting to be compensated. They left him high and dry. In fact, he's still here trying to get his money and get back to New Jersey. It's Tuesday. The event was Sunday bruh.”
Ness Lee also spoke briefly about his anticipation for the headlining match-up between Starr and Murray before offering his view of the culture as a whole.
“I was all about it,” he said. “Battle rap is boring now. Stagnant. Nothing interesting really. All the rappers are doing the same thing. Most of the fans want to see the same thing but when they see it they hate it. We've been doing the same workout to the same body part for over half a decade and aren't making any progress. Niggas ain't trying anymore and still getting booked. Matches like this card add some much needed spice to the sport. Besides, we as a culture have been hazing these industry niggas to jump in the ring for a decade now. How we just gon’ get mad when they do it?”
While the league made headlines for its recent cancellations, Ness Lee also informed BattleRap.com of the league’s history and his own previous experiences with poor management.
“They're the first league I've ever known to exist,” he said. “Niggas been around since ‘01 from what I know. I used to rock with them heavy. They had the best format in battle rap I'd seen and still do to this day, [it’s] wild entertaining and fun for the emcees. We traveled, performed at big events, got free gear, and [built] a cool lil' name locally. It was dope for a young kid man. I wasn't worried about any money. I'm out here bodying niggas, performing in front of Lebron James, 50 Cent, etc. and making connections. Then money got involved and they had no idea how to manage it. Promises being made and broken every event and resulted in a lot of us leaving them be. I was just falling back in general to work on music but I saw what was going on between them and the other artists.
“So I stopped battling period from the end of '03 to like '06 when they hit me again to do this event. I said, ‘No.’ They said ‘we'll pay you.’ I said, ‘Yes.’ I start off rusty then heat up and start cooking niggas. Long story short, they didn't pay me, made promises, then put my bullshit rounds online instead of the good footage. I cut them off. Now one would assume almost a decade later they'd have their shit together. No. Them niggas may be worse now. You don't throw an event off of promises. End of the day they threw morals out the window and went for self. I turned down multiple other events to rock with these niggas man. They don't care that I prepared twice because Reign Man got scared and backed out and got replaced by Syahboy. They don't care about the fact that I wasn't part of the Snoop Dogg event specifically to last-minute prepare for Syahboy. They don't give a fuck about taking money out of my pockets. So what do I think about them? They some lames with a great idea. I'll never take their format away from them but niggas is weirdos.”
Ness Lee is scheduled to battle Heartless in Atlanta on Nov. 1 at Don’t Flop's first event in the United States. He will also take on Daylyt in South Africa as a part of a Scrambles4Money event scheduled for Dec. 12.
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