Industry artist and battle rap legend Jin gave his thoughts on FCMG/FilmOn's "Ether" and its main event between Dizaster and Cassidy in a recent interview with PSA Radio.
Jin was among the people who watched the pay-per-view from home and had to deal with the technical difficulties that went along with it. He says it's crazy to see how much battle rap has evolved, mentioning the number of new leagues and how elaborate battles have gotten, with press conferences and the like. Jin also questions how much the spectacle of events like "Total Slaughter" and "Ether" helps the culture on a grand scale, echoing recent comments made by battle rappers Daylyt and Bigg K.
“Maybe to a certain point, this battling thing isn’t meant to go big how some people want it to go big,” says Jin.
In the interview, Jin recalls the early days of battling, when the lyrical sport took place in parks, on street corners, and in garages and says that it may not be meant to become a mainstream art. However, he does express appreciation for the PPV, saying it allows fans to watch battles before they've been edited and therefor in their rawest, most authentic form.
He gives his thoughts on Cassidy vs. Dizaster (with whom he had a feud several years ago), speaking on the style clash between the two emcees.
"I think ultimately like many battles … it would be two very different styles clashing with each other, and that it would be a matter of style preference," says Jin. "For me personally, I don’t have a style preference. I don’t prefer Diz’s style over Cass’ style, or vice versa. I think I’m looking more for just overall performance of that moment … I’m talking about just performance, not style preference. I’d probably give it to Cass in terms of overall, in all three rounds in the garage.
“Between the two of ‘em, consistently kind of looking like they’re on it, and not discombobulated — I know that's kind of a weird word to use — I’d probably say Cass was more on it. He never look discombobulated at all,” says Jin.
Jin (and many others) found Cassidy’s performance to be the cleaner of the two. His assessment is in line with how the majority of fans saw the battle: even though Cassidy’s bars lacked complexity, Dizaster’s rounds lacked structure and consistency.
"I'm not basing it on lyrics, cause we’re talking about in the moment. If you’re talking line for line, lyric for lyric … Diz as always probably wrote more intentionally.”
Jin also mentions Dizaster’s freestyling, saying it's sometimes impressive, but often lacks the structure of traditional battle rounds. He also says Dizaster began to show frustration as the battle progressed, while Cassidy maintained his composure and had a clean performance.
Listen to the full interview below:
Thoughts on Jin's remarks? Leave them in the comment section below.
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