Chilla Jones Speaks On The State Of Battle Rap

The Boston emcee speaks on industry rappers stepping into the game, the mainstreaming of the culture and more.

Chilla Jones' rise to popularity in battle rap parallels the macrocosm of the scene’s ascension into the mainstream arena over the past six years. Over the course of his career, the Boston-bred emcee has been able to dutifully straddle both realms as a recording artist in the mixtape circuit, and onstage backing up his words against opponents.

In an exclusive interview with BattleRap.com, Chilla Jones spoke about how he sees the scene’s evolution through 2015, the effect of the “Cassidy vs. Dizaster” hype in the mainstream, why he decries commercial rappers now entering the battle rap scene, where battle rappers need to improve on their skill set in this era, and what he believes battle rap fans look for in contenders to pick their favorites.

BattleRap.com: What do you see next for battle rap in 2015?

Chilla Jones: Well, it's only going to the next level. You can kinda see that with that Cassidy and Dizaster battle, which I think could have definitely elevated battle rap to a more mainstream level. A more commercial level. I think we’ll see a lot more music industry involvement. Whether it’s throwing events, whether it’s industry rappers deciding to step in the ring. More money is going to funneled into the culture. For those of us who have followed the culture and been involved in it for a long time, I think a lot of us are afraid that it’s getting too watered down and soft. You know what I mean?

We don't want it too commercialized to the point where it is battles bleeping out the swears. That’s kinda not where we want it to go. But at the same time we do want to see its growth. We do want to see it get bigger for everybody involved. I definitely think it’s going to reach more people than it’s ever reached. Whether that’s the demise of battle rap or not is something that remains to be seen.

What’s your take on emcees who had bigger names in the industry years ago who are now competing in the battle rap scene?

It’s an excuse man. A lot of the older names that are coming back for battles, I’m not sure what they’re getting paid but I can almost guarantee that what they’re getting for battles, they’re not getting for shows. You know what I’m saying? They probably just seeing it as a check. I’m sure they’re not thinking about the culture. They probably know nothing about the culture. They probably can’t name 10 battle rappers that have been on certain stages.

I think it’s good for Cassidy because I’ve personally seen Cassidy with more relevance. I know he follows the culture to an extent. When I see people like Mike Jones, certain people like that, and no disrespect to Mike Jones, but what do you really know about the culture? Like what is your real intention, and you’re getting paid a check. That’s cool. I’m not knocking anybody’s hustle. Yet I think it’s more for their personal motives than for the culture.

What was your opinion the Cassidy vs. Dizaster battle a few weeks back?

Despite my personal issues with Dizaster — we’ve bumped heads in the past. It’s nothing serious when I see him. We’ve had a lot of disagreements in the past on Twitter. Et cetera, et cetera — But I actually thought going into it he was going to win that battle against Cassidy. I just feel like the battle rap thing, I don’t see any other industry rapper, maybe with the exception of maybe like a King Los, or Eminem-caliber type of rapper coming in to adapt and win a battle.

Photo by Valerie Sakmary for BattleRap.com. Photo by Valerie Sakmary for BattleRap.com.

Even though I think Joe Budden did well against Hollow Da Don, I feel like if he did another battle he’d do much better. Now he knows what to expect. He knows the difficulties of handling the crowd. He knows what the crowd is expecting more for material. Cassidy came back and had a good showing, but just have in mind that for most there’s a lot of adjustments that have to be done when you haven’t battled in this era. And even battle rappers from 2008, 2009 like Reed Dollaz and Reign Man who are coming back, but are having trouble adjusting.

Hip-hop recording artists use their fabricated or real personas in order to gauge their audience and market their image. Do you find any parallel or similarity between the battle rapper and the recording artist in that way?

To some extent, we play characters. Everybody isn’t who they portray in the ring, as far as their rhymes go. I use a lot of aggressive content, a lot of schemes. We all talk about a lot of gun shit, a lot of violent shit for the sake of the battle. But a lot of us outside of the ring are just regular ass people. You know what I’m saying? I’m not saying everybody’s that way. I won’t go as far as saying everybody’s fake and not where they live. That’s not even my concern. We definitely feel like when people battle [they] step into a persona. People step into a role, a character. It’s similar to Shakespeare back in the day where people sit and watch a storyline and how it unfolds.

Do you feel like the “character” eclipses the skill of the emcee too much, or do you feel like the skill and character go hand in hand?

I think it goes hand in hand, but I also think fans buy more into the character than into skills. When you think of the biggest names in battle rap, you think of Daylyt and Loaded Lux, you think of Murda Mook, Hitman Holla, Charlie Clips. And a lot of those guys are very skilled, but a lot of those guys have personas that precede them. Daylyt especially. Hitman is known as the guy that will jump all around the stage and entertain you. Lux is the “preacher” type that can captivate you with words. Same with Mook — not really the “preacher” type but somebody who is witty, confident, and can captivate you with words. Clips is someone who is very charismatic.

Even moreso than the things that they say and what they write down, it’s their persona. What they do outside the ring with their persona, like how they act on Twitter, other things like that make more of their reputation that make people more interested in them. I think more people buy into the character than the skill nowadays.

Thoughts on Chilla's remarks? Let us know in the comments section below.

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