After months of friendly smack-talk, Mistah F.A.B. and Arsonal are finally set to battle in just under two weeks at "Battle Of The Bay 7" in Oakland on Jan. 23.
Catching up with both HipHopDX and BattleRap.com about the match, F.A.B. recently opened up about the battle slated to take place in his hometown on the night of his birthday.
"It's been about a year-and-a-half in the making," the Bay Area legend told DX. "Me and him, to the people who follow our social media outlets, we go at it. You would think that we hate each other, and we will hate each other on January 23."
Speaking about his expectations for the battle, F.A.B. addressed expectations for both himself and Arsonal coming into the BOTB7 headliner.
"His effort might be his demise," F.A.B. said. "It's too much to him. To me, it's just me going out, having a good night, doing what I normally do off-the-cameras. To him it's gonna be, 'Oh, I'm defending battle rap and I have to do this. I have to win this for the culture.' What pressure is it on me? I'm going out. I'm at home. It's my birthday, January 23."
Separately, BattleRap.com caught up with F.A.B. last month just ahead of "Ether" and asked him about his plans to adjust and update his battle rap style. Jokingly describing the battle as a "father-son match," F.A.B. said, "it's kind of like on He Got Game. I wanted him to do something and he didn't wanna do it so we gonna play to ten. The difference this time is the outcome is a little different."
When asked his prep for the face-off, F.A.B. admitted to digging heavily into recent battles for inspiration.
"You have to adjust," he said of the currently prevailing style in the culture. "If you don't turn with the times then the times will turn on you. You don't wanna be someone up there like a Reed Dollaz. You don't wanna get up there and say your bars are in the car. You definitely don't wanna do that. You wanna be able to go out and give not only your opponent the feeling that you were ready, but you also wanna give the fans, who are going out and paying their money to come out and have a great time to watch this wonderful event, you wanna give them something to 'Ooh' and 'Aah' about. You definitely don't wanna come with a stale style. Gotta be fresh. Gotta be current. To anyone [who] has thoughts of getting into that, I recommend that you just go out and you bury yourself in watching the battles. You watch the current styles and watch the plethora of styles. Many different artists, don't just watch one particular artist. Watch all different battle rap forms and then collectively you can combine a style together along with your own. It should be cool."
F.A.B. also recently called into Angryfans Radio and expanded even more on the battle and his plans and prep leading up to the date. Check out that interview below:
How do you think F.A.B. will do? Let us know in the comments below.
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