Opening up about the current intersection of mainstream hip-hop and battle rap, Poison Pen recently chopped it up with BattleRap.com about the culture's current "compromise" with the industry and why he thinks commercial rappers are getting unwarranted opportunities in the ring.
When asked about the influx of industry rappers taking on battle rap opponents throughout 2014 and into this year, Poison Pen said outright that nobody has properly stepped up to the challenge except for Madchild's performance against Dirtbag Dan in 2011.
"No one approaches it from the proper perspective," he said. "That's why. Not because no one's capable of doing it. None of them approach it form the proper perspective. They all approach it from an ego-maniacal perspective. You know, they're automatically better than you because they have an established recording career or they battled 12 fucking years ago. They all feel they're just so much better than the battle rapper when we're the reason you got to write your rhymes."
Continuing, he added, "These guys claim to have battle rap history and then they step in and automatically get to battle the top guys. It makes no sense. Every time it happens motherfuckers got cooked. Put your ego to the side. What you need to do is spar. Instead of aiming at a Dizaster or Murda Mook or Hollow Da Don or Loaded Lux or whatever, bring it down to Earth a little bit and realize that you just aren't built for that yet ... Even if it's not for footage. Even if it's to see what your strengths and weaknesses are."
Will 2015 bring even more mainstream hip hop participation in battle rap? Let us know what you think in the comment section.
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