URL bosses Smack and Beasley sat down with Ebro and others from Hot 97 last week to discuss the upcoming "Summer Madness 5" event and the overall direction and status of battle rap culture as a whole.
Amid growing speculation over exactly how much money battle rappers are paid and whether or not they deserve such amounts, Smack, Beasley and Ebro start off the interview addressing that point of contention. "Everybody gets purses that reflect what they bring to the table, how many people they can bring to the table is what they get paid, so everybody got a different price on their head. The amount of people you could basically bring out is going to determine the amount of money," Smack said.
Expanding on Smack's comments, Beasley spoke on how URL evaluates the worth of a battler by referencing social media, such as Twitter, in collaboration with their views and notoriety. “I'm looking at followers, I'm looking at actual views on YouTube.”
When asked about how exactly Smack spends the money gained from selling out venues such as Irving Plaza, Smack broke down his logic behind ticket prices. “If you got a card full of emcee's and this one wants 30 [thousand], this one want 10 [thousand], this one want 15 [thousand], those numbers add up, that $100,000 or 100 dollar tickets ain't enough, but we got to keep it to the point where it's economical for the fans to come.”
Not all of the interview was spent discussing finances, but towards the end of the interview, in a response to Ebro joking that URL didn't have "the bag" for a battler, Beasley went on record to say "URL pays the most money out of any league out consistently over the last six years. There's never been an issue of us not having money, we don't owe anybody money, there's a lot of leagues out there that owe people money.”
When it came time to discuss Sept. 26's "Summer Madness 5," Loaded Lux made a guest appearance and played a part in announcing his headline battle with Charlie Clips. Smack introduced the battle by saying: “Lux is going up against somebody who, I think is more than qualified, somebody that's been putting in work for the culture for a long time, that's been very active ... They battling for the Harlem crown." When Loaded Lux arrived, the tone of the interview turned more humorous, as Ebro took every chance he got to mention that "Lux is coming off of an L" (against Murda Mook at Total Slaughter, where Ebro was a commentator), though at one point Smack responded that it didn't count since it wasn't on URL.
When asked by Ebro why Math Hoffa weren't battling on SM5, Beasley responded by saying "things have to be worked out between the URL and Math. I mean, it was an unfortunate incident that took place and since that time as many of you know Math Hoffa hasn't battled in the URL. We are in the process of working some things out." The incident Beasley mentioned is of course when Math punched Serius Jones at SM3.
Loaded Lux seemed to be in good spirits ahead of his battle with Clips, and the Harlem emcee spoke on the Murda Mook/Tsu Surf match-up that failed to materialize on the card, saying "young guns you got to give a shot. The youngin' has been putting in work," which was followed up by Smack saying: "I think Surf is more than deserving for a Mook battle, I think Surf been more active, his fan base is crazy and I just think the peoples is interested in seeing that particular battle, I like the active cats. Shout out to Mook though, Mook is a boss."
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