When Hollow Da Don revealed in his second round against Charlie Clips that he'd been selling "Sike I Lied" t-shirts outside the venue and claimed to have copyrighted Clips' slogan, it was one of the most surprising angles ever used in battle rap. It broke the fourth wall in a way that's rarely done and had everyone talking. Now battle rapper Spider J has used a similar tactic in his latest battle against Getcha that is sure to have the community buzzing once again.
Spider J and Getcha had an intense back and forth battle at Warzone Battle League's "Behind Enemy Lines" in Midtown New York on Dec. 5. It was apparently a close battle until the third round, when J played his trump card. J revealed that he had purchased the rights to Getcha’s entire GrindTimeNow battle catalog, and on top of that removed all of those battles from YouTube. The move dropped Getcha’s viewcount from 150,000 down to barely 40,000 in the blink of an eye.
“The roof exploded,” Spider J told BattleRap.com via Facebook, recounting the reaction in the room. “At the end of my third round I announced that I bought all his footage and pulled it offline. Getcha smiled, like he didn’t believe me. His other boy from Florida, Sir E, was right next to him the whole time and checked and was shocked to see them gone.”
“Everyone began checking,” he explained. “The crowd, other people on stage, even Dutchess who was hosting the event. It seemed unreal. There was tons of cheering, the atmosphere seemed so unreal and I didn’t expect it at all.”
UPDATE: Watch the battle
Spider J is from Queens, N.Y. and has been battling since the early 2000s, first over beats at gatherings and house parties, then began his run in the written era with GrindTimeNow around 2013. He had actually taken a year off from battling before matching up with Getcha, partly due to his grandmother passing away.
You're probably wondering how J got the rights to the footage. When he approached Madd Illz with the idea, the owner of GrindTimeNow thought the angle was brilliant and sold J the rights for what J told us was an "insignificant amount." Getcha and Madd Illz had a falling out so I caught up with Getcha on Facebook to see what had happened between them.
“I did numerous battles, some on 24-hour notice.” Getcha explained to BattleRap.com over Facebook. "I was promised compensation and other things that never came to light. No personal beef but as far as business, I would never work with Madd Illz or the league again."
The Florida emcee has been battling since 2012, starting on GrindTimeNow. He's faced several well-known names, such as Lu Cipher (then known as Jus Lu), Jonny Storm, Daylyt and PH. This year he also had a battle on KOTD’s GZ platform against 808MC.
Getcha explained that he didn’t believe J's antic until he saw it himself. “At first I was like ‘yeah right’ then reality hit me and I realized Madd Illz would do something like that ... Was I mad? A bit. But it is what it is because my name in the battle world is known in all areas and leagues, so I’m not really mad about Spider for the antic but mad at Illz for allowing it to happen behind my back.”
The antic definitely got people buzzing. Spider J said the morning after the event he woke up to Facebook notifications, memes and even messages from known battlers about what he had done.
He also said that the battles weren't deleted and won't be down forever, explaining that he intends on making them public again in the next few weeks.
BattleRap.com reached out to Madd Illz for comment but didn't hear back before publishing.
UPDATE: Madd Illz has seen this story and responded to it on Facebook.
Thoughts? Let us know in the comments below.
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