If you tuned in to the BET Hip-Hop Awards this past Tuesday, October the 14th, you probably had mixed emotions about it all like I did. We saw an epic Brandy, MC Lyte, Queen Latifah and Yo-Yo performance, we saw Snoop Dogg and Dougie Fresh absolutely rock the stage after Dougie got honored with the I Am Hip Hop Award, and we saw a new twist to the cyphers (which I can't even begin to describe how disappointed I was, there were maybe 2 rappers I was glad to see in all of them combined). One of the more talked about events also included a live cypher, originally put together by Mook and Snoop, and containing verses from Mook and other battles rappers Arsonal, Calicoe, and Couture.
Before this show aired however, there were rumors floating around of Drake wanting to participate in battle rap, and calling out Mook personally. Obviously Mook didn't take this "calling out" very well, and went and dissed Drake live on his BET cypher verse, with this line: "king of battle rap, comfortable in first place, here, finish line is all mine, heard Drake? How you flashbackin to actin it's real here, cripple your career put it back in a wheelchair, get killed here, ain't no chill here, my demeanor, don't play the field here, de-grass-si, it ain't greener."
In case you don't remember, Murda Mook beat another battle rap great in the first Total Slaughter, Loaded Lux. Mook arguably has the most decorated battle rap resume in the entire game, and for Drake to call that out, I can't say I really agree with him. Drake has a history of coming up with some clever lines don't get me wrong, in songs like "Draft Day" he displays arguably the best of his abilities, but Mook does this for a LIVING. What a lot of mainstream rappers today don't realize (and personally I didn't even realize until starting to watch it a myself) is that battle rap and recording rap songs are two COMPETELY different beasts. It's almost safe to say that battle rappers could record songs and be successful (Eminem anyone?), but the other way around doesn't work out very well. If you have no history of battling and you actually have the balls to get into the ring with somebody who does regularly, there's no question you're going to get smashed.
There's even more to it than that though. A few aspects of battle rap are different from the mainstream song recording rap. One big one that Slaughterhouse member Joell Ortiz pointed out in an interview with The Breakfast Club Power 105.1 is the performance aspect of battling, which is definitely a point that I saw was key as well. If you're used to performing songs you certainly have a history of performing obviously, but battle rap is more than jumping around and getting the crowd hyped, although getting the crowd on your side is another huge key in being a successful battle rapper.
So what do you think about Drake stepping into the battle rap ring? Is he cut out for it, or do you believe he is making a mistake? Be sure to let me know what you think on Twitter (@SuperNovaRover), Google+, or even the comment section below, and be sure to check out the interview where Joell Ortiz discusses Joe Budden's mishaps in his Total Slaughter battle below, that conversation starts around the 6 minute mark.
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