Iron Solomon Tells All: The Stories Behind His 5 Best Rap Battles

The infamous battle rapper talks about his greatest lyrical bouts.

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Image via Complex Original
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You probably remember the first time you saw Iron Solomon in a rap battle. Whether it was live on the streets or online, there’s no question you were instantly captivated. Sure, he’s a white guy with glasses who can rap his ass off, but that’s not the only draw. With Iron Solomon, it’s deeper than rap, and larger than race. He has the ability to break down any opponent, on the spot, all the time, with no fear.

Iron Solomon, who grew up in Manhattan on the Upper West Side aka South Harlem (shout to ItsTheReal), started on the battle scene in his late teens by hitting up well known Manhattan-based open mics and competitions like Braggin’ Rights and End of the Weak, making a name for himself as a skilled lyricist with a knack for humorous couplets and witty punchlines.

After taking out underground legend Immortal Technique in his late teens, Iron Solomon got the taste for blood, and went on to verse anyone and everyone who presented a challenge, eventually dethroning the Asian assassin Jin at New York’s premiere battleground Fight Klub with thousands of dollars on the line.

From there, Solomon was in high demand for big-time rap battles. He made an unforgettable appearance on Smack DVD at Fat Beats in New York against the roughest, toughest battler on the scene, Math Hoffa (who had literally knocked out his previous opponent with a fist to the face). He jaw jousted with 106 & Park champion Avalanche in Detroit. He went toe to toe in Miami with Philly street sweeper (and MTV’s Making The Band alumnus) E. Ness, all of which garnered hundreds of thousands of video views (his battle with E. Ness currently clocks in at 1.3 million clicks). Thanks to YouTube, we can all enjoy his various roastings endlessly.

Iron Solomon has been planning to step away from the battle scene to focus on recording for some time. Now he’s gearing up to release his debut album Monster on March 27th through Royal (Iron's imprint) and a partnership with 3D (a subsidiary of Duck Down).

As he makes his transition from the streets to the studio, we asked him to tell the tales behind his Top 5 Battles Of All Time. From the set-up, to the comeback, to the final punchline, it’s all here.

As told to Dan Isenberg (@StanIpcus)

Immortal Technique vs. Iron Solomon (2002)

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Immortal Technique vs. Iron Solomon (2002)

Iron Solomon: “So basically, there’s this open mic in New York City called End of the Weak. It’s every Sunday night at The Pyramid at 101 Avenue A, and it’s the longest running open mic in New York City. I think now it’s like thirteen years without missing a Sunday. And they have all these satellite locations on almost every continent. There’s one in South Africa, West Africa, Paris, Spain, London—they have all these locations. And it’s evolved into a crew, and it’s something I’m affiliated with.

“So they developed this competition that’s kind of the antithesis of a battle, where you’re competing against other MCs but you’re never going head to head. You’re never actually dissing anybody else. There are five categories, and everybody competes in each round.

“First round is the written round, spitting punchlines over a beat, and you get points. Then the acapella round where you do something more heartfelt and show that you can captivate the crowd. The next round is a freestyle grab bag, where you pull items out of a bag and rhyme about them as you’re pulling them out. That’s like the ‘prove you’re freestyling’ round.


 

He was upset, and wasn’t in the right mindset to be focused in the battle. And he looked at me, and didn’t know who I was, and took my appearance for granted, and assumed I was not going to be able to hold my own.


 

“Then the fourth round is beat juggling, where the DJ will just throw the most left field beats at you, like something East Coast boom bap, then some Dirty South, then some Britney Spears or Michael Jackson, and you gotta just keep going without ever missing a step.

And the last round is cipher skills, where you trade off with all the other rappers in the competition, and that shows your ability to play off another rapper’s energy, count bars, and all that stuff.

“So overall, it’s a little more well-rounded assessment of skill rather than just a competition. I’ve been in it a bunch of times, and won it. And at the end of the year, there’s like a championship of all the winners, and whoever wins that goes to an international competition with all of the other locations around the world. They have multi-lingual judges, and it’s pretty cool to see [rappers] competing in German and French and an African language and English. It’s dope.

“Immortal Technique, that’s my man. He’s good peoples, and a great force on the music scene, and someone that I have a lot of respect and appreciation for. I was really young at the time, and Technique was someone I had seen making a come up. He was coming off of winning Rock Steady and all these huge battles, and selling a shitload of CDs independently. And he was still humble enough to jump in the competition.

“He was clearly favored to win, because he was the most notable name in the competition. But the way the judges added it up, I won, which is kind of the way the MC challenge is. Sometimes you never know who’s gonna win. It depends on who’s judging that night.

“He was pissed, and the crowd was on his side. So I was up there just nervous as hell. I’m this young kid, Technique is someone I know that’s just a monster when it comes to battling specifically, and I wasn’t too into the battling scene yet at the time. I loved it, and I was doing Bragging Rights before that, which was this battle they used to have at Nuyorican and then at Wetlands, but I hadn’t been as gung ho about it.

“So he [grabs the mic saying], ‘Yo, if you think I won....’ So I’m just shitting my pants up there like, ‘Okay, now I got second place. This joyous moment of me winning this competition is over, and clearly he’s going to destroy me in this battle. And I’m gonna have to walk away with second place. This sucks.’

“But it didn’t pan out that way. He was upset, and wasn’t in the right mindset to be focused in the battle. And he looked at me, and didn’t know who I was, and took my appearance for granted, and assumed I was not going to be able to hold my own.


 

I had that, [‘Only time you get five mics is in a gay orgy’] line for a while. That was my first time using it. People criticize that [I’ve used that line a few times], but back in the day when the freestyle battle thing was super-duper heavy, and everything was supposed to be freestyle, everybody had little lines in their pocket.


 

“Me, I’m a well-rounded MC, and it’s important for me to be able to write a song, and be in the MC challenge, and be in an MC battle. So I always had little lines in my pocket, and I was freestyling like every day, all the time, so that wasn’t a difficult thing for me.

“That moment, when I felt like the crowd was on my side, and I kept gaining momentum with each punchline, was an incredible feeling. It was probably the [moment] that sparked my run through the battle scene. At that moment I was like, ‘OK, that felt good. That was fun. Immortal Technique is the king of this, and I just beat him. Let me go out and see what else I can do.’

“I was only seventeen or eighteen at the time. It was like early 2000s. I was barely old enough to be in the club. I was such a young kid that my whole family was there. My Pops was there, my brother was there. My parents are musicians, so they love that type of thing. I was my own independent person, but the idea of them coming to see it was still exciting to me.

“I had the footage for years, but I just didn’t release it because I respected Technique, and he was salty about the situation. At that time, he was so poppin’ that I probably could have released it and got more of a buzz for my name. But I was like, ‘You know what? I’m just gonna keep this for myself and let it be what it is.’ And then years later, someone else released it.

“The footage that’s online is not my footage. I have it from another angle, and I have all the rounds too, which I could probably put out and let people assess whether or not I won in the first place. I’m sure Technique would love that too. [Laughs.]

“The final line didn’t even rhyme [where I say, ‘How are you gonna fuck my girl? That’s your Mom!’] [Laughs.] And yeah, I had that, [‘Only time you get five mics is in a gay orgy’] line for a while. That was my first time using it.

"People criticize that [I’ve used that line a few times], but back in the day when the freestyle battle thing was super-duper heavy, and everything was supposed to be freestyle, everybody had little lines in their pocket. And that was one that I was like, ‘This line is great!’ But I never had a chance to use it because Braggin’ Rights had died down. So at that moment, I was like, ‘I’ve got this little trick I can pull out of my bag.’

“And in that era, shit wasn’t always filmed, so people used a punchline more than once and it wasn’t a big deal. Now, you can’t even say the same word twice without being criticized. In any situation, a freestyle can beat a written, or a written can beat a freestyle. It’s about being able to adapt. I would never be like, ‘Yo, that wasn’t a freestyle, so he doesn’t deserve to win.’ If it’s dope, it’s dope.

“He was pretty pissed, and still salty about the whole thing, and was like, ‘Yo, we’re gonna battle outside after this.’ But that didn’t happen. I think that he cooled off. Since then, we show each other respect, and it’s super cordial.

“But yeah, I got a couple hundred dollars, and was going off that high, and it definitely sparked something in me that had me going for a while.”

Jin Tha MC vs. Iron Solomon (2007)

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Jin Tha MC vs. Iron Solomon (2007)

Iron Solomon: “When the Jin battle arose, I was actually at the time kind of contemplating stepping away from battling. It’s definitely a lot of stress, a lot of pressure, and my focus has always been music and being more of a complete artist. But the battle stuff was creating so much momentum for me that it made sense to run with it.

“I was on Dekalb Avenue at this Middle Eastern spot Black Iris, and I got the call from Executive Nick from Fight Klub, talking about Jin being kind of the reigning champ. He had won the big battle in Puerto Rico at the DJ Summit, and I was undefeated [at Fight Klub], so it only made sense [for us to battle there].


 

Coop just hopped up out of nowhere and was like, ‘Yeah, I got a thousand on Solomon.’ And he just pulled out this wad of cash and put it down on the table. For me, every battle, even when you’re confident, there are still some nerves involved. So now this street dude I just met has got more money on me, and it’s not just my reputation riding on it. So, I’m keeping a game face, but it definitely upped the ante a little bit.


 

“I definitely deliberated over it, which is funny because people might think it’s a no-brainer to accept that battle, but I had been thinking about stepping away so [it wasn’t that easy of a decision]. Eventually, I talked it over with some of my peoples, and it only made sense. It would have been irresponsible for me not to take it. I have so many people around me, and it seemed like such a good move.

“At that time at Fight Klub, they would put money up, and there would be prize money, but then there would always be side bets going on. The night that I got there, I was outside on line, on the humble, and this guy Coop, this street dude from Jersey involved in music who was super icy with humongous diamonds and dinner plates around his neck, came up to me and was like, ‘Yo, I heard of you. I’m gonna bet on you.’

“So we stepped to the table, and they announced the $5,000 prize, which for a title fight was usually the range they would put up. And then they were asking if there were any side bets. And Coop just hopped up out of nowhere and was like, ‘Yeah, I got a thousand on Solomon.’ And he just pulled out this wad of cash and put it down on the table. For me, every battle, even when you’re confident, there are still some nerves involved. So now this street dude I just met has got more money on me, and it’s not just my reputation riding on it. So, I’m keeping a game face, but it definitely upped the ante a little bit.

“So they turn to Jin, and they’re like, ‘Yo, do you have a G? You gonna match that?’ And he’s like, ‘Yeah, no problem.’ So him and his people scrape together a G. Then Coop is like, ‘Oh yeah, it’s that easy for you to get that together? I got another G on Solomon.’ And he pulled out another stack of cash and throws it down.

“I think at that point, they had tapped their pockets. So Jin’s manager took off his watch and put it on the table, which definitely was shiny and had some stones on there. It was probably [worth] a couple grand. Definitely enough to cover the extra G.

“I thought the battle was gonna go to overtime, because I had seen the Serius Jones vs. Jin battle, and I thought Jones had washed him, but they still pushed it to overtime because Jin had been freestyling. So I’m ready to keep going and going.


 

I came back with the actual freestyle shit about him complaining that I was not freestyling. And then I think in the end, the line [where I compared his career to Canibus], and then, ‘He said ‘I Quit’ and came right back, he wanna be Jigga.’ I think wordplay and punchlines go a long way, but then when you say something actually about real life, and you can paint a picture of what somebody’s doing in a negative light, it hits home harder.


 

“My first round, I used his name [throughout the rhyme], and that kind of worked. And I think now, a lot of people use that model. I had done that at another Fight Klub battle that hadn’t come out, so that was the first time [people saw that style of battling on videotape].

“He and I had battled years ago at Braggin’ Rights. He won Braggin’ Rights, and I came in like third or fourth, and he beat me along the way, so he was trying to bring that up. To me, as an MC, it was clear that he had mapped out that whole story, and it was not a complete spur-of-the-moment freestyle. But he was trying to play that card.

“Then I came back with the actual freestyle shit about him complaining that I was not freestyling. And then I think in the end, the line [where I compared his career to Canibus], and then, ‘He said ‘I Quit’ and came right back, he wanna be Jigga.’ I think wordplay and punchlines go a long way, but then when you say something actually about real life, and you can paint a picture of what somebody’s doing in a negative light, it hits home harder. I think him talking about an old battle where he beat me didn’t carry as much weight as the observations I was making about his career.

“So the judges picked me, and now there’s this stack of five grand, and the two thousand from Coop, and the one grand from them, and this crazy watch. And Coop just scrapes it all to our side of the table. He’s like, ‘Do you want the cash or the watch?’ And I look at his dinner plate of diamonds on his chest, and I look at my rent bills, and I was like, ‘Coop, I don’t have nothing that matches that watch, and it looks like you have plenty. I’ll take the money.’ It was maybe the non-rapper decision, but it was the wise decision.


 

I get a laugh thinking about the limit at the ATM machine, and Jin’s whole crew on line trying to [get the money] to buy the watch back.


 

“I stayed upstairs [after the battle] to talk to Nick and Sean Price [who was a judge] and get my money right. Joell Ortiz was a judge too. Sean P had this group named Twelve Monkeys that I was supposed to be in that never came to fruition. They all showed love. And being at Fight Klub, I’ve been able to make a lot of connections and network with a lot of other artists. They understand the dedication to the lyricism and the pressure that’s on you when you’re in that arena.

“Anyway, downstairs is always mayhem afterwards with everybody wildin’. And Jin was running around asking where I was, and asking about the watch. I wasn’t there, but Coop told me [he said to Jin], ‘Yeah, I have the watch. If you want it back, you gotta buy it back,’ because he put it up as collateral. I get a laugh thinking about the limit at the ATM machine, and Jin’s whole crew on line trying to [get the money] to buy the watch back. And [eventually they got the money together] and bought it back.

“To be honest, I’m like my own worst critic. I usually don’t watch battles until months after they come out, because all I can see are my flaws and mistakes. It’s fun to watch them and re-live that moment, and I look super skinny in that video so that’s fun too [Laughs]. But I think it was dope, and I definitely analyze it if I watch it. I look at what I could’ve done better, and what I would do better next time.”

Math Hoffa vs. Iron Solomon (2007)

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Math Hoffa vs. Iron Solomon (2007)

Iron Solomon: “I remember again not wanting to focus on the battle stuff too much, but being open to opportunities. I grew up watching Smack DVD, of course. I’ve always been so hungry for the culture. I would buy it on 125th Street and just watch it, and eat that stuff up.

“I live in Brooklyn, and I was in the bodega on the corner getting a drink out of the cooler, and I get a call from Eric Beasley, who was Smack’s partner, and he was like, ‘Yo, we want you to battle on Smack.’

“Again, obviously I’m chasing opportunities in my life because I’m trying to achieve something, but most of these big opportunities just came my way because I was in the right position or showing and proving myself enough [to be in demand]. The Jin battle, like I said, I didn’t ask for it. And this one, they called me.


 

To be on Smack was super dope, and a big honor and achievement. And I’m the first white kid to be on it, which is kinda cool. I don’t focus on the race thing too much. Obviously I’m aware of it. But to know that it was a more street DVD, and even though I grew up with all types of people from street guys to college guys, I’m not a tough, gun shooting, drug dealer rapper. To have Smack feel like I was viable on their DVD was dope.


 

“I was excited. To be on Smack was super dope, and a big honor and achievement. And I’m the first white kid to be on it, which is kinda cool. I don’t focus on the race thing too much. Obviously I’m aware of it. But to know that it was a more street DVD, and even though I grew up with all types of people from street guys to college guys, I’m not a tough, gun shooting, drug dealer rapper. To have Smack feel like I was viable on their DVD was dope.

“At that time, Murda Mook and Loaded Lux and the guys who were really big on Smack weren’t really trying to be active. And Math Hoffa was the current contender. He had just battled on the last Smack, and he punched a kid in the face, and he was the tough guy from Brooklyn.

"He had battled at Fight Klub a lot, and I saw him once I think against my boy Nems, but that battle where he punched the guy in the face was the only thing I really knew of him. From those couple bars, it was clear that he was dope at rapping, but it was also clear that he was a tough guy.

“That type of stuff doesn’t concern me, just because of the way I carry myself. I’m not worried about things erupting into [violence]. But a lot of people were like, ‘Word? You’re gonna battle Math? You didn’t see what happened the last time? That guy’s crazy.’ But also, at that time, he was kind of the underdog, and people were like, ‘Don’t underestimate him. He’s dope.’

“But for me, it’s never really about the opponent. It’s more about me, and my performance. I feel like you can lose a battle by a landslide, but if you still performed to the best of your ability and represented yourself, you can still win fans, even if you got outdone that night. So for me, I was like, ‘This is a dope opportunity. Smack is a big DVD with a wide reach and a different demographic that I might not be totally exposed to. Let’s do it.’

“I had already stopped talking about someone’s girl, and using profanity. And it wasn’t because I was like, ‘Oh, this is potty mouthed.’ It was that I would watch a battle and feel like it was such an easy crutch to rely on. It’s so easy to call somebody gay.


 

I’m not worried about things erupting into [violence]. But a lot of people were like, ‘Word? You’re gonna battle Math? You didn’t see what happened the last time? That guy’s crazy.’ But also, at that time, he was kind of the underdog, and people were like, ‘Don’t underestimate him. He’s dope.’


 

"I know gay people that are tougher than a lot of straight people I know. It’s just an easy way of trying to emasculate somebody. If you’re an MC, you should be able to destroy somebody without having to talk about their girl or their Mom. Not that you can never go there, but you should try to take it to the next level.

“So for this battle, I wanted to go a little further, and take it to that Jay-Z double entendre, New York–style wordplay. And with Math, there’s obviously a lot to work with there. So I really wanted to go with the math theme, and also the Five Percent terminology, you know, incorporating a lot of street stuff that people would not expect a white kid from the Upper West Side to be privy to, like the gods and the earths and supreme mathematics.

“I wanted to take it there. I feel like in that moment, it might have been a little too ahead of its time, because people weren’t listening for that type of wordplay. These days, every single bar at every battle is double entendre, multi-layered references and stuff.

“The battle was dope. I mean, Math is incredible, and I think he was in peak condition that night, and was obviously gunning for me. He had the charisma, and the comedy. And he’s there with like five or six of the toughest looking dudes you’ve ever seen. There was definitely high tension.

“It was in Fat Beats, which I thought was really dope. RIP Fat Beats. That was dope for Smack. Obviously, they were bridging boundaries by having me in the battle, period. And putting me against Math was a big juxtaposition. And then putting the battle inside Fat Beats, which is more associated with a sort of backpack-y, underground thing.


 

It’s so easy to call somebody gay. I know gay people that are tougher than a lot of straight people I know. It’s just an easy way of trying to emasculate somebody. If you’re an MC, you should be able to destroy somebody without having to talk about their girl or their Mom. Not that you can never go there, but you should try to take it to the next level.


 

"It was a dope battle to have all those worlds colliding. And it set up what’s happening now, where you have the guys from Grind Time battling the guys from URL, and more street rappers battling backpack rappers. I credit Smack and obviously Math and myself as being a part of that moment.

“There wasn’t money involved. There were no judges. It was, ‘Let the people decide.’ And it was an online thing. They only put the first round on the DVD, because Smack was working to transition to having more of an online presence.

"So they put the first round on the DVD, and all the rounds on their YouTube channel. I think Math felt like I won the first round, so I think he was salty that they only put that round on the DVD, especially since the street audience didn’t necessarily log on and see the other rounds.

“He killed it, and it was such a good battle. He’s hilarious. It was a great moment for me to be a part of. And Math is a good dude. He and I are definitely peoples. We’ve done music together. When somebody is that talented, and cares that much about something that you also care that much about, you have more in common than you have against each other.

"It only makes sense to link up with those kind of people. We [talk shit to each other about the battle] all the time. He calls me Shlomo when we talk on the phone, and I call him Matthew.

“Yeah, [that battle particularly gave me a huge amount of exposure]. My YouTube videos had started getting up there, and I was already getting noticed on the street and getting a little more attention. It’s tough to know from the Internet what your exposure actually is.

“I didn’t even know the DVD was out, because it didn’t come out until a month or so afterwards. And some face-tattooed, super Brooklyn dude came up to me on the street and was like, ‘I just came home from jail Tuesday, and I got the DVD yesterday, and I saw you on the DVD. I never heard of you before.’ That sort of thing started happening more and more.”

Avalanche vs. Iron Solomon (2009)

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Avalanche vs. Iron Solomon (2009)

Iron Solomon: “I didn’t [actually take a Greyhound bus out to Detroit for the battle]. I forget what the actual line was, but I was making a bunch of color references. Actually, I had a show that Friday at Lion’s Den with my homeboy Vanguard who I know through End of the Weak. We have a group called the Svengali Brothers.

"I drove from the venue to Detroit that night. That just shows the constant hustle you have to be on in this industry. I stepped off stage [in New York], and me [and a bunch of my boys] hopped in a car and headed to Detroit. It was kind of rough, but that’s what we live for.

“Bizarre from D12 reached out to me. He hit me directly. All my affiliates from this crew Fuck Your Lyfe, like Nems and George Burnz, had all been out there to the battles that Bizarre was hosting. It was kind of like a parallel thing to Smack in Detroit. And obviously, Detroit has a huge legacy of lyricism and battling with Eminem and Proof and Royce da 5’9’’. So going out there to battle is cool. It’s dope to see huge megastars that care so much about the culture that they’re still involved at that root level of it. I was excited about that.


 

The ability to to be able to pull together things you thought of before, things that happen in the moment, and manage all that in your mind and have it come out flawlessly, is freestyle to me. Even if pieces of it are preconceived. So I went there with no specific game plan, but a lot of different ideas, and a couple couplets in my head. And I did some research in Detroit like, ‘What’s that Avenue? What’s that lake?’


 

“Also, Detroit is super tough as hell. New York is tough [of course], but Detroit is a rough place. The irony is that because everybody knows that everyone is so tough and the whole city is so crazy, they’re not in the venue trying to prove that. They’re in the venue caring about lyrics. Sometimes [in New York] we get insecure about how tough we are and we want to prove that. But despite how many guns were probably in that room, there was no drama.

“We had like five or ten people with us, and [almost] every one of them was battling someone at the event. We got there, and you’re never sure what your actual reach is. But people definitely [knew all about me]. And I kept waiting for my battle to come up, and it [turned out to be] the main event of the night.

“Avalanche, I think he had been on 106 & Park and Fight Klub, and he’s really entertaining, and very dynamic. I wanted to try to match the comedy, but also be aware that we were in Detroit and say some other references that [local] people would relate too.

“Once you get in that mind frame, the second that you hear that you’re battling [a guy named] Avalanche, before you hang up the phone you have eight bars written in your head. As an MC, you just can’t help but think that way.

“The definition of freestyle can be really ambiguous. For me, the ability to to be able to pull together things you thought of before, things that happen in the moment, and manage all that in your mind and have it come out flawlessly, is freestyle to me. Even if pieces of it are preconceived. So I went there with no specific game plan, but a lot of different ideas, and a couple couplets in my head. And I did some research in Detroit like, ‘What’s that Avenue? What’s that lake?’

“I think it’s tougher to adapt to that [strategy]. He seemed like he came from a culture of full, written verses, and not necessarily stuff that’s focused on your opponent [or audience]. It’s kind of tough to match that.

“For me, I made my first round a little bit light. I like to warm up a little bit, and have a little trajectory. I think the first round, people thought it was close, and were really entertained by him. But then when I came back with the freestyle response to the shit that he was saying, I think that kind of swayed them in my favor. You can kind of see on the tape that he lost his heart a little bit. He lost his energy.


 

Detroit’s a tough place. But after the battle, there was a lot of love. A lot of people came up to me. It was like, ‘This guy was mean-mugging me.’ But then they would come up to me, and they would be like, a fan.


 

“We kicked it for a little bit [after the battle]. He was super respectful. And I bigged him up too, because he’s super entertaining. And I definitely took a page from his style to use against him. He really cracks me up. He’s almost like a preacher doing comedy. Super slow, and deliberate.

“It was hard to get a read on the crowd. Like I said, Detroit’s a tough place. But after the battle, there was a lot of love. A lot of people came up to me. It was like, ‘This guy was mean-mugging me.’ But then they would come up to me, and they would be like, a fan.

“We kicked it with Bizarre, who is like the best host in the world. We developed a relationship from there, and I’ve been out there a couple times to kick it with him on some degenerate shit. He definitely lives everything he raps about. He’s pretty entertaining.

“I would imagine that I’m probably on [Eminem’s] radar. I have a great relationship with Riggs Morales, who’s a legend in the hip-hop industry who used to write the Unsigned Hype column at The Source, and he’s the head of A&R at Shady. He wrote Eminem’s Unsigned Hype. I would imagine that Em is aware. Alchemist is a big fan [of mine], and so is Paul Rosenberg, so I imagine that he’s seen my stuff, because so many people close to him have.

“He’s incredible, one of the greatest hip-hop artists of all time for sure, even so far as to say one of the top artists period of all time. I’m obviously inspired by him, and I would definitely love to link up with him and collaborate with him. I don’t like to chase stuff like that. If I’m with Bizarre, or Riggs, I’m sure everyone always asks them about Em. So I’m not gonna be too pushy. I try to take every relationship for what it is.”

E. Ness vs. Iron Solomon (2010)

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E. Ness vs. Iron Solomon (2010)

Iron Solomon: “My boy Kap Palace was with Grind Time at the time, and he reached out to me. Again, I wasn’t chasing any battles, just really focused on music, and writing for people and producing. For me, every move you make should be your biggest. It’s never about one factor for me. It’s never about only the money, or only the opponent, or only the venue. [But] in this case, it was [mostly] about the opponent.

“Ness may have had a comedic role that he’s played, in Making The Band and being on Dave Chapelle's show. But he’s definitely someone that’s known across the country and that people acknowledge as part of a moment in hip-hop history. There are a million dudes that are super dope and are awesome lyricists where skill-wise it would’ve made more sense. But for me, the magnitude of Ness is what made it appealing for me.


 

Kind of similar to the Jin approach, I used the first round to get some things out there. My thinking was, ‘If I’m gonna say something about Puffy, that’s the obvious route to go. But I can’t not say anything. So I’ll say it all in the first round, and I’ll OD on it, and then won’t say anything else about it at all [for the rest of the battle].’


 

“He didn’t have as much experience in the current type of specific battle formats. The battle thing had really evolved since he was active in it. So people might think, ‘That’s a walk in the park.’ But for me, I’m competing with what I did last time. I’m not competing with E. Ness. I have to be better than what I was last time. For the fans, I have to do something better than what I did last time, or it’s not impressive. So the challenge was doing something new.

“The battle scene has evolved so much that kids think about it every single day. They write rhymes, they freestyle, and watch battles every day. That’s a lot to compete with. And I want to do something better than what they’re doing. It was a lot of work to get back in the mind frame of taking somebody’s head off, and not writing a hook or a concept song. So I thought about it for a while, and bounced some ideas around, and developed it to where it was.

“Kind of similar to the Jin approach, I used the first round to get some things out there. My thinking was, ‘If I’m gonna say something about Puffy, that’s the obvious route to go. But I can’t not say anything. So I’ll say it all in the first round, and I’ll OD on it, and then won’t say anything else about it at all [for the rest of the battle].’

“I felt that it would be fresh [to use the same beginning line I did against Jin, ‘I’m not gonna rap about your background or origin.’] What I wanted to do with that battle was do something different than what people were doing, but also do something classic and something current that everybody is doing.

“For me, the best type of battles balance inside jokes and inside references in the rap community with something that someone’s Mom would get. So that one was such an inside joke, that if you hadn’t seen the Jin battle and you don’t know the significance of it, you won’t get it. It was good to start that way, and then do the opposite of what I did with Jin. With Jin, I didn’t really rap about his career in that verse. So I’m going to totally rap about it with E. Ness.


 

It was three minute rounds, and three rounds. That’s like three or four songs worth of material. I was actually advocating him to people beforehand. He’s not wack. He’s been in battles, and he’s been in the studio, probably writing for Puffy and other people. E. Ness is hip-hop. His flow is dope. He’s got it.


 

“It was three minute rounds, and three rounds. That’s like three or four songs worth of material. I was actually advocating him to people beforehand. He’s not wack. He’s been in battles, and he’s been in the studio, probably writing for Puffy and other people. E. Ness is hip-hop. His flow is dope. He’s got it.

“I sort of expected what was going to happen, that he would be really strong and it would be less focused on me, and that would be the thing that I could sway [because my punchlines would be more personal than his].

“And a lot of people afterwards were like, ‘Oh, it’s Grind Time. That’s your lane.’ But they’re the people that offered me the battle, and that’s the environment I was in. If we had been battling on SMACK, my rhymes would have been different. Maybe some of the things would have [been the same], but you have to cater to your audience.


 

They gave him a pretty good response for most of his stuff. They might have been more fans of me, but it’s like the 50 Cent thing. You can only win so long before it’s more exciting to see you lose. People want to see me take his head off, but I think they would have been almost just as excited by him destroying me.


 

“They gave him a pretty good response for most of his stuff. They might have been more fans of me, but it’s like the 50 Cent thing. You can only win so long before it’s more exciting to see you lose. People want to see me take his head off, but I think they would have been almost just as excited by him destroying me.

“For that one, there was compensation up front. There was no prize money. We both got paid with something up front and [I think] something on the back end, and hotels and flights and stuff like that. That’s always a cool way to work.

“[Ness and I] are cool. I really try to keep it cool with everybody. I recently reached out to him about how ASCAP recently started paying out on YouTube views. So I’ve been registering all my battles with ASCAP. And I reached out to most of the people I battled to suggest they do the same thing. I wanna see people win, and be successful.

“That was the last battle I did. The Jin one was really big, but it was more of an inside thing. But I definitely saw more industry attention from the battle with Ness. He’s an industry rapper that’s been viable beyond the battle scene. It achieved what I wanted to achieve in invigorating that nationwide and industry-wide response.”

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