Looking back at it (pause) I think we might have been too harsh on Royce. Of course we all wanted to see a battle...he was talking like he wanted to battle so rightfully so...but I think it's clear now that that wasn't really his intent, he genuinely just wanted to have lyrical jousting exercises with dudes via verses and show them that he can rappity rap better than them. I think fans and battle rappers kind of forcefully shifted that discussion into battling and disrespecting each other with the words.
Lupe was recommending the End of the Week tourney shyt for exactly that reason, he understood Royce didn't want to "battle" and do that, he just wanted to show he raps better than everyone...that's the place to prove that. They let that shyt spiral out of control, both of them...Lupe was letting the battlers and fans gas him and Royce is so defensive/sensitive about his "gangsta" that he felt he had to respond to Lupe's battle energy on some "Watch your mouth p*ssy" shyt, which was corny and uncalled for.

, should have played out differently, they're both great.