UDUBB Network: High Stakes 2 Live Discussion Thread

[Ardamus]

The only thing Mook deserves blame for is asking for 5 round vs Iron. He helped everyone get paid more. I don't see what he has to do with this. Mook had been a non participant for years. Any failings in battle rap are not his fault.

Bruh, no one told him to talk about no cot damn 20K in his damn battle. Why is it that hard for you to understand? How you gonna blame the fans for something they didn't even expect him to say? Huh? The 5 rounds shyt was actually Iron Solomon's idea. In an interview on Rap Grid when he recapped the battle years later, Iron admitted. Basically, he dry snitched on what he was getting.

He helped everyone get paid more? Ok. Cool. For a short time. But when the numbers weren't adding up later. Guess what? Sponsors backed out and not all the numbers were stable on ticket sales along with PPV. And there was no elevation of maintaining that same pay grade or even close to it for everyone. Factor in venues, cancellations, and the other factors that play into this.

 

[Carlton Banks]

Holla only good for one round.

 

[MJ Truth]

Venue looked about 70% full

Pretty sure tickets were still available morning of the event and at the door

And bare in mind they couldn't sell out a night club in elizabeth, nj let alone a place like irving plaza or grammercy

RapGrid stream seemed to pull in decent numbers however it was a complete disaster and I'm 90% sure they will be issuing free vouchers or partial refunds to make up for how horrible the stream was. I saw literally at least 50 people asking for refunds on IG and twitter

If hitman really got $30k, I don't see how UDubb or RapGrid will make that back. Whoever funded high stakes is probably seeing a five figure loss when it's all said and done

Yet another example of a battle rapper grossly inflating their worth, the fans getting fukked and a league losing tons of money for trying to do the right thing. The Lux disease

This is a weird obsession of yours.

The fans don't get fukked in these cases anyway. It's an event of competition, it happens. You pay for the matchup you want to see (for whatever the reasons are), not every match is going to be great. Just like fans who watched the championship games yesterday didn't get fukked because they weren't competitive. Hitman and Suge didn't do anything they haven't been doing for pretty much either whole careers, or at least the last few. This is the battle I expected from them.

And if you actually got paid what you wanted, that is NOT inflating your worth, it's actually the complete opposite of it. You're worth whatever you can get breh, that's how business and negotiations work in real life.

 

[FreshAIG]

After watching the battles in full

I had Pat over DNA 2-1. Debatable but edged it. Third was the most clear round

Roc over Charron 2-1. Charron got the first, Roc for the last two.

Hitman and Suge is debatable. Could go either way. First round is really a toss up. Hitman won the third, Suge got the second

Never watching OSolo vs Serius again, but had Osolo 2-1 on first watch

Haven't got to Chilla/Ars again, but had Chilla 3-0 on first watch

 

[FreshAIG]

This is a weird obsession of yours.

The fans don't get fukked in these cases anyway. It's an event of competition, it happens. You pay for the matchup you want to see (for whatever the reasons are), not every match is going to be great. Just like fans who watched the championship games yesterday didn't get fukked because they weren't competitive. Hitman and Suge didn't do anything they haven't been doing for pretty much either whole careers, or at least the last few. This is the battle I expected from them.

And if you actually got paid what you wanted, that is NOT inflating your worth, it's actually the complete opposite of it. You're worth whatever you can get breh, that's how business and negotiations work in real life.

"Business, you don't get what you deserve, the you get what you negotiate"

 

[MJ Truth]

Stop, my nikka, just stop. No one said SM2 ruined anything. It was the statement made. Not the event. Don't throw all this stuff with Rex and all this. Argue all you want but that shyt Mook said did start a trend of the whole thing of the bag now. Before that, did we even know or consider who was getting paid what out in the public before? No.

What difference does it make to you though breh? In all seriousness?

Let's not act like these guys are out here paying themselves. If Arsonal/UW wants to make the investment in certain battlers, that's on them. If they can't/don't recoup, again, that's on them; that's what a promoter does, that's what a business is, that's the risk you take.

 

[FreshAIG]

I never understood blaming battlers for what they ask for, if the promoter gives them that, then what's the problem? If they don't, then what's the problem?

That's business. You ask for a price and then you either get it or you don't. Either way that's how it works.

 

[Ardamus]

What difference does it make to you though breh? In all seriousness?

Let's not act like these guys are out here paying themselves. If Arsonal/UW wants to make the investment in certain battlers, that's on them. If they can't/don't recoup, again, that's on them; that's what a promoter does, that's what a business is, that's the risk you take.

Everyone shares part of the blame; probably should have said that earlier. If the league agreed to it, they fukked up. I give you that. But stop acting like a battler not speaking on that shyt in public wasn't part of the problem either.

 

[JordanWearinThe45]

After watching the battles in full

I had Pat over DNA 2-1. Debatable but edged it. Third was the most clear round

Roc over Charron 2-1. Charron got the first, Roc for the last two.

Hitman and Suge is debatable. Could go either way. First round is really a toss up. Hitman won the third, Suge got the second

Never watching OSolo vs Serius again, but had Osolo 2-1 on first watch

Haven't got to Chilla/Ars again, but had Chilla 3-0 on first watch

Links?

 

[MJ Truth]

Everyone shares part of the blame; probably should have said that earlier. If the league agreed to it, they fukked up. I give you that. But stop acting like a battler not speaking on that shyt in public wasn't part of the problem either.

This is probably where the difference in perspective I have comes from. I don't see this as an actual problem. Top tiers and veteran rappers not showing up and doing their best, to me, is a lot deeper and about more than just the money they're asking for. Also, I'm of the thought process that, financially, no matter what your vocation, especially when you're doing something with a very limited life like battle rap, get all that you can.

 

[Big Jo]

I never understood blaming battlers for what they ask for, if the promoter gives them that, then what's the problem? If they don't, then what's the problem?

That's business. You ask for a price and then you either get it or you don't. Either way that's how it works.

The problem is battle rap is in the fukking toilet. We're getting pay per views with sh1tty production values and major events like Summer Madness have been cancelled. All so promoters can scrape up a few more racks for these greedy divas to come half ass a main event battle.

Hitman got 30k, good for Hitman. It's a free market, I get that. But looking at the bigger picture, you can't say this is good for battle rap - or ANYBODY besides hitman.

It's actually hurting battle rap alot. One battler gets a lot of money. Everybody else suffers. Udubb is probably going to fold for the second time. RapGrid might be in serious trouble too. Hitman is laughing all the way to the bank. Sh1t is fukked up because nobody in the culture has any business intellect besides Organik and maybe Beasley

 

[FreshAIG]

Links?

I bought the Ppv so they have the clean version so of the matches up. OTBVA might have the bootlegs

 

[FreshAIG]

The problem is battle rap is in the fukking toilet. We're getting pay per views with sh1tty production values and major events like Summer Madness have been cancelled. All so promoters can scrape up a few more racks for these greedy divas to come half ass a main event battle.

Hitman got 30k, good for Hitman. It's a free market, I get that. But looking at the bigger picture, you can't say this is good for battle rap - or ANYBODY besides hitman.

It's actually hurting battle rap alot. One battler gets a lot of money. Everybody else suffers. Udubb is probably going to fold for the second time. RapGrid might be in serious trouble too. Hitman is laughing all the way to the bank. Sh1t is fukked up because nobody in the culture has any business intellect besides Organik and maybe Beasley

That's their problem to be honest.

I don't think fans suffer because someone gets a big bag. People have said battle rap is dying for years now and nothing has changed. URL, KOTD, RBE, Don't Flop put out material regularly. There will always be battlers. If guys price themselves out then so be it. There will be people to replace them.

 

[TripleAgent]

Hitman and Suge is debatable. Could go either way. First round is really a toss up. Hitman won the third, Suge got the second

Came in to say this. Not paying for this, so I'll check the rest out ASAP. Want to see how bad Chilla murked Arsonal. Never liked him as a battler. Want to see him retire for real.

 

[Ardamus]

That's their problem to be honest.

I don't think fans suffer because someone gets a big bag. People have said battle rap is dying for years now and nothing has changed. URL, KOTD, RBE, Don't Flop put out material regularly. There will always be battlers. If guys price themselves out then so be it. There will be people to replace them.

You say there will be people to replace them. But now we have a situation on URL where not everyone is in agreement with the new PGs. Questioning who makes the big stage and etc. And hell, will we even have anymore big stage battles in the future like past events?

I think the point I'm making is that it is still a cycle of how things go hand in hand in battle rap. I've never said it's dying. But I do think the era of the bag didn't last that long and not everyone foresaw that happening. And let's look at the venue loss shyt, too. Along with the money for flights, hotels, and deposits laid down for battle rappers that cancelled or even no showed. Let's not act like that can't be taken into account. It ties together on what these leagues can do later on.

RBE was smart tho. They know what they can and can't do. Planning everything right and sticking to small rooms helps them. Don't Flop makes sure they keep their UK fan base; they had a tough year in the US it seemed last year but they're still moving. And of course URL is doing all they can. KOTD did the smartest thing and copped a venue where they can hold battles and use the spot for other events where they can rent out.

The fans don't suffer as much because let's face it.....we can take it or leave it. But here we are discussing how fukked up it is in the game. With issues of the bread and events.