Poison Pen: “Eminem is 100% battle rapper”

In a new interview on Panda CHOP! News, Battle rapper Poison Pen responds to Mickey Factz’s claim that Eminem was not a battle rapper and that battle rap didn’t truly begin until the Mook vs. Lux era. While Pen understands some of the points Mickey was trying to make, he ultimately disagrees and offers his own perspective on the evolution of battle rap.

“What he said was kind of right but it’s not right. Eminem is obviously not a battle rapper by the criteria we utilize today but you can’t retroactively change the rules of something how it was back then because it’s not how it is today. That does not make sense. So to say he was not a battle rapper is utterly ridiculous when he got his notoriety from Scribble Jam, from Rap Olympics, from battling on the corner. He was all sorts of battle rapper, the f–k you mean?” said Poison Pen.

“Is he a battle rapper in the sense of how battles are structured today? No, because the battle format that exists today, did not exist at that time. So to say he was not a battle rapper is utterly ridiculous cause Eminem was an active battle rapper that actively smoking s–t. It’s just that format of battling was different. The battle format changed but he was still a battle rapper with a lengthy history of battling. There is more than one way to battle. People battle in cyphers, people battle on wax, people battle on stage. There’s wide different ways to battle. He doesn’t battle how people traditionally battle today but that does not mean he wasn’t a battle rapper cause he 100% was.” Poison Pen added.

You can watch the interview below: