1. What do you think would help to make this site better/more active?
To be honest if more writers actually wrote..(dun dun duhhhhhh) I feel like the site would return to it's heyday, of course a majority of us have lives but we still find time to squeeze in to say a few words and then disappear into obscurity again, maybe everyone likes to keep a majority of their work in reserve or whatever idk, but for us to become more active 'we' have to be more active, well the general public, not me, I've expanded my reach on this site to boost in votes & so on because I do what I love...which is writing...my activity is what has kept the OM moving and I just wanted to help out in anyway possible due to my lack of interest of being trapped in that tainted area..but I've grown fond of feeding those who try to drop something out of the ordinary, take brokenhal0 for example, doesn't say much comes through drops a piece, improves each time, and disappears, no complaints there, he's probably a quiet kid who finds time between classes to hop on here and bless us with his odd appearance and so on...
2. What new ideas would you like to see in text battling? ( this includes tournaments, rule changes, ways to improve the format, or any random thoughts you got )
I don't know...I'd like to see a tourney with a sole group of voters voting on battles with verses handed in daily, you'd have a few hours to prep & send your verse, and by the next day those that survive continue on until the end where one person stands at the end of the gauntlet with a huge shiny accomplishment, but I know 'no shows' are usually an issue so I doubt that would even come together, otherwise I feel like the format is great when you have no idea who you are up against, the "Shadow Boxing" tourney is such a great idea I'm surprised no one is funding this...otherwise it reminded me of the alias tourney which I wanted to partake in but I'm glad I didn't, I had a terrible first round performance but I'm still making the transition as we speak.
Otherwise I feel like the Shadow Boxing tourney had a great turn out...
3. What got you into text battling and why did you choose that name?
I started writing when I was 12 I think, maybe earlier, but I started getting into text battling when I was 15 or 16? I can't remember, I recall the site though, it was called Urban Flows, I was the new kid on the block and I mainly wanted to write and sharpen my skills, back then any new person could be challenged to a battle, dudes were hungrier back then, at least I think so, I was engulfed into the battling world from that moment, eventually building a better reputation as a writer, not a battler, but if I got stepped to I would still send out some scathing lines, I don't remember what I wrote, the title was 'Doggy Bag' it was one of my slicker pieces using food & other aspects of getting bagged, that was a looooong time ago though...now I just drop OM's & topicals, I stopped following pop culture so my punches will obviously be dated but with a topical anything can be birthed...
As for the name, I started of as ~12~ I remember the first time I was caught up in the lime, I remember Billy popping up out of nowhere and trying to challenge me, after dismissing him I ended up changing my name to QwarterZ and continued on the path I am on now, I was hungrier then and felt I had more to prove, eventually there was a topical tourney that took place and I reached idk how far into it before I eventually lost steam & life intervened, the last topic I remember doing was a portrait of the Joker from the Killing Joke, this is before the site went down & a majority of other things happened in my absence, Lama & all the other drama, anyway 'Mr. J' I chose the moniker because i felt writing has become laughable, I wanted to destroy every trend that came along, I wanted to something original, and it's been awhile so...why not make a mockery of it all and have fun with it in the process, the objective I had in mind reflects what I've done with a simple line in "I'm a National Treasure" the beginning of my little soiree taking place in the OM, you saw it unravel I'm sure, I was waiting for anyone to take the bait, I just didn't expect it to be the dead man himself, either way as soon as dead man commented I started the qwarterly & it wouldn't progress without his actions...but that's a story for another day...
4. What do you think about the blind opponent format of Shadow Boxing? ( meaning you dont know who your writing for )
I feel like this is a great way to challenge writers, when I think about it, it reminds me of that scene in 'Hero' between Jet Li & Donnie Yen, we know our opponent is there but we do not take action upon the opponent until the battle of our minds has come to terms with each other. after we have laid down the schematics our eyes are opened and we see who has the stronger stance.....or something like that...sorry I had to rewrite a majority of this interview...
5. Who is your fav rapper? Who is your fav battle rapper? What league do your prefer? (if you dont watch battle rap why)
My fave rapper is basically cycled with the mood I'm currently in..
yesterday it was Nas, his music will always have a grip on me regardless of favorites
when I first heard this verse I was like 'smh how can anyone outdo this'
today my favorite rapper is eLzhi, I remember hearing him with Slum Village.
'Selfish' being the single that was out at the time, I bought the album and listened to more from dude
'Reunion' was where I was like wowwww, and I just been a huge fan ever since
when I hear a track like this, I get chills & want to write a crazy verse...
in fact I forgot about this song until this interview
My favorite battle rapper, man...it's gotta be Loaded Lux
dude just has this entertainers edge that sends chills down my spine
I remember seeing him on BET and I decided to look him up
stumbling across a video of him against Mook and he said something like
'got your boys running behind like a 3 man weave'
I was deep into balling then and when I heard that I was like oOOooooooOOO
6. Say something anything you want.
Here's my fave quote.
"Ladies and Gentlemen! You've read about it in the papers! Now witness, before your very eyes, that most rare and tragic of nature's mistakes! I give you: the average man. Physically unremarkable, it instead possesses a deformed set of values. Notice the hideously bloated sense of humanity's importance. Also note the club-footed social conscience and the withered optimism. It's certainly not for the squeamish, is it? Most repulsive of all, are its frail and useless notions of order and sanity. If too much weight is placed upon them... they snap. How does it live, I hear you ask? How does this poor pathetic specimen survive in today's harsh and irrational environment? I'm afraid the sad answer is, "Not very well." Faced with the inescapable fact that human existence is mad, random, and pointless, one in eight of them crack up and go stark slavering buggo! Who can blame them? In a world as psychotic as this... any other response would be crazy!"