AOWL SEASON 4 MAGAZINE: Championship!

[Certain]

This Is the End
INTRODUCTION





Hello, friends. This is the finals. Welcome. We made it. Specifically, dead man and NYCSPITZ made it. But I tried to put together a magazine worth reading for everyone. So let’s get to it.



THE INTERVIEW with NYCSPITZ





Greetings, NYCSPITZ. Let’s just get this out in the open: Why do you think you will beat dead man?

Why? Because I'm undefeated against him since '08. One text battle and two topicals, probably nobody else with 3+ battles with black is undefeated against him. Correspondingly, he's gonna be slightly shook imo. I also try to amp my game up against him moreso than others and will do my best. It's all in the mindset. All esoteric spritualism aside, you create things in harmony with your mindset. Like a professional athlete, my mind is only on victory here which is why I'll probably take the W. He can win too but he's gonna need to match my desire, and with him he can drop weak verses because he doesn't want it enough or some other excuse.


Tell us more about your history with dead man, once known as Blacketh.

It was summer of 2006. Flowers were blooming, Loose Change was still popular and relevant, my GED aka good enough degree was almost in hand. It was a year before I dropped out. One fateful afternoon, after killing dragons on an RPG online, I logged into RW (rapworlds.com). That was when I was with AP, or Advanced Placement, the elite battle unit of RW in addition to Aero and Dominate. Black joined and since I was a loser with low self-esteem, I was jealous that he joined the squad. His name was Die'a'Bdz and he was wack then too, just like I was. We used weak punchlines and added all types of symbols, exclamations and ego fueled assertions (blah blah I play cee-lo dude// during sex die roll w mad dudes like casinos do [FAGGOT!!!!]. Therefore when he appeared on the scene with a shiny ass moving rectangle with pacman on it, probably some vague reference to "eating MCs", I was pissed. We proceeded to have a brief cat fight and I KOed him because the kids on that site dickrode me and were abominable, retarded losers. Fast Forward to like 2010, 2011 aero told me about NCs. I was like lmao this shit is wack, people like Hush are juvenille morons like OMG IM BETTER CUZ NC IS J BETTER so I mocked them and left. However I was pleasantly shocked to see black had blossomed into a creative and delicate writer. I would log on sometimes, always only to check his work. I didn't feel like I was a topical writer at the time, so I lost a text battle or two, couldn't hang with the shorter bars, then left. I came back when Righter was starting that league. Found Deadman, and was happy to battle. I knew I'd beat him cuz he was undefeated and cocky as fuck. So I went to the park with a pack of marlboro red's, read D.T. Suzuki and wrote a piece based entirely upon a flaming blue and orange yin yang sign. Then I beat him this season. He's a cool dude, very private but has a deep soul yo.


What does he do better than you? What does he need to improve on?

He is better at slant rhymes and esoteric phrasing. The way he rhymes shit can be crazy as shit sometimes. Some people say I have esoteric phrasing, but it's not really esoteric to me - I just read more books so I know more words, it's pretty fucking obvious. With dead tho, I'll read shit like 10x in a single verse that has me shaking my head like - that's profound, has ill flow, and is mad fresh all at the same time - how does he do it? I suspect he taps into the force like Obi-Wan, no lie...maybe he doesn't even believe it himself but a lot of geniuses (and I think he is a genius as a writer) say they don't know where their inspiration came and that they got it from God. Mozart in particular, I remember, said this. Flawless compositions off the top as a 5 year old? Come on, something is going on there and please don't tell me it's a unique firing of neural cells because that's parochial science nerd bullshit. Anyways, he doesn't have much he needs to improve on compared to the rest of us except maybe he needs to expand and tell more stories. My fav pieces from him are fantastical samurai ninja epics which you well know I admire. The only other thing he needs to improve is his mood swings, control your emotions bro. WAAAAA LIFE SUCKS SO I'M NOT WRITING fuck that. Use it as ammo my nigga. YEEEAAAAA I FEEL GOOD SO IM GONNA WRITE A 8 CONSECUTIVE DOPE STORIES. Jesus Christ man. Maybe I'm wrong saying this and should leave his inspiration alone. I just want his best against me, that's all, I'm a competitive person. He needs to work on digging deep to beat your boy, cuz the kid ain't fuckin' around and wants to remain undefeated against his friend black ... NAW MEAN?


You’ve done well lately, winning the Alias Topical Tournament and now reaching the finals here. How did you shed your underachiever label?

That wasn't even ever really a label to me. A lot of times I was like keystyling shit and generally not putting in the effort I knew I could. I had that early W against black early on in my topical career, so I knew I could beat everybody and anybody. I basically just saw the alias shit was up and thought, lmao, nobody can dickride? I'm taking this shit. Again, mind over matter jedi shit son. I'm not saying I was dope in that tournament, but I was certainly dope enough to win it, including pinot IMO fucking up in the finals and writing a wack verse. Pinot could have smashed my shit with something closer to what he wrote in previous rounds. But then again, call it a psychic disposition maybe, but I had the feeling he was gonna fuck up, and wrote well enough to win. Underachiever never even crossed my mind, that's not how my mindset works. Even when I was a young teen with 0 self-confidence writing wack text battles, I thought I was the best. Like online, the whole wide web, in the fucking universe nigga. And I think while exaggerated that mentality helped me during my topical career.


What do you see as the ideal next step for Netcees’ topical scene? Any tournament or league ideas?

The ideal next step is for this shit to just die the fuck off. Nobody's voting and the votes sometimes are just hard to read - people have like 5th grade reading comprehension. I honestly feel like you're the most acute reader here tho, prob bc you're an editor. Lots of times you're exactly on point following my train of thought when u break down my verses. People like oats and deadman and vulgar just overthink shit and completely miss the issue, but I guess that's also because I write weird shit sometimes. The only option is to create a separate forum for serious writers, topicalists primarily but branching into other areas like short stories and nonfiction and fantasy for feedback etc. This is the only way we can grow as writers as the novelty of other sections will force us to better our topical hand and will lure good writers like sacrifice back into the fray. Tournaments? Leagues? IDGAF, this site is plagued by losers with low self-esteem that I can smeel 87 miles away with my bloodhound nose, son. We need a separate forum. I am a bartender in the big apple now, I can maybe finance a cheap server or whatever, but most likely I'm gone after this and will only be back to create a new website and new league. I'd need your help with that certain.


Great, now let’s shift focus to the bigger picture. You’ve had a bit of an agitated tone on this site lately. What do you see as the problem?

Denial and loss of self-esteem. I have no beef with anybody on this site. In fact I don't really care much for anybody here except deadman who I admire as a writer and as a human being. I also like oatmeal who I've had some brief e-mail and text correspondence with. Both are genuinely very strong writers (better than top 1% of population) and seem to be cool, interesting people. I don't care to name names, it's transparently obvious who I don't care for, but honestly I just don't care for them because they display their lack of belief in themselves by lying and demeaning others in every post. When you bully people - not stand up for yourself like a man, but bully - that means you are a coward. This is basic psychology 101 stuff. Also, the fact that people like hush live with their mom and average looking GF, win the lottery then get a job driving taxis on craigslist claiming they're now "young and rich, driving a foreign" is just...I don't know. It's honestly sad to me and I feel bad. Sure I diss them in posts, but it's a reactionary thing I do in a few seconds when I see my name mentioned. I honestly harbor no ill thoughts or feelings to them but it's obvious to me that they're lying, and that they're losers. They can flip that on me, but the fact is I'm young, athletic, and charismatic with an IDGAF attitude in real life. Plus I bartend in the best city on planet earth. I don't cow-tow to bureaucracy and I place value on myself over anyone. I don't have a 9-5; I'm not a millionaire but I have self-respect and lots of free time to enjoy this great city. I have lots of things going on in my life that I'm happy about. And, you know, the problem is that I don't wanna get sucked back into their mentality. I shouldn't even respond to them and their cabal of "admin", but I used to think like them. Correspondingly, I used to think like a complete fucking lame and loser. I just choked back vomit thinking of how certain "important personages" (lol) on this online rap website (lol) actually consider their reputation here something meaningful. Text battling takes creativity but it also takes a 7 year old's sense of reality - lots of whining, complaining, ganging up on nerds and fragile egos. As far as the losers of that same ilk who do topical (some do it pretty well, like big baby), I just think it's unfortunate that their mentality is working against them. But then again so was mine and I changed that. So the problem in a nutshell is that certain people here have a warped psychology and mentality which leading to something like megalomania. You might think - NYC, aren't you taking it a bit too far? megalomania? But no, I really think these people have similar tendencies and...derive most of their earthly pleasure at times from this website, which is sad. They should focus on acting like men in real life and stop focusing on acting like toddlers on a rap forum, lmao.


And is there any way to solve it?

Yes. Adults in their 20s and 30s with such a lack of control of their emotions, with such narcissistic tendencies, who tend to bully other people online, obviously are at a disadvantage in life. Obviously, it's easy to infer this just by reading their posts, but just thinking back to the pictures these guys post and the gaps in their reasoning, them bragging about nonexistent shit, it's easy to see they're losers in real life and liars. The only way to solve this is to let time take its course. Some will probably live their entire lives in a similar state of neurotic fantasy and overbearing narcissism, but others will pause to reflect, see that they have the mindset of a loser and reform. It's not something a post or thread or 12 or even 100 can fix. They have to fix themselves, themselves.


Anything else you want to add before you go?

Deadman, make a soundcloud, I want to collab with you in audio. Stop being a fucking pussy and pick up a mic, cuz i'm about to blast the REAL om scene in the city with Frank and it's gonna be a blast nigga. Already done it a few times. Little college groupies and shit. Since I'm leaving after this victory against you (okay, maybe 1% chance I lose) I want a way to contact your hermetic ass. PM me your e-mail because unlike these losers without resolve, I am going to leave and you'll never see me again unless it's a new site or on the mic. Certain please PM me I want to talk to you about copyright issues etc.



Semifinals Rewind
BATTLE REVIEWS





No. 2 dead man defeats No. 3 UnbornBuddha 4-0. | Man waits for a train

Man, this was a really good battle. I’ll start with UnbornBuddha, who took so many strides over the course of his fine season. Here, he put one of his most focused and human stories on the line. He told the tale of a child molester explaining why he does what he does. There was a lot of morality discussed, which we’ve come to expect from UnbornBuddha. The diction was occasionally brilliant. Here are some highlights:

Originally Posted by UnbornBuddha

I’ll summarize for those with blind eyes as measurements
All my life I saw children as the highlight of benevolence
So, I pursued my desire one night and never regretted it.
...
A socially derived impressionist sketch based on my deprived sexual conscience
...
Don’t fault me, I’m here aren’t I?
Subconsciously confessing topics, a malefactor with offensive content
Then again, everything is relative at the desolate end,
Where you’ll be dragged as resident guest depends on what resonates best.
For not one eminent friend comes to help when stuck in the material web;
Burdens have turned me voiceless, my spirit infected with ethereal strep
Contagious thoughts that hurt others is like walking in a bacteria’s steps.
I’m halfway between rational and the brink of delirium’s edge
Hmmm, my regularly punctual train is late, what a mysterious event.

But the verse was a bit clumsy, particularly in contrast to dead man’s natural word choice. UnbornBuddha, for all his gains, still has a very academic style that doesn’t translate easily to rhyming. He had a tremendous season and has a great mind for topic approaches and a view on the world worth reading. Those are rare qualities. He’s original as hell, and he made me think as often as anyone this season. But smoothing out and naturalizing the diction would take him to a whole new plane.

dead man came with a whoa-level verse about nostalgia and finding an old friend who now seems so lost that you can’t even approach them. I have been in that situation, though not in these dramatic circumstances. His verse was tinged with nostalgia, regret and humanity. Frankly, UnbornBuddha’s style matched up poorly against dead man’s to start with, and this verse made the result inevitable. But that’s not a diss to either. dead man had beautiful moments like these:

Originally Posted by dead man

you

were always my favorite. we discovered and roamed
pressed blood, vowed to never leave the other alone
...
stole your mom's cigarettes straight out of the carton
breaking what they told us just to see the results
...
it happened so fast. i can hardly recall
how hastily you vanished once the hospital called
i wonder what she thought would happen? nurse in the hall
stealing opiates to shoot into her stomach and arms
we knew your mom was alcoholic. mine was the same
it all changed inside the pop of a vein.
...
all you ever said was everything was okay
and we believed you.
i believed you cause whatever you'd say
was honest. maybe childhood is remembered that way
what a shame. even after all the wrinkles we've gained
i recognize your shadow as we wait for this train.
it feels like winter break again
with nothing to say
...
light a cigarette and watch you walking away
choking back a breath to call your government name
your suit and tie. i'm crucified on smack and cocaine
twitching tumor brain. all my circuits are frayed
so i let the train pass and hear your memory fade
i followed in your mother's path

you'd be so ashamed.

It’s hard to criticize a verse that good, but I’ll try. dead man often goes with watercolors and pastels instead of realism. It’d be really interesting to see what he could do with this story through more concrete details. That’s not to say it would be better, but it’s a challenge worth testing. There’s a value to making things feel firmly based in reality rather than emotively connected. And the use of the narrator’s limited perspective keeps the viewer at a bit of a distance from the scene as well.

Still, his verse was great and clearly the winner.


No. 5 NYCSPITZ defeats No. 1 Certain 5-2 | Old man feeds pigeons

Some people don’t like critically analyzing their own work. I’m not one of those people. My verse can be best described as this: a great idea with occasional flashes of proper execution. I had a much stronger take on the topic than NYCSPITZ, and my ending alone was enough to get people to think about voting for me. But I didn’t write my verse well enough. I didn’t sign-post to make it easier to follow, and I got a bit redundant and a bit vague at different points.

Part of that was intentional, and when it worked, it worked well. But mostly, I didn’t have enough time to spend on this verse. And I really regret it because I liked the concept so much. I never rewrite a verse, but this one is one I’d like back to really spend time developing the idea. Anyway, here are some of the spots I thought came out well:

Originally Posted by Certain

The first face he saw
was a nurse named Marjorie. Proclaimed him tall.
Measured his feet. Then walked out into the waiting hall.

Mother was second.
...
Father was a good man. He taught him how to tie a fish net
and how to drive the rig. Baseball, rye and wrist strength
and firm handshakes and how to roll a cigarette tight.
The son was 13, the daughter 9. The father left at midnight.
...
The third pew from the front, right side. Gloria always sat,
so one day, he slid a row ahead of her and boldly sang.
His creaking baritone caught her ear.
He’d hoped she’d laugh.
The next week, he joined the same pew to hold her hand.
...
And the old man couldn’t figure Tommy out but tried to help.
They sent him off to school. West Coast, with just a tie and belt.
He used to visit in Novembers,
now sends a card on Christmas if he even remembers.
...
And now he sits,
tearing off pieces of bread to feed the ground.
Knowing the pigeons won’t stick around.

NYCSPITZ had an interesting story about the life of a professor who attempted to teach his students to rebel against authority but in the process had one of them die at the hands of that authority. His storytelling was excellent, much smoother than most of his work, which is saying something because he isn’t a clunky writer normally. He created the main character in such a way to give him a very real feel, and he shifted between writing tones well. Here are some highlights:

Originally Posted by NYCSPITZ

Who knows more about social systemic cycles than him?
Europe West during the hippie craze with nihilist hints
feudal sects keeping people sated with violence within
...
Adjusting his beret, the eccentric professor stands and salutes
eye contact, first row – she’s got ass and she’s cute
Latte, post-class. Topic: how freedom of speech sucks and it’s soft
dinner and black and white movies and a fuck in his loft
she’d whisper sweet nothings. He’d temper his bottled rage to a fault
then say the smartest kids in France needed to stage a revolt
...
They hung signs, locked doors and sang of freedom for days
just them, their youthful zeal and police barricades
...
reality's a symphony of morals for those weighing the sounds
your own life triumphs over analyzing the play of the crowd
so he thinks it aloud - finally letting go his virulent song
... he comes to terms, closes eyes and drifts into the beyond.

He won because his piece was much better put-together, which is not something I usually say about my opponents’ verses. He flat-out outwrote me and put more polish on his verse. But my criticism would be that the tie to the topic was tangential, which is a common trait in NYCSPITZ’s verses. He writes what he wants to write, similar to his next opponent, dead man.



Previewing the Final
THE INTERVIEW 2.0 with dead man





Greetings. I’ll start this the same way I started with NYCSPITZ: Why do you think you will win?

because i will write a far more elaborate ancient samurai saga.


NYCSPITZ has a lot to say about his past with you. Tell us about your long-bar days.

we've been frequenting the same sites since like 2008. i think Rapworlds.com was the first forum on which we both competed. shockingly, it's still online now. my name was something ridiculous like die a bd'z but with a bunch of symbols and shit. i was still battling long bar then i think but stopped pretty shortly after Dominate embarrassed me into an alternative form of expression. he had a wordplay in that verse about a Sultan or something that blew my mind but i can't even remember what. anyway, NYC and Aero and Dom were all battling at that point as well and we were always cool. NYC is one of my favorite people online cause he's fucking weird but in a funny and genuine(ish) way. we read a lot of similar things and have some overlapping interests. he doesn't take himself too seriously but always had immense skills when it came down to it.


You have a quiet ego, but an ego nonetheless. Where do you place yourself among our humble topical battler ranks?

in my estimation, there are at least 3 people on here who are better writers than i am: wise ways, vulgar, and zen.

oh, and oats. because i deeply admire his dedication to his blog. he takes the everyday and puts it under a magnifying glass in the same way a lot of us tend to do in topical verses. but he writes volumes instead of 20 lines of rhyme. i don't know if i could do that anywhere near as well.

as far as topical battling, i dunno. most people are probably better. NYC is definitely better at coming up with crazy twists and interpretations for topics. that's always been a huge strength of his.


Who do you most admire? Who have you most directly tried to steal from?

i borrowed a lot from Dynasty aka Lord Shivas SiQ'al when i first began writing non-battle verses. i never tried to steal per se, but a lot of his techniques and strategies were so dope to me. i don't even think his website archive is still up, and nobody seems to know he even existed now and he hasn't visited these forums in years. it's a shame because he was really out there. you might know who he is, since you were around all that time ago. anyway, if you read some of my really early shit from like 07-08, you can see how much he influenced my process. it's funny because he almost certainly had no idea who i was. we had almost zero direct interaction. i basically just lurked his archives and battles and fanned the fuck out.

i've definitely borrowed tips and tricks from countless others though. vulgar a lot as far as creative word choice. he always pushed me (indirectly) to use my artistic license freely and to break the shackles, as it were. i used to be intimidated to leave feedback on a vulgar verse, like years ago. cause he was so out there i almost felt like i would be bringing him down to try and criticize what he was doing. i really respect him more than he may know.

i most admire you for your dedication to making this fun for everybody. it's really awesome that you take the time to make this a dope hobby and activity for people involved. i know it's not easy but your timeliness and organization and everything you've done for this league and other topical competitions has been truly incredible. pancake as well for running that winter topical last year which was so much fucking fun for me. you guys are the real MVPs.


Where do you see your weaknesses at this point?

i don't see them. but everybody else might. that's the beauty of competitive writing i think.


You have this incredibly distinct style (that people keep trying and failing to mimic). How long did it take you to come up with it, and how much have you evolved it over the past couple years?

how long? i guess up until this point. i'd like to think it's still changing. i binged a lot of McCarthy and Palanhiuk a while back and i think they probably had a profound effect on how i wanted to write. these guys have a rhythm to their sentence structure that really fascinated me. pancake picked up on this recently and hit the nail right on the head. everything i read, hear, see, experience, whatever, serves to shape how i write though. i'd assume it's the same for everyone.

i had an english professor who told me that everything she writes is, at some level, part of a larger series. i loved that idea.


What do you see as the ideal next step for Netcees’ topical scene? Any tournament or league ideas?

the short verse tournament is a phenomenal idea, as long as somebody reliable hosts it. i saw that vulgar volunteered to host something, which would be great. plot also had an interesting idea about a topical competition in which everyone wrote to the same topic every round, but i don't know how realistic or sustainable that would be for everyone involved.

it all comes down to management. these competitions need a host who is dedicated to setting battles, maintaining guidelines and rules, and creating magazines like this in order to keep everybody motivated and unified. sportscasts need highlight reels and interviews and announcers to keep fans entertained. this is very similar in my opinion.


What’s your end goal in this writing game?

i wish i knew man. i fucking wish i knew.


Thanks for taking the time. Any final words before we part?

i think we'll all remember each other for a very long time.



PREDICTION





Fuck it, let’s just get this over with. I’m picking dead man. I know that NYCSPITZ matches up extremely well with him. He’ll tell a much more fleshed-out story and grab the reader with the details and the thoroughness. But dead man is on a fucking roll. He’s been hitting every note lately, and the worst thing I can say about his recent verses is that they all fall into the same style we expect from him. But that’s barely even a criticism. The topic, “Lay to Rest,” intentionally plays into both of their strengths. So this one is close. But I’m giving it to the favorite. Prediction: dead man 52-48.



So It Goes
CONCLUSION/
LISTEN UP


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[big baby]

obsessed

[Vulgar]

Should be a good one.

[PancakeBrah]

Those interviews were great.

[oats]

dope mag, will be a dope matchup.

[UnbornBuddha]

:) An exemplary work.... Thanks for the time in, and Good luck to the contenders.

[Burd]

the interviews were a nice read. well put together, Certain

[StarFaggot]

Yea the interviews were a nice read. Good mag.