Although he’s found acclaim and success recording with the likes of Talib Kweli and DMC, New York rapper Iron Solomon first gained notoriety for his impressive rap battle career. Now, in a recent interview with Forbes, Solomon spoke about his career and his decision to focus on recording music.
Solomon recalled his first official rap battle win at the age of 18 at End of the Weak’s MC Challenge against underground titan Immortal Technique. Although the contest didn’t initially begin as a battle, Solomon recalled that Immortal Tech disagreed with with him winning the competition and proceeded to challenge Solomon to a one-on-one battle.
“[Immortal Technique] went first and it turned into a battle,” Solomon said. “I was scared shitless because he was a beast, and still is. But somehow, I pulled out the win. That was the spark that set me off, and made me realize how successful I could be.”
Solomon also spoke about the intensity of actually being involved in a serious rap battle. He explained that while participants often research their opponents’ styles in advance, the battle itself is a very spontaneous and nerve-wracking affair. He also added that while he’ll never completely abandon the art of battling, he’s now ready to focus more on his solo career.
“I would definitely do a certain degree of research, watching footage of other rappers,” he said. “It’s a really tense situation because everyone is pacing and sizing each other up and mumbling like a crazy person…the second you know who you’re facing next, you’re thinking of the way they look and why that’s stupid.”
He added, “I don’t think I’ll ever fully move away from battling. I always want to have a presence and be able to jump in if it makes sense. But I feel I’ve put in my 10,000 hours, my Malcolm Gladwell expertise, and I’m ready to move on to the next thing.”
RELATED: Iron Solomon Taps Talib Kweli, Paul Wall, Jean Grae & More For “Monster”
“Immortal Tech disagreed with with him”
FIRE THIS GUY
fire the whole staff lol all of them do this.
that battle was fuckin lame tho…
Werd. I think the battle that gave him his first real challenge was him vs Thesaurus.
he was battling long before then though, Justice was definitely a challenge for him, but I think he got robbed that battle.
the Immortal Techinique battle was only lame coz of IT’s sour attitude, he deserved to get served and they even cut Iron’s verse short coz he served him so bad
Hes been doing the music thing for awhile now, nobody cares. He should stick to battling.
why not imbed the video of the battle instead of just writing about it? its all over youtube… get it together.
when you focus all your energy into degrading and belittling the next man, its hard to turn around and write meaningful music
Tell that to Jay Z, who used to battle cats at clubs before he got put on. Or Eminem, or LL Cool J.. The list goes on and on!!
^And Big L
NEED BEATS?
BET YOU HAVEN’T HEARD BEATS LIKE
THIS BEFORE!
GET FREE BEATS FOR LIKING THE SITE!!
7DOLLABEATS(.)COM
7DOLLABEATS(.)COM
VOTED TOP 5 BEAT PACKAGE ONLINE!
50 BEATS FOR 19.99!
50 BEATS FOR ONE TIME PAYMENT OF 19.99!
iron solomon is a pink dough boy faggot. holding on to irrelevant “battle” “wins”. cant write a song. no charisma. shatters cameras with his bitch made wigger appearance. 90% of the battle scene is wigger trash that can’t fight. this guy can’t back up 1% of his tough guy lyrics. tired, and weak.
hey solomon why dont you talk about the battle where i lit your azz on fire lol!!!
dis nigga got the type of face u just wanna punch and shatter his glasses into his eyeballs as he spits a battle rap about how he is good with his hands but gets muffled by his screams of “fuck y u do that dog?”
Alf Gang to all the skeptics
both of these artists are terrible
The “art” of battling? Please. I’ve seen this guys videos. When did making an insult rhyme become a art form? Its embarrassing at the most.