The Tale Of The (mix)Tape…

Yay for Saigon and Joe Budden. Much like the Gaza strip, rap music was going to be a bloody wasteland this first quarter. Fools were getting axed left and right as record companies were reeling from the effects of this bullshit economy. I was wondering if there was even going to be any label around to put out an album. Thankfully Amalgam and Koch are still around. These two labels are like the rats and roaches that will survive the nuclear armageddon. Animals small enough to just burrow into a hole and hardbody enough to eat any fucking thing they find. Good shit.

Round 3 of the Saigon vs. Joe Budden internets rap battle kicked off with Saigon's 'Pushing Buddens'. Saigon finally took the advice from his corner to start matching the Budden body shots. Saigon was failing in the first two rounds by swinging wildly for the head and also for throwing low blows. In this round Saigon has targeted the body of Budden's career output. This is a risky and dangerous move for Saigon since in the grand scheme of rap music he still doesn't technically have an album. The good thing about rap music battles is that hearsay also has the weight of truth in the minds of most fans. So the hearsay that 'Greatest Story Never Told' will have amazing music from Just Blaze does count for something.

The fact that Saigon chose to get at Joe Budden using 'Pump It Up' was the weakest part of his round. Budden pwns that song outright. No one who puts any rhymes to that song will ever eclipse Budden's verses. It Just ain't possible (puns always intended - no Big Pun). Still and all Saigon turns in his best round so far in this battle and proves that he belongs in the ring with Budden. This fight is reminiscent of a great middleweight fight I saw years ago when Tommy Hearns fought Sugar Ray Leonard. Both these boxers were no longer in their primes but they put on one of the most entertaining fights I ever saw.

I see Budden as being a flashy Sugar Ray type boxer. [ll] to the name Sugar Ray internets. While Saigon is definitely more like Hearns, who had a devastating right hand when it connected. The best thing about the contrast in style from Saigon to Joe Budden is that just like this 1989 rematch between Leonard and Hearns it helped bolster a flagging sport. Boxing at the time had one legit superstar, the soft-spoken, downward-spiraling, maniacal Mike Tyson (Lil' Wayne or KanYe West?) and the rematch up of these two veterans was a 12 round bout for the ages. Hearns wanted to repay Leonard for the TKO he suffered eight years prior (word to Aaron Pryor, natch).

Hitman Hearns (Detwah stand up!) was a beast, and early on he wore out Sugar Ray with punishing inside shots. He even knocked Ray down a couple of times. But Ray was the former Olympic gold champion and he had the heart and mettle to match the medal. Only several years earlier sonn had to have surgery because his eyeball was detached. This is hardbody shit my niggas. These two dudes banged for the entire 12 rounds. Baltimore vs. Detroit. Philadelphia Camden vs. St. Louis. Not the football teams my niggas. The cities. I don't expect the rap music battle between Joe Budden and Saigon to actually result in a boxing match, and frankly I hope it doesn't because that shit would be gheyer than a shopping bag full of cocks. The nigga that would want to see musicians knuckle up would secretly want to kiss them too.

At the end the fight concluded with a draw which pissed everybody off at first because we all wanted the judges to render a final decision and confirm whatever our positions were. Being unsatisfied I think me and my boys left the bar (everlasting shouts to Wiley's) and went to wreak havoc in the city by stealing cars and doing whatever dumb ass teenagers do. If I had realized at the time that I was witnessing a classic I might have appreciated the judges decision that night. Now that I am old enough to look back at that moment I am better able to enjoy this competition now going on via .mp3 files. All I want is for the nature of competition to bring out the best in the competitors. Most of you witnessed that with Jay-Z and NaS. Here's to hoping we get another one for the ages.

Ding!