Dizaster vs. Arcane (vs. Caustic)
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The controversy sparked by King of the Dot’s latest title match between Arcane and Dizaster set off a firestorm akin to the MLB steroids fiasco, rocking the battle scene globally.
Instead of performance enhancing drugs, the focus has been on performance enhancing lyrics, namely those Arcane bought off California rapper Caustic. But we’ll get to that soon.
The title match was between Dizaster, whose aggressive bars and jaw-dropping freestyles have made him one of the most popular battler rappers on the planet, and Number 1 contender Arcane. The challenger was coming
off a bulldozer-run through KOTD’s Grand Prix tournament, winning for the
second straight time with decisive victories over some of the league’s
best and pocketing $5,000 in the process.Ahead of the battle, fans were divided, but the consensus was that if anyone could beat Dizaster for the title, it was Arcane.
Leading up to event, the two were already trading shots over Twitter:
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For weeks, Dizaster (and what seemed like every one of his 30,000 Twitter followers) had it out for Arcane.
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Then came the big day.
Blackout 3 drew the largest crowd to date for a KOTD event, selling out The Guvernment with around 1,200 people in attendance, including legitimate rap celebrities Drake and Maestro Fresh Wes.
The card was stacked with some of the best battlers in the world, hailing from Canada, the U.S. and the U.K.
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TOBattleBlog was there,
jockeying for position around the ring during some impressive early battles. We
eventually got tired of the crush and headed to the second floor to try to
get an overhead view. It quickly became obvious that what we had gained
in sight, we’d lost in sound.The battles were inaudible on the outskirts of the crowd and clear sight lines were hard to find with a general admission ticket. Most people watched the battles on a large screen that was set up above the stage.
A little hustle got us into the VIP section, on stage
and next to a speaker, with a better view than 99 per cent of the
audience.The Math Hoffa/Pat Stay battle that came before the main event, as well as strong showings from Madness, Uno Lavoz, 100 Bulletz and Charron had the crowd excited and set expectations high for the main event.
When it arrived we were ready, but it was clear the crowd was getting restless and rowdy after a whole lot of drinks.
THE BATTLE BEGINS
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If you haven’t already seen the battle, here it is. All 58 minutes of it…
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KOTD - Rap Battle - Dizaster vs Arcane (Title Match) *Co-Hosted By Drake*kingofthedot·
Tue, Feb 12 2013 12:36:09
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Dizaster rapped first, laying out a densely written round about how he could prove that Arcane had bought some of the rhymes that helped cement his spot in the title match.
At the end of his round, Diz papered the crowd with dozens of copies of what seemed to be a PayPal receipt that showed Arcane transferring money to Caustic (a California MC who’s been killing competition internationally):
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And a Facebook conversation between the two that showed them negotiating a price for the rhymes:
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(photos via Luciano Crakk’s Instagram feed)
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Diz devoted all three rounds to the concept: a dangerous strategy, especially when it didn’t go over well with the crowd.
Diz’s approach played to the people in the first few rows, and will likely be convincing
in the YouTube footage, but it left the other 1,000 people in the venue
confused. People in the back struggled to see/hear/understand what was going on, and the massive turnout meant that most of the crowd wasn’t
particularly well-versed in battle culture and history.And that’s when the boo-ing started. Diz later claimed that it was
Arcane fans who set off the catcalls (his hometown of Hamilton is a short drive from the Toronto venue). From what we could tell, the
crowd was unimpressed with the champ’s weak bars, repetitive angles and
lame rebuttals.We saw one particular rapper (with an axe to grind against Dizaster) boo early and loudly, but that’s all it took to ignite the crowd.
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From our vantage point, Arcane was the clear winner, staying true to his style of intricate wordplay and dagger-sharp personal attacks.
Arcane won
on the strength of his bars and performance. 3-0, no contest. When your
opponent is reduced to a screaming, cartoonish villain you’ve clearly
done something right.But Dizaster’s ploy should’ve worked. I mean, he had proof that his opponent paid for lyrics, right?
**UPDATE Feb 15, 2013**
A few things become clear after watching the YouTube footage:
-It’s easy to follow Diz’s concept throughout all three rounds, which explains why so many people online are backing him. The crowd at the event had no idea what he was talking about and eventually turned on him because of it. He couldn’t believe people were booing him and lost his composure.
-Dizaster brought some heavy content in the third whenever he abandoned his PayPal scheme. If it had been a five round battle, things may have turned out differently.
-There’s a strong case to be made for Dizaster winning that battle if you give him the third and DQ Arcane from the first round for getting exposed. (Or DQ him completely for getting exposed…)
-Diz said he found the evidence on Caustic’s computer when Caustic was in L.A. to battle John John Da Don at Resurgeance. That event was on Jan. 12 so Diz wrote and prepared his rounds in two weeks.
-Arcane still clearly won that battle with his performance and content. Four judges (Knamelis, Adam Bomb, Dax Flox and Yaz) went with Arcane. Shotty Horroh gave it to Diz.
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THE BATTLE ENDS, THE WAR BEGINS
Dizaster was right that something fishy had gone on with Arcane and Caustic.
Late in 2012, the two rappers had used the same line in different battles.
Arcane against Chedda Cheese in the Grand Prix finals when he said:
You got dumped by a stripper, Chedda/
You ain’t never gonna live it down/
That girl’s pussy like the White House/
No Bush and there’s a black guy in it now.Filmed Nov. 17, 2012
Released on YouTube Dec. 5, 2012We were there for the event, and it was clearly the line of the night. It
got the biggest reaction and had us quoting it to our friends the next
day. -
KOTD - 2012 Grand Prix Final - Arcane v Chedda Cheese *Co-Hosted By Maestro Fresh Wes*kingofthedot·
Wed, Dec 05 2012 04:44:12
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But then, just days later, U.K. battle league Don’t Flop released a video where Caustic said to Jefferson Price:
“He’s insecure about his dick so he constantly lives in doubt/
His girl’s pussy is like the White House/
No Bush and there’s a black guy in it now.”
Filmed Oct. 20, 2012
Released Dec. 8, 2012 -
DON’T FLOP - Rap Battle - Jefferson Price Vs Causticdontflop·
Sat, Dec 08 2012 03:15:02
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There were some rumblings online when people noticed the similarity … even though it may actually have been first said by comedian Jeff Ross.
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But how did Dizaster get the proof that Arcane paid Caustic for the lines?Well, it’s a long story…
In the Grand Prix tournament, Caustic was supposed to face
Calgary’s Chedda Cheese in the West Coast semi-finals. With his criminal history, Caustic wasn’t able to
get past the border. This was the second time a battle was cancelled
because of Caustic’s inability to pass Canadian customs, so KOTD decided
that Caustic was disqualified and Chedda cruised through to the finals
on a bye.This left Caustic with three rounds of prepared
material for a guy he’d never have reason to battle again. “I mean, [Arcane] didn’t really like directly ask me to write rhymes. Like, we’ve been bullshitting, he knew I had this shit,” Caustic later told URL’s Battle Rap Arena podcast. “And basically it came down to… I’ll send you my whole fuckin’ shit, but I ain’t gonna do it for free. I’ll let you see everything I had.”According to Caustic, he previewed some of his Chedda Cheese bars for
his friend Thesaurus, another California battle legend. Caustic
never got to deliver the bars, but when Thesaurus watched the
Arcane/Chedda battle, he recognized some of the schemes and told
Diz about it. Dizaster and Caustic claim that in January, when both were hanging out at a hotel in L.A., Caustic fell asleep and Diz
went onto his computer and found the conversations with Arcane.Caustic was in the U.S. when the battle went down, but news spread quickly about “Dizaster getting
robbed by a Canadian cheat” over Twitter and Facebook.
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Dizaster took to Twitter quickly, blaming Arcane fans for booing him:
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Rappers and fans all seemed to have an opinion, whether they’d seen the
battle or not.Marvwon summed up the thousands of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube
comments nicely on RapMusic.com with three words and an ellipsis: -
Memes started popping up, gaining traction through Dizaster and Caustic’s social media channels:
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Arcane uploaded more screenshots of his conversations with Caustic, showing what seemed to be a mutual collaboration of bar-sharing.
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Caustic held court on RapMusic.com to air out Arcane in full:
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The biggest inconsistency from Caustic is that his version of events doesn’t jive with the
Facebook chat snapshots. He claims that Arcane was a client (paying
$300 for a verse), but the correspondence above indicates a mutual partnership
to share lines. In fact, one snapshot shows that Caustic and Arcane had planned on splitting the Grand Prix prize money ($2,500 apiece) if both reached the finals, no matter the outcome: -
The evidence confirms that Arcane used more material from their
arrangement.
However, had Caustic gotten across the border, it’s possible he would have used
some of Arcane’s ideas for Chedda. Caustic is enthusiastic about Arcane’s ideas for Chedda, going so far as saying he’d steal them.Arcane posted
a statement towards the end of a very long RapMusic.com thread:Nobody helped me with ANY bars for Bulletz, or Skelly, Crakk, Step or Diz, etc.
for that matter. I used maybe 2 or 3 ideas from Caustic for the Chedda battle
only. and if Caustic woulda made it into Canada to battle Chedda, he woulda
used maybe 2 or 3 of mine. This whole thing has been blown way outta
proportion.
Lastly, Nobody paid anybody for any boo’s. That’s a ridiculous statement. Most
of the 1200+ ppl there were not avid battle fans, they were there to see Drake.
There was only roughly 100 ppl there from my city (Hamilton) So to blame my
City for 1200+ boo’s is ludicrous.If Diz wants a rematch i will fuck him up again. Mark my words. And who are you
gonna claim “wrote my verses” when that happens?Good day.
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The day after the battle dropped, he gave an official response through Facebook:
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A.r. CaneWuddup y’all, hope you enjoy the battle. i feel like this shit is entertaining on so many levels lol. And, even though i know this wasn’t my best performance, i am proud that i was able to hold everything together and deliver my material under the circumstances. Bottom line it was the most fucked up environment I’ve had to face in my entire battle career, but I know Organik and staff did everything they could to control the chaos and the video quality and editing looks amazing.
As for the manufactured scandal with Caustic, shit was mad overblown and taken way out of context. People need to recognize there’s a big difference between “buying bars” and breaking off a homie who got screwed out of a tournament finals appearance by border patrol. Me and Caustic used to be friends and we shared a FEW ideas for ONE battle. This happens all the time. I’m not gonna start airing out names, but most of these emcees don’t battle for money so none is ever exchanged. Since dude got stopped at the border, I did what i thought was the right thing at the time and broke off the homie
Ultimately did i need help against Chedda? No. Did i need help against Dizaster? No. Did i ask Caustic for his help? No. Did Caustic ask for any money? No. Is there anything on that paypal statement that says “$$ for bars”? No. it actually says “Merry xmas homie”. And i defy anybody to provide any evidence that would prove otherwise. Plus, If anyone conspired with Caustic for this Title match, it was clearly Dizaster, not me,.. so to go on for three rounds about it was just redundant IMO.
The way this shit has been twisted is ridiculous really. I’ve helped countless emcees over the years, free of charge, and never breathed a word to gain any praise. My biggest mistake was hooking someone up I considered a friend. The sad fact of this battle game is that there’s very little room for true friendships. Shit is mad grimy out here. So the doors to the factory are now locked. Lesson learned. I will never put myself in that position again.
All in all, the battle def didn’t go as smooth as it could have, but to all the fans, battle emcees, and KOTD staff who have reached out to offer their respect, recognition and support, I’m honored. Real recognize real. To all my haters, doubters and detractors, i will def be back to defend my title and the 2nd reign of Cane will be brutal for y’all. Heads are gonna roll..
~Peace
Tue, Feb 12 2013 19:22:54
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Essentially, we’ll never
know exactly what happened. Each person has their version of events and
it’s unlikely that all sides will corroborate anything resembling an
airtight explanation. -
THE CAT COMES OUT OF THE BAG
More online conversation started exposing the ghostwriting and collaboration that had been part of the scene for years.
Caustic admitted he’d sold rhymes before, telling HipHopDX: “I’ve
sold verses to a few bigger name battle rappers and trust me, they are
worth a lot more than you think. So the real tragedy here is someone
fucking with my hustle.”NY rapper Jus Daze also addressed it in his blog:
“Ok,
so ghostwriting was finally brought to attention in the public’s
eye…which, c’mon people…it’s been being done forever and the
WELL-KNOWN battlers that rely on “nobodies”, as well as their peers
isn’t new knowledge, but the AMOUNT/Caliber of MC’s that rely on it is
CRAZY.”KOTD founder Organik even got into it:
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Just over two weeks removed from the battle, each person involved finds himself in a peculiar position. Of course, Arcane’s reputation has been sullied, perhaps to the extent that his battling career will never recover. And yet he clearly outperformed Dizaster. His next matchup should draw another heavyweight looking to capitalize on the controversy. (DNA has expressed interest via Twitter).
Somehow, Dizaster has come off as a victim in this mess and his massive fan base will view the result as nothing short of a hatchet-job against him. On the other hand, it was Dizaster’s worst performance in the league. Still, that won’t keep him from booking bigger battles in front of bigger crowds.
Caustic has two reasons to feel good: he used almost none of Arcane’s ideas, and he got paid. (But it does seem like a lot of BS for $300). It also seems like his future involvement in KOTD, at least in the short term, is a bit of a question mark:
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And how does poor Chedda Cheese feel about all this, you ask? Don’t you worry about Chedda Cheese.
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This is only our first of many posts, follow us to keep in touch!
Did KOTD ever officially comment on ‘bargate?’ Or their stance on rappers buying bars? I saw Organik make reference to a coming statement but never saw anything.