In an Allhiphop.com exclusive, newly signed Def
Jam South recording artist Haystak has issued an official response to the following
excerpt from the March ’03 issue (pg. 144) of The Source magazine:
After numerous failed experiments (the closest
success came with "Project Elvis Part 1," which was Vanilla Ice) the
Powers That Be struck gold – or should we say nine-times platinum – when they
created the perfect candidate for rule. Project Infiltrator became a success
and they were ready to claim the whole culture.
However, while being greedy and using those
same methods, the next wave of Infiltrators didn’t make it. (Sorry Bubba Sparxxx
and Haystak.)
"It’s very ambiguous to me how I could infiltrate
somethin’ I was born into," stated Haystak. Who continue to say "I’m
a lower-class citizen and rap music has been the soundtrack to my whole life."
While Haystak was very "aggravated"
over the piece, he made a point to vent his frustration solely at Benzino, and
not at The Source staff as a whole.
"You gotta realize there’s two factions
at work here. It’s people that just come to work and do their f*ckin’ job and
try to do it to the best standard that’s been set by The Source, then you got
another side of it which is just a person tryin’ to utilize a publication, which
is to increase awareness of the people that read it, to sell his records,"
said ‘Stak.
The Nashville MC believes that Benzino is using
The Source as a tool to salvage a lackluster recording career. "At this
time he might feel like, or it seems as though he feels like he don’t have a
leg to stand on so he’s tryin’ to make a prosthetic one out of a white rapper."
Haystak continued, "seems to me at this time the only one tryin’ to infiltrate
somethin’ is Benzino."
As for a possible resolution to this matter,
Haystak posed a challenge to Benzino. "If I’m not worthy of bein’ here,
if I’m infiltrating somethin’ that I’m not worthy of bein’ in, show me."
‘Stak wants to settle this debate about the worthiness
of white MC’s the old-fashioned way, on the microphone. Haystak and his manager,
Eric McAnally would like to set-up an MC battle between ‘Stak and ‘Zino "wherever
you wanna do it, Madison Square Garden, his driveway, our driveway, MTV, 106
and Park," stated Mr. McAnally.
And what if Benzino emerges victorious? Well,
‘Stak has decided to put up a purse of one million dollars for ‘Zino to take
home should he manage to slay the Tennessee Titan.
However, Haystak is fairly confident that he
won’t be writing any large checks anytime soon because as he states, "let’s
face it, this cat’s no 50 Cent and I ain’t gonna lose no sleep."
*Benzino can contact Eric McAnally if he wishes
to take Haystak up on his challenge.
