The competition was intense, the crowd was raucous, the judges were critical, and the winner was oh so serious- Serius Jones that is.
With a $10, 000 purse on the line, the New Jersey-native defeated Jin, the previous Fight Klub Champion last night in front of a packed house at a special AllHipHop.com-sponsored edition of the bi-weekly event in New York City.
“It wasn’t as hard as I expected it to be,” Jones told AllHipHop.com. The new Monday Night Fight Klub champ, who works under the tutelage of multi-platinum producer Needlez (50 Cent’s “Piggy Bank), was repeatedly accused by Jin of using pre-written verses.
“Its $10, 000 dollars. I’d be a fool to not have some thoughts prepared for the battle. Jin definitely has thoughts prepared and he has written raps, but he just disguises by adding freestyle punchlines at the right time. I use the same technique. This isn’t about an original freestyle, this is about $10, 000.”
Although Jones contends that the battle was easier than it looked, he and Jin went toe to toe for three rounds with the cash money on a pool table that separated them. Jin began the battle with knockout lines like “He couldn’t milk the game for what it’s worth if he was playing with cows.” However, Jones humorous, but racially charged insults appeared to wear on the Asian rapper.
The crowd erupted after Jones spit, “You’ve been wack your whole career/ ain’t there two billion people in China, you can’t even go platinum over there.” In rhyme, Jin retorted that he would be “assassinated” if he struck back with bigoted raps about African Americans in the Fight Klub. Nevertheless, Jones stormed back with, “You ain’t a Ruff Ryder, you on the back like one of them broads/ DMX tried to kill him for trying to cook one of his dogs.”
The celebrity panel of judges- made up of super producer Just Blaze, D-Block CEO Sheek Louch, and Hot 97 radio jock Miss Info-acknowledged that the race-related tone of the battle played a large role in their decision to opt for an unexpected sudden death round.
“As soon as Serius Jones started spitting with the racist jokes, I felt like he was reaching out to the lowest common denominator,” said Miss Info, who claimed she had seen Jones successfully battle before without having to resort to such tactics. “I think it took Jin out of his stride. I’ve seen Jin battle many times and I know that he is usually able to take that and brush it right off. Tonight he didn’t necessarily do so. When Serius Jones came with straight fire in the sudden death round, and color blind fire, then I knew he won the battle. They both had daggers, Serius’ were just sharper”
Fight Klub host International P, who moderated the event amongst a heavily industry-populated crowd, agreed. “They both showed that they deserved to be champs,” he said. “At the end of the battle, you couldn’t say that this one won or this one lost. So the judges decided they needed another round to really decide. There was one winner. That boy Serius is serious. He’s the new champ of Fight Klub.”
The AllHipHop.com/Fight Klub event was a portion of AHH Week 2005. Tonight fans can see signed artists like Saigon, Stimuli and Maino as well as unsigned talent at the Breeding Ground Showcase at The Canal Room.