Coming into the final month of
what was to be King of the Dot’s
best year hands down, I sit down
with Organik to discuss their next
event Blackout 4 which pushes
the boundary of innovation in
battle rap by never letting fans
know who is battling each other
until they are announced at the
event. This will be topped off with
their biggest championship match
up Dizaster versus Pat Stay, but
before we get into those details we
discuss the hard road which lead
to their place as one of the biggest
promotions in battle rap today
Jon Rines: You gone have people
playing matchmaker and starting
all kind of rumors to give
Blackout 4 crazy buzz! How did
you come up with this idea?
Organik: Yeah man! It’s actually
an idea I wanted to run with.
I wanted to do it last year for
Blackout 3 but we wasn’t really in
a position to run with it we had a
bit of a rough year. I just want to
continue innovating and keeping
shit things fresh. Battle rap kinda
got boring for the battle rappers
and I noticed it was getting harder
and harder to get people to battle
or take certain matchups because
there wasn’t any excitement
for them. The traveling gets
exhausting, the staying in hotels
get exhausting so I wanted to get
something fresh to get the rappers,
staff and everyone excited again.
Jon Rines: How hard is it to
get matchups set? Is it a big
negotiating process or any sale’s
pitching involved? We hear
the rumors about certain diva
mentalities, but is it normally an
easy process?
Organik: Uuuuuum? It really
depends on your relationship
with the guys. You know what I
mean? A lot of them I’ve grown
up with them so I don’t really
need a sale’s pitch. They know I’m
genuinely here to push their career
forward. Other rappers you have
to come with the sale’s pitch. If
they don’t understand, you only
have a couple of minutes to make
them understand. I feel like, it’s
a challenge with certain people
because they not understanding,
but it’s not til they come up here
that they understand. Matchups
happen in weird ways, I think
um, they are set up individually
then another staff member would
tell me who they talked to and
we’d discuss it. But we are trying
to build friendships, these are
people we like so it’s more treating
them more like a friend than a
client.
Jon Rines: I wish a lot of more
people had that understanding.
The relationships last, clients
don’t.
Organik: Yeah! You gotta
understand. One thing I think
that helped King of the Dot
succeed in the beginning is I came
from being a battler! I came from
understanding the emotions these
organik
Cover Story
battlers are going through to build
their brand so I always kept that in
mind instead of being a promoter
and making them feel like they
are a part of something big , make
them feel comfortable and we
aren’t just out to make money
but to make them big. Once they
understand that it works itself out.
Jon Rines: And this model gave
you guys a great 2013! With all
the hard work behind the scenes,
how hard isn’t to hear the insane
speculation from fans? To be
specific, examples would be fan’s
interpretation of pay-per-view
numbers and their need to create
a beef between King of the Dot
and URL.
Organik: (laughs) To be honest
with you bro, I’m one of the most
laid back guys out there. It takes
a LOT to frustrate or annoy me.
I don’t know, I take it as a good
thing people are putting that
must thought into it. When we
first started doing it there was
just fifteen people in the room.
Now I can make a post and there’s
fifteen negative comments, not
to mention the thousands of
good ones too. I just take that
and laugh at it because the more
they become more fans the more
they begin to see. And educate
themselves. It’s like with mixed
martial arts with UFC and Pride
are going. People would pit Chuck
Liddell against Wanderlei Silva,
knowing they are both signed
under two organizations knowing
it can’t happen, like with Couture
and Fedor Emelianenko. P