most comfortable league that I
found. I mean in the terms of
the fact that I’ve been to a lot;
the love that they give me — you
can’t go to every league and get
that. I f**k with them and we
are also going to be extending
the Trap to New Jersey. There
will be a Traphouse New Jersey
and I’m so excited for it. We
have our grand opening event
that will be going down on May
25, 2014. Me and my partner
are very happy for this grand
opening; we have a dope card
too! I mean there are some great
names and matchups on that
card. The event is called “Bars
or Die”, and again it’s all going
to be happening on May 24,
2014, from 1:00 p.m. to 7:00
p.m. Keep a lookout for the flier
to get the location and see the
matchups on the card.
Novie Blendz: On the topic of
battles: how do you think you did
in your first pro-battle?
Melato Black: Honestly, I feel
performance-wise I could’ve
done better, but the bars
were there. It was a learning
experience; my bars have always
been present in every battle, but
my performance wasn’t where
it needed to be. As far as myself
as an artist and in general, I’m
not a big screamer, yeller, jumparound kind of person, so it was
just basically about me getting
comfortable with my style and
what I was going to do up there.
Novie Blendz: Recently you have
had your debut with QOTR via
the Sparring Sessions and you
64
went against MyVerse. How was
that experience? How did that
opportunity come along?
Melato Black: It was great!
Already our battle has gotten
a lot of views. The setup for
it was interesting; because it
wasn’t like we knew who we
were battling, so we couldn’t just
write accordingly. So we just had
to come equipped with bars. I
usually don’t finish preparing
until the day of a battle. So I’m
not usually as prepared as I
should be, but that’s something I
am working on. I have a love for
this and as long as I keep getting
better and better, that is all that
matters.
As far as the opportunity, I was
honored and humbled by it. I
mean I didn’t have any agenda
to be on anything, I just wanted
to battle. I was humbled when
Debo contacted me, because he
had already known who I was.
So it was humbling and dope to
be reached out to. So overall, it
was a great experience. Shoutout
to QOTR.
Novie Blendz: Yes, that was a good
battle. I’m wondering now who is
on your radar to battle next?
Melato Black: I really don’t have
anyone in particular; I will battle
anyone who has bars. I have
plenty of bars. So if someone
is ready, I am ready. I’m not
doing this for a career, I already
have a career, so I am doing this
because of the love I have for
this culture. So basically, I’m
just ready to f**k s**t up. I just
want to make noise and I want
my league to pop and in order
to make that happen, I want
to keep battling and moving
around. I am open to work
anywhere. At the end of the day
I respect everybody that does
this and is a part of this business
and culture.
Novie Blendz: That’s the best
approach to have too. Now earlier
you mentioned you battled during
the pre-camera & YouTube eras.
Due to technology and social
networks, do you think some
opponents can go too far with
researching someone?
Melato Black: Honestly, yes. For
me I don’t have time for all of
that, but some of these girls
do. Personals and all that are
a part of the game; but that’s
not something I am into. I
don’t need to be worried about
digging in someone’s life to such
crazy lengths that some people
do. I honestly think it’s weird;
if you have bars you don’t need
to do all of that. I mean, I even
had someone go so far as to
compare their baby picture to
mine and say “oh, I was even
prettier than her as a baby.”
Like, really? That’s way over the
top and unnecessary. It’s like I
said earlier, at the end of the day
all of that is just weird to me.
Novie Blendz: Yup! Personals
shouldn’t be a crutch, but rather
a tactic used wisely. Now what do
you want people to understand
about you as an overall artist
in both battling and being a
musician?