He’s more than a battle rapper.
UFF Contender HA Double started
rapping at the age of 13. Inspired
by Southern artists like Master P
and Cash Money, he slowly began
building his own imprint, Uglyface
Muzic — though he admits that
battle rap has taken most of his free
time as of late. When asked what
prompted him to become a battle
rapper, his answer equated to part
love-part struggle, adding reluctantly
that his rebuild post-Hurricane
Katrina has put a lot of plans on
hold. Double’s journey officially
began in 2011, when he submitted
a video of himself freestyling to a
well known battle rapper from New
Orleans named BC. BC put him
on to his first battle on an up-andcoming battle rap league — New
Orleans Battle Zone — where he
battled BC himself. From there it
was battle after battle, win after
win, which landed him on the
Proving Grounds against Anubis
late last year, an opponent who HA
says was his hardest competition thus
far. When asked about his family,
Double stated factually that, while
he’s focused on success in battle rap,
he’s twice as passionate about his
daughter Peyton, who dominates his
priorities while he works and uses
his free time to focus on bars. Seeing
how he’s well known for controlling
the crowd with his witty bars and
strong delivery, I found it fitting to
open the interview with asking how
he felt about Arsonal’s recent blog
directing hate on his performance in
his recent UFF battle versus Sno.
Evelyn Ayalon: So I came across
Arsonal’s blog where he expressed
a rather strong opinion about
your lack of skills and your
corresponding blog where you
highlighted some of his flaws
onstage. How did that ultimately
play out?
HA Double: My whole response
to what Arsonal was saying was,
“before you start calling me
trash, take a look at yourself.”
I’m just a real n***a. I think
Arsonal’s nice, but other people
still think he’s trash though. No
matter what class of battler you
are, I say stop worrying about
the Top Tiers. That’s why I
don’t say anything about them,
because I don’t care about them.
We [PG battlers] are rapping
because we are trying to get on
too. I don’t need their approval
that I can rap. There are already
way too many PGs looking for
approval to become somebody
in battle rap.
Eve: Would you still battle
Arsonal?
HA Double: Yeah, I would. I
just hate that [Top Tier’s] are
downplaying our skills; saying
s**t like, “we sound like them.”
I don’t need to battle you to
make my own name, because I
already made my own name.
Eve: Since we are talking about
ha double
DONT SLEEP
tiers; how you feel about them?
Do you think the tiers in battle
rap are based on politics?
HA Double: It’s based on
favoritism and politics. I think a
lot of the non-Top Tiers can beat
of a lot of the so called “Top
Tiers.” When Smack first came
out with the URL that was their
proving grounds and ever since
then that’s how we’ve watched
battle rap grow. Some of them
act like battle rap wouldn’t be
s**t without them and I’m like,
“No, battle rap was around
before cameras were there to
show it.” and that’s how it
works. The only way for battle
rap to grow is for the Top Tiers
to battle the up-and-comers.
Eve: With that said, do you think
anyone needs to retire and make
space for the new class?
HA Double: I don