Players on the court compete to win championships, not to outscore one another. Just look at Lebron... he's been outscoring Kobe for 4 or 5 years now. It's not that hard to talk shit about someone. I could "outscore" most people verbally. But... I'd rather approach music as if making a good album is a championship ring. I don't care who I outscore individually, as long as I WIN. KD got the scoring title last year and was the youngest ever to do it. You want to be like him. I used to as well. But Kobe won the chip because Kobe is chasing his own legacy right now. He's not playing to prove he's better than Lebron or Jordan. He's playing to make his career the best it can be.
As long as you compete against others and not yourself, you'll never be the best at anything. Jordan had the same mentality as Kobe. Jordan wanted to WIN, not just score. While they may tend to go together more often than not, fact are facts and the best winners don't always score (Rondo?) and the best scorers don't always win (T-MAC!).
The thing is this.. I know music. I know there's certain things that can be done on a track not because I heard some one else do it, or got the idea in my head to improve on something else I heard, but because I study music theory.
So when I hear certain rhyme schemes, I don't think "That's a Jay-Z flow". I think, "That's just like a rudiment on a snare drum... and Jay-Z learned how to apply it". So when I hear that same scheme/rudiment on a... I dunno... Eminem song, I'm not gonna think "That's a Jay-z flow Em just used". I'm more likely to think "Em and Jay discovered the same rudiment and applied it". And since I can understand and read up on all the known rudiments, I can learn them and apply them as well. I'm a musician, not just a rapper..
So to me, battling is just the top of an iceberg.. I'd rather spend time exploring music in depth...or in the depths...
Being a proud battle rapper is like being happy to have JUST a jump shot. I play this game at a level most aren't even aware exists..
