ILLMANIA 4 DISSECTED - MAGAZINE - Lets Beef

Anarchist · #1 07-09-2014, 10:05 AM

So it finally went down … ILLMANIA 4 – Turnbull ACs vs Murda Muzik vs Legion of Doom!

And it didn’t disappoint! Last minute crew switches, upsets, a tie breaker and arson all made for arguably the most entertaining Illmania to date.

This Illmania was a long time coming, challenges have been thrown back and forth over the last year or so and it finally came to an end in which the Illmania 4 champions were crowned…

Final Standings

Battle Card

1st: Turnbull AC's - 5 Wins

2nd: Legion Of Doom - 5 Wins

3rd: Murda Muzik - 2 Wins

Tie Breaker

1st: Turnbull AC's - 2 Wins

2nd: Legion Of Doom - 1 Win

The original battle card was not enough to separate the Turnbull ACs and LOD scoring 5 wins a piece. Murda Musik bought up the rear managing to, surprisingly, only chalk up 2 victories.

The card was then forced into a tie breaker; one audio battle, one topical battle and one diss track battle.

Inevitably, due to 2 no shows, illmania was to be decided by a diss track battle between AC’s leader M-Rock and LOD leader Phil Banks… and what a finale it was!

Both figureheads in their respected crews and in the audio side of the site blessed LB with 2 diss tracks worthy of immense praise and I am positive that after the illmania hype dies down for this year, these 2 tracks will still be getting plays.

M Rock proved triumphant in the battle and continued to seemingly win everything he lands his mic on, thus bringing the title home to the ACs.

The show down was not without controversy and one of the biggest talking points was Rohan’s sabotage attempt by joining the ACs, being selected for the video battle and, quite humorously, burning a picture (which looked like used up a fair bit of ink) of the AC logo and confirming his allegiance to LOD. We’ll hear more about this and about what others thought of this act; but for now.. Lets hear what Mr Lets Beef himself, RULE, had to say about illmania….

Firstly, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank RULE, on behalf of Lets Beef on his continuous success at putting together events such as Illmania.

so RULE, Illmania 4 champions… Turnbull ACs… surprised?

Very much so if im being honest. On paper it looked like MM and LoD were the stronger crews, but once the actual card was made it looked much more even. But still even at that point it looked as though LoD & MM would be the strongest.

When you put the card together, who did you predict taking it?

Im very proud of the card i made because it was so open, and it made ILLMANIA a open ball game. I knew it would come down to certain performances, and it did. Still once i had made the card, i thought LoD had the biggest chance of winning. Not by much, but i still felt they had the strongest look on the card.

How would rate the standard of this illmania compared to previous ones, in terms of the beefs that lead to it, the quality of the match ups and the end results

I think it ties with Illy 3 as the best. Problem was that this one dragged on too long, and the voting issues on the Topical & Track battles were a bit of a dampener. Theres room for improvement come ILLMANIA 5, but the event evolved really nicely and this is definitely one there was Illy 3 as a great one.

Murda Muzik only pulled off 2 victories on the card, how will this affect them?

I thought Murda's performance was terrible throughout. Really surprised at how poor they were. I dont know if its a end-of-crew type of loss, but if they were on the journey to the HOF before Illy 4, there definitely back at square one now. I think the crew let themselves down, and im not sure if it would be wise to start from scratch with a new crew, or maybe ressurect the great Goon Squad. Either way this was a big knock on there legacy.

Which was your favorite battle on the card?

Deffly M-Rock Vs Stricc & Bleu Vs Dono. Two really tight audio battles, both could of gone either way. Grizz Vs Erupt was hot too, but to me the audio battles were the highlight as far as competitive battles went.

Turnbull ACs started off a few years ago as an elevation crew, they are now illmania 4 champions, what do you predict the future is for the ACs?

Good question. I think first off they need to reunite with the strong members from there past, like Illokwent and Bleu. I'd like to see all of them back under the umbrella. I think a GC is a most at this point, they really need to produce the next heavyweight of the site. I think also some more discipline is needed with the format of the crew and its members. Chloro was a good idea back in the day but now i dont think it adds to the crew at all, i think some tweeks should be made regarding positions (leaders, capos) and a bit more focus on keeping inactive members off the roster. Its a case of keep doing what your doing, but push the boundries out further. A AC's mixtape perhaps? More title runs etc etc.

The legion of doom are well known on this site for their dominance of the audio side of things, now with the addition of some notable texters in Manhattan and Nicholas to add to the likes of Erupt and Man Down, can they spread this to both sides of the site?

They could but i dont think they will. If Erupt has more than ten text battles left in him i'll be surprised. MD floats off and on the site too much. I dont think Nick will rise above his mid-card at best position he's been for years, so with only Rohaan and Manhattan holding down the team i dont think they have enough of a presence to become a text battle force. I dont think the I4 loss hurt LoD overly much, and if they continue to dominate the audio scene i think they will be Hall Of Famers when its all said and done. But as far as text battling goes i dont think they have the pen skills to be a heavyweight text team.

I know it’s a bit early, but, next illmania, can you see any of these crews still being in existence and if so, still beefing? Or will another crew emerge in the aftermath of this event

I dont see AC's or LoD disbanding in the next year or so. EtH & Phil are both (rightly) happy with there respective creations, and neither have a reason to close. As far as MM goes im not sure. I think the members deserve better than what they have and whether Grizz & AT want to work on rebuilding MM or create an entire new movement is soon to be seen. I think there is definitely room for another one or two crews on Letsbeef, when you look at the crewless talent on the site right now (Illo, GG, Wizdumb, Vitty etc etc) theres gotta be room for another two+ crews to enter the fray. Maybe DaDDiO & Dissizit will try to push the GOAT crew into the fray. Either way im pretty sure LoD and AC's will be apart of ILLMANIA 5.

What is your take on the whole Rohan AC/LOD burning the logo etc situation

I found it a bit odd, because ultimately it didnt really have a large effect on anything. It gave AC's a loss on the one section they were most likely to lose anyway, and the "revelations" that followed did nothing but hurt one member who was eventually banned for a completely different reason. Rohaan is a guy who has the ability to actually become a big player on this site, and stunts like this hurt him much more than his targets. I dont think LoD really wanted Rohaan in the crew, and i dont think they do now either. Rohs a guy who needs to draw a line under all the antics, and just focus on the bars. Cuz trust me on this, the kid could be a big problem. If Rohaan ended up GC'ing sometime next year, i wouldnt be surprised at all. Just depends on whether he wants to be a troll or a writer. As far as the I4 stunt goes, it didnt really do much to hurt anyone.

When will RULE join the Turnbull ACs?

The problem with me joining any crew, is that my duties as the guy who runs the site will always conflict with the needs of a crew. Being crewless means i can deal with every situation, vote on every battle and never face accusations of bias. Bottom line is that as long as im running Letsbeef, you probably wont see me in any crew, period. Beside we all know still that its CLASSICK u BASTIDS!!!

Anarchist · 07-09-2014, 10:05 AM

So it finally went down … ILLMANIA 4 – Turnbull ACs vs Murda Muzik vs Legion of Doom!

And it didn’t disappoint! Last minute crew switches, upsets, a tie breaker and arson all made for arguably the most entertaining Illmania to date.

This Illmania was a long time coming, challenges have been thrown back and forth over the last year or so and it finally came to an end in which the Illmania 4 champions were crowned…

Final Standings

Battle Card

1st: Turnbull AC's - 5 Wins

2nd: Legion Of Doom - 5 Wins

3rd: Murda Muzik - 2 Wins

Tie Breaker

1st: Turnbull AC's - 2 Wins

2nd: Legion Of Doom - 1 Win

The original battle card was not enough to separate the Turnbull ACs and LOD scoring 5 wins a piece. Murda Musik bought up the rear managing to, surprisingly, only chalk up 2 victories.

The card was then forced into a tie breaker; one audio battle, one topical battle and one diss track battle.

Inevitably, due to 2 no shows, illmania was to be decided by a diss track battle between AC’s leader M-Rock and LOD leader Phil Banks… and what a finale it was!

Both figureheads in their respected crews and in the audio side of the site blessed LB with 2 diss tracks worthy of immense praise and I am positive that after the illmania hype dies down for this year, these 2 tracks will still be getting plays.

M Rock proved triumphant in the battle and continued to seemingly win everything he lands his mic on, thus bringing the title home to the ACs.

The show down was not without controversy and one of the biggest talking points was Rohan’s sabotage attempt by joining the ACs, being selected for the video battle and, quite humorously, burning a picture (which looked like used up a fair bit of ink) of the AC logo and confirming his allegiance to LOD. We’ll hear more about this and about what others thought of this act; but for now.. Lets hear what Mr Lets Beef himself, RULE, had to say about illmania….

Firstly, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank RULE, on behalf of Lets Beef on his continuous success at putting together events such as Illmania.

so RULE, Illmania 4 champions… Turnbull ACs… surprised?

Very much so if im being honest. On paper it looked like MM and LoD were the stronger crews, but once the actual card was made it looked much more even. But still even at that point it looked as though LoD & MM would be the strongest.

When you put the card together, who did you predict taking it?

Im very proud of the card i made because it was so open, and it made ILLMANIA a open ball game. I knew it would come down to certain performances, and it did. Still once i had made the card, i thought LoD had the biggest chance of winning. Not by much, but i still felt they had the strongest look on the card.

How would rate the standard of this illmania compared to previous ones, in terms of the beefs that lead to it, the quality of the match ups and the end results

I think it ties with Illy 3 as the best. Problem was that this one dragged on too long, and the voting issues on the Topical & Track battles were a bit of a dampener. Theres room for improvement come ILLMANIA 5, but the event evolved really nicely and this is definitely one there was Illy 3 as a great one.

Murda Muzik only pulled off 2 victories on the card, how will this affect them?

I thought Murda's performance was terrible throughout. Really surprised at how poor they were. I dont know if its a end-of-crew type of loss, but if they were on the journey to the HOF before Illy 4, there definitely back at square one now. I think the crew let themselves down, and im not sure if it would be wise to start from scratch with a new crew, or maybe ressurect the great Goon Squad. Either way this was a big knock on there legacy.

Which was your favorite battle on the card?

Deffly M-Rock Vs Stricc & Bleu Vs Dono. Two really tight audio battles, both could of gone either way. Grizz Vs Erupt was hot too, but to me the audio battles were the highlight as far as competitive battles went.

Turnbull ACs started off a few years ago as an elevation crew, they are now illmania 4 champions, what do you predict the future is for the ACs?

Good question. I think first off they need to reunite with the strong members from there past, like Illokwent and Bleu. I'd like to see all of them back under the umbrella. I think a GC is a most at this point, they really need to produce the next heavyweight of the site. I think also some more discipline is needed with the format of the crew and its members. Chloro was a good idea back in the day but now i dont think it adds to the crew at all, i think some tweeks should be made regarding positions (leaders, capos) and a bit more focus on keeping inactive members off the roster. Its a case of keep doing what your doing, but push the boundries out further. A AC's mixtape perhaps? More title runs etc etc.

The legion of doom are well known on this site for their dominance of the audio side of things, now with the addition of some notable texters in Manhattan and Nicholas to add to the likes of Erupt and Man Down, can they spread this to both sides of the site?

They could but i dont think they will. If Erupt has more than ten text battles left in him i'll be surprised. MD floats off and on the site too much. I dont think Nick will rise above his mid-card at best position he's been for years, so with only Rohaan and Manhattan holding down the team i dont think they have enough of a presence to become a text battle force. I dont think the I4 loss hurt LoD overly much, and if they continue to dominate the audio scene i think they will be Hall Of Famers when its all said and done. But as far as text battling goes i dont think they have the pen skills to be a heavyweight text team.

I know it’s a bit early, but, next illmania, can you see any of these crews still being in existence and if so, still beefing? Or will another crew emerge in the aftermath of this event

I dont see AC's or LoD disbanding in the next year or so. EtH & Phil are both (rightly) happy with there respective creations, and neither have a reason to close. As far as MM goes im not sure. I think the members deserve better than what they have and whether Grizz & AT want to work on rebuilding MM or create an entire new movement is soon to be seen. I think there is definitely room for another one or two crews on Letsbeef, when you look at the crewless talent on the site right now (Illo, GG, Wizdumb, Vitty etc etc) theres gotta be room for another two+ crews to enter the fray. Maybe DaDDiO & Dissizit will try to push the GOAT crew into the fray. Either way im pretty sure LoD and AC's will be apart of ILLMANIA 5.

What is your take on the whole Rohan AC/LOD burning the logo etc situation

I found it a bit odd, because ultimately it didnt really have a large effect on anything. It gave AC's a loss on the one section they were most likely to lose anyway, and the "revelations" that followed did nothing but hurt one member who was eventually banned for a completely different reason. Rohaan is a guy who has the ability to actually become a big player on this site, and stunts like this hurt him much more than his targets. I dont think LoD really wanted Rohaan in the crew, and i dont think they do now either. Rohs a guy who needs to draw a line under all the antics, and just focus on the bars. Cuz trust me on this, the kid could be a big problem. If Rohaan ended up GC'ing sometime next year, i wouldnt be surprised at all. Just depends on whether he wants to be a troll or a writer. As far as the I4 stunt goes, it didnt really do much to hurt anyone.

When will RULE join the Turnbull ACs?

The problem with me joining any crew, is that my duties as the guy who runs the site will always conflict with the needs of a crew. Being crewless means i can deal with every situation, vote on every battle and never face accusations of bias. Bottom line is that as long as im running Letsbeef, you probably wont see me in any crew, period. Beside we all know still that its CLASSICK u BASTIDS!!!

Anarchist · #2 07-09-2014, 10:06 AM

As always, thanks for your input there RULE, some interesting ideas there. RULE pointed out his highlight battles as being M-Rock Vs Stricc & Bleu Vs Dono…

What do u guys think? Hit up the poll and pick your top battle, the members involved in the top rated battle will receive 3 emcee items – don’t be gay and vote for yourself though.

Let’s crack on with these interviews and catch up with Mr ‘You Cant Ban Me’ himself, the figurehead and founder of the Turnbull ACs… EtH

Illmania 4 champions… Turnbull ACs… feels good right?

You know it cuntface. Wow, don't know where that came from. I apologize.

The general consensus was that ACs were gonna come last with the fewest wins, in all honestly, did the chance of that situation occurring ever cross your mind?

Not really. My honest prediction was that Murda Musik wasn't going to get a single win, with WonderBred being their best shot. WB and AT pulled wins out for them, but there was a lot of battles predicted against us that I thought we would take. The most important thing for me was for the guys to win the battles that were close. Bleu did it Vs Dono, M-Rock did it in both of his.

You must be disappointed with the no showing of Bleu in the tie breaker, he was a leader at the time and arguably the most inform member of the site at the time

Yeah really. I don't know what's going on with the guy. He lets losses effect him heavily and then didn't come on the site for like a week, despite agreeing to the battle. He then leaves the crew after getting demoted. I dunno. An unpredictable guy I guess.

Murda Musik only managed to chalk up 2 victories on the card, a shock to everyone, what do you think caused this and what effect will this have on MM going forwards?

For me, they just didn't really get the draw they wanted, and even at that their crew isn't as good once you break it down. On the surface they probably look like the strongest, but when you go battler for battler, there's some very winnable scenarios against them.

You have bought ACs a long way, an elevation crew to illmania winners in a few years, lost some notable members, had some members leave and come back – what makes ACs different to other crews

I only really brought ACs to the first hurdle. Letum did most of ACs work in recruiting the majority of the guys who stuck it out with us until the end. Then you've got M-Rock smashing everything that's got in the crews way since we got him. I'm more of a moral support kind of guy (or a cheerleader as people like to remind me ). What makes ACs different is that it actually has a purpose. The idea wasn't "Lets make a dope crew". We made the crew with a goal in mind, and it's to develop the next generation of battlers on the site. Looking around, we've more than achieved that. After this, the goals really to try and get ourselves down in history.

Whats next for ACs?

Illmania was hard on us. Crysis demoted to Chloroformers leader. BLNK gone. Bleu gone. Manhattan turning against the crew. Really, despite having the win there's defo some rebuilding to do. Elevating was put on halt for a while as well so that's the main thing. We've already done a lot in terms of ideas to elevate so to keep coming up with new ideas to help the guys is important. We also are going to be looking for some higher level text battlers, mainly because a lot of the guys will know a lot of additional things, specifically with wording, delivery, execution etc. that would be really valuable to add to the crew. We also are going to be trying to strengthen our track making roster, as we'll be releasing another mixtape at the end of the year.

What were your highlights of this illmania?

Dean and Enfinite's win and Bleu beating Dono are runners up, but how can it now be M-Rock's diss track? Loved it start to finish, and that's not even me bigging up a crew member. Phil absolutely smashes 99.9999% of LB with his diss track, but Rock was nearly unbeatable in it.

We have to talk about the Rohan incident, I think LB would be very interested to hear your views on the whole spectacle

There's a few parts to this. To start, Rohan wasn't recruited to be part of Illmania. It was just a plan. LoD screwed us over with the Manhattan situation, so when Rohan asked if he could join ACs I thought "If he leaves straight away, I'll screenshot a convo of me saying I knew he'd do it. If he stays, LoD lose their topical guy". This was all put out of whack when Crysis left. We had little options at the last minute, and kind of threw Rohan into the video. A few guys like RULE and Subreal can quote that I predicted Rohan down to the printed picture and everything. In the end, I think everyone was like "Yeah, we knew this was going to happen". The only reason he was there in the end was to accidentally no show win over Final. How hilarious would that have been?

This illmania was a long time coming. Are you happy with the way it went down in the end

Yeah I've been wanting this Illmania to happen for over a year. When we enetered the first Illmania, we were a crew for like 2 weeks or something. We'd came a long way and by the summer 2013, we were the best crew on the site, with only MM being active competition. We tried hard to get that going but things kept getting in the way. We tried to get something going with ClassicK as well. After ACs crashed at the start of 2014, it didn't seen like we'd have been able to make a comeback like this. So yeah, really happy with it.

LOD put up a good showing, as was expected. Any words for Phil and his boys?

Yeah they did good. They did better than expected in text, but then again they did recruit all their text guys just before Illmania. It's a shame MAN DOWN no showed them in the end.

How will the ACs celebrate the victory?

Lockhart is holding a special mass.

What do you think of the crew scene at the moment? Are the current heavy crews gonna stick around or is there room for another 1 or 2 crews to step up?

LoD will never end fully. When Phil and Final go MIA though, it'll end up as nothing. They'll keep it going until LB dies out all the same. MM, I'm not sure about. Mani's addition motivates then loads cause he's an overly ebonic very active arsehole, so he fits in perfectly. I can't really put a timeline on then, but you have to imagine Illmania was a HUGE knock to the guys.

Your battle with man down didn’t go down due to his no show, were u confident going into that battle?

I was confident it'd be dope. You really couldn't predict the win. I was on my game with scheming though and desperate to redeem the loss to ViT in the tournament. MD agreed to a scheme battle so it was my time to shine. Disappointed it didn't go down.

Thanks for rambling on there EtH, given the circumstances I guess we can tolerate it this time. EtH clearly happy with the AC win and providing a bit on insight into his plans for his crew and predictions of the future of other crews.

Notable mention to Lockhart there which brings us nicely on to the born again… …religious… guy. I offered Lock a section in this mag to discuss his recent ban, here’s what he had to say…

Anarchist · 07-09-2014, 10:06 AM

As always, thanks for your input there RULE, some interesting ideas there. RULE pointed out his highlight battles as being M-Rock Vs Stricc & Bleu Vs Dono…

What do u guys think? Hit up the poll and pick your top battle, the members involved in the top rated battle will receive 3 emcee items – don’t be gay and vote for yourself though.

Let’s crack on with these interviews and catch up with Mr ‘You Cant Ban Me’ himself, the figurehead and founder of the Turnbull ACs… EtH

Illmania 4 champions… Turnbull ACs… feels good right?

You know it cuntface. Wow, don't know where that came from. I apologize.

The general consensus was that ACs were gonna come last with the fewest wins, in all honestly, did the chance of that situation occurring ever cross your mind?

Not really. My honest prediction was that Murda Musik wasn't going to get a single win, with WonderBred being their best shot. WB and AT pulled wins out for them, but there was a lot of battles predicted against us that I thought we would take. The most important thing for me was for the guys to win the battles that were close. Bleu did it Vs Dono, M-Rock did it in both of his.

You must be disappointed with the no showing of Bleu in the tie breaker, he was a leader at the time and arguably the most inform member of the site at the time

Yeah really. I don't know what's going on with the guy. He lets losses effect him heavily and then didn't come on the site for like a week, despite agreeing to the battle. He then leaves the crew after getting demoted. I dunno. An unpredictable guy I guess.

Murda Musik only managed to chalk up 2 victories on the card, a shock to everyone, what do you think caused this and what effect will this have on MM going forwards?

For me, they just didn't really get the draw they wanted, and even at that their crew isn't as good once you break it down. On the surface they probably look like the strongest, but when you go battler for battler, there's some very winnable scenarios against them.

You have bought ACs a long way, an elevation crew to illmania winners in a few years, lost some notable members, had some members leave and come back – what makes ACs different to other crews

I only really brought ACs to the first hurdle. Letum did most of ACs work in recruiting the majority of the guys who stuck it out with us until the end. Then you've got M-Rock smashing everything that's got in the crews way since we got him. I'm more of a moral support kind of guy (or a cheerleader as people like to remind me ). What makes ACs different is that it actually has a purpose. The idea wasn't "Lets make a dope crew". We made the crew with a goal in mind, and it's to develop the next generation of battlers on the site. Looking around, we've more than achieved that. After this, the goals really to try and get ourselves down in history.

Whats next for ACs?

Illmania was hard on us. Crysis demoted to Chloroformers leader. BLNK gone. Bleu gone. Manhattan turning against the crew. Really, despite having the win there's defo some rebuilding to do. Elevating was put on halt for a while as well so that's the main thing. We've already done a lot in terms of ideas to elevate so to keep coming up with new ideas to help the guys is important. We also are going to be looking for some higher level text battlers, mainly because a lot of the guys will know a lot of additional things, specifically with wording, delivery, execution etc. that would be really valuable to add to the crew. We also are going to be trying to strengthen our track making roster, as we'll be releasing another mixtape at the end of the year.

What were your highlights of this illmania?

Dean and Enfinite's win and Bleu beating Dono are runners up, but how can it now be M-Rock's diss track? Loved it start to finish, and that's not even me bigging up a crew member. Phil absolutely smashes 99.9999% of LB with his diss track, but Rock was nearly unbeatable in it.

We have to talk about the Rohan incident, I think LB would be very interested to hear your views on the whole spectacle

There's a few parts to this. To start, Rohan wasn't recruited to be part of Illmania. It was just a plan. LoD screwed us over with the Manhattan situation, so when Rohan asked if he could join ACs I thought "If he leaves straight away, I'll screenshot a convo of me saying I knew he'd do it. If he stays, LoD lose their topical guy". This was all put out of whack when Crysis left. We had little options at the last minute, and kind of threw Rohan into the video. A few guys like RULE and Subreal can quote that I predicted Rohan down to the printed picture and everything. In the end, I think everyone was like "Yeah, we knew this was going to happen". The only reason he was there in the end was to accidentally no show win over Final. How hilarious would that have been?

This illmania was a long time coming. Are you happy with the way it went down in the end

Yeah I've been wanting this Illmania to happen for over a year. When we enetered the first Illmania, we were a crew for like 2 weeks or something. We'd came a long way and by the summer 2013, we were the best crew on the site, with only MM being active competition. We tried hard to get that going but things kept getting in the way. We tried to get something going with ClassicK as well. After ACs crashed at the start of 2014, it didn't seen like we'd have been able to make a comeback like this. So yeah, really happy with it.

LOD put up a good showing, as was expected. Any words for Phil and his boys?

Yeah they did good. They did better than expected in text, but then again they did recruit all their text guys just before Illmania. It's a shame MAN DOWN no showed them in the end.

How will the ACs celebrate the victory?

Lockhart is holding a special mass.

What do you think of the crew scene at the moment? Are the current heavy crews gonna stick around or is there room for another 1 or 2 crews to step up?

LoD will never end fully. When Phil and Final go MIA though, it'll end up as nothing. They'll keep it going until LB dies out all the same. MM, I'm not sure about. Mani's addition motivates then loads cause he's an overly ebonic very active arsehole, so he fits in perfectly. I can't really put a timeline on then, but you have to imagine Illmania was a HUGE knock to the guys.

Your battle with man down didn’t go down due to his no show, were u confident going into that battle?

I was confident it'd be dope. You really couldn't predict the win. I was on my game with scheming though and desperate to redeem the loss to ViT in the tournament. MD agreed to a scheme battle so it was my time to shine. Disappointed it didn't go down.

Thanks for rambling on there EtH, given the circumstances I guess we can tolerate it this time. EtH clearly happy with the AC win and providing a bit on insight into his plans for his crew and predictions of the future of other crews.

Notable mention to Lockhart there which brings us nicely on to the born again… …religious… guy. I offered Lock a section in this mag to discuss his recent ban, here’s what he had to say…

Anarchist · #3 07-09-2014, 10:08 AM

Talk to us about the ban - what did u get banned for, why did u do it, are u resentful?

Aight so I got banned for "IM'ing for votes", but what really happened was that I hit up GRizzEAT's voting thread 3 times for a fair vote, so when I go to remind about it (just like a lot of other people have via IM) I got busted for it.

I did it because I wanted a fair vote. Not necessarily a fair vote for me. He even voted on the battle, then busted me out later.

Nah I'm not resentful of it. I just think that rule is a bit flawed because people break it all the time, but don't get caught.

What have u learned from the ban?

That the forums are retarded and I'm staying away from them now. I also learned that when given the free time, I can write some dope ass lines.

Was the ban justifiable?

In my opinion? No. I took the ban and wasn't mad about it, but I feel it was unwarranted when others do it just the same.

Do u feel you will be tainted with banned brush now?

Eh not really. Nobody has a squeaky clean image on this site, and if they do, they aren't doing something right.

What’s next for lock?

Ummmm I'm here to kick ass and chew bubblegum. Sadly, I have no gum

Illmania thoughts?

AC's. Everyone else is irrelevant.

Thanks to Lockhart for taking time to discuss his recent ban… make of his comments what you will!

But enough of that, let’s bring this back to an Illmania discussion and hear from the leader of the runner ups…mr Phil Banks!

So it went to down to 1 match in the tie breaker, how are LOD feeling about being beaten at the final hurdle?

Honestly i'm ok with it. In my eyes this was our tourney for the taking with how poorly MM did. The no-shows from the crew really hurt us in the long run... the winners had 1 no-show the whole tourney. So i'm ok in the sense we beat ourselves as much as anyone beat us.

If you could start this illmania all over again, what would you do differently?

I wasn't super hands on when the tourney first popped off I kinda delegated responsibility an I think on our side communication broke down some with the no-shows an by that time it was 2 late. So I think I shoulda stepped up more with the rosters an shit possibly even down the topical myself... but hindsight see furthest [/b]

Now that illmania is over, can you shed some light into the whole rohan video battle spectacle

Just rohaan trollin AC"s really is all it was. He was goin to go all out an say fuck AC's or do i power point... I'm not rly sure I wasn't involved an I personally asked him not to do no ill shit to them in his battle but it was pretty funny.

What can we expect from LOD for the rest of the year

How many more titles are available this year? In my honest opinion someone out the squad has a pretty legit chance of winnin any tourney... LoD finals have become a norm almost.

Did the right team win?

Good question... I'd say ya I'm not going to take away from their win everyone showed up an it was rly a team effort from AC's so I'm not rly mad at how it turned out except that it was alot like last Illmania with me losing the tie breaker / deciding battle... but ya props to them for bein underdogs an gettin the W

LOD pride themselves on the loyalty of their members, what is it about LOD that makes people wanna stick around?

We've always kinda stressed loyalty. Even more so then activity... you have to earn a leaderspot.. we don't hand them out an we vote on new members I think that plus the fact all our leaders have been down for atleast a year excluding Punk.(who earned his spot beatin Mani).. Think all that plays a factor.

Currently the 3 big crews are LOD, AC and MM…. RULE has mentioned that there is room for another 1 or 2… who can you see leading a potential new crew and is there enough drive in the crewless members to start a crew that can go the distance, like LOD have done

Yeah, when we started LoD there were rly 2 big crews Classick an DPS.... Dave started AC's days before we started LoD... so I think theres 2 blueprints out there on how to do it... @stricc been down forever but he wasnt on the forums he was jus dominating the arena when final word hmu like check this dude... so I think if someone is serious bout it an have those few core members its definately possible... the talent has always been here... but I couldnt stand DPS or Classick even Distinct when we formed LoD I think it'll take the same situation someone who wants to take one of the top crew spots could do it though

MM tallied up 2 wins … thoughts?

Haha... man if MM won 1 more battle we would have won it... no need for a tie breaker or anything... Def not what I expected from them... It basically made it so we couldnt lose a battle if we wanted to win it.. everyone had to win excluding BLNK cause we knew he had lost early... so ya MM fucked the score up an they were sayin AC's were gna do that... not a good look from them at all

Overall are you happy with the way illmania went down and what would you like to see differently in the next illmania

No shows are a problem that has plagued LB since I got here in 2012... I say if u no-show the loss goes on your record atleast it shouldnt be so easy to do it has to be some sort of reprecussion.... I took a few shots at @RULE about the long deadlines an the topical in the tie breaker.. but from his side those are still the only 2 things I didn't like and the fact it dragged on damn near a month... No shows wrecked the tourney though....hopefully we can find someway to cut it down if theres a next one or just for other tourneys in general.

A very gracious Mr Banks there highlighting the problem of no showing in tournys.

What do you guys think of his suggestion to let no shows appear on your record?

While we’re with LOD, a very recent development has seen Nicholas switch sides from LOD to ACs, so I had to ask….. Why?

I like LOD and have a lot of respect for them. That said I felt like I only spoke to a few members and whilst those I did speak to were great I felt it just wasn't the crew for me. AC's are a crew that have a lot of potential to be great but just haven't fulfilled it, although the Illmania win was significant no doubt. Personally I feel that we need 2 or 3 stand out battlers to join the crew to make this exceptional. I want to play my part in what I predict will be a HOF crew, hopefully some of those big-name battlers will make the same decision.

Time will tell if the grass is greener…! (it is)

Now, in terms of titles, MM is one of the most decorated crews on the site with respected members in text, audio and track making. I caught up with AfterThought and Oscar for their views on this illmania.

Illmania 4 winners, Turnbull ACs… surprised?

AT: Yeah a bit, I mean they did seem to have the least chance to win it on paper, but they put in work & had luck in their favor too so yeah it worked out pretty good for em.

Oscar: I personally am surprised ye. I didn't see it coming, like many people in this tournament I thought ACs were going to be the punching bag of the tourney. No offence if you know what I mean but I view ACs as the Costa Rica of this tourney. A good solid unit, not with the flashiest of names but with the heart to thrive. Congrats to ACs for pulling the unexpected and for sticking together at the toughest of times.

MM only pulled off 2 wins, considerably less than anticipated, what happened?

AT: Well first of all we had Muggz & Eloh no-showing, that was a big factor, and the overall effort put into Illmania by the team wasn't as good as it would usually be, voting was just not in our favor, it is what it is.

Oscar: I don't know what happened exactly. We had a couple of no shows from Eloh and Muggz but still that ain't an excuse. Competition was high, we didn't perform well maybe cause we underestimated the competition going in. I know I ain't the whole of MM but let me tell you that the whole crew felt extremely disappointed and we guarantee that next time we'll come out swinging.

What have MM got in store for the rest of the year?

AT: We'll definitely be lookin to grab some official titles as it's been a while since we last did, but also getting more in depth with track making & maybe getting involved more in the audio scene.

Oscar: Right now we view MM as a music group. We wanna put out the best music we can and to continue elevating from this point on. Maybe a couple more individual titles in official tourneys. We wanna make sure that we won't let Illmania get to our heads and that we continue do our thing, hoping/expecting to perform better on the next event. Right now we beefin with FS, ukno something light to get some momentum going and then who knows, ACs might get it.

Did the best crew on the site right now win illmania?

AT: Only time will tell, Illmania is an event that takes like what? A week or two? That week could be a "best crew"'s off week for instance. I hope ACs stay consistent & go for more to prove it even more, but winning the Illmania is definitely a big step.

Oscar: On paper no. In terms of heart and determination to stand out yes. All other crews have established names while ACs are different. A bunch of new school cats who wanna prove they can hang with the best of them. ACs winning the tourney shows that having the right attitude can contribute in battling.

Will MM still be around for the next illmania?

AT: Yeah man we here, no doubt.

Oscar: Yes. We are not planning on ever going away...Some people might come and go you never know, but the core of MM will stay together.

What were your highlights and what was your biggest shock?

AT: Highlight & shock: Rohan. lol

Oscar: Dope to see Illmania go to overtime, always nice to see more battles poppin (although 2/3 of OT never happened lol). Banks and M-Rock were swinging. As much as a biggest shocker I dunno. ACs winning it can be that, most battles were evenly matched and Rohaan turning on ACs wasn't that much of a shocker.

What is your opinion on the state of the crew scene at the moment; is there room for a new crew with a new leader and roster to take over?

AT: Nah there's no one else I see right now, site's activity is probably at an all time low (specially audio).

Oscar: It'll be nice to have a new crew emerge cause right now there are only 3 crews dominating. There aren't enough members to make this happen tho but who knows.

Are MM a future HOF worthy crew?

AT: Right now? Not yet.

Oscar: We can be. If we WILL be is up to us to make it happen

Any words for lets beef members that may be doubting the strength of MM following this illmania?

AT: Wait ya time mahfuckas

Oscar: Nah, let the doubters doubt. We got a great roster and we believe in our abilities. With time will come redemption but atm Idc what doubters have to say or what they feel. What happened in Illmania is all in the past, we can't let this get to our heads forever or it'll kill us, but i KNOW this ain't gonna happen. We are already looking ahead

Thanks fellas! It's great to see that throughout all these interviews there haven't been any sore losers and Oscar and AT have too stood up and not made any excuses for their squads performance - great sportsmanship.

I think on the whole, Illmania 4 has been a success and has opened up the doors to both increase the rivalry between these 3 crews, and provide an opportunity for another crew to rise up and be counted.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and feel free to post your own thoughts on anything Illmania 4 related here!

Anarchist · 07-09-2014, 10:08 AM