Math Hoffa is ready to reclaim his seat among the big dogs in battle rap.
The veteran battle rapper is set to make his return to the URL Battle League, when he and partner Cortez will go up against Aye Verb and Yung Ill in a two-on-two match-up at URL’s Double Impact event hosted by Smack White on Saturday, March 26.
This will be Hoffa’s first official battle in the URL in three and a half years, since his on-stage physical altercation with New Jersey’s Serius Jones. We caught up with the Bed Stuy bred rapper to discuss how he feels about the upcoming event, other projects along the way and how Beanie Sigel is his dream opponent.
TheSource.com: Fans and critics are looking forward to your highly anticipated return to the URL stage at Double Impact. It’s been years since you stepped into the ring in front of the fans.What can they expect to see from you upon your return?
Yeah, I did a three year bid [laughs] but the card is a Double Impact card. I feel like it was spun off from a lot of two-on-two battles, and aside from DNA and K-Shine and a lot of their stellar performances, I think when we (Math and Cortez) battled them in Atlanta for the Ballpen Battle League, we kinda showed them two-on-two’s can produce classics. There weren’t really no classics before that. The Chess and Steams performance was good, it was more controversy that made people more interested, but that battle between myself and Cortez vs DNA and K-Shine, that was the first two-on-two classic to come out.
What are the effects of getting back into the URL Card?
I was told they wanted to get me back solo, but they felt the two-on-two joint is gonna be crazy. It took a while to get me on the card because we had to work things out. I was banned but it’s been three years and I think it’s mostly because it comes from hurting the ones close to you more than hurting a regular person. I been with URL since the start, me and T-Rex were the first headline battle. Our battle actually started the URL, because our battle was booked and then they decided to make it a full league. and then from there on they wanted to continue. That battle did six million views in two days on WorldStarHipHop.com and counting.
What about your performance when you went up against Head I.C.E?
I wanted to bring something new to the table. When people see that battle, they can see I brought something different. ICE is dope, we did a couple of records together, so the tension wasn’t really there. It would’ve been there if it got booked last year. Since us battle rappers be with one another all the time, there’s always time to hash and talk everything out. I wanted to do something different because I felt battle rap was getting a little run down. So I introduced a new style to it.
What would be your dream match up?
Beanie Sigel. Beans is hardcore! Regardless of everything that went down throughout the years, I have not yet to hear a rapper that gave me the same feeling I got when I first heard Beanie Sigel. Other than that, I’ve been chasing a couple of these dudes for years, but I kinda gave up on it. You can’t make a rapper scared. After I battled Rex, I hollered at Murda Mook and was like, “yo Mook, this match-up with me and you gotta happen.” There was a lot of things that went down behind the scenes regarding beef and all types of stuff; it’s been so long I don’t know what Mook is even doing. He’s going to be 50 years old with four battles under his resume, so I gave up on that. But now I feel that it’s better match-ups with the new school, the new breed of rappers in the league.