Iron Solomon Interview with Forbes.com

The first time battle rap champion Iron Solomon participated in a lyrical prize fight, he didn’t even know there was verbal warfare on his schedule.

Just 18 years old, Solomon was a finalist at End of the Weak’s MC Challenge, a sort of hip-hop decathlon. Contestants compete in five categories (Beat Juggling, Written, Ciphers, A Cappella and Freestyle) with the aim of proving their superiority over a field of competitors.

The contest is more nuanced than the head-to-head battles that would later turn Solomon into an underground legend, but it quickly turned into one when the judges pronounced him the winner. The runner-up, a far more experienced rapper called Immortal Technique, didn’t agree with the results—and promptly challenged Solomon to another round.

Read the full article, by Zack O'Malley Greenburg, here