KempoMRK:: Yo Hensley, how ya doing?

John Hensley: im doing good, how about you?!

KempoMRK:: IM SUPER!

John Hensley: GREAT!

KempoMRK:: Sure is! Tell us a bit about yourself!

John Hensley: ok well hmm, my name is John Hensley and im from Seattle, Washington..

John Hensley: i just turned 20 years old

KempoMRK:: Your real name is John Hensley? I always thought it was cos of a character off of some TV program.

John Hensley: yeah, well it's my real name. i found out it was a celebrity in my first battle on b-boys

John Hensley: i just thought i was on a reality show and didnt know it

KempoMRK:: lol wtf. Give us a bit of a background on your battling achievements etc.

John Hensley: alright, well. i started actually writing back in late 01 on tupacboard.com... but i didnt really take it serious until early 04. That's when i went to RapBlock and started to improve.. i battled some nicer heads, and a dude named Jook brought me to the RBL. I won the RBL title my first time signing and and afterwards went to Bboys and won the title there. Since then i've won the RBL 3 times, the bboys league 3 times, the 411hype league once, and the PRBA 2 times, and the Bboys 64 Man Tournament and Lama's BBL. Um, it was my goal to make it around all the best sites online and win, and the only one really escaping my grasp is the LLL at Rapbattles

John Hensley: and here of course

John Hensley: :-)

KempoMRK:: lol no doubt. I'll go more into your background history stuff in a bit. But what do you think is the reason you haven't yet won the LLL title?

John Hensley: it's tough. i've been in the champ match their 3 different times and 3 different occasions something different has happened. Once i fucked up and had it won, but i got quotes mixed up and it took out like 4 of my disses. And most recently i faced Com and he wouldnt let me have an extension even though i posted. Styles are different, and there is favoritism there also.

KempoMRK:: Favouritism? You mean dick riding. Say some more about that.

John Hensley: haha, i'm not sure if i'd call it dickriding, because 3 champ matches is having some success. but they have their legends and their top guys there, and it's tough to beat any top people on their home sites. some of it's dickriding, some of it's just voters being accustomed to their styles.

KempoMRK:: Yeah, I agree. Like I'll read a battle and everyone will be calling it legendary and saying a hundred and one superlatives to describe it, when I personally thought it was mostly whack except like 4 bars. It's strange. Anyway, how have you felt about the LBL so far?

John Hensley: I like the LBL. It's a solid league, i knew it would be better than just some flash-in-the-pan league because of all the interest you had generated on more popular sites like bboys. I think it can stay successful if people vote ;-), and if you keep modding like you have been. Mods make leagues.

KempoMRK:: Well said lol. Do you think you can win the league? Or should I say, do you think you can win the league on your first run since you came back?

John Hensley: yeah i think i can. i was kinda nervous about this week because i had 2 battles here, one at rapbattles and one on RM. strangely enough every single person but one no showed. i think the competition here is pretty good, i like datrus, tavarez, glocks. but i think if i get to the top of the rankings i can take it.

KempoMRK:: This is your second run in the league, why did you leave the league the first time around? I remember having a back and forth PM argument over the whole links in the champ match incident, was it due to that?

John Hensley: yeah, i was a bit pissed about that. just cuz i was in the champ match, and the guy no showed.. and im used to just seeing battles being closed once someone no shows. and your dickhead ass decided to give me a loss.

KempoMRK:: lmao. Well you'll be glad to know that the rule has been changed. In fact, you needn't have voted on 4 battles this week. ROTFLMMFAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! j/k, it's appreciated. Who do you see as the most talented battler in the league at the moment?

KempoMRK:: And don't say yourself, just to cover that.

John Hensley: hahaha. nah i wouldnt say myself. that's tough, it really is. when i think of this league i dont see anyone that's really head and shoulders above the rest, i see alot of solid writers. i will say DaTrus impressed me with his verse this week, and he is the champ. And Glocks has been improving steadily for the last couple months, so im interested to see where he goes. Untold and Tavarez are 2 other people that i like, but i wouldnt put them up there yet.

KempoMRK:: On the subject of improvement, what would you say is the most important thing to consider when elevating?

KempoMRK:: Like what advice would you give.

John Hensley: don't get too cocky. some people get ego's after winning a few battles, or getting props on some lines. you gotta use that as fuel to improve, not as fuel to be complacent. just read battles, keep up on what's fresh, keep your wording natural and stay motivated.

KempoMRK:: Keep your wording natural, that's interesting. Cos I remember you saying something about that in a thread one time. Elaborate on what you mean by it.

John Hensley: Wording is just the way you form the concept. I've seen people with DOPE punch concepts, and then they just word them horribly and it doesnt come off as hard as it should. I personally try to make my punches flow from the set up to the punchline, to where it sounds like a sentence when you read it, not a bunch of choppy words placed together.

KempoMRK:: I see what you're saying. Let's go back your beginning as such, how did you start text battling?

John Hensley: well, when i was like 15 or whatever i guess, i just was really feelin tupac alot. i was all interested in the death theories, and went to the tupacboard website which is now dead. and that's when i discovered that people write raps and get feedback. so i started just doing topicals, and it was fun to see what people said. and eventually that turned into battling.. and i realized there's way more sites out there than some tupac website. so i ran into a few people, and basically got hooked up with some more established heads and just started getting mroe and more involved in battling.

John Hensley: basically i can thank Jook, the former mod at the RBL for even having any idea that the RBL or Bboys existed. he brought me there.

KempoMRK:: Before the RBL, you said you were at RapBlock. What was that site like? I remember hearing that people like Sound and Nique were there.

John Hensley: yeah, rapblock was kind of what i consider like the minor leagues of sites like RV, RM and PR. It was a mixture of ezboard styles and heads like Dynamix and some more experienced battlers. Nique was on there, Sound was on there, Jook was on there, Ominus from bboys was there. They all had the ''RM'' style and i just favored that.

John Hensley: oh

John Hensley: and there was a fracture imposter on there, and i didnt know shit about fracture really. just heard of him. and he linked me to Prowlers and boom, that's when i really started to see the difference in styles.

KempoMRK:: How exactly would you describe the "RM Style"? Cos it's a phrase thats thrown around a lot.

John Hensley: fuck man, everyone on here uses it. it's too hard to describe.. it's just the way things are.. no quotes, no flashy shit. just a concept... then a punch in every line. heads like Resin.. the 3 line style.. i mean when i started using the 3 line style. i got ripped by everyone for jacking resin. now you see people using it constantly.

KempoMRK:: lol yeah. When you said you saw the huge difference, do you mean between the RM style and the UrbanProwlers style?

KempoMRK:: If so, how are they different?

John Hensley: well, i meant more like the shit i was used to was more ezboardish. more hollafront. 5000 syllable punches. RM and UP were similar.. and they were more natural, like youd read an audio verse. That's the difference i was talking about. Even nowadays if you go to hollafront they call '' our '' style the '' audio '' style. and they are the '' text '' part of rap. it's all bullshit they just arent educated.

KempoMRK:: Yeah. Hollafront is stuck in the old days. I was reading old ass verses at Blunts from 2000, and HollaFront still uses that style. Did you achieve much at RapBlock?

John Hensley: yeah i was pretty good at rapblock, i made the hall of fame there, only me and jook did that. i wasnt that good though, like compared to most people nowadays.

KempoMRK:: Then you went to RapMusic and joined the RBL. How did you do there when you first joined?

John Hensley: i did good, i stayed in for like 4 months and went like 22-3

John Hensley: oz was the mod when i started, i didnt battle any real DOPE heads. but some good ones.

KempoMRK:: Like who?

John Hensley: umm, shadows edge. monster from RM and UP.

John Hensley: demik

John Hensley: yea demik is who i won the title from

John Hensley: he was my biggest win at that point

KempoMRK:: Cool. What made you sign out?

John Hensley: well, nothing really. i won the title and had 5 defenses, and i was going for the record and Oz restarted the league and turned it into the North and South.

John Hensley: so basically the league just stopped i didnt sign out

KempoMRK:: Ah that North and South shit flopped COMPLETELY didn't it? What did you think of him doing that?

John Hensley: well it was a stupid idea really, oz was a good mod though, really creative. but as the champ going for a record i hated it. and it just didnt pan out.

KempoMRK:: Word. So after that you went to B-Boys, how did that come about and what did you do there?

John Hensley: it was good

John Hensley: first battle was against Numskull, who was a big RM legend. I beat him and started getting noticed there, but most of bboys still didnt know who i was.

John Hensley: i made a good run there, butler eventually beat me for my 1st loss, but i improved and won there i think against classick for my first title.

KempoMRK:: Do you remember that battle against Classick, and if so what did you think of it?

John Hensley: me and class have battled 3 times, and yea i do remember it. Class was a vet on there, he's beaten some well established cats like richard corey etc. by that time id improved quite a bit.

KempoMRK:: Whats the tally of yours and Classicks battles?

John Hensley: 2-1 me. i beat him in that match, once in the LMS tournament on bboys, and he beat me at hype but dropped twice as many lines.

KempoMRK:: Cool. You say that you'd improved quite a bit, did you just improve weekly just by dropping verses?

John Hensley: yeah, you start to get an idea of what's good based on what voters say about your lines, and about other peoples lines. and facing good competition brings out more creativity, at least i think so.

KempoMRK:: What did you think of the legendary Butler vs You vs Ouch battle where you won the title for the second time I believe it was?

John Hensley: that was a dope battle. that was probably the best i've ever seen ANY league. the top 5 at that point was 1. Butler 2. John Hensley. 3. Ouch 4. Fracture and 5. Resin

John Hensley: i knew if i won that i'd really get alot of props, so i dropped as well as i could.

KempoMRK:: Do you think you became fully respected as one of the top battlers by winning that battle? Or do you think that you'd gained that respect before that?

John Hensley: i think the moment i really got any respect was when i beat Dynamix in the LMS. He was basically the epitome of a legend on a site. He claims he's only lost 6 or 7 battles ever, and it's hard not to believe him if you've seen him write. I had people saying that Dyna would go through the whole 64 man tourney without getting a vote, and i ripped him in the final.

KempoMRK:: What did you think of that battle?

John Hensley: it was sick, he dropped dope. and i dropped good. and it was just a really well ran tourney, alot of competition and i won 100 bucks for it too, so it was just overall a real nice situation for me.

John Hensley: I got notebooks for numbers, and be showin the world game.
While you got...

^^Wow. see that? i shouldn't even try to diss it, dude.
Because this whole verse shows that i've got lines for bitches too.

KempoMRK:: ^ Tight line, I'm trnya find the battle now but I can't find that shit. Yeah it looked like a dope tourney from what I read of it, what did you think of your chances when you entered?

John Hensley: yeah, i think it's gone on the site, it was back on bboys. i just saved my verse that's all. um, i thought they were decent, everyone was seeded to start off, i was probably like a 5 or 6 seed. so i was right in the middle of it, and i had some tough battles on the way there

John Hensley: armz, cheemagun, guile, rhymeageddon and classick

KempoMRK:: Damn, that's a nice lineup of battlers you beat. When did the whole "win every league" idea come about for you?

John Hensley: i dont really know, at that time only a few people really went site to site, and that was mainly Fracture when he dominated text back in the early 2000's. Scientz had done it as well, but most people stayed on their sites. I just did it to face new competition.

John Hensley: nowadays it's uncommon to see one battler not in at least 2 leagues at a time.

KempoMRK:: Do you think you helped popularise people going away from their home site?

John Hensley: i'd like to think so. i think David Lama would say i did as well. i think when people on other sites found out where i was from, they'd be like '' oh he came from there, i'll go peep that place ''. and it just kinda evolved.

KempoMRK:: Yeah cool. You claim B-Boys as your homesite even though you were at Rapmusic before, correct?

John Hensley: yeah, bboys was a much friendlier atmosphere. cats at RM didnt really have a lounge to chat about random shit in, it was all hostility.

KempoMRK:: What do you think of the state of RM at the moment?

John Hensley: it's improving. RM will always have that prestige of just being RM, the biggest text site online. It was really dead there for awhile, but there's some really nice heads back in and if Oneduh keeps modding it i wouldnt be surprised to see it back on top honestly.

KempoMRK:: A new site has emerged via David Lama, BragginWrites, what do you think of it?

John Hensley: well, he puts more time into text than anyone i've ever seen. and him archiving every tourney from every site online is pretty insane. it might be excessive, but it's cool to see it done. as far as the site goes, the league is decent. it doesnt have alot of advertisement, but any league with DL modding it has the potential to be great.

KempoMRK:: Would you say he is the best league mod ever? I guess it goes without saying.

John Hensley: he's the most dedicated, so in turn i think that makes him the best. he's standard though, mods like Oz had more creativity, but that's not always a good thing.

KempoMRK:: What creative ideas do you think Oz had?

John Hensley: well, oz was down with just shuttign down a league and starting a tourney out of nowhere. which took balls, and wouldnt work on ANY site but RM because of the heavy traffic that's always there.

KempoMRK:: I see. On that note, what type of ideas would you wanna see implemented into the LBL?

John Hensley: right now i like the LBL. you're doing a really good job with the ppv's, some of these matches are fuckin hillarious. i'd just keep it how it is honestly.

KempoMRK:: What kinda battles have you enjoyed reading?

John Hensley: well the whole girlfriend pic battle, that's tight shit man. that takes balls to do. and alot of the concepts, like the comedy battles, the concept flipping things. just keeping it fresh.

KempoMRK:: Word. It seems like nowadays everyone seems to think "text is dead" or "text is dying", what is your view on this?

John Hensley: not really, i heard that when i first started on RM. look at heads like butler, i mean dudes been around since years before me, same with oneduh. text isnt dying, its just the positive attitude about it that is.

KempoMRK:: How do you think this positive attitude can be brought back as such? Basically, what do you think would bring the hype back into text?

John Hensley: i think text is on the right track right now in some regards. it's unfortunate big time sites like PR are basically dying, but you can see with a revival of RM in progress, and this site carrying the creative side of it, plus the seasonal league at RB there's alot of options, and i don't really think much else could increase it as of right now. maybe a huge intersite tourney.

KempoMRK:: Ah shit, that'd be dope as fuck. Some sort of LMS style tourney needs to go down on one of the big sites, that 200 person RM tourney coulda brought the hype back but Jeff fucked it up. Which lead into the site war. Ah yeah. B-Boys vs Rapmusic site battle, what did you think of it?

John Hensley: i thought that was sickkkkkkk. it really worked out well, and seeing alot of the old cats, the old legends actually participating. shit was dope as hell.

KempoMRK:: You faced AOD and beat him, ideally who would you have wanted to battle?

John Hensley: well i didnt know much about AOD honestly, but apparently he was a really really dope head in his time. I didnt really mind who i battled, maybe Resin or User.

KempoMRK:: Aight. Now for the mandatory audio question. You ever done audio? And if not, are you ever gonna?

John Hensley: not really, i freestyle all the time with friends, and have recorded a few thigns, nothing on sites though. i dont really have time to sit down and get into audio either.

KempoMRK:: Ok. Let's do some word association. I'll say a name you say some things about that person. I'll start with

KempoMRK:: Butler

John Hensley: he's the only cat online nowadays that has any lines that make me think are honestly dope

KempoMRK:: Richard Corey

John Hensley: he's a pioneer and really versatile. he's obviously a great topical writer, and occasionally can be a really dope battler.

KempoMRK:: Fracture

John Hensley: he's the type of dude people that come in now will look at and will think he wasnt that good. but he started everything as far as sarcasm in verses, as far as popularizing intersite things. he was dope.

KempoMRK:: Resin M-I-C

John Hensley: man resin is an enigma to me. i dont think ive ever seen him say more than a sentence outside of a battle. he's one of the hardest punchline writers, well probably the hardest, i've ever read.

KempoMRK:: Tyson

John Hensley: i wasnt around with him, ive only read his archives. fracture will tell you he was the reason tyson was successful, but i dont know much about him

KempoMRK:: ouch

John Hensley: ouch is a resin-butler type of battler. he drops hard punches, at one time i thought he was the best battler online, but he got unmotivated and inconsistent.

KempoMRK:: Lieutenant

John Hensley: Loot is more like a dynamix battler, good with wordplay. He's successful, more into the visual side of text instead of the concepts. He was a really good battler, and success wise was as good as anyone.

KempoMRK:: Roger Glocks

John Hensley: he's on his way to being really dope. he has a good attitude, and is really creative.

KempoMRK:: Jay Walker

John Hensley: last year when i was in the LLL i thought he sucked honestly. He did improve alot, but he got an ego, but he's cool to me, i'm cool with him. I think he was overrated there on RB, but he is a solid battler.

KempoMRK:: Most potential to be dope

John Hensley: that's tough. not long ago i used to think Young Philly would be the next big thing, but he left. then i thought Phryme would be, and Phryme still CAN be. There's so many people right now on level playing fields it's tough to say.

KempoMRK:: Most wasted ability

John Hensley: god man, theres been alot of people that could have been great. but i think that Ouch could have been the most well known head online, i cant say he really wasted his ability because he was a monster on Bboys, but he had the potential to be a multi site champ.

KempoMRK:: Most overrated

John Hensley: Well, i dont know if i can do it on all sites combined. but site by site... i think on RB, cats like Feeble Minded and COM are good, dont get me wrong. But they arent legendary. And dont have the skill to dominate like some people do. On Bboys, i think right now Mercules is good, let me prephrase all this with saying these guys ARE good, but when Merc beat me and Butler in the same week. I thought he lost both battles. on RM who knows, Oz was big time overrated.

KempoMRK:: Most underrated

John Hensley: of all time i'd say Tangible aka I.Deal from RM. he was sick as hell. RIght now i really dont know.

KempoMRK:: Cool stuff. And now for the final question to finish this off, name your top 10 battlers ever. In order if possible ;-)

John Hensley: haha ok give me some time

John Hensley: 1. Fracture, due to the fact he had so much success on MULTIPLE sites.
2. Resin MIC, as far as skill goes he was better than anyone.
3. User, he's more creative than 100% of the people out there.
4. Tang, he's the best at wording i used to see, and i can say i got alot of my style from him.
5. Butler, he's as good as anyone really, he's great with concepts.
6. Dynamix, as far as wordplay goes nobody can and maybe ever will touch him.
7. Rudge1, he was a punchline KILLER. i'd probably have him higher if i was around when he battled.
8. Oneduh, success wise he's as good as most anyone, he has the ability to drop dope.
9. Scientz, he was just plain dope. He used the 3 line style as well as anyone, and had a rugged feel about his verses. / Pharacane, he was so personal. Really dope with hard punches, not that creative but a good battler.
10. Ouch, was dope, had the ability to dominate anysite, but just wasnt consistent enough.


Myself, i'm not cocky enough to put myself up there. But i think if i were to rate myself, i'd put myself in the top 5 somewhere.

John Hensley: i left out the likes of RC, due to the fact it was stricty a battler list.

KempoMRK:: Dope. But I lied. I've got two more questions. Firstly, what do you think is the best battle ever? Secondly, what is your favourite battle that you've been in?

John Hensley: Best battle ever, there was a RM championship threeway between Scientz, Calefaction and Dynamix that was dope as hell. I'd also put my battle with ouch and butler up there. And my battle with Dynamix in the tournament would be my favorite i've been in.

KempoMRK:: Cool. lol one last thing, who the fuck is Tang?

John Hensley: Tang is I.Deal, he's an RM head, 3x Champ there.

John Hensley: he's gone now though.

KempoMRK:: Oh I see. I didn't know him under the name Tang

John Hensley: Tang/Tangible/I.Deal

KempoMRK:: Aight, dope interview. Longer than Erel's last week. And I give this interview the new title of DOPEST INTERVIEW EVER. So good shit man. Close this out with a sentence or something.

John Hensley: ya man, um. i'm gonna win the title!

KempoMRK:: lol good stuff, peace.

John Hensley: pz12