This Page Was Posted On October 18th

What is tha Infamous Hiero/Hobo conflict??

Judging from what I've been reading on Usenet, and tha sheer amounts of mail I get questioning it, not too many people know about tha battle/conflict between HieroGlyphics and the Hobo Junction. So let's spark this off, Cyber style, and see if we can enlighten a few heads.

As most of us hopefully know, HieroGlyphics is made up of mad heads such as DEL, Casual, Souls, Extra Pro., and Pep Love & JayBiz. Hailing from the Bay Area comes Tha Hobo Junction, headed by Saafir The Saucee Nomad. Saafir is mostly known for his work on the Digital Underground album, Body Hat Syndrome. Saafir did drop a solo album, but it was highly slept on. The conflict that sparked the infamous Hiero/Hobo freestyle battle started when Casual invited Saafir to lay some vocals on his album, Fear Itself. Saafir dropped a little rhyme, and then concluded the song talking about "hill-billies and all that", and that was that. It was just a way for Casual to lend out a hand and help Toure's boy out.

Saafir must have felt obliged by tha favor, because he invited Casual to drop some rhymes on his album soon after. However, Casual got tied up, and could not make the album session. Saafir took this as a dis, and went on KMEL radio out in LA, and straight dogged Casual and the Hiero crew. The next week, various members of Hiero, including Souls member Tajai, went back to KMEL and ripped Saafir and Hobo Junction up. Coincidently, later that night, Casual was performing at the Cow Palace venue in San Fran. After Casual was done his show, Saafir came up on stage, and the two started battling right then and there. Most people who attended that show claim Saafir did have the upperhand, but only because he came with writtens. The two MCs decided to settle all the shit talking by having a formal hip hop freestyle battle, live and over tha radio.

When news of the battle hit the streets (And even more so on the Internet), people literally lined up inside and outside of KMEL waiting to witness hip hop history in the making. And so the battle began: Casual was up first, did his piece, and then Saafir went up and did his shit. It went back and forth among Saafir, Casual, Big Nose (Hobo), Tajai (SOM), Pep Love and a few others from the Hobo crew. The battle was judged by listeners who would call in and pledge their vote. In the end, the listeners finally decided that the battle was a draw and that there was no real "winner". However, controversy still lurked within the battle.

At the very end of Casual's first verse he tells Saafir to "come with the written rap". Apparently, Saafir has been known to recite written verses and play them off as if they were a freestyle (Some believe Saafir's verse on Casual's album may have been written i.e. "This is my 3rd time doing this shit..."). In addition, Souls of Mischief's Tajai went on the record in a Usenet discussion and claimed Saafir told everyone before the show (Not on the air), that he had written raps to perform. The whole Hiero/Hobo controversy revolved around this. Was the performance really a "freestyle" battle if Saafir came with writtens? Was it a fair battle? Of course there's no true answer to this question, as Saafir will never admit if he was reciting written raps or not. But if you get the chance to ever hear the entire Hiero/Hobo battle, you'll probably come away with your own interpretations on what really went down.

The Aftermath...

So what's up with Hieroglyphics and Hobo Junction since the battle has passed? While in a recent discussion with one Hiero member, I was told "It's cool. Ain't no hostility or nothin'". Although things aren't as tight between the two groups as before, there is an unannounced peace between the two groups that has squashed all the shit talking that once flowed from the their mouths. In fact, DEL and Saafir were chillin' at a club the other night--No fighting, just them being cool and talking. There has even been some talk of some callobarationial work between Hiero and Hobo, but, again, nothing has been etched in stone.

Now, hella fools have been asking me whether or not No Man's Land was directed towards the Hobo Junction, or someone else in the Bay Area. The answer to this is simply, no. NML was recorded and finished many months before the battle even occurred. Due to basic flaws in the music industry, only now has the album been released. So any talk about NML being focused towards Saafir or any group for that matter is unheard of. I have been assured that SOM has never expressed any hostility to any group on either of their two albums.

Copyright ©1996 StinkE Productions