New York - August 9th

By David Sutherland for SarcasticDBag.Blogspot.com

"You know, a beating from a member of the Wu-Tang Clan really used to mean something," a visibly perturbed Mase said as he clicked through various video clips and photos of Joe Budden being assaulted on his chrome Macbook Pro.

Mase is of course referring to a fight that occurred last night between Joe Budden and members of Raekwon's entourage on the Los Angeles leg of the Rock the Bells Tour.

According to sources close to the Budden camp, Joe, and Brooklyn rapper Mickey Factz were doing a live online broadcast in their backstage dressing room when Raekwon and several members of his entourage entered the room uninvited. It is believed that peaceful words were initially exchanged between Raekwon and Budden, and it is unclear what lead to Budden being assaulted by one of Rae's crew members.

As the news of this attack hit the internet, the hip-hop community responded in many different ways, and everyone's favorite rapper-turned-pastor turned-rapper from Harlem was visibly shaken by Raekwon's actions.

"I'm just praying that Raekwon has the strength to recover from this incident and move on with his career," Mase said. "It's not every day you roll up on someone with your whole goon squad and only give a n*gga a black eye. Man, Rae is straight slippin' son."

Although this recent attack has had many prominent members of the hip-hop community calling for a stop to all violence within the genre, Mason "Mase" Betha interprets the event as a sign that the genre of hip-hop is dying. His opinion echoes the sentiments of numerous other industry figures who long for a time when rap music was about the music, and beatdowns by the Wu-Tang Clan left you in the hospital for at least 3 weeks.

"N*ggas used to get their asses whooped by Wu-Tang's entourage's entourage, and now Rae's personal goons can barely f*ck a dude up back stage at their own show," Mase said with a hint of distress in his voice. "Hip-hop has really gone down hill man. I fear for the life of the genre when a guy walks away from a Wu beating with just a scratch on his eye."

"Sh*t, I remember when I badmouthed Ghostface Killah at a show onetime and I spent the next 6 weeks with my jaw wired shut," Mase stated. "What an experience that was. You know, to be beat down so severely by a hip-hop legend."

"Why do you think I sound so f*cking stupid," Mase asked as he showed where the metal plates were installed in his left jaw bone. "You think I want to rap the way I do? I once heard Puff say to a reporter that my voice was a product of my Harlem swagger. Wrong. It's a product of a Staten Island face stompin', and I'm damn proud."

"How many people can say they got a good old fashioned Wu beatdown? Obviously not Joe Budden. I feel bad for the dude."

As of press time, Joe Budden's representatives declined to comment on this non-incident, while Raekwon is in the process of auditioning for a newer, tougher, entourage.

The Rock the Bells tour is set to hit San Francisco this afternoon at the Shoreline Amplitheatre.