Aaron Ward, better known as A. Ward was just in Canada to battle on the King of the Dot platform’s World Domination 6 battle rap card. There are some rumblings on the internet that the battle may have been the best one of the weekend. Can’t say I’m surprised, A. Ward consistently delivers. Shortly after he got back to the States, he gracefully agreed to an interview with Trackstarz. Peep the interview below:
TZ – A. Ward you just got back from arguably your biggest battle to date. How do you feel about it? How do you think those in the building felt about it, and what do you think the fans watching the video when it drops will think?
AW-I feel great. This was my first “Road Game” since I’ve been battling so there were certain things I wanted to prove to myself that go beyond the material I wrote, (Crowd Control, Networking, Composure). The battle itself went awesome as well. Franchise was the best he’s ever been and it made for a very classic debatable battle. I believe in the building with him having the crowd on his side it might have seemed like he edged the battle 2-1. They took a round and a half to warm up to me. I think once you watch it on Cam, you’ll see that I won the battle 2-1 (1stand 3rd) but ultimately every round was back and forth energy and hard hitting content.
TZ– You’ve been battling for less than 2 years and have gone from battling in Kansas City to Canada! How did this opportunity to be on a King of The Dot card come about?
AW-Actually, I’ve been battling less than 1 year! Lol Crazy, I know. In the 5 battles I had done to date before this opportunity a few of them became viewed enough to reach the eyes of Organik and Gully (2 of the founders of KOTD). After my 501Blu battle, they contacted me and we began to work on possibly setting up something. They have been wonderful and professional throughout the whole process and just overall great guys to work with.
TZ– It seems when Christian Battle Rappers perform in front of a different audience they really have to fight against a biased room. Was it like that for you or did Canada show love and respect off top?
AW-The room was definitely bias, but I don’t see that as a huge deterrent. One might say that battling me in KC is tough as well. I do however think It took them awhile to warm up to me. By then end of my 2nd rd I was getting the respect and crowd reaction. Meanwhile, Franchise got reaction every 2 bars (which in some cases hurts you once the footage comes out).
TZ– Let’s make a shift: I have heard that it was a real struggle for you to even jump into battle rap, when did you know that God gave you the clearance or approval to participate in this particular arena?
AW-I’ve been a fan of battle rap for over a decade. It’s always been something I wanted to try at least. I feel God’s timing is perfect in everything and even though I thought/prayed about it before it I never really felt the comfort to jump into something that I knew could be a test for my spiritual walk. I’m 30 years old now (which might seem old for a “rookie” in battle rap) but I firmly feel God knew this season of my life would be the time I could be most effective for the kingdom and handle the pressure of being a Battle Rapper while having integrity.
TZ– During your first battle do you think anybody was prepared for what you were going to bring to the event? What was that initi response like and how has the Loop treated you since your debut?
AW– The Loop KC and the Connects have been nothing short of remarkable during this process. I can’t explain how much I feel indebted to them for just believing in me, and pushing me to be better and better. I don’t believe anyone had a clue as to what was going to happen on September 20th, 2015 except for Jarvis, Art, and Ray (League Owners). My opponent had ample material of me performing at spoken word events, so he had an idea of how cleverly I put together words, but he was at somewhat of a slight disadvantage not seeing me in battle form.
A. Ward has a lot more to say so stay tuned for part 2 of this interview!
