Murda Mook vs Arsonal

The Score of this battle is based on the performance Mook displayed in a one-sided battle.
3.50 ☆ Rating Recapped by Q Moody
For a battle involving two of the most pivotal figures in battle rap history, this is not something I was ever really clamoring to see. Arsonal is consistently active and available, but Murda Mook, with his limited appearances over the last 12 years, still brings a level of novelty and aura from a box office perspective that makes everything he does a spectacle.
Mook isn’t called the logo for no reason. So, fittingly, a ton of people have shot for him over the years. I’m trying to paint the picture that Mook vs Arsonal was never at the top of my list over seeing Mook encounter names like Charlie Clips, Hollow Da Don, Tsu Surf, or Hitman Holla.
Nevertheless, Arsonal remained persistent and kept the talk of this battle alive. Even doing some unsavory things to make it so. But the results are the results, and eventually, this mega clash of superstars got put together, and man, there is a lot to unpack.
I’ve reviewed every Mook battle that’s taken place since this website was formed. And in that 2+ year sample size that covers his clashes with Geechi Gotti, Bigg K, Nu Jerzey Twork, and Arsonal, this run has shown so much improvement from Mook. I’ve left this period with so much more respect and reverence for him.
The Arsonal battle is probably the pinnacle of this. In totally neutral ground in Detroit, Mook put on a clinic.
The first round from Mook is widely viewed as his peak of the battle, and for good reason. He opened up with a great bit of counterwriting, addressing the infamous Instagram live of him getting into it with the police. His energy was tangible through the screen, he looked extremely comfortable and showed real control with the way he seamlessly could go from clever, well-built bars to working in angles about their legacies. Even uses a prop of some Cartier frames to pay homage to fallen Detroit music legends. All attributes of battle rap were on display here. Mook’s first is a total masterclass in performance, crowd engagement, and picking the right spots.
For all the flack Mook has gotten for his past performances, he needs respect for his highs. He has listened to the fans and begun to figure out how to really translate in the modern era, and that makes him immensely dangerous going forward for anybody. The total package is forming, with him making lines quicker to the punch, more engagement with the crowd, and more intervals of performance; it’s all making for an electrifying and dynamic battler, alongside the fact he is a master strategist and with unlimited rapping dimensions.
Arsonal has been a mixed bag of results for a long time now, something we’ll get to later on. But with this being such a major battle for him (really a legacy battle, to be totally honest with how much Arsonal sought after it), you had to imagine Arsonal would show up as prepared as any battle he’s ever had in his life, maybe even the most prepared.
And his first round mostly reflects that. For all the critiques I’ll have for Arsonal later on, he understands the mechanics and fundamentals of putting words together more than most ever will. He’s so fluid and the word placement and transitions to different paces.
And he has an excellent and commanding delivery. When these things are combined, on a purely auditory level, Arsonal just SOUNDS great. His pen has never been his strong suit, but at his best he can chain punch and build enough to have momentum carry him through a round. He has several moments in this first where it’s not an actual bar that gets a reaction, but just the wave of momentum he creates with how well put together his rapping is. The angles he does decide to take aren’t bad, either. He touches on the infamous video of Mook’s apartment, Mook being selfish in battle rap, but I think for how competitive this round is, Arsonal would have been better served either dedicating more time to his angles or spacing them out better throughout the battle.
Arsonal dumped a clip in his first, and while it’s a good round. He opens the round by saying this is Darell Jones, not Arsonal. He still raps the exact same in his alter ego, but he kicks off the round by really talking to Mook at the beginning. The motor of Arsonal’s rapping generates momentum while opening up an angle about what Mook hasn’t contributed to the culture, doesn’t battle any of the newer guys, and doesn’t open doors for others. It started off strong, but it’s not as potent as Mook’s round in totality, and in a wild turn of events, Mook wasn’t the one who over-rapped. It was Arsonal. Arsonal took some of the sting from his round by how long he rapped, for me at least. As his round prolonged, it became more aimless, losing the sense of direction and point of attack he introduced.
This is Arsonal’s high point of the battle, and I still think he lost this round, I’m not mad at anyone thinking this was a debatable round. That said, Arsonal took a huge step down the next two rounds, while Mook stayed consistent.
Mook’s 2nd doesn’t get as much crowd reaction as his first, but it’s not because the crowd isn’t engaged. It comes across as them listening intently to everything he has to say, which worked for the round’s benefit. This is genuinely my favorite round of the battle. Mook delivered the most direct, angle-based content of the battle in this round, and I thought it was delivered perfectly. Setting the stage for the differences between him and Arsonal wonderfully. My favorite segment of the entire battle came here:
“Let me give you perspective /
It’s a difference in ethics /
The only reason your name was even in the selection /
Is because we interconnected, check it /
You attained fame by saying things no rapper should /
My name became synonymous with the game
For saying things no other rapper could /
Let’s be honest, they credit you for disrespect. Never for rhyming/
you got your props off shock. I stayed current by being electrifying/”
Mook kept his foot on the gas. Even when transitioning back to slick wordplay and punches, the writing didn’t take a step back. He might not throw a ton into a punch or make it the emphasis of his style, but what Mook is great at is building a foundation on these slick lines and jabs in almost Floyd Mayweather-esque fashion. At his best, the way Mook’s raps feed into each other and fit into the next section of rhymes is elite writing. It can’t be undersold how impressive Mook was on this night
Arsonal’s 2nd sees him revert back to only relying on delivery and technical skills to get by when this is his emptiest round content-wise of the battle. There’s nothing to take from this round; he’s not punching as well as he did in the first and he’s no longer being focused or bringing any angles to the table. And after an already underwhelming round, Arsonal choked.
You Know The Rules
Let me repeat that. Arsonal. Choked
In a battle that he had been practically begging for 10 years and doing the most even to keep the idea of this battle relevant, he choked. And maybe that’s silly me for thinking that in one of the biggest battles of his career, Arsonal would understand that now is for sure not the time for slip ups like that. But that’s my fault because that’s who Arsonal has been the last two years.
In the last two years, Arsonal has choked in battles against
- Kapo Bravado (Main event)
- Rosenberg Raw (The YouTube upload edited out his choke of this battle)
- Casey Jay
- Franchise
- Coffee Brown (Main event)
- Ms Hustle

And now here vs Murda Mook. Which by the way, Arsonal is now the first opponent Murda Mook has had choke in a battle against him since the modern era of Mook battling (post-2012). Another milestone we can check off for Arsonal.
There’s no other way to put it other than that it is embarrassing and ridiculous of someone who’s supposed to be held in such high reverence. But the sad thing is, that’s only going back to the last two years. If I wanted to dig into the archives, there would be a lot more that I could list. The last 5-6 years of Arsonal have seen some good showings here and there, like against Ace Amin and B-Magic, but mainly been composed of chokes, stumbles, and cringeworthy, bad material. But we’ll get to the bad material more in a bit. The reality is the way stigmas are around people like B-Magic and Charlie Clips, the exact same critique needs to follow Arsonal who’s given the culture way more bad than good over the last few years.
Right now, Mook is up 2-0. And like a shark in the water, Mook saw blood and finished the job. His third is probably his weakest round of the battle, but I still saw him have one of the highlights of the night with his Street Fighter pocket, talking about his ties to Detroit, his Eminem reference that led to a “Rap God” homage and getting into a rapid flow in another Eminem reference, and he puts a nice bow on his legacy vs. legacy talk with the “why YOU ain’t…” segment. Mook was floating there and just closed out with moment after moment.
Arsonal decided to spend his 3rd round talking about Mook’s deceased mother. I don’t know if Ars anticipated more of a disrespectful Mook in an attempt to match Ars’ disrespect, so he wanted to double down because of that? But honestly, that’s just shooting bail and trying to give the benefit of the doubt to someone who doesn’t deserve it.
His strategy is so impressively flawed it manages to be both nonexistent and poorly thought out simultaneously. He choked at the end of his 2nd round, completely forfeiting a round instead of just closing it out smoothly. He props up to launch his most disrespectful round at the end of his performance as if it’s some final act that none of us could’ve seen coming. You saved your most provocative round for the end after Mook spent two rounds completely diffusing the notion that Arsonal is all about shock value. It’s like Arsonal walked right into the angle. The mother’s disrespect would’ve served to be the most effective thing to use at the beginning of his performance.
We Aren't Saying Arsonal Shouldn't Be Disrespectful
Disrespectfulness isn’t the issue, but its presentation matters. Disrespect has gotten Arsonal this far, but there is a way to deliberate the use of disrespect to gain an advantage. Arsonal tried to provoke a reaction with malice instead of mentioning someone’s perceived weaknesses or past failures. Mook has mentioned in previous battles swearing on his mother’s grave in some of his material for specific topics. Arsonal could’ve revisited that and flipped it with a perspective of, “Did you lie on your mother’s grave? Or Let’s Play swear to ____”.
The disrespect wasn’t done creatively to undermine Mook or hit a pressure point. He was being disrespectful for the sake of it instead of maybe finding a clever way to make it effective. Arsonal could’ve made a reference to Mook’s sobriety and played on his low points to portray it as a weakness to the audience. His IQ didn’t let him think that far ahead.
Arsonal thinking that this was something that made sense as a battle-closing approach for him is why he’s not the all-time great he’s propped up to be. He could have spaced out his angles and done more talk about not giving back to the culture compared to what Arsonal has done. He could have used the best of his “disrespectful” bars earlier instead of trying to build a whole round around it. But because Arsonal isn’t actually one of the greatest ever, separate from his accomplishments, his lack of battle IQ was glaring in what might be his legacy-defining moment.
He’s a legend, he’s a pioneer, he’s done a lot of good for battle rap. Arsonal stood out over his peak because of his highlight attributes, but over time, there hasn’t been an evolution in his game; you can watch a battle from him 13 years ago sound precisely the same as this battle. His actual content isn’t becoming the best to ever be in this culture. Countless grudge matches in his catalog have resulted in the red more than the green. Material can be subjective, but there are countless outdated bars, and the bars we have aren’t good or clever for the majority of them.
He also weaves in this angle about Mook being kicked out of college because of some alleged sexual misconduct and goes as far as to imply Mook is a rapist, just to dap him up after the battle. And on top of that, the bars just fucking stink! It’s not packaged cleverly or memorably. It’s writing bullshit for the sake of writing bullshit.
Lotta energy buncha nothing being said.
— Frozen Water (@OfficiallyIce) December 9, 2024
I wonder if bars like these are worthy of being considered “saying something”
“I could purchase a female Tesla robot, and I still wouldn’t steal/steel pussy.”
“A Sneeze bar, aiming Acho (At chu)”
“Boosie cut, run this fade.”
“Go to your Mom Grave, and tell her she got a Simp son,You Bart to her.”
“Arthritis / (Author Write this).”
Can we have some higher standards please, man? How long is Arsonal allowed to write stuff like this, and it’s not discussed because he has the most views? Why does that safeguard him from the rightful criticism that he’s genuinely been writing some of the worst shit in battle rap for the last 6 years? He SOUNDS good when he raps, but when you take the slightest deeper glance at what he’s actually saying, it’s stuff that developmental battle rappers would get laughed out of the culture for. There’s a reason why Arsonal’s name gets left out of certain dialogue when discussing the greatest ever. And that reason and the uncomfortable truth it that his talent doesn’t match up and doesn’t make his case.
In a battle he spent a decade plus asking for, Arsonal spent his last two rounds showcasing what I’ve personally felt about him for years: his actual skill level is overblown because people have a hard time separating it from his legacy.
Meanwhile, Murda Mook, is in a battle he vocally has never really cared about. Showed up and handled business accordingly and had his best showing to date in the modern era. Mook isn’t perfect. There are still some bad lines here and there that show that maybe Mook will forever be prone to a cringy line or two, but for the vast majority of the battle, he was focused, potent, and looked like he really was one of the best ever to battle.
Seeing Hitman Holla, Murda Mook and Loaded Lux all put on some of the best performances of 2024 really makes 2025 and what’s to come for all three of them the biggest story heading into the year. These are three of the biggest and best to ever do this, showing that they can still operate on levels that most of the culture can’t reach.
Who do you have winning between Murda Mook vs Arsonal ?
— Let’s Talk Battle Rap (@LTBRpodcast) December 9, 2024