Recap: How far back do battle vets Arsonal and Cortez go? Think Grind Time and Lionz Den days. So it’s a wonder that it took ’em this long to meet up. And that’s a good thing as with Arsonal recently announcing that he’s retiring soon, for true battle rap heads it’s only right that these two go head-to-head before one of them leaves the scene for good. Got Arsonal taking the first round easy as while Cortez had a solid (“Everybody play vic [Vick], till you give ‘rm that dog treatment”) turn, da Rebel just turned in a richer performance mixed with (“…they could’ve at least hired you as a cook nigga, the food was Mexican!”) jokes/personals, imitations and fiery (“I’m from the bottom, I made miracles off crackers and tuna fish!”) bars that had you doubling over. Stressing more (“I’m Brooklyn, we wouldn’t want to be y’all, you faker than an ass out of D.R.!”; “I ain’t racist, but I’m putting every last nigga [nigger] in the ER!”) wordplay and heavy on the angles in round two, Cortez comes back nicely to even things up over what was another disrespectful (“I ain’t like the usual, little dirty nigger, kill you then show up to your funeral, just to tell your mother she look beautiful!”–RIP Tupac), but not quite as consistent round from Arsonal. Last round sees Cortez go for the kill, staying aggressive and delivering righteous (“I’m in Jersey with the .8 on court, like the old Kobe!”) punches and fierce (“….this is for real…I was on the couch with the ratchet like Netflix and chill!”) personals that landed hard. However, it’s Ars who comes right back and outpunches his opponent with a litany of braggadocio (“You just another square that put on the map…you remind me of Wyoming!”) bars and dope (“I get my coke from south of the border, I do pay you, so my specialty is crossing you over…I 2K you!”) punchlines to take it in the end.
Verdict: Arsonal (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Arsonal -“Ain’t no such thing as loyalty nigga, even the Verizon nigga work for Sprint now!”
