Recap: A fire battle with plenty of competitive grit and crowd interaction and between Chess and Yunus from URL’s N.O.M.E. 15 card. Chess, the ‘vet’ here ironically a decade after his famous Rookies vs. Vets battle against DNA, came with 3 rounds of straight heat. The ‘Shape Shifter’ utilizing a gang of boastful barbs, solid name flips, fiery gun bars, hitting schemes, gritty punches and personals, righteous darts and feelgood wordplay to stay in the mix throughout his 3 rounds. While Yunus, showing nary a bit of anxiety in front of a huge Gramercy crowd, swayed the crowd with a plethora of fire similes, witty personals, steely/performance-rich bars, searing wordplay of his own, flexing ‘Chess’ name flips and battle rap colloquialisms and a gang of piercing punchlines. A close bout through and through with each battler displaying excellent stage presence and versatility to their raps, after a debatable round 1, it’s the slightly more haymaker-lit Yunus who edges rounds 2 and 3 for the win.
Verdict: Yunus (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Yunus – “Your first time here was versus DNA and you threw up…I pray you ain’t feeling nostalgic!”
