No Bias. No Narratives.
Mister Greco Recap: A couple of nice rebuttals and heated punchlines by Xcel makes things competitive, but a cleaner, witty throughout and set-up/personal-heavy turn by Cable Guy gives the latter the edge in this one-rounder from Colosseum Battle League.
Verdict: Cable Guy (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Cable Guy – “You oughta be top tier, main stage, making classics, but on your road to Summer Madness, you got stuck in Traffic!”
Recap: Never let it be said that Chilla Jones won’t battle in your hood as here we see the veteran Boston battler traveling all the way to New Mexico for 3 rounds with local spitter Biz. Put aside all the loud chatter in the background from the crowd throughout the match as well as Jones reaching a couple of times with crowd participation efforts that went nowhere, a pretty solid, witty and punch-heavy at times battle ensued with the name flip/gun bar/scheme-spazzing Jones easily taking the first two rounds from his inconsistent opponent for the win before a debatable 3rd.
Verdict: Chilla Jones (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Chilla Jones – “I’ll treat you like an airplane seat with my gat, you wanna why?…’cuz when I lft the tray [.3] you’ll see a magazine in his back!”
Recap: Gates of the Garden co-owner C Low has been putting in work as a battler for a minute now. And through the use of feisty punchlines, a consistent flow, fiery (“So pay attention, I learned a head shot can get you more views than main venting!”) gun bars and real street jargon, Low almost always offers a solid performance such as this one against a punch-heavy and vigorous Beddafi Green, where in addition to the aforementioned arsenal, Low displays some witty personals to come back and force a tie in the deciding 3rd round after the two split the first two.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: Beddafi Green – “This is what you get when you call me out, you ain’t know that I walk around with rounds that could take a whole army out, or I’ll put a hawker out, mark your whole body down, zig zag across your body, now you Charlie Brown!”
Recap: Assisted by an up-n-down, name flip excessive opponent who rapped twice as long as he did, a more condensed Your Honor also supplies enough fiery wit, mayhem and righteous punchlines to beat back a solid Bear Witnez and take this 1-rounder from Bring Ya Barz Battle League.
Verdict: Your Honor (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Your Honor – “I’m from the District, with a 4-piece on me and a McChicken, sitting in his car, waiting on the nigga…like a ticket!”
Recap: Another one of those battles that’s a lot closer than what the comments section will tell you. But in this 3-rounder from Bar Fight Battle League, the ever-competitive A. Ward still pulls off a minor upset over the always hard to beat Geechi Gotti. Using a plethora of righteous punchlines, some fierce personals, witty (“One Tech, you trash, man you the idol they watch?, you got locked up and out of jail before the microwave stopped!”) barbs, one more haymaker and a nifty freestyle towards the end of his round, the Christian rapper manages to edge the 1st round before getting beat by a more condensed, raucous, shit-talking and gun bar (“Nina with me, I been through everything with this bitch, I think it’s time we settle down!”) spazzing Gotti in the 2nd. The deciding 3rd round was thisclose with Gotti going at length on his opponent’s spirituality vs. his own belief system, all the dishing fiery punches during a turn that was only hurt by some recycled themes and Geechi’s nimble attempt at freestyling (which, for the most part were really unnecessary). Any holes in Gotti’s 3rd would be taken advantage of by a more consistent Ward, who along with potent sermons/personals that spoke to the heart of Geechi’s gangster lifestyle, would deliver a series of loud barking religious zingers and bodacious shiners to edge the round
Verdict: A. Ward (W) 2-1
Favorite line: A. Ward – “You dead, it’s over in fact, your slogan is when it’s real you can see it in their eye’s…makes a lot of sense that yours stayed closed when you rap!”
Recap: Dealing all sorts of mayhem and dishing on some eerie situations with his massive load of guns bars, Chef Trez easily puts a hurting on Dubb Da Feenom’s loud, but less potent raps, that is before a late round choke by Dubb ends things for good.
Verdict: Chef Trez (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Chef Trez – “Let’s switch the plot, I’m in front of his doorsteps, through his house giving shots, the irony, as soon as the pound hit the door, the nigga knock!”
Recap: Maybe one day somebody will be kind enough to come up with a percentage on how many times ‘Hitman’s little brother!’ ShowOut was mentioned in a Bill Collector battle since their incident some years back. That said, in this 1-rounder from GOTG, a BC equipped with a gang of raucous gun bars, fiery/witty personals and consistently gritty punchlines makes easy work of an aggressive, but overall much less substantive Zay Smoove.
Verdict: Bill Collector (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Bill Collector – “See, I’m just rolling pass the bases I’m a ground ball, all them people riding with you?, that’s a clown car!”
Recap: In this rare battle over beats, both Chef Trez and Bandana Boogie show off their ability to switch up cadence’s and spout rhymes over a variety of popular Hip-Hop rhythm’s from days past. Close throughout with each battler dishing a barrage of rigid braggadocio lines, stinging name flips, spitfire punches and fiery set-ups, it’s a standout 2nd round turn by Trez that edges out the battle when you call the 1st and 3rd debatables.
Verdict: Chef Trez (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Chef Trez – “Old school shooter with revolvers, keep a magnum like your big sister dresser!”
Recap: Snake Eyez clearly did his research for this one, using some fiery personals to go along with his usual assortment of gritty punchlines and stinging gun bars to beat a pretty solid throughout, but not near as potent Shawn Hoffa in this dope one-rounder from Showtime Battle Arena.
Verdict: Snake Eyez (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Snake Eyez – “When it gets real, keep your lips sealed, or get your shit spilled, puts your hands up little nigga, I wish this bitch will, this right will give you your eye the best cookie ever…Ms. Fields!”
Recap: With Big T unable to get in his bag while transfixed on hit-n-miss punches throughout this battle, a civic-minded and nice with the punches Ooops survives a couple of near-chokes to take advantage of his opponent’s mediocrity and edge rounds 1 plus 3 for a win on the KOTD stage.
Verdict: Ooops (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Ooops – “I’m the man in my city and yours, you ain’t the one they admire, you Stefon Marbury you’ll have to move from the crib ti get your jersey retired!”
Recap: In a battle that was loaded with plenty of Bad Boy Records and Dot Mobb references, K-Shine versus E. Ness from The Battle Academy in Philly still made for a solid showing with both battlers kicking spicy darts throughout. However, at the end of the day this one would prove to be all Shine as after kicking a spitfire, punch-heavy 1st round that reeked with haymakers, the Harlem vet just proved to be hsrder with his bars, using eccentric Philly references, hot schemes, fiery performance darts and some wicked punchlines/gun bars to beat back a mostly pedestrian Ness in the latter rounds and walk away with a 30.
Verdict: K-Shine (W) 3-0
Favorite line: K-Shine – “Two arms behind him like my baby took his first step!”
Recap: If you’re Furious Styles you gotta be pretty disappointed at that 1st round choke, because those hardbody punchlines, boastful barbs and salacious personals Ms. Styles was kicking in the latter rounds definitely made this battle interesting. Still, even with her opponent making for a solid comeback, Yoshi G still did more than enough to earn this one on her own, dishing 3 straight rounds of fierce 4-bar setups, braggadocio zingers, witty personals and ringing name flips/wordplay to take the first two rounds before a 3rd round debatable.
Verdict: Yoshi G (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Yoshi G – “Don’t let that burn, Furious Styles gonna die from Tre [.3] pop!”
Recap: Jakkboy Maine pollutes the air with ringing gun sounds, salient name flips and stirring (“I caught him a Home Alone set-up y’all…and my trap now Booming like a bitch!”) punchlines to beat back a gritty and (“This shit will kick off from the door…Mister Rogers!”) punch-heavy, but elongated and not as consistent Kaboom in this one-rounder from The Battle Academy.
Verdict: Jakkboy Maine (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Jakkboy Maine – “He started croaking, then I let go of Boom under water, that’s an implosion!”
Recap: For his comeback Murda Mook should’ve took Tsu Surf. That’s really the consensus here after watching this hour-and-a-half long battle between Mook and Aye Verb that was not only way too long, but drenched with filler and littered all over the place with pedestrian bars from both participants. Then too, besides Mook making his much-heralded comeback and a couple of old battle vets finally facing off against each other, what was the point here? Especially what with Mook’s continual narrative over the years stating that he can hang with the new guys…again, he should’ve battled Surf.
As for the battle itself, competitive by default with an undoubtedly record-setting 3rd round from Mook and way too much extra shit what with all the touching and machismo going on throughout it. And tho frequent bouts of elongated schemes, mediocre bars and quite a few reaches would hurt the match, for the most part the crowd (esp. Jaz the Rapper) was into it. And both Mook and Verb would dazzle at times with fiery punchlines, wily personals, braggadocio shiners and many a provocative dart. Verb, at his best when he flexed with stinging personals and rich storyline bars, would easily surmount his opponent on haymakers to take round 1, before Mook, aggressive and never lacking (“Yeah, I’m feeling myself like I don’t know where my phone at!”) for confidence throughout despite 3 inconsistent rounds, would match Verb on overall potency to make the 2nd round debatable. And despite Mook delivering 10-15 rounds of bars in one overlong 3rd, after a bit of a slow start it’s Verb who gives Mook a searing talking to, via a gang of fierce set-ups, schemes and mocking (“I was reading your transcript and it said, you got a problem with Math, well it’s ok, just don’t let it beat you over ya head!”) personals, to handily take the round and win the battle.
Verdict: Aye Verb (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Aye Verb – “It’s time to eat, I’m a throw noodles like a college student!”
Recap: Much hyped battle of two ‘Champions’ doesn’t necessarily live up to the billing (unless you want to count O-Red and T-Top almost getting into it and a tag-in to Nu Jerzey Twork by Red in the 3rd) as while lyricism, personals, mayhem and punches were at the forefront, anyone who has followed both DNA and O-Red’s career has certainly seen better from each. Still, the battle was close and competitive (I got a more versatile DNA edging the 1st and a surprisingly more-condensed-than-usual Red doing the same in the 2nd even if a couple of those gun bars were influenced by Twork) throughout with DNA getting the edge here in the deciding 3rd with a more consistent and solid turn that with a couple of freestyles and a very nice tooth scheme on top, beat back O-Red’s mostly so-so attempts at humor and less potent bars in the same round. Not to mention, the Twork tag-in was a little puzzling when you consider the strength of DNA’s rebuttal game.
Verdict: DNA (W) 2-1
Favorite line: DNA – “You was always in the back row and the last to grow, you like wisdom teeth!”
Recap: Chilla Jones makes it look way too easy here, using a plethora of sublime punchlines, hitting multi’s, piercing name flips and daunting gun bars to easily beat back a persevering, but mostly mediocre with the punches Shine9 in this 3-rounder from Smoked Out Battles.
Verdict: Chilla Jones (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Chilla Jones – “Boy, with the toy I’ll aim and pull it, two different.9’s, that ain’t Nerf I’m giving this New Wave a bullet!”
Recap: With Dre Dennis announcing at the beginning of this video that some of the audio got lost during Dougy’s turn, despite a fire turn from Eazy the Block Captain here, don’t feel it’d be fair to recap this battle.
Verdict: No Contest
Recap: After taking on some hot punches and rugged schemes/personals from G-Souldier, a confident Big Kannon goes on a fierce spree of piercing punchlines/wordplay, sizzling name flips and witty barbs to beat back his opponent in this 1-rounder from Rotation Hip-Hop.
Verdict: Big Kannon (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Big Kannon – “He’s weak and I ain’t listenong to shit dude telling me, don’t matter if you spit and it’s relentless, you get the business, bitch you already know what’s up…like women’s intuition!”
Recap: Even with a not-so-great, but solid 1st round and a 2nd round that while hitting with effective punchlines, witty schemes/personals and bully bars all over the spot, was still beatable considering his opponent’s capability, for two rounds Math Hoffa does more than enough to beat back a mostly subpar, redundant theme-dishing and filler prone Real Deal. And tho the punchline/scheme crazy RD we’re used to seeing finally showed up to easily take the 3rd, by then it was too late.
Verdict: Math Hoffa (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Math Hoffa – “You trash Trevor, and I know you been knew that shit, I found his rap book at the hotel, I picked it up and threw that shit, a couple of minutes later raccoons was going through that shit, I swear I heard on read a line and the rest of ’em boo’ed that shit!”
Recap: IMBL 3-rounder finds local spitter Steve McSwain earnestly contributing with a boatload of gritty punches/gun bars, some hard street rhymes and brazen/witty barbs. Still, in spite of a solid effort from his opponent, a well-equipped Aye Verb earns his bag with a gang of spicy hustler-themed punches, mocking personals and belittling vet talk to take rounds 1 and 3 (call round 2 debatable) for the win.
Verdict: Aye Verb (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Aye Verb – “I ain’t say your name in two rounds yet…’cuz I forgot it!”
Recap: Even with Bankhead rapping twice as long as his opponent, in this fiery 1-rounder from Black Ice Cartel against the also highly energetic Drugz, the future NWX member’s higher percentage of stinging (tho a bit excessive at times) name flips, potent gun bars, rapid mayhem and gritty, oft-performance heavy punchlines are enough to beat a pretty solid, but not as consistent showing from his opponent.
Verdict: Bankhead (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Bankhead – “What happened to that Drugz with substance? that’s the nigger people was actually feening with, how the fuck your name supposed to be Drugz with no active ingredient?!?”
Recap: From Premier Rap Battle League, an entertaining, versatile and often set-up/punch-heavy 1-rounder between 3SK and Bill Collector stayed close till BC (who might’ve been on his way to a win) started to recycle a bunch of bars towards the end of his round, in turn assisting the more original and steadily hitting 3SK to gain the win.
Verdict: 3SK (W) 1-0
Favorite line: 3SK – “See, me and Deast, gave this league a classic when we battled each other, so Premier said they always got a plate for me like an Italian mother!”
Recap: Using some potent wordplay, hard-hitting schemes and a gang of piercing punchlines to out-rap a lyrical opponent who was much nicer here with the personals than the punches, outside of a debatable 2nd round, Chilla Jones easily beats back Canadian rapper Illipsis in the 1st and 3rd rounds to take this 3-rounder from KOTD.
Verdict: Chilla Jones (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Chilla Jones – “The flow iller, and they used to call me boring well…save that for the old Chilla, when they compare me to NyQuil now, bitch that’s ‘cuz I’m a cold killer!”
Recap: Wily vet Craig Lamar dishes just enough heated punchlines and ringing set-ups to push back the slow, unorthodox stylings of a much less intricate Rob Blanks in this one-rounder from Gates of the Garden.
Verdict: Craig Lamar (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Craig Lamar – “Bitch I’ll make ya grandmama bite the curve, stand on her scalp, and keep putting my foot down like I’m the man of the house!”
Recap: With 3 rounds of basic raps that might’ve worked in say….2005, Germany battle rapper Tierstar not only fails to provide any competition in this TopTier Takeover battle versus Pat Stay, but such a poor effort here can make one re-think watching battles in which a no-name, wannabee up-n-comer pays to battle a top-tier. As for Pat, tho we’d get the usual gang of derisive jokes/personals, performance-enhanced barbs and hardbody punches in the 1st round, from there, matched up against such a subpar opponent, who could blame him for getting bored and just wanting to be done with this thing what with his continued crowd trolling, sometimes lazy raps/freestyles and condensed turns in both rounds 2 and 3? Indeed, so bad was Tierstar that Pat caught another bodybag anyway.
Verdict: Pat Stay (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Pat Stay – “Tierstar, who gave you that name?, take off ya hat it should be 50 shades of gray!”
Recap: A couple of roundhouse, heavy-punching/scheming and personal-drenched rounds by Charlie Clips gets him another win that still yet, may leave one scratching their head a little on how Clips has the uncanny ability to pull victories out of tight spots. In this case, surviving a pretty weak 2nd round that was blown away even more by a tremendous and vociferous turn by Ave. Or how about a close 1st round that Clips only edges because for some reason Ave chose to go overkill with bully bars on an opponent who’s never made his name pretending to be of that ilk? And of course, a deciding 3rd that while he most likely would’ve won anyway, because he’s Charlie Clips and he’s that nice when he wants to be. Yet still, for some inconceivable reason (perhaps, overconfidence?) Ave cuts short his turn and barely spits half a round. Indeed, you can’t make this stuff up.
Verdict: Charlie Clips (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Charlie Clips – “My nigga Roc, could’ve been Thanos, but he messed up when he built his squad around this PG, he from Maryland, you from Virginia, so why would we Marvel who based around D.C.?!”
Recap: Deftly punching back-to-back-to-back like her life depended on it, 40 B.A.R.R.S. takes down all-comers, even opponent Gutta’s family members when she wasn’t spouting fire wordplay, piercing personals, braggadocios zingers and swinging gun bars during this 1-rounder from Premier Rap Battle League. The loud and raucous Gutta, even if he got off to a slow start what with a Lil Mama obsession in the beginning of his round, still managed to keep things entertaining with some hot punches/performance bars here and there, but with such a topsy-turvy run overall, stood no chance of beating back 40’s more consistently spicy round.
Verdict: 40 B.A.R.R.S. (W) 1-0
Favorite line: 40 B.A.R.R.S. – “Y’all got Premiere’s front man like he got his bars up?, well it’s like I’m trying to gentrify the hood when I give your up and coming star bucks [Starbucks]!”
Recap: No ‘Strapped IN!’ bars, but still 5 minutes of utter mayhem, gritty wordplay and distinctive gun bars from Nu Jerzey Twork in this 1-rounder from WAU Battle League. And even with some recycled bars from Twork, it’s still all enough to beat back an SDK, who while rapping twice as long as his opponent, was able to dish some solid punches here and there, but too much filler, reaches and pedestrian name flips helped help lead to his demise.
Verdict: Nu Jerzey Twork (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Nu Jerzey Twork – “I’ll bang a pair, breeze in the house, call Steve on the couch…thinking chair!”
Recap: Raining down a host of spirited anecdotes, but failing to tie most of them together, a verbally spastic Daylyt goes in the heat of Loso’s way more cohesive punchlines, aggressive name flips/wordplay and stifling personals.
Verdict: Loso (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Loso – “Ya woke, but not conscious…ya sleepwalking!”
Recap: Hindsight is 20/20, but damn if Dre Dennis had chosen to spread out some of those hard-hitting and witty personals he used in the 3rd earlier in this battle against G Lowe. Because that could’ve been the difference here in what turned out to be a pretty competitive and close match after a one-sided 1st round. Instead, by relying too heavily on his standard usage of gun bars (which were hit-n-miss here) and hurt by a few reaches in both the 1st and 2nd rounds, even while getting back on his grind in the latter half of the middle round, it was too late for Dre, esp. when it came to going up against G Lowe’s consistently combative, but also exquisite punch game in the early rounds. The ‘Gun Bars n Glasses’ rapper, after putting together a sublime 1st round, coming back with another dope turn in the 2nd that featured a variety of piercing personals, cocky heat and flexing punches to gain the win, before Dre’s personal-driven comeuppance in the 3rd allowed him to avoid getting 30’d.
Verdict: G Lowe (W) 2-1
Favorite line: G Lowe – “It’s one button on the stick…I brought Atari back!”
Recap: Someone might want to tell The Saurus that E-Ness said his face looks like coffee cake, not ‘cheese cake’. Or maybe The Saurus knew that anyway and yet was just feening to get in yet another ‘cheese cake’ pun on his opponent. Still, with a gang of solid punchlines, rich performance bars and some witty barbs mixed in, it’s an inspired Ness who one up’s fellow vet, but a wily inconsistent The Saurus in rounds 1 and 3 to earn a win on the KOTD stage.
Verdict: E-Ness (W) 2-1
Favorite line: E-Ness – “The Saurus, why you force it?, it doesn’t come out natural, your flow sounds robotic and it lacks replay value!”
Recap: The hoodie taken off (we see you Calicoe) completes the comeback in what was a haymaker-filled, performance-heavy and personal/punchline/wordplay (“I’m at your crib, he like ‘It ain’t gonan be that tho!’ [bwoh!] yes it is!”) stifling, classic 3rd round from Nu Jerzey Twork. Indeed, after a pedestrian, slip-up prone 1st that was cut short, much less had zero chance of beating a solid, (“Your flow low-key blah, blah, my emoji monster’s, I’m solo with it, I never need a staff, I ain’t Loki partna!”), posturing and punch-heavy ‘Vegan Verb’, Twork literally turned it up, stunting heavy with a consistently rapid, gun bar execution in the 2nd, before the aforementioned spitfire 3rd finished the mission.
Verdict: Nu Jerzey Twork (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Nu Jerzey Twork – “One hit from this MC Hammer [emcee hammer] like Have You Seen Her?, if I had to arm you in a casket hugging the body, the Macarena [mac will ring ya]!”
Recap: In a tale of one guy (Franchise) for the most part sticking to what he does really well: performance rich while dishing potent gun bars and fiery trap talk and another (Prep) straying away from what he does well: freestyles, rebuttals and trendy punchlines/schemes, the former easily gets the win. Not that Franchise didn’t attempt to be more versatile here, mixing in a few spicy personals and punch-heavy darts/schemes along the way. But with Prep (outside a pretty solid 1st round) off-balance and filler-prone throughout, his Canadian opponent’s steady and aggressive heat could only add up to a 30.
Verdict: Franchise (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Franchise – “You watching Spongebob with your daughter?, I’ll ease my way in your crib then I turn it off, with a big clip, she can’t watch this, it’s Rated R!”
Recap: From We Go Hard, a couple of dope impressions and a gang of righteous heat from Lootchi still wasn’t enough to beat back a versatile Bill Collector, who when he wasn’t dropping some fire freestyles, scored left and right with a plethora of winsome punchlines, witty barbs, stinging performance bars/set-ups and even some rigid wordplay to get the win in this fiery 1-rounder.
Verdict: Bill Collector (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Bill Collector – “I’ll catch you while you playing 2K, playoff shit, and start fucking up your game like I’m J.R. Smith!”
Recap: As expected, it’s a spirited punch-fest between Mike P and Young Kannon in this 3-round bout from Smack/URL, with both also mixing in some righteous personals, stinging wordplay and fiery name flips. A close battle throughout with nary a slip-up from either battler, before Mike got in his unorthodox bag to take the 3rd, a slightly more consistent with the punchlines, performance-heavier and bent with the haymakers YK edges the 1st and 2nd to take what was long promoted as grudge match.
Verdict: Young Kannon (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Young Kannon – “Now be honest, y’all really think Micheal bang out with K’s?, after he spit a gun bar, he gotta wipe the bang out his face!”
Recap: Danny Myers and fellow West-coast battler J.U.S. meet up for a competitive 1-rounder on the Skytier Northwest stage. And while the confident J.U.S. dished a series of consistently flexing punchlines/wordplay, it’s a more versatile, just as fiery and lit-with-the-personals Myers who gets the edge here.
Verdict: Danny Myers (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Danny Myers – “Stuey got on Smack and I saw that it hurt ya, he moved forward while you stayed still…Newton proved his own law of inertia!”
Recap: When your opponent even admits that this is the best version he’s seen of you, there’s a good chance that you got the battle won. Indeed, that’s the case here as Math Hoffa takes it back to his Marvwon and Arsonal days with a barrage of spitfire punchlines, witty (“People think that you a grimy dude, and honestly it might be true, but the only evidence we got, is you always dressing like it’s ’92!”) personals and hitting bully bars that, for two rounds anyway, put a serious hurting on a solid, but less potent and sometimes redundant Ill Will, who from the aforementioned salute to Math, clearly underestimated the strength of his opponent’s pen. Thankfully for Will anyway, a boisterous, (“I’m in his building, on the 3rd floor, arms waving, when I pop locks…I call it Turbo!”) gritty and consistent return to form in the final round was enough to force a debatable and avoid getting 30’d.
Verdict: Math Hoffa (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Math Hoffa – “The crowd ducking, security like ‘How he get the Larkin?’, I cheated, I had my bitch carrying [carry in], I’m Tristan Thompson!”
Recap: We Go Hard battle between Swamp and Illa sees the latter keep with close throughout with a rich combo of dope (“Let this nigger cross me, choppers coming out…false teeth!”) punchlines, fly schemes and some nice name flips. But even with a slight slip-up in the 1st round, overall Swamp just came with more heat, the South Carolina battler scoring left and right with a crazy and (“You ain’t fucking with me, I’m too lethal, I been to hell and back twice, my life got two sequels!”) punch-heavy opening round, before also taking the latter two rounds with a bunch of sizzling trap talk, witty personals, lofty performance lines and fiery gun bars/punches/set-ups to earn the 30.
Verdict: Swamp (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Swamp – “Soon as I pull up, I hop out that bitch, Kobe Bryant with the stick, I done hit so many, they don’t give a fuck how many shots I done missed!”
Recap: Taking advantage of a Young X who for 3 rounds was mired in mostly pedestrian bars while coming hit-n-miss with the jokes, with a steady mix of slick punchlines, witty personals, solid name flips, banging heat and gritty street boasts, Qleen Paper manages to pull off a pretty easy 30 in this 3-rounder from Smack/URL.
Verdict: Qleen Paper (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Qleen Paper – “Bulldog snubs, thick as mad, this bitch a vest snatcher, I got the long nose on a .44…I got the X factor!”
Recap: Rarely lacking for confidence and pulling a vet move by mostly staying away from the what would have been easy name flips, JC spits a gang of spitfire braggadocios lines, potent gun bars and righteous punchlines to take rounds 1 plus 3 and beat a very solid KD, a St. Louis battler who used a wide variety of loaded wordplay, nice set-ups and hitting personals/punchlines to stay in the mix, before a spicy storytelling, but hit-n-miss turn and JC’s comeuppance in the deciding final round eventually did him in.
Verdict: JC (W) 2-1
Favorite line: JC – “If your soul gets snatched in a battle with me, only I can give it back, so don’t come here expecting no Black Panther flip from me…nigga, what kind of shit!”
Recap: When it comes to his raps, that real street shit, pain and struggle are topics Eazy the Block Captain can go on talking about forever. But here in this Power House Battle League 3-roudner versus a mostly unprepared and freestyle-prone Bangz, the Block Captain not only runs with his usual assortment of tricks, but also adds a pretty finite punchline game, a couple of nifty personals and some raucous name flips/gun bars to complete what overall was a pretty easy shutout.
Verdict: Eazy the Block Captain (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Eazy the Block Captain – “Send a contract, for the right price a mill will do, nigga I’ll mold something, clips full of a…I’m fucked up right now, you trying to hold something?!”
Recap: Sporting a plethora of showmanship, wit and rapid lyrical aptness, Madflex matches bars with the always flexing wordplay and fiending punches of Xcel for 3 rounds on the KOTD stage. A solid and spirited battle throughout, a fire middle-of-the-round (“…when his LIFE come out his chest like the shirt on his skin!”) freestyle by Madflex allows him just enough room to match a versatile and fire (“You not the truth, I will rock your roof like stalactites!”) turn by Xcel. The 2nd and 3rd rounds however, sees each battler out-maneuver the other what with Madflex’s more consistent darts and finite (“If I offered you a featherweight fight, you look light, you’d bring a pillow!”) penmanship beating back a less potent turn by Xcel in the middle round, before the Team Homi vet comes back with a more punch-heavy and surmisable in the 3rd for the draw.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: Xcel – “You wanna try angles, but got the wrong hypotenuse!”
Recap: ‘Mr. Everything’ John John da Don and gun line aficionado Rum Nitty go at for 3 rounds on the URL/Smack stage and it’s a goodie with JJDD going after Rum with resident name flips, but also some angles/allegations you don’t often see against the Arizona spitter: being one-dimensional with his raps, biting (“You took Roc’s whole style and took pride in the shit, your writing legit but nah, it’s not as exciting as his, Gun Bar King, Gun Line King, yeah you biting his shit…the Stone Cold Stunner, RKO, it’s the same move, minus the kick!”) other battlers and dishing questionable bars during past battles. Those factors along with some witty (“But I’m supposed to believe that you let your gun blam, when you wore those supposed-to-be-Jordan’s…that let us know you wasn’t real from the jump man!”) punchlines and gritty schemes/personals make JJDD more than competitive here. But Nitty being Nitty, while never lacking for sizzling (“This shit wicked, like government assistance, Nitty tripping, dump the body, put 4 eyes in the river…Mississippi!”) punchlines in any bout, did more than enough to stay in this one (even with a rare slip-up in the 1st round that caused him to end the round early and get edged by JJDD), thus bringing enough heat with his pen to make for a debatable 2nd, before taking the final round with enough haymakers to beat back a very solid turn from his opponent.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: Rum Nitty – “This was one of your go too guys on the URL, off the belt I’ll pop a Smack shooter like Sugar Hill!”
Recap: Did all the smiles give it away? Yunno, that while impressed with opponent In$ight’s stifling punchlines and piercing gun bars throughout his turn, that Jakkboy Maine was totally unprepared for this battle? Yeah, looking back at one of the quickest chokes on record…probably so.
Verdict: In$ight (W) 1-0
Favorite line: In$ight – “They say every body got an addiction, right? Well my vice, grip!”
Recap: Nice and punch-lit, but inconsistent effort from Yasmin gets beat by a more versatile and punch-heavier 3 rounds from Coffee Brown in this competitive battle from Beastmode. A confident Brown, more condensed throughout while delivering consistently righteous mayhem, pointed personals, fiery schemes and even a couple of spicy rebuttals, would also add a dope performance to edge each round and gain a well-earned 30.
Verdict: Coffee Brown (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Coffee Brown – “When I come [bwoh!] it’ll altar you, that’s religion, and you all can get it at the same time…that’s tradition!”
Recap: ‘I’m not your friend!’, Apparently so, as Sonny uses some stinging personals, fiery gun bars and spitfire punchlines to beat a somewhat subdued and mostly average (for him anyway) Reepah Rell, thus pulling off a mild upset in this one-rounder from We Go Hard.
Verdict: Sonny (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Sonny – “I walk around with a .30 tho, been killing nigga’s with the same gun for years, so the burner gotta build up like a dirty stove!”
Recap: It’s nothing but consistent mayhem, violence, heavy wordplay, trap talk and that gritty street shit from a prophetic GE, indeed enough savagery to beat back a solid and more versatile, but not quite as potent or rich on haymakers Marvwon, in this one round battle from Ruin Your Day.
Verdict: GE (W) 1-0
Favorite line: GE – “Little nigga, with a fire arm, I’m Mega Man!”
Recap: Putting it all together with a gang of any hard-hitting/zany punchlines, barrels full of wit, stifling personals/gun bars, a bunch of fly name flips and of course, a crazy ‘Gun so big…’ line, Bill Collector manages to dial up enough haymakers to edge a pretty solid, entertaining and versatile effort from Buttah From Da Block in this 1-rounder from the Gates.
Verdict: Bill Collector (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Bill Collector – “I’ll rob you with a cap gun then beat you with a real one!”
Recap: Flexing throughout with lofty braggadocio bars, stinging wordplay, potent personals and salacious punchlines/gun bars, First Ladi Flamez turns this 1-rounder versus a solid and gritty, but too oft-pedestrian Niesey Brown, into an easy vic.
Verdict: First Ladi Flamez (W) 1-0
Favorite line: First Ladi Flamez – “Snap if you choose to, you gonna get a different clip, bunch of bad selfies, that means I dump ’em all then switch the grip!”
Recap: In what would turn out to be a cameo appearance back on Smack.URL, Bigg K gets T Top in a wild one that saw a forever (“I ride on ya, hell raiser, Clive Barker, you fighting Luke Skywalker with a flyswatter!”) snapping and oft-witty K use a more condensed turn to take round 1 from an almost as potent, a but little too prone to filler and elongated Top. Things would begin to turn around in round 2 tho as K would almost drop the comedy routine altogether for rapid punchlines that while loaded with utter mayhem, didn’t stand out too much when it cane to haymakers, thus leaving a more versatile, trap-talking and (“This getting old, y’all don’t remember the shit I did to Sno?, I been whupping crackers in the ring, I’m Riddick Bowe!”) personal-heavy Top with enough grit, grind and consistency to take the round. A pretty solid 3rd from both battlers sees K get sarcastic and busy with some fire set-ups/schemes/personals, before Top uses his turn to parlay his own round of spicy racial jargon, pointed/witty personals and enough loud, aggressive and potent punchlines to take the deciding round and earn the win.
Verdict: T Top (W) 2-1
Favorite line: T Top – “I’m Donald Trump sitting in office…a head cracker!”
Recap: Been hearing some chatter around Ish Mulah retiring soon. But if he changed his mind after this dope one-rounder, could you blame him? Using a plethora of nasty personals and some spitfire braggadocio bars, the ever aggressive We Go Hard vet puts a hurting on and easily beats back an elongated and mostly pedestrian Brooklyn Carter.
Verdict: Ish Mulah (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Ish Mulah – “We ain’t the same lame, Oh, this is where the game change?, I’ll switch cartridges, shit look like I changed games, ain’t nothing else to do after you beat the main stage!”
Recap: For a couple of battle rappers noted for having bullish pen’s, when it comes to a ‘War of Words’ matchup, JC and (“They say you may weathered [Mayweather] these punches, yeah, if Ricky hadn’t walked into it!”) Anubis make for a fitting matchup. That said, JC gets the edge here using sanguine (“These shots, drop tops, I call them Kennedy slugs, but everything from this point forward, gonna be in memory of!”) gun bars, a few audacious personals and some spicy set-ups to edge the first couple of rounds and earn the win.
Verdict: JC (W) 2-1
Favorite line: JC – “That’s the problem with living in the moment…nigger’s never even considered dying in it!”
Recap: No face-paint? No problem as Reepah Rell uses an assortment of fire ‘old head’ bars and stinging punchlines/set-ups to beat a too routine Riddles in this one-rounder from Gates of the Garden.
Verdict: Reepah Rell (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Reepah Rell – “You calling me a clown?, nigga’s always think it’s a circus until they see the sideshow [side show]!”
Recap: Even the repeated shots at his opponent’s girl never gets old as a highly on-point Danny Myers uses a host of fiery punchlines, astute name flips, raucous gun bars and boastful/visceral darts to take this 3-round battle from Iron Mouth Battles over a solid overall, but too hit-n-miss (esp. with the wordplay as opposed to his punches) Jose Cuervo.
Verdict: Danny Myers (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Danny Myers – “In the back of my mind, I always wanted to fuck with pussy…like a 3rd cousin!”
Recap: For all of Drugz’s loud talk and aggression here, substance-wise it was more like he just showed up with righteous throwaway one would use for an OT round if they had to. In other words we’ve seen better from the DMV rapper and even if S. Dot wasn’t always consistently nice, the Boston spitter certainly came with enough heat and spitfire punchlines to beat his more pedestrian opponent.
Verdict: S. Dot (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Drugz – “I got a son now, I gotta chill, ‘cuz my life like Monopoly, every time I end up on the wrong corner, I end up in jail!”
Recap: While Money Bagz does the wise thing by mostly staying away from the usual assortment of Christian rebukes we see against Loso, in this 3-rounder from KOTD, Bagz punchlines and wit fail to make any hay when faced with Loso’s salacious name flips, stifling personals and salient wordplay/set-ups.
Verdict: Loso (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Loso – “I brought the ratchet in church…that’s Medea!”
Recap: Houston Bar Code 1-round matchup between Chef Trez and Sire sees a Trez who’s not-quite-on-his-A-game still use some stifling gun bars, fierce punchlines and 3 head-ringing rebuttals to beat back an overall alright, but sometimes lackluster and definitely elongated turn from Sire.
Verdict: Chef Trez (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Chef Trez -“I got a .9 and a .45, I’ll switch the tool, it’s vicious nigger, it is duck-duck-goose, a head tap can lift a nigger!”
Recap: Fire 1-round battle between Geechi Gotti and Cali Smoov sees the ever-energetic Smoov switch it up a bit on the braggadocio side with more wit, storytelling bars and some ill (“No jive, after jail I had to talk white like the new Gucci!”) punches/personals that landed hard. However, one too many dry spots by Cali along with Gotti, using an increased dosage of hitting schemes, dope wordplay, flexing personals and wicked (“Boy you a bitch…I’ll beat your granny ass!”) punchlines combine to give Geechi the win in a battle that probably would’ve showed more talent-wise if it went 3 rounds.
Verdict: Geechi Gotti (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Geechi Gotti -“He said he gonna be the same nigga till he dead, you ain’t lie fool, ‘cuz after the shot I seen his soul slide out his body…he even died smooth [Smoov]!”
Recap: Punching (“I know I’m a long way from home, but I’m far from pussy like a long-distance relationship!”) extra hard from the jump, Drugz’s first non-PG, URL battle goes pretty well and leaves a mark. But a slightly more consistent Stuey Newton, witty at times and dropping (“And next is the easy victim, I’ll swing Rome DMV by the arms and beat you with him!”) haymakers all over the place with reckless abandon, takes this dope 1-rounder that set off an Initiation card.
Verdict: Stuey Newton (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Stuey Newton – “I will scrape and stretch Drugs, I need all the extra’s!”
