No Bias. No Narratives.
Mister Greco Recap: Go-Rilla Warfare battle between Born and King Krash sees the latter stay steady with enough fire name flips, stifling gun bars and some solid punchlines to pull off a mild upset in beating a flow-challenged and inconsistent Born.
Verdict: King Krash (W) 2-1
Favorite line: King Krash – “So please, miss with me with all this mess about how you burst the Tek, the only time I was seeing Born with an extra arm is on a birth defect!”
Recap: An under the radar battle that took a year to get released, K-Shine versus B. Magic contains a gang of nifty punchlines and schemes from Magic, some gritty wordplay and fiery punches/personals from Shine and after keeping it close for two rounds, Magic struggling with his flow in the 3rd round and almost choking before cutting his turn short. Therefore, with Shine clearly up on haymakers in both the 1st and 3rd rounds, it’s NWX for the win here.
Verdict: K Shine (W) 2-1
Favorite line: K Shine – “Here’s for my next trick, give his whole circle the L…that’s Alexis!'”
Recap: A plethora of clever punchlines, sizzling wordplay, steely mayhem and piercing name flips highlight this dope and highly competitive We Go Hard 3-rounder between Uneek Fatal and Jade, that the slightly more resilient Fatal (props to that fake choke in round 2) wins in lieu of edging the latter two rounds after getting edged in the 1st.
Verdict: Uneek Fatal (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Uneek Fatal – “Just ‘cuz we both got big titties and no ass don’t make this a mirror match!”
Recap: A gang of gritty punchlines, festering personals, rich set-ups, righteous (Swaggtanna: “And I shoulda charged y’all a check, you see I adverstise spraying the nose, I even showed y’all what to do when they say ‘NXT’!”) mayhem and Colosseum Battle League cred are the main themes of this fiery and competitive battle between West-coast battler NXT and Brooklyn emcee Swagtanna. Close throughout with plenty of salutes from the crowd when they heard a hot bar, a slightly more haymaker-lit Swagtanna takes the 1st round before the more consistently spicy NXT edges the 2nd. Round 3 was another stickler, yet for all of NXT’s loud and piercing punches, the more low-key and storytelling, but still potent Swagtanna was able to meet his opponent’s quotient for dope, quality punches to make this one debatable.
Verdict: Debatable
Favorite line: NXT – “C&C all bloody, I’m Airbnb, you know where I stay!”
Recap: Battling pretty frequently of late (I’m guessing he’s been inspired by his prolific tag-team partner Dre Dennis), Prep uses some dogmatic name flips, sturdy punchline/wordplay and some nice rebuttals from earlier matches to edge a pretty hard-hitting overall, but too par-the-course having Da Prafessa.
Verdict: Prep (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Prep – “Someone horizontal, lay him vertically, plan it [planet] next to son [Sun] like Mercury!”
Recap: Chef Trez uses salacious gun bars, potent name flips and wicked punchlines to make quick work of a solid, but slip-up prone (and eventually choking) T Dubb O in this 1-rounder from Street Status.
Verdict: Chef Trez (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Chef Trez – “I took real losses, you get it shorty?, I went from ash to a beer belly, I done lost a pack and still had connections with the .40!”
Recap: These two met before, in a Smack/URL matchup a few years ago that Trex won pretty handily. This time around? It’s Chef again, tho a little closer than last time as Dre Dennis scored well with some elite gun bars. But as Trex has shown time and time again, not only can he do dope gun lines, but he can mix it up too with fiery punchlines, fire performance bars and when it comes to personals, some timely wit. That versatility and a more condensed turn, allows Chef to go up 2-0 in this rivalry.
Verdict: Chef Trez (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Chef Trez – “Let him act hood, he’ll get tossed behind the venue, but it’s supposed to be Loud in the back wood!”
Recap: If Drugz had written a 3rd round (tho he did offer a short, but solid freestyle-enriched turn to make it through without just giving it away) this one might’ve ended on a different note. As after getting out-punched in the 1st, the DMV/Goonies rapper came back with a more consistent. condensed/punch-heavy and fire round 2 to tie things up. But the ever steady YK, while going overkill on the name flips throughout the battle, still came heavy in the final round with some fiery personals, stinging punchlines/schemes and salacious gun bars to easily beat back any chance his opponent had of taking the round, much less getting the win.
Verdict: Young Kannon (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Young Kannon – “Drugz been on my nuts, I’m trying to smuggle shit!”
Recap: Funny where you’ll see a Smack rapper turn up sometimes as West-coast denizen Yung Griz makes his debut on the East-coast Colosseum Battle League stage. Regardless of geometry tho, Griz still proves to be Griz, steadily superb for 3 rounds with the (“I’ll put these dogs on Flee [flea], now it’s opposite Day!”) punchlines, name flips and wordplay to score a 30 on a mostly (“Special Ed kid, I ain’t ever been Big on words, before I even hollered at a bitch, I was already used to the curve!”) solid, but oft-reaching (before choking at the end of his 3rd) Sin Flee.
Verdict: Yung Griz (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Yung Griz – “Hell, this a sending of Biblical proportions, Yung [young] leaving Earth early like clinical abortions!”
Recap: Still going after mother’s, daughter’s and anyone else close to you with utter disrespect all these years later while spouting scathing, self-assured raps/real street narratives with a menacing aura that makes his lines even more authentic, after getting edged by a punchline-heavier Head Ice in round 1, former Fight Klub champ Gorilla Nems delivers enough spiteful shiners in the latter two rounds to beat back an opponent that while dialed back on dishing mayhem and retribution, crumbled instead to a boatload of pedestrian bars and nonsensical stunting.
Verdict: Gorilla Nems (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Gorilla Nems – “Nigga, I’ll go to the graveyard and kick over your mother’s tombstone like ‘Bitch, fuck your after life!'”
Recap: In this 1-rounder from the 4th Annual Young Bizill BarFest, Danny Myers faces off against KH and uses a boatload of spirited name flips, eccentric punchlines, boastful shiners and some witty personals to beat a solid, but straightforward/preachy and much less intricate effort from his opponent.
Verdict: Danny Myers (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Danny Myers – “Your bar game weak as hell, it was never heavy, all that light work fuck with my brain like epilepsy!”
Recap: Witty, rigid with the name flips and solid with the punchlines/wordplay, O’fficial survives a dope, mayhem-dishing round 1 from Shooney Da Rapper, gets help from her opponent choking away the 2nd round and with a more condensed and consistent 3rd, edges this 3-rounder from Superior Entertainment Arena (S.E.A.).
Verdict: O’fficial (W) 2-1
Favorite line: O’fficial – “I already know Shoo deal, shit she works at Nike, so I’m supposed to believe she keep the knife tucked in her rhymes?, when this bitch don’t even let nigga’s cut in the line?!?”
Recap: In this 1-rounder from We Are Upsate Battle League, a clearly unprepared Bill Collector freestyles and recycles bar after bar during his round, in turn handing out a pretty easy win for an aggressive and fiery-punching Outlaw.
Verdict: Outlaw (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Outlaw – “You a mark, I’ll draw on Bill like I’m trying to see if the bread fake!”
Recap: In what was a spitfire We Go Hard battle, a slightly more versatile, punch/wordplay-heavy and confidently rebuttal spitting Bedaffi Green does just enough to earn a tie with Franchise. And trust that Green needed to unload the whole kitchen sink what with two epic name flip stinging, scintillating (“Pistol whip Bedaffi, have Green leaking down your screen, that’s the goosebumps!”) gun bar shining and haymaker-drenched rounds from his performance-heavy, Canadian opponent who seemingly had this one in the bag going into the bottom of the 3rd after the two battlers split the first two rounds. But Bedaffi wasn’t having any of it, getting his Chef Trez on with ‘3 of them things’ to start off his turn, before delivering just enough fierce punches along with some aggressive and potent heaters to make this one a draw.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: Bedaffi Green – “If he panic, Steve Francis, the Heat play Franchise gonna look fucked up!”
Recap: For two minutes anyway, Nu Jerzey Twork does his thing, using some bombastic name flips and hometown bars to make you feel he came prepared to win…well, that was for two minutes anyway, until Towrk suddenly cut his round short. Because that’s what you do in a 1-rounder when you’re not prepared and can’t remember your bars. Thankfully, for the crowd and us battle rap feens anyway, Goddie Lumenati did come prepared. And while not kicking the dopest shit you’ve ever heard in your life, still scored consistently with fierce gun bars, stinging wordplay/metaphors and enough electric punchlines to take this one.
Verdict: Goddie Lumenati (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Goddie Lumenati – “Even when he hot, it’s hole’s in his rounds…Krispy Kreme!”
Verdict: Dougy (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Dougy – “Get in my shooter stance, y’all can tell that my aim right, this AR gonna put him the E.R., like I’m spelling his name right!”
Recap: Against a solid and personals-driven (face it, Danny will probably never hear the end of giving $25K to Rex) Bobby Lee, an aggressive Danny Myers dishes a resounding fleet of piercing punchlines, boastful shiners, rigorous 4-bar set-ups/storytelling bars, some stifling personals of his own and fierce struggle bars/name flips to get the win in this 1-round battle from Bizill Bar Fest.
Verdict: Danny Myers (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Danny Myers – “I’ll spot ya, I’ll run up on him and the K will spray, the other strap got an extension like he can’t pay today!”
Recap: First, the piano shit was hilarious. Second, tho he lost some points for too much filler in an elongated round, overall Vic Wallace was pretty solid. 3rd, a more condensed with the punches, gun-riffing and freestyle-astute Prep, got this.
Verdict: Prep (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Prep – “I target threats, fuck the iron, cutting option, split him, like I want his opinion, I had to run it by him!”
Recap: KOTD 3-rounder offers up a plethora of intellectual wordplay, boastful barbs, fierce schemes, piercing punchlines and witty personals from both Real Deal and Sketch Menace. A close one between two emcees that were pretty rigid with their lines, assisted a bit by Real Deal spouting some indirect bars on other subject matters, an also more haymaker-friendly Menace edges rounds 1 and 3 for the win.
Verdict: Sketch Menace (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Sketch Menace – “Hassling people like ’10 dollars is all it costs for this CD from me bro’, aka it’s gonna cost you 10 dollars for him to leave you alone!”
Recap: Fun battle between an expansive (“Beat you like your mom when you forgot to let the chicken frost!”) Bill Collector and the always crafty (“Tongue’s hanging out, we”ll have Jordan jumping at these foul lines!”) Q.P., stays close and competitive through the final round, which a more consistent hitting Q.P., what with able freestyles and steady punches edges for the win.
Verdict: Q.P. (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Q.P. – “Talking trash to the pigs, I’m actually GLAD you squealed!”
Recap: A classic, consistently punch-heavy, personal/name flip (nice enough to turn around Cor’s ‘Nasty!’ jargon on him) spazzing and aggressive 1st round from O-Red sets the tone. And even while getting edged by the rebuttal-spouting, mayhem-friendly and equal (“So either check in or get checked out, I’ll hit him with X amount, he’ll be X’d out, Malcolm X style, meaning he gon’ burn then die [dye] when I let it fry on Red scalp!”) haymaker-dishing Cortez in the 2nd, in this fire matchup between two battle vets, O-Red proves in the end to have enough (“Now I’m confused, are y’all tellin’ me, you went from Total Slaughter couch to Charlie couch? well goddamn Mr. Top Tier Money, you need some bread bro? Sub Zero after the finisher, hold ya head up [BAOW!] now it’s like I got evicted when the lead bust!”) heat and more consistent punches to edge to pretty solid turn from his opponent and take the deciding round.
Verdict: O-Red (W) 2-1
Favorite line: O-Red – “Smack, what you be on, this a lose-lose tell this faggot move along, a lose-lose for you I mean, you see, I could snap and do you wrong or choke every round and send you back where you belong!”
Recap: Rare 1-round PG sees Mike G come with some hardbody punchlines that were mixed in with a little wit, altogether making for a solid performance. But a few too many pedestrian bars from Mike along with an action-packed, trap-centric and wordplay/punch-heavy turn from GE just proves to be too much in the end.
Verdict: GE (W) 1-0
Favorite line: GE – “‘Cuz he talk about touching grams and letting ratchet’s ride, y’all like that?, not me, I ain’t see Mike black since Jackson 5!”
Recap: With a well-fought win, Big Kannon’s return the the URL goes about as well as expected. But other than a clear second round takedown, BK’s too often pedestrian opponent, Holmzie Da God still put up a fight what with a load of stinging gun bars, real street talk and some righteous punchlines. Still, even if he wasn’t quite as nice with the rebuttals as we’re used to seeing and might have a spit one too many name flips, BK’s versatility and penchant for fiery wordplay, fierce/witty personals and turned-up schemes/punches gives him the first two rounds, before a debatable 3rd avoids the 3-0.
Verdict: Big Kannon (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Big Kannon – “Before Smack, nigger you knew you or paid attention to you still, that’s why you on every card and begging hard, just to get up on the bill, but I see why you slaving Holmes, ‘cuz to the masses you one of the lightest niggers in the field!”
Recap: Speaking a wide load of ‘Jakkanese’ which seems to include stirring cartoon references, fanatical song bars, local hometown heat, explicit gun bars, dazzling sound effects that’d make Big T smile, yodeling and stinging (“I’m armed and reckless or put my dick in your bitch and make ya mother nut, giving her everything like blossom, bubble and buttercup!”) performance bars/schemes, Jakkboy Maine manages to outshine a witty, (“I was sneaking up on nigga’s before I heard of Chilla [Dome shot!], put Maine head on another body…Terrence Howard meme!”) punch-heavy, crowd friendly, freestyle loading and often wordplay spazzing, but also a bit filler-prone Jerry Wess in the 1st and 3rd rounds to take this entertaining and competitive ‘Survivor Series’ battle from Smack/URL.
Verdict: Jakkboy Maine (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Jakkboy Maine – “I’m equip the beam, yunno shit get hot from the red light like Krispy Kreme!”
Recap: Dope 1-rounder here from ABR sees So Severe get busy with a loud and aggressive mix of persistent mayhem and bruising punchlines. Still, for all of his opponent’s heat, it’s a more versatile, witty, consistently punch-heavy and wordplay-lit G Lowe who edges this one for the win.
Verdict: G Lowe (W) 1-0
Favorite line: G Lowe – “You light-skin, you probably apologize for getting cheated on!”
Recap: Chilla Jones has been in the game too long to not know that elongated rounds can work against him. But somehow the ‘Kingpen’ still falls victim to either wanting to show off his pen way too much (which against a stellar lyricist like Iron Solomon is understandable) or he just doesn’t have the wherewithal to make his rounds more succinct and get rid of unnecessary filler. To be fair, in what was a punch-heavy-on-both-sides lyrical manifesto that stayed close throughout, Chilla’s versatility game stayed on high alert here, as the Boston rapper flexed repeatedly with fire punchlines, grandiose schemes, dope (“Summer the only time you was facing a Murda, when Mook was done with you, all they found was your glasses and a Skittles bag!”) personals/name flips and solid gun lines. But one too many nimble reaches with the bars, sermonizing (leave the impression’s alone, even if it’s in good taste, it’s just not you); gritty but nonsensical bars towards an opponent who doesn’t pretend too much to be street and a lack of cohesion with the bars was just enough to leave a more compact, braggadocio, theme-centric, set-up/personal heavy and wordplay (“Sometimes you gotta talk to these bitches, I’m mansplaining!”) spazzing Iron Solomon with enough room to take the latter two rounds and earn the win.
Verdict: Iron Solomon (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Iron Solomon – “I’m Q, I’ll write through anyone in this guy’s crew, anybody could fucking get it, I’m AIDS in 9-2!”
Recap: Fire battle between Moon and Rolla sees the latter kick that real (“You keep telling me about your robbing spree, I need to hear a story about you being scarred for that!”) shit, segueing between gritty, urban polemics and talking to his opponent in an old-school manner that only a fellow real G could relate to. However, for all of Rolla’s hysterics, Moon more than met the challenge, using witty personals, fire storytelling bars, his own stamped gunplay and fierce (“Nigga’s thinking there’s something so special about ’em…well, so do their mother’s!”) punchlines to garner rounds 1 along with 2, for the well-earned win.
Verdict: Moon (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Moon – “Nigga, my goons is psycho, your psycho is menstrual!”
Recap: Reputed Gun Bar King Tay Roc would probably take a liking to Fixx, whose penchant for dishing a plethora of crafty firearm-related (“I’m kinda sick with it, you better hope the bullet come out or you gonna live with it!”) shiners makes him one to look out for. But in this sizzling PG battle versus Jey The Nitewing, Fixx’s overall heat gets outdone by a more versatile opponent, who via some acute wit, sterling punchlines/set-ups, shining wordplay and steely (“Closed casket, the irony…they couldn’t fix your face!”) name flips, takes the 1st and 3rd rounds to earn the win even with his hoodie literally breaking down on stage.
Verdict: Jey The Nitewing (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Jey The Nitewing – “That talking, don’t mean shit, I know as soon as I seen Fixx, you put Jey in front of him, he change up, now he a prefix!”
Recap: When he wasn’t literally snapping on Sco with some biting (“Look like you got bed bugs snapping on you, nigga!”) personals, Scotty Good’s more raucous punchlines make for not only an entertaining match, but more importantly a win as even a solid (when not flow-challenged) showing overall by (“I mean look at his name, that shit ain’t off to you?, Scotty, S-C-O-T-T-Y, damn your whole career you’ve been waiting for Sco to talk to you!”) Sco couldn’t keep up with Good’s verbal undressing.
Verdict: Scotty Good (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Scotty Good – “A nigga blam biscuit, think Shoprite commercial…you’ll see what the deal is after the kids kicking!”
Recap: Prep versus Gauge gets the ‘everything but the kitchen sink treatment’ what with frequent rebuttals, freestyles, your resident Drugz-getting-into-an-argument-with-somebody moment, tag-ins, crowd interruptions, some nice bars, etc…and to think, this was only a one-rounder. As for the battle, the edge here goes to Prep, as while Gauge had some heaters here and there, overall Prep flexed more with consistently nice punchlines and some cool name flips.
Verdict: Prep (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Prep – “They tried to give me dirt on you, but this ain’t adding up, why would I need ammo for Gauge, I been working with different calibers!”
Recap: In this one-rounder from Houston Bar Code, even a Ha Double struggling with his delivery at times and clearly on his B-game overall when it comes to spitting spitfire lines is enough to beat back opponent Trey Murch’s monotonous flow and lazy name flips, much less struggle for potent bars.
Verdict: Ha Double (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Ha Double – “Booking me came with a different perp, you got paid to box and ship a body, now ain’t that how you handle merch [Murch]!”
Recap: Let’s go out on a limb and say that Prez Mafia was inspired for this one. Against a very solid and witty (“The Mexican making the Garden look good!”) Don Marino, a hyped up Prez dispenses with straight heat, delivering well-packaged punchlines and righteous (“Stomach shot, nigga you’ll lie on ya belly for not trusting your gut!”) gun bars in between frenzied set-ups that all landed. To think, with Marino making such a dope impression in his last battle on Gates versus Chess, Prez’s spitfire showing here may’ve brought his opponent back to earth.
Verdict: Prez Mafia (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Prez Mafia – “You got a PG in July…first nigga to get a ‘Juan Demarco!'”
Recap: After being on the receiving end of some blistering heat and a gang of fiery 4-bar set-ups from Coffee Brown in the 1st round, a just as gritty, street-blazing and gun line-heavy Mz. Liza makes a nice a comeback in the latter rounds to make this We Go Hard 3-rounder competitive. But overall, the always confident, aggressive and in this case more intricate Coffee, who even added a handful of quality rebuttals to the mix here, just lands one too many haymakers and other sterling moments in the latter two rounds thateven had the East-coast crowd rocking and earn the 3-0.
Verdict: Coffee Brown (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Coffee Brown – “Just ‘cuz I’m intelligent and all business, don’t get it wrong, come to my block, all you see is jump rope sales, arms and pounds on the table…we making prison songs!”
Recap: Way more condensed with less filler in the 1st during a spitfire round that saw both (“From the bottom to the top of Cali…I guess you should’ve took the 5!”) he and his opponent Cali Smoov bring a load of potent heat, Yung Griz survives a turned-up 2nd from (“I’m a fact-checker, we asked some nigga’s about his rap sheet, he started listing his Smack record!”) Cali to comeback with a barrage of witty personals, fierce performance bars and some sick wordplay to take the deciding 3rd and the win in this Smack/URL PG matchup.
Verdict: Yung Griz (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Yung Griz – “You brought nunchucks to your last battle?!?, did you them nunchucks in this bitch?, fuck a nunchuck, boy I’m off the chain with a stick!”
Recap: After being caught out there stealing bars for her recent Ness Lee battle, Bonnie Godiva returns to the stage to battle former KOTD champ PoRich, spouts some earnest freestyles here and there to prove her rap mettle and delivers a gang of righteous/piercing punches to beat an opponent who seemed more bent on addressing Bonnie’s stolen bars/ghostwriting drama than actually winning the battle.
Verdict: Bonnie Godiva (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Bonnie Godiva – “Everybody wanna be black till they see that rope swinging!”
Recap: Deftly transitioning from ‘shooting his shot’ smooth playa linguistics to straight-up utter disrespect and mayhem, in this 1-rounder from We Go Hard, a way more versatile and hitting Mo Mula beats back a bedlam-ringing, but also flow-challenged and too cameo-friendly (tho Shoonie Da Rapper’s appearance was pretty banging) Phara Funeral.
Verdict: Mo Mula (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Mo Mula – “They only offer you carry catchers and Olive Garden dinners, we would’ve did a picnic…then I send you dick pics, hey you getting the larger picture?!”
Recap: “and tell the dda-dda-Don I don’t do rematches!” When you’re on record as having one of (and arguably the only) the few victories over the likes of Hollow da Don, yuu got every reason to not want to ever do a rematch. But 9 years after their infamous Fight Klub battle, here we are, Arsonal vs Hollwo on the URL/Smack stage and for the most part it’s a goodie with both battlers kicking a boatload of lyrical shiners, personal barbs and assorted gun bars/heaters to keep you nicely tuned to the screen. Intense throughout with a cameo appearance from the Yankee fitted and jacket that Hollow wore in their first battle, for all of Arsonal’s comeuppance bar-wise (surprisingly, da Rebel really didn’t get too disrespectful until round 3) overall, in each round Hollow just came one better. The dda-Don using his turns to show off an interchangeable flow, gritty wordplay, witty darts, potent schemes/personals, residual (“I’ll nail both of ya feet to the floor and slap-box you!”) mayhem and a fire rebuttal in the 3rd round to beat his longtime nemesis, who for the most part came with it, was consistently aggressive throughout and dropped some lofty (“When you scream ‘Loyalty over money’, nigga we know you bluffing, Math thought he was a nigga he could lean on, come to find out you just some Robitussin!”) haymakers of his own, but in the long run suffered from too many throwaway bars as well as an opponent for whom this battle probably meant a little more extra to.
Verdict: Hollow da Don (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Hollow da Don – “Didn’t you and your baby mom’s break up?, ain’t irony a bitch, this nigga done rapped about everybody’s kids, now he gotta get permission to see his!”
Recap: Even with the strapped, boisterous and consistent mayhem hurled by Fixx, Geechi Gotti’s more versatile mix of stinging name flips, potent punchlines, brazen braggadocio lines and even a couple of spicy off-the-dome freestyles are more than enough to take this fiery 1-rounder from the Riot Network.
Verdict: Geechi Gotti (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Geechi Gotti – “Now this, turning into a slaughter, it’s not a good look for you, Tuskegee experiment, just because I gave you the shot don’t mean it’s good for you!”,
Recap: Ty Law and Zay Smoove battle in this rare 3-rounder from Gates of the Garden. Competitive throughout, despite being out-punched Law’s opening freestyles forces a draw to round one, while too many dry spots along with a couple of slip-ups, give a more consistent and (“Put the knife all in him, bring it back out, put it back in, shit look like I’m at the credit card machine, but the chip just won’t work!”) aggressive Zay the 2nd. Behind going into the 3rd, Law gets back on his grind with his best round what with rapid punches that steadily hit. And despite another solid turn from Zay, Law’s more heavy-handed turn makes this one even in the end.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: Ty Law – “The fact you got all these battles, not one hot clip, it’s telling like that nigga crying in his mugshot pic!”
Recap: Utilizing frenzied name flips, rigid O.G. themes, fierce punchlines and some random wit, for two rounds Danny Myers goes ham with it enough to beat back a (the ‘Clayton Bigsby line in round 2 was fire!) strong, but not quite as sturdy Saint Mic. A pretty even 3rd round was only separated by Saint Mic struggling with his a flow a bit, thus handing Danny the 30.
Verdict: Danny Myers (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Danny Myers – “I know this bitch ain’t fighting, but I still keep the rubber on the handle so the grip stay tight, face shot at close range, his momma don’t call him by his rap name, but she gonna say ‘This ain’t Mic!'”
Recap: I can’t think of any way you can prepare for a haymaker that’s about your man getting knocked out before the battle…by your opponent. But hey Young Kannon certainly tried, addressing the matter within his first round here when he wasn’t spitting other scintillating (“Louie V put you to sleep recently, what was that fight ’bout?, how the fuck your name is Shine if nigga’s keep putting your lights out!?”) personals and back-breaking mayhem. Still, for all of K-Shine’s hot-headedness, the guy couldn’t have lasted this long in the game if he couldn’t rap and that made for the difference here as YK, for all his comeuppance, aggressive set-ups and sublime raps, overall just got out-barred. Indeed, after a dope 1st from YK, K-Shine, using some hitting performance (“Stomach shot, he get that gut [rubs his belly] feeling like something’s wrong!”) bars, nice crowd control and some ill (“You might as well call me Earl, this man a G.O.A.T. [Manigault]!”) wordplay, ends up edging the round. And another personal-tinged, punch-heavy and overall solid turn by YK in round 2 gets beat by a more eccentric, (“Hey, we ain’t the same, I’m nothing like you nigga’s, I’m a double shot of 1800, that’s twice the killer!”) punchline-spazzing and witty Shine. And while YK fell a little victim (again) to some redundant themes/personals used against Shine in the past, his 3rd was still pretty nice what with some flexing punches, fire (“I’ll put the K to K, k?, that’s white supremacy!”) gun bars and jaunty wordplay to salvage a round and match another comical, but potent, (“play it safe, or I’m tagging the Guerilla [gorilla] like Bathing Ape!”) punch-heavy, braggadocio and gritty turn from Shine
Verdict: K-Shine (W) 2-1
Favorite line: K-Since – “I’m good, when I got these hands out, shit 10 minutes ago I just knocked your man out!”
Recap: This one-rounder from Gates in the Garden sees a strong, punch-heavy performance from Monstar. However, a little too much filler versus a more condensed and gritty, if not a little esoteric showing from Xcel, ends up putting the Team Homi member over.
Verdict: Xcel (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Xcel – “What more is there left to say, I’m the God, I should be at rest today!”
Recap: Using a lit combo of fire schemes, heated punchlines, fiery sound effects and nicely researched personals, an animated and ‘generous’ Young Kannon makes quick work of a solid-to-start, but quickly diminished Poetik Genius in this 1-rounder from Body Bag Battles.
Verdict: Young Kannon (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Young Kannon – “Stomach shot…leave his belly hanging out like a QueenzFlip battle!”
Recap: Sticking to a gameplan of staying condensed with his bars as well as displaying fiery (“This shit trips me out, how can you hate on a fellow black man!”) wit throughout the battle, Glueazy survives Chess’ more potent (“He gonna talk about me choking nigga…till [puts hands up like a choke] I’m choking nigga’s!”) heat in the 1st, before edging round two with a more undiluted turn that featured a load of wicked (“Bitch, my heat will spark, I egt to dumping with the Smif’n, and make the Cakes fall like I’m jumping in the kitchen!”) punches and taking the deciding 3rd thanks in part to too many slip-ups from his otherwise pretty (“The plan was to duck-tape Glu [glue] and I’m a stick to it!”) solid opponent.
Verdict: Glueazy (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Glueazy – “Danny told y’all I had a black son, well won’t be the first time I raised something that wasn’t mine!”
Recap: A debatable 3rd round, but if Da Spot thought his nifty punchlines packed enough heat to spin haymaker after haymaker and get him the edge in a couple of consecutive, shortened rounds, he was wrong. As the Fonz’s more raucous punches, West-coast disses, daunting wordplay, mocking name flips and piercing guns bars did more than enough damage to take the aforementioned early rounds and get the win.
Verdict: Fonz (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Fonz – “Instead I’m matched up with Da Spot and I’m killing this bitch, all it takes is one shot and I ain’t missing the hit, it’s like watching Pornhub, after the [raises arm like gun] bust I don’t finish the clip!”
Recap: In this 3-rounder from Black Ice Cartel, Showstoppa uses some fiery gun bars and some nice (“Just give it up, Amber Alert, we got the message when you took a 16!”) set-ups to stay within close range of Prez Mafia. However, a struggle with his flow, a little too many pedestrian bars and Mafia’s more consistently gritty and relentless (“Nigga’s saying Prez gonna bleed?!, yo for the bread shit get lifted, like I said ‘No cheese!'”) punches, gives Prez the first two rounds along with the win.
Verdict: Prez Mafia (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Prez Mafia – “Green light for the dome shot…that’s go ahead!”
Recap: No doubt, an emphasis on flow and cadence during this rare battle over the beats between Big Hann and Haze Tha Gift, which sees both battlers spit some gritty rhymes at a more rapid pace (esp. on Hann’s part) than usual. Still, it’s Philly’s Hann who takes it in the end with a much more steadier flow along with slinging more noteworthy darts.
Verdict: Big Hann (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Big Hann – “He don’t wanna see Hann with a black Wesson, hit his leg, now he Big Daddy Kane…half-stepping!”
Recap: Mixing in a fiery performance with his string of stinging braggadocio quips, potent struggle bars and transparent gun lines, a pent-up J. Murda beats back the mostly standard punches of C Low.
Verdict: J Murda (W) 1-0
Favorite line: J Murda – “Fuck what you heard, ‘cuz y’all souped him and now that’s what the guy sip!”
Recap: Haze Tha Gift and Truth Watson trade some fire punchlines, fiery personals and gritty gun bars during this one-rounder from RBE. However, while Truth was a little more versatile with his, a slightly more condensed, direct, cleaner and wordplay-heavy Haze edges the win.
Verdict: Haze Tha Gift (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Haze Tha Gift – “I’ll let this True bitch talk to the arm, like a smart watch!”
Recap: The Joey Jihad haymakers stamp it, but even before that K. Walker’s usage of gritty hometown anecdotes, witty punchlines and flexing personals/name flips was working aggressively to beat back a solid, but too many dry-spots-having turn by Bill Collector in this 1-round battle from The Battle Academy.
Verdict: K. Walker (W) 1-0
Favorite line: K. Walker – “I’ll step in the scene, let it swing, chopper style, It’s in my jeans to let it ring…pocket dial!”
Recap: A well-prepared Nu Jerzey Twork is a lethal one. As shown again here, against some fire/aggressive (and [“I’ll fuck the blood out your bitch!”] questionable) punchlines from opponent Killahsiz, Twork’s more condensed roundhouses, utter mayhem, seismic wordplay and demonic (“Demons in my head they just rejoicing, Monsters Inc., they filled it up with little voices!”) lines are just enough to edge this spitfire 1-round battle.
Verdict: Nu Jerzey Twork (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Nu Jerzey Twork – “I’m in ya household [bwoh!], I let it off in your coofie, I just copped some stupid shit…Officer Doofy!”
Recap: Getting out-witted by a boatload of piercing/witty personals by Stevie P in round 3, still doesn’t stop a free-styling, intellectually-savvy, punch/scheme-heavy and performance stunting Real Deal from taking both of the opening rounds for the win in this competitive 3-rounder from Smoked Out Battles.
Verdict: Real Deal (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Real Deal – “Tonight is the biggest battle of your life, for me?, it’s just another Tuesday in November!”
Recap: It’s funny how often performance-leaning battle rappers get conflated with not having quality bars. As is the case for this PG matchup here with so many in the comments section concluding that Gunpowder Patt lost this battle to Skates because the latter had bars and Patt? Well, he’s nothing but a comedian. Like darts such as “Nigga’s wanna live like the movie till they lose a child…everybody wanna be Ace until the deuce is wild!” and “Bring me two extra quarters, I’ll bring you back double…overtime!” weren’t high-grade caliber. Of course, anyone who’s witnessed Skates perform before this battle, knows that he comes well-equipped with (“This is Chinese alchemy, ‘cuz discovering Gunpowder was an accident!”) gritty, sublime, hardbody bars and schemes for days. And a fiery, (“Gunpowder fuck around he gonna be on the dirt shaking, EMT saying ‘GP are you with me’ like Kirk Franklin!”) consistently on-point 2nd round here, proved that. But thanks, yes in part to a better overall performance, a more versatile palette, lofty/relatable bars that hit and Skates penchant for pedestrian bars to segue between angles, the consensus here is Gunpowder Patt taking rounds 1 and 3 for the win.
Verdict: Gunpowder Patt (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Gunpowder Patt – “I don’t like Uber Pool ‘cuz I might get in a car with a nigga that I got beef with!”
Recap: Helped by a handful of stumbles by Swave Sevah, but also scoring with a bunch of piercing punchlines, some fierce wordplay and delicious/consistent flow on the infamous “The Bridge Is Over” beat in the deciding 3rd round, Buttah From Da Block does enough to edge the latter two rounds and take this entertaining Verbal War Zone battle.
Verdict: Buttah From Da Block (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Buttah From Da Block – “Pistol in ya mouth, Akinyele how I pop the trunk!”
Recap: Bringing back classic scenes from Do The Right Thing! Shotgun Suge’s love for movies doesn’t get appreciated enough. And neither does his lyrical acumen, as Suge mightily proves when he’s on his A-game, including here against a pretty solid overall, set-up nice, thought-proving, aggressive and wordplay-heavy Mike P. A competitive battle throughout, for the first two rounds it’s Suge who manages to beat back a couple of hefty turns from his opponent, using a bastion of rapidly stinging punchlines/name flips, fierce gun bars/personals and fervent movie references for the win before a compelling, real life spectacle from Mike coupled with another bodacious turn from Suge makes for a tie in the 3rd.
Verdict: Shotgun Suge (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Shotgun Suge – “Offset and Cardi, he get the heavy ring, I let it sing, you know you can’t eat with this Ginny, he put Parmesan cheese on everything!”
Recap: When faced against the rapid name flips and wicked punchlines from Chilla Jones, the mostly passive punches from British rapper Mr Re are not only basic, but cost him the first couple of rounds as well as a win. Still, it’s not all bad as despite being vulnerable to a sweep, Re manages to turn it up with a punch-heavy, fire 3rd and avoid getting 30’d.
Verdict: Chilla Jones (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Chilla Jones – “I ain’t scared of dude, shit, I’ll even let him reach for his heater first, ‘cuz if he shoot, then I’m a give him bucks back, point it Reimbursed!”
Recap: Delivering a talking too towards her opponent via a handful of fire schemes, but also mixing in some nifty punchlines and well-dressed personals along the way, Nina Cruzae takes the 1st and 3rd rounds from a competitive throughout and punch/name flip-spazzing at times, but one-too-many dry spots having Viixen The Assassin to edge this 3-rounder from S.E.A.
Verdict: Nina Cruzae (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Nina Cruzae – “How you gonna out real life bar a bitch who mother birthed her in prison?!”
Recap: As surprising as it is to see GE still in the PG’s all these years later, at least his rhyme patterns and skill set haven’t faltered any. Here against the up-n-comer (“This ain’t about who’s older or who’s younger, this a has-been vs. pure hunger, kill them all, count up the bodies, R. Kelly, Aaliyah, A-G-E [Hey, GE] ain’t nuthin’ but a number!”) Quban, the Wisconsin vet does just enough to pull out a tough one, coming back after a round 1 loss to edge the latter two rounds with a rapid set of fire punchlines, fiery set-ups, some flinching personals and loud (“Nigga, don’t play with me, you ain’t gotta wait and see, these chopper’s come out first…like baby teeth!”) gun bars. Indeed, while the battle stayed close and competitive throughout, a few too many pedestrian bars by Quban and a more consistent and wordplay-heavy GE in the deciding 3rd also settled matters.
Verdict: GE (W) 2-1
Favorite line: GE – “Fuck all that, I came to get my shit back, and I don’t black, I O.J.!”
Recap: A solid performance by up-n-comer Bobby Lee, filled with plenty of fierce (“You wear clothes that are one cheeseburger away from you fitting them!”) wit and nice punches, is still edged by a better Nu Jerzey Twork, who shows up here with fiercer gun bars and some exquisite (“Watch your raps, or your mama clapped, the .9 extend, don’t let the reason she get clipsed [clips] to the back of her head, be Bobby pen [bobbypin]!”) wordplay to take this one-rounder brought to you from Body Bag Battles.
Verdict: Nu Jerzey Twork (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Nu Jerzey Twork – “I’ll push your grandmama down the stairs and holler ‘Life Alert’!”
