Recap: Dishing enough mayhem, piercing name flips and heated punchlines/scemes to leave his mark, but also helped by an opponent who while solid and off-the-dome prolific for two rounds, wasn’t able to do much (not including tag-ins from both Prez Mafia and Q.P.) in the deciding 3rd, Bankhead edges this fiery battle from Black Ice Cartel.
Verdict: Bankhead (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Bankhead – “I watched you verse DNA…6 times, this bitch died, that shit made up wanna post in front of ya crib like a ‘For Rent’ sign!”
Recap: Despite a solid showing from his (“I’m a wind up, waving, the sparks flying..blickity-bloppity-boo!”) flying, unorthodox opponent Rich E. Rich, Double Bar Bill (aka Bill Collector) uses random off-the-dome spiel’s, witty (“How ya name Rich E. Rich and you brokie broke!?”) one-liners and flexing performance bars to take this one-rounder from Gates of the Garden.
Verdict: Bill Collector (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Bill Collector – “When we first walk in here, they gonna clown, till the mask start dropping like the plane going down!”
Recap: In this 3-rounder from Skytier Northwest, after a close 1st round, a confident, witty with the personals and scheme/punchline-heavy Danja Zone ends up with an easy bag upon Jey The Nitewing’s more pedestrian bars and slip-ups in the latter two rounds.
Verdict: Danja Zone (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Danja Zone – “Everything in your verse was dumb, wack, lot of dead waste. please tell me that that’s not your best Jey, ‘cuz if so, everything in your head was trash…Black China sex tape!”
Recap: A raucous even in a small room, steady with the heat and sharp with the punches Shotgun Suge does just enough to get by the solid set-ups and rich performance bars from LT, who if not for one too many dry spots, might’ve pulled off an upset.
Verdict: Shotgun Suge (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Shotgun Suge – “This broom choppa, a room rocka, first Smack gonna get ugly like Unkasa!”
Recap: Some crisp God/religious-angles and aggressive/solid wordplay here and there provides Ron Compton with enough juice to take round 2 here against Danny Myers. But a pretty medieval and more importantly condensed Myers, bent on boastful shiners, raucous punchlines and pent-up mayhem, was able to dish enough seismic heat to take the opening and final rounds for the win.
Verdict: Danny Myers (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Danny Myers – “Do you believe in a Parallel universe? I do, it’s insane patna, an OG said, ‘I can live life by diggin’ for jewels’, then he was killed by a grave robber!”
Recap: A punch-fest filled with a lot of history and brimming tension, K-Shine and Danny Myers is certainly worth the look. As for who won? The feeling here is Shine and that’s despite a pretty epic (“I’m better with the blade ‘cuz I cant miss, I get up close, give him 5 strikes on the side, now he’s K Swiss!”) 3rd round from Myers. However, before the final round, Shine’s ability to combine wit, fierce (“All that money you gave Rex, nigga, you could’ve been a sponsor for NOME!”) personals and heated punches with hardly any filler did a lot of damage to a less versatile, less adjoined and more prone to pedestrian bars (esp. when he attempted to get personal) that didn’t always match his aggression in Myers. Indeed, Shine’s verbal repertoire, stirred with just enough set-up rich dishes, gets him the 1st and 2nd rounds here.
Verdict: K-Shine (W) 2-1
Favorite line: K-Shine – “Your next birthday, I ain’t gonna slide up like a dancer, I crept through, you 37, we gonna make .38…special!”
Recap: Funny how much you can tell from a battle rapper by just listening to his flow. That’s especially the case here when taking in Rush Tyg’s bars, which for the most part are hardcore, but also lacking intricacy, that is when he’s not being unintentionally funny. Not that spending significant time locked up can’t make you a dope battle rapper (Snake Eyez is proof of that), but the unsportsmanlike veil threats in the battle, half mask on face and an unnecessary pocket check, kind of show that Rush may not quite be ready to be a professional at his craft. That said, this one-rounder was pretty much all Dre Dennis, scoring left and right with fiery punchlines, buoyant gun bars and rigid name flips throughout his turn, no matter what Rush came with, he wouldn’t have stood much of a chance.
Verdict: Dre Dennis (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Dre Dennis – “I dropped a 100 pounds, but I pick one up quicker!”
Recap: Normally not one to rely too much on the personals, Chef Trez gets busy with plenty of them here and that along with a gang of stinging name flips, fiery punchlines and scattered street missives allows the Chef to score a 30 on a hard-punching at times, but wildly inconsistent Rashaad Miller in this 3-rounder from Houston Underground Rap Battles.
Verdict: Chef Trez (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Chef Trez – “You fake brother, like your first cousin!”
Recap: In this one-rounder from Gates of the Garden, Drugz runs with a witty ‘light-skin lookalike’ theme that’s exemplified by his usual high energy and fanatical punchlines. However, with a couple of dry spots and a slightly shorter turn than his opponent, leave it to Bonus, consistently scoring with fiery set-ups and rigid gun bars, to take advantage of Drugz’ more sluggish bars.
Verdict: Bonus (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Bonus – “Nigga, my pen hot too, but it’s some different that I’m a send by you, I don’t even need a 3rd, it’s like playing basketball in the street…I gotta win by 2!”
Recap: In this performance-heavy battle between Mr. Wavy and Nu Jerzey Twork, an unforced error by Twork, cutting off Wavy’s 2nd round due to time limits and allowing him the opportunity to start his 3rd with hilarious barbs (that were intended for Wavy’s 2nd) on Twork’s hairline encapsulates the entire battle that saw Wavy (after getting edged in round one by a more condensed and [“Damn the zombie, I’ll stitch a bird across Wave chest…Abercrombie!”] potent Twork) use consistently fire punchlines/schemes, fierce personals, ‘nasty’ (“Your squad gassed, the clip longer than the fro that Marge had!”) gun bars and a altogether witty, crowd-pleasing performance (that Twork himself said caused him to choke away his 2nd round) to earn the win and put his name back in the mix when it comes to the big stage.
Verdict: Mr. Wavy (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Mr. Wavy – “You look like if you go to the club without an I.D. then take your hoodie off, they be like ‘Aight, go ahead nigga!'”
Recap: A bit shorter with the clip, but still more condensed, Cold Play Wu gets smoothly personal with it to take out a hyped, but a little too sporadic Bill Collector in this one-rounder from Traphouse Battle League.
Verdict: Cold Play Wu (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Cold Play Wu – “You claim you most hated, but dog, you gotta be relevant in Philly first to be hated at all!”
Recap: Overall fire and competitive PG battle between a wordplay/punchline-heavy Real Name Brandon and and a gun line feening Fixx is split going into the deciding 3rd round which sees both battlers put forth plenty of righteous heat, but it’s Brandon flexing with more crafty punches as well as a displaying a nice research game, that edges the final round for the win.
Verdict: Real Name Brandon (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Real Name Brandon – “This bitch is ready to bust, I let my .4 play [foreplay], I lean in without touching the ground, like ‘Eddie, are you ok?'”
Recap: Mexican bars are something you gotta deal with. And if you’re vet like Chess, while you probably wasn’t expecting much from a relative newbie, for a versatile Don Marino, hitting on all cylinders, from righteous (“We used to fuck with you ‘cuz we heard the struggle in your bars, now we don’t fuck with you ‘cuz we hear you struggle with your bars!”) personals to potent punches, it’s a worthy chance to prove yourself against a stalwart opponent. Which he certainly did throughout his one round to pull off the upset. On the other hand, for Chess, even with the loss, coming off a long bout with Earl, a solid (“Who gonna play the field for you when I pick up 9’s and bag your bitch like pick-up lines!”) showing with no unforced errors here, lets us know that he’s not done just yet.
Verdict: Don Marino (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Don Marino – “Let me guess, you used to ride around with something illegal, I ride around with someone illegal!”
Recap: In what amounted to a dope punchfest with an unexpected appearance from a drunk Real Deal, a consistently hardbody-punching and performance-lit, versatile, wordplay spicy and witty/personal-bent Math Hoffa is able to land a couple of more haymakers (esp. during a crazy round 1) in both of the opening rounds of this KOTD battle for the win, before opponent Shotti P edges the final round with a hitting, steadier-flowing/punching and condensed turn to avoid the shutout.
Verdict: Math Hoffa (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Math Hoffa – “The can on ya, I squeeze the heat like a hand warmer, double-tap P and open up playa like Pandora!”
Recap: Here in this Smack Volume One battle, it’s a punch-heavy battery along with a lyrical assault for a consistently fire O-Red, who once again proves his mettle against an overall (“You washed up, bitch I’m black on bars like African soap!”) solid and performance bar steady, but too often average Brizz Rawsteen. Indeed, a clearly-did-his-research-on-his-opponent O-Red, finessing with hard (“You let more bull come out your mouth than a Philly nigger!”) punches, steady wordplay, rich metaphors and hitting personals throughout all 3 rounds, conducts enough of a bar session to edge all 3 rounds, while at the same time giving Brizz a friendly reminder on why even without the dreads, he’s still one of Jersey’s finest.
Verdict: O-Red (W) 3-0
Favorite line: O-Red – “Brizz know better, this old heckler a hoe stretcher, leave a nigga from Raleigh [rally] in the street like a protestor!”
Recap: Competitive 3-rounder between Zig Zag and Kid Chaos showcased, amongst other things, the latter’s conversational and unorthodox style of rap which lit the scoreboard when it came to piercing schemes and head-ringing personals/set-ups. But after a debatable 1st round, Zig Zag’s haughty linguistics would suddenly become enamored via a spitfire, wordplay-nice, gun bar-heavy and punch-lit 2nd round (that Chaos spiritually challenged and might’ve edged if not for one too many bars directed at one of his peers in the crowd), before Zag also takes a 3rd round, that while equal on haymakers goes Zig’s way thanks to less filler.
Verdict: Zig Zag (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Zig Zag – “I know you wrote over the time limit, me too nigga, we going minute for minute, so for 3 rounds you can watch a Kid [called] Chaos Dennis the Menace!”
Recap: Undeterred by Drugz jumping in for a 3rd of Nu Jerzey Twork’s round, in this 1-rounder from Bloody Scene, Stack Almighty uses a barrage of boisterous bully bars, some piercing punchlines, candid O.G. talk and some witty/hardbody personals to beat back his hitting at times, but mostly one-dimensional opponent.
Verdict: Stack Almighty (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Stack Almighty – “You ever a man get buried where he standing?…well, that’s a grave sight [grave site]!”
Recap: Is Nu Jerzey Twork at the point in his battle rap career where he can do side battles just ‘for a check’? Who knows. But with Twork’s name steady rising, why should he turn down battles against no-names if the call arises? That said, other than dudes arguing over time limits, the performance-enhanced Twork being at somewhat of a disadvantage on a small stage and a guest appearance from….who knows on Twork’s side, nothing much to see here besides Twork, thanks to a couple of slip-ups to start his round, losing to a pretty pedestrian guy named Apollo, whoill probably need to step his overall bar game up i f he ever wants to get a PG.
Verdict: Apollo (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Apollo – “Go on the hunt for him, got my grip on the .9 tight, he try running, that’s when the scope catch up to him…man, I’m shooting nigga’s in hindsight!”
Recap: Call this a tale of two halves as Steams’ potent punches and sizzling name flips easily gets him round one over a more bark than his bite Coach Corleone. 2nd round sees the story begin to flip however as the N.Y. rapper, while still delivering more fire lines, struggles with his flow, leaving his opponent with enough room to take the round with less intricate, but still dramatic bully bars, fiery (“You like Lebron wife, sleeping on a nigger with all of them skills!”; “Fuck your team, I’ll have .25 sent [cent] for the Cake!”) wit and dogmatic street theater. Going into the last tied, a still stumbling Steams needs an able assist from Prep to complete his round, giving an admittedly better as the battle progressed and consistently solid Coach Corleone the come-from-behind-win.
Verdict: Coach Corleone (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Steams – “I’m not worried about you aggress-ing me nigger, LeBron James and Ty Lue, this Coach can only talk to the rest of these nigger’s!”
Recap: Solid, highly-personal themed battle between Teewhy and Trey 30 sees the former, even while getting laced with some fiery schemes and in-your-face blunt (“I mean, they even took you to the PG’s like you would really lay it down, but it was more like you only stuck arm out the window before we made our way to town, we went out convinced T would be enough heat since Breezy ain’t around!”) Breeze speak from his a-little-filler-prone opponent, get in his bag with a more consistent and aggressive palette of potent (“Who next trip?, I’ll murk your family, your pop pop, then 30 grams in a bag like I blessed the zip!”) gun bars, witty one-liners and his own lot of formidable personals to take round 1 and edge round 3 for the win.
Verdict: Teewhy (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Teewhy – “Tool rage, .38 pointing at the Trey like the Flu game!”
Recap: A confident, versatile and punchline-heavy Jerry Wess makes his presence felt in readily beating back a pretty solid and aggressive, but not-quite-as-nice-with-the-pen Kadaphi in this 3-rounder from WeGoHard. Wess, who was consistently spitfire with his bars, angles, performance and set-ups throughout the battle, shined best when he walked Kadaphi’s salty crew member right into that fire “Y’all really got me battling Bedaffi [It’s Kadaphi!]…the Bizzaro version!” line.
Verdict: Jerry Wess (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Jerry Wess – “Niggers taught he had me cornered until they saw the beam flash, me lacking?, I got the ratchet always like she needs pads!”
Recap: Highly entertaining and performance-heavy 1-rounder between Your Honor and Ralphy Gabbana goes the latter’s way thanks in part to Y.H.s elongated turn that while laced with plenty of humorous barbs and piercing personals, also sported way too much filler. Gabbana, on the other hand, hyper but condensed with his raps, while also scoring left and right with ringing gun bars, gritty name flips, lofty punchlines, well-research personals and animated schemes, put on such a crowd-pleasing show that he’d literally run off the stage, game-winning, buzzer-beater style at the end of his round.
Verdict: Ralphy Gabbana (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Ralphy Gabbana – “Hyperventilating, the streets was cold, and we live by the Honor system and by the code, I had shitty grades in school, never seen a 3.0,, but if he don’t have that 3.5…[Bow!] you still gonna see that Honor roll!”
Recap: Krucial Ken may want to stay away from the rebuttals, but other than that he does fine here, mixing graphic personals, bully bars and rampant gun bars to ill effect, all the while stunting on a mostly pedestrian D Tay in this one-round battle from iBattleWorldWide.
Verdict: Krucial Ken (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Krucial Ken – “If he see stacks, I’ll snatch the paper right off this pussy, that’s a bikini wax!”
Recap: Well, I guess that no one could say that Nu Jerzey Twork isn’t an ‘open-minded’ kind of guy, taking on a low tier, gay battle rapper in the prime of his career. Still, for whatever significance comes out (no pun intended) of this one-round battle, bar for bar, it was a wrap early as Twork’s spontaneous combustion’s combined with some fiery wordplay and steely wit, more than overcame a solid, but unmoving and a bit flow-challenged turn by Cali Mackavelli.
Verdict: Nu Jerzey Twork (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Nu Jerzey Twork – “Look at this nigga grin….you know it’s bad when you tell a nigga ‘suck a dick’ and he don’t even get offended!”
Recap: Entertaining battle between ShowOff and Loso features costume changes, high-energy faith-based raps, disrespectful Christian rebukes, fiery personals, lofty punchlines and aggressive testimonials on everyday struggles. All said, a competitive battle that saw a more well-versed and more consistent Loso take the 1st round, before ShowOff comes back with a high-grade, fanatical round that beat a less effective turn by Loso while earning Show a split going into the 3rd. That final round saw ShowOff literally go bad preacher mode, while staying downright disrespectful with a slew of otherworldly darts and unkind (“I’m killing you, and I don’t care if nobody care, ‘cuz on some real shit, I don’t even believe nobody there!”) pontifications that would make an atheist proud. On the other hand, a more personal-driven and punch-heavy Loso, confident in his raps throughout the battle, would, despite a few pedestrian bars here and there, match ShowOff’s efficacy with a pretty solid enough round to make this one a debatable.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: Loso – “[He] the type to be like ‘Where was God at 9/11?’, nigga the same place ya left him on 9/10 and 9/12!”
Recap: Showing off her versatility with some flippant schemes, that when added to an already winsome collection of fiery punchlines, gripping mayhem and piercing name flips makes her almost unbeatable, E-Hart easily beats back the bullish, but inconsistent stylings of Panic in this gritty 1-rounder from Bar4Bar Rap Battles.
Verdict: E-Hart (W) 1-0
Favorite line: E-Hart -“Y’all thinking I’m a need a gun for Panic? that’s just wrong, the blade is not a missed shell [Michelle], I’m Michonne!”
Recap: A revamped Prep, not so long-winded with his rounds, better rebuttals/freestyles and spazzing with the fiery set-ups, whether they’re rapid one-off’s or multiple shots from a cannon that is his newfound ‘Baltimore’ chant, uses fiery personals, intense performance bars and some sizzling wordplay to beat back a solid at times, but way too elongated and filler-prone Mannor Boy.
Verdict: Prep (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Prep – “Drive-by, hand out, like I’m asking for help!”
Recap: Doesn’t get much more confident, raucous and sublime then the Cortez we see here as the Brooklyn rhyme-slinger brings 3 rounds of persistent heat, performance-rich semantics, sizzling name flips and spicy punchlines/personals/wordplay to a pretty solid, but not as proficient or as captivating Patron in what was still a competitive battle from F-Klan Visuals.
Verdict: Cortez (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Cortez – “This what I’m pout here for?, one swing crack his jaw, one swing…raquetball, I’m out here, by myself, bring a Tag a long [Tagalog]!”
Recap: Consistently fire with the (“I came from the trenches, we was a bunch of little grimy son-of-a-bitches, [but] Dre ain’t never ‘Set It Off’, he just handed the gun’s to the bitches!”) wordplay. spouting fierce gun bars throughout and mixing in some sporadic wit, Fettuccine20 gets the win by taking the first couple of rounds here against a Dre Vishiss, who was solid throughout (esp. when he was kicking that real [“Bitch nigga, if this was a scene outta ‘Boyz in Da Hood’, you’d be ready to let Trey out the car, bitch nigga, before I even seen that shit I was a kid letting the .3 out the car…really living that life for you rap nigga’s to make it a bar!”] shit in a spitfire 3rd), but suffered from too much filler and a slow start to his 1st to have any chance of withstanding his opponent’s early heat.
Verdict: Fettuccine20 (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Fettuccine20 -“No big brothers, I had to fight for mine when I was hitting the block, I played basketball and baseball, till I start pitching the rock!”
Recap: After edging round one with better punchlines and some gritty visuals with the bars, Wise gets a little less potent and predictable with his bars/schemes in the latter rounds, thus leaving more than enough room for Big Hann to edge round 2 with steadier hardbody barbs and easily take the deciding round 3 with a nice mix of lucid personals and rambunctious punches.
Verdict: Big Hann (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Big Hann – “You’ll get [bwoh!] without me even looking….crock pot!”
Recap: Too much wit and too many (“They only like you ‘cuz you the fake me and they don’t see me as much!”) fly personals/tru-isms from Goodz along with too many unforced errors (bragging about beating Tony D, spitting too many non-direct bars, etc.) from an otherwise solid (“You lost all this weight and still got a fat girl face!”) Jimz, gives the former the first couple of rounds and the win in a battle that wasn’t as dry as the seemingly listless crowd let on.
Verdict: Goodz (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Goodz – “When that nigger knocked you out, why you ain’t call me?,…instead you was watching him from the ground, gave us the real definition of floor seats!”
Recap: In this 3-rounder from KOTD, a (“The .45 bullet a big rocket, arm extended, shit’s brolic, but he ain’t see me reach for it like a pick-pocket!”) punch-heavy and a little more consistent Krome takes round 1, before Chilla Jones wakes up and styles on his opponent, using solid schemes, jaunty punchlines, vet mode (“How is your crew ahead of us, when we’re the designated drivers, I mean we brought you to this party so you could get a buzz!”) set-ups, salacious name flips and even a few freestyles/rebuttals to turn things around. take the latter two rounds and garner the win.
Verdict: Chilla Jones (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Chilla Jones – “I’m foul and I’m flagrant too, so let your team know, you’ll get smacked after the battle, bitch I’m in beast mode!”
Recap: Nice one-rounder between Geechi Gotti and Diesel is served up by Geechi’s more brutal personals, some ill gun bars, fly punchlines and storied street tales to flex his authenticity. And while the always punch-heavy Diesel doesn’t waver of the face of Gotti’s gritty bars, a few too many dry spots during what was a pretty solid round leaves Gotti with his hand raised.
Verdict: Geechi Gotti (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Geechi Gotti – “Fuck it tho, I got a new gun, and it’s a nice weapon, put the laser on the Barcode, I’m just price checking!”
Recap: Rare 1-rounder for Arsonal, but the disrespect is still there as da Rebel uses a slew of boastful shiners, some fiery wordplay, piercing gun bars and of course, a boatload of discourteous barbs to beat back a gritty and West-coast stunting, but not quite as consistent Hipnosis.
Verdict: Arsonal (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Arsonal – “Let me tell you the difference between you and I, your bitch pussy like my entire sweatsuit nigga…superdry!”
Recap: Can you deliver a classic round and still lose a battle? Apparently so, as despite the condensed and gun bar prolific Rum Nitty dishing just enough seismic punchlines, stinging racial barbs and fiery (“This how a nigga play, If I need something in my house, I’m running errands [run in Aaron’s], I got bills to pay!”) wordplay in the 1st and 2nd rounds to take the win, a returning-to-Smack Iron Solomon, competitive throughout with his own mix of rigid punchlines, quality personals and stinging schemes, delivers a 3rd round for the ages with its stellar offering of well-crafted angles, potent (“You they property, ain’t about to see a proper piece of the profit share, they pay you less than bottom tier…Nitty, you a volunTEER!”) personals and total flexing with the lyrics. Altogether a fire battle (it should be said that a consistent throughout Nitty spit a punch-heavy and dope 3rd round himself) with too many standout bars to count, Rum Nitty versus Iron Solomon goes down as ultimately living up to its marquee bill.
Verdict: Rum Nitty (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Rum Nitty – “I’ll leave a nigga leaking for intervening, while your people be penny-pinching, mine nickle squeezing I kill em easy!”
Recap: In this 1-rounder from Premiere Rap Battle League, SeeJee, with his boatload of witty barbs and piercing punchlines, certainly provided enough heat and competition to make Chilla Jones work for it. And that Jones did with a steady and condensed stream of personal-savvy, wordplay-intricate and punch-heavy bars that allowed him to edge what was a pretty dope battle.
Verdict: Chilla Jones (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Chilla Jones – “What I write is out of this world, a sci-fi author, this hand [Han], solo [Solo], could turn you into a sky walker [Skywalker]!”
Recap: Even with a load of filler thrown on, Dre Dennis drops enough righteous gun bars along with an able amount of haymakers to take this one-rounder and edge a solid with the punches, but stay away from the personals, Swift Millie.
Verdict: Dre Dennis (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Dre Dennis – “Arms clap if he whip it, car crash and he dent it, I was bodying [body in a] a Freeway, they thought Cassidy did it!”
Recap: On any other day Jeffrey’s witty (“I won’t diss your buzz tho, I mean I respect the dead!”) punches, consistent knee-slappers and vibrant (“My .45 hold 9, but the 7th in it [inning] will stretch you out like baseball!”) wordplay would’ve beat most rappers. But a robust, more versatile, gun-bar (“Nigga’s doing flips and shit as soon as I started clapping, I pull once then pull over like a Starter jacket!”) festive, name-flip heavy, metaphor-slinging and (“I’m the type to start a fight and steal everybody, you the type to lose your job and kill everybody!”) punchline-crazy Mackk Myron just wasn’t having any of it, putting in more than enough work, topped off by a sterling performance, to take all 3 rounds here and warrant finally getting out of the PGs.
Verdict: Mackk Myron (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Mackk Myron – “I hate honkey’s, I’ll bury [Barry] White, I’m talking real deep!”
Recap: Enthralling battle between Young X and Moon sees X run the gamut on trap talk, fiery (“Fuck outta here, you living in teh past my bro, don’t nobody help the old people with they bags no more!”) wit, lofty (“Now he punch drunk, look like he been drinking moonshine, call me lunar eclipse, way I come up and fuck up Moon shine!”) performance bars and frenzied name flips to take rounds 1 and 3 for the win over an opponent who while dropping a load of old-school (“They be like ‘O.G., how should I play the cards [opens hands up] that life dealt me?’, I say, first of all little nigga, stop showing them your whole hand!”) gems, dope schemes and steely (“They don’t know I’m about to be the game changer, Smack went and got the old gun out the stash, tired of putting bodies on the same banga!”) O.G. talk throughout the battle, couldn’t keep up with X’s explosive first (despite a fire turn himself) and thanks in part to a slow start and a little too much filler, got beat back in the deciding 3rd.
Verdict: Young X (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Young X – “And don’t be coming with that 60s shit, we don’t understand the lingo dog, see you gonna make me catch your old ass coming out the bingo hall!”
Recap: Scotty’s wit and fiery (“I go everywhere with this stick, you gonna think that I’m flying!”) punches keep this one-rounder close against DNA. But with the NWX spitter already in relax mode with the robe on, for the Houston rapper there just was no beating a sizzling display of sporty schemes, feelgood wordplay and potent punchlines.
Verdict: DNA (W) 1-0
Favorite line: DNA – “I only took this one round ‘cuz I love wreck, you could only afford a sample of DNA…drug test!”
Recap: With loads of gritty punchlines and head-rining mayhem from both battlers, it’s nothing short of a competitive showing in this fiery 1-rounder between Glueazy and J Slash. However, a little too much filler from Slash as well as the Ohio rapper delivering only an equal amount of haymakers despite rapping almost twice as long as his opponent, gives the more condensed and slightly more versatile Glu the win.
Verdict: Glueazy (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Glueazy – “Did you know that he a schoolteacher?, I’m talking Monday through Friday, but on the weekends he battle raps and holds his gun sideways!”
Recap: If you’re Elliot Ness, the chance to redeem yourself after the horrible showing you spouted in Summer Madness 2 versus DNA should be a blessing. Especially in Philadelphia, with your hometown crowd amped at every bar you spit and there being zero chance you could whine about a supposedly biased crowd. And with a now performance-heavy Ness having changed his style of rap so much since their last battle, who knows what could happen this time around, right? Well, if you still predicted DNA dishing another 30, you’d be absolutely right as the NWX leader used a fleet of rigid gun bars, some robust name flips and salacious schemes/punchlines to easily beat back the mostly pedestrian bars from his opponent during all 3 rounds of this rematch. But hey, at least Ness stayed professional and kept his mouth shut during DNA’s rounds and didn’t whine this time around.
Verdict: DNA (W) 3-0
Favorite line: DNA – “I’m done with logic, don’t throw no water, don’t touch my pockets, or everything I need will point [needle point] at E…fuck a compass!”
Recap: Strange to see Chilla Jones get so personal in a battle, but here against Stuey Newton he does just that and kind of cost him, rarely scheming, loading up his rounds with too much filler and overall, really spouting more bars to reflect personal animus rather than trying to win a battle. Not that Stuey would complain as after a couple of nice rebuttals edges him round 2 and gets him a split going into the final round, Newton’s continual penchant for gritty punchlines along with a stream of ill personals gets him the deciding 3rd round and an easy win after what was a haphazard turn from Mr. Jones.
Verdict: Stuey Newton (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Stuey Newton – “This flow kills, tell me how this losing your soul feels, your family get the news, they’ll be out of control….yeah they got no chill!”
Recap: Fire battle between Gwitty and Drugz, what with plenty of dope personals and real tension in lieu of past drama between the two for the past year or so. Drugz shines hard in the 1st round, dishing steely punches and stinging gun (“Mini rocket launcher look like a news camera!”) bars left and right with wild-eyed intensity on his mark, while easily beating back a mostly pedestrian turn by Gwitty. 2nd round, however is all Gwitty, scoring at will with crisp (“This the dirtiest matchup on Smack…Xcel verse Anubis!”) jab after (“You out here acting reckless, they think he wilding, his record clean, that’s why they call him Drugz [drugs], he non-violent!”) jab, all the while slumping his opponent to the point of pretty much giving up the round and evening up the match. A solid, (“Have my bitch suck his dick, my ratchet head-tap him…blow his brain!”) punch-heavy, personal-drenched turn from Gwitty in the 3rd and final round gives him a nice chance to take a win here. However, Drugz wouldn’t be having it, dishing exquisite (“But my daughter was born yesterday, y’all seen Final Destination? the only think that could stop death is new life!”) set-ups in-between witty pontifications and grandiose braggadocio bars, it’s the more versatile DMV rapper’s vic for the taking.
Verdict: Drugz (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Drugz – “Now I bring death upon Paper…a eulogy!”
Recap: You’d think that most objective battle rap fans would put Chess in their Top 10 for best lyricists, as even while struggling so much with his flow here, his overall palette was impeccable. Still, this battle rap and stumbles, slip-ups, chokes…well, they all matter. As they should. And lately, it’s becoming too much of a problem for Chess. And while, some could say that with Chef Trez spazzing, clearly on his A-game while spouting a potent [“…9, .44…Tyrese nigger, what more do you want from me!”) ‘3 of dem things’ in a ridiculous 2nd, I’d say that if not for Chess struggling with his flow at times in the first, he would’ve at least been able to edge the 1st round despite Trez’s opening round (“…he struggling to breathe? [hiccups] sound like I’m in his rounds when he fucking up!”) comeuppance and we would’ve had a tie going into the 3rd as overall, Chess spat slightly better (“30 shooting at homes like Steph playing in the Oracle…I like Trez tho, I know he pussy, but his aura cool [oracle]!”; “Step back or get a wet back [wetback]…immigration!”) bars and showed a little more versatility than his opponent did. Of course, there’s no excuse for Chess choking in the 3rd, a round he probably would’ve lost anyway what with his slow start and yet another (“You speak brave, you from the PJs, you got a lot of lip!”) spitfire turn from Trez. But moving forward I’d still recommend Chess work on shortening his rounds to avoid the slip-ups and let’s definitely not give K-Shine’s constant interruptions a front row seat.
Verdict: Chef Trez (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Chef Trez – “Gun butt him, leave a kid with the shitface…he the seed of Chucky!”
Recap: As much as it’d be nice to see a Philly rapper breakout and become a star on the URL stage, I don’t think Profit will be that guy. Indeed, while his performance was top-notch, full of energy and kept you entertained, the bars themselves, were another subpar story brought to you from The City of Brotherly Love. That said, as easy vic for the consistently punch-centric, name flip spazzing and confident Yung Griz, who with this one should definitely be graduating from the PGs.
Verdict: Yung Griz (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Yung Griz – “I talk wrong while I’m acting Savage, this the Wonder Years!”
Recap: Quban and Presidential Dubz go toe-for-toe, splitting the first two rounds with elite gun bars, some well-equipped personals and raucous punchlines/set-ups, before a deciding 3rd is edged by Quban, who kept the heat on his opponent with more hardbody punches and schemes, while a still aggressive Prezzy spent half of an elongated round taking shots at potential opponents instead of the guy in front of him.
Verdict: Quban (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Quban – “If shit escalate, we won’t even switch the plot, gender reveal, cut the Cake, let’s see if he a man or not!”
Recap: Well, who doesn’t love a battle where the two contestants face off that really don’t like each other? That seems to be the case here as after a year or so of social media banter, threats, interviews, blogs, etc., Bigg K and John John da Don finally take their differences to the battle stage on RBE.
And yeah, it was a goodie with JJDD going first and cleverly taking on his old threat to slap BK ‘when he sees him’ to set off a round of solid bars, dope personals and some stinging set-ups. However, Bigg K wasn’t having any of it, not only addressing JJDD’s backing out of his threats, but barking in his opponent’s face with a shitload of fiery punches/personals and feelgood (“I’m seasoned with the elbows, like Salt Bae on the Gram!”) haymakers that won him the round. Still, John John came right back in the 2nd, dishing on Bigg K’s tumultuous history in battle rap with pointed punchlines, witty (“The k got a kick like…you, when you don’t like a bar!”) barbs and just to make sure he totally got his point across…a picture prop with Bigg K not looking his most gangster that was accompanied by a gang of raucous heaters. And while Bigg K came back with a solid round of funny personals and stinging (“You just want to sell a battle, get your check, claim the fame on it, I want to sell a shirt that got the death, date and name on it!”) punchlines, overall it wasn’t enough to take the round.
Split going into the 3rd, with plenty of tension in the air, John John sticks with his game plan, going after his opponent with more and more personals that included a nice mix of flexing personals and potent schemes. And while K started his 3rd hot with a couple of banging personals/shiners, his swift adjustment to a rapid stream of nifty punchlines was not only head-scratching when it comes to tactics, but more importantly, not enough to take the round, thus giving JJDD the win.
Verdict: John John da Don (W) 2-1
Favorite line: John John da Don – “URL don’t fuck with you, care to tell the people why?, better yet I’ll tell ’em, just in case you feel a need to lie, after choking twice he went and set his price extremely high, but they was down for you K [U.K.] until you showed your European side!”
Recap: Somehow Nu Jerzey Twork steals the scene, apparently falling down during one of Rich E. Rich unorthodox raps and giving the crowd a more entertaining moment than any number of the battlers bars spat here. Still it counts, and with Fettuccine 20 spitting more heaters than his inconsistent opponent, despite the slip-up near the end, it’s a definitive win for Harlem going away.
Verdict: Fettuccine 20 (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Fettuccine 20 – “How the fuck we expect you to follow the code of the streets…you look like you wouldn’t make it out the streets of Dakota!”
Recap: Even a solid and entertaining E-Ness can’t keep up with a punch-heavy and metaphor/wordplay-flexing Lexx Luthor, who when he isn’t trying too hard to be the funniest guy in the room, can punch with the best of them as he displays here for 3 rounds to earn the 30.
Verdict: Lexx Luthor (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Lexx Luthor – “You some battle rap legend and they only paid you a grand, its been 20 years since MTV Eliott, how you still Making a Band?!”
Recap: Even without the trademark towel on his shoulder, Chilla Jones proves he’s still the ‘Kingpen’, slicing up a witty and punch-heavy, but sometimes elongated Ness Lee with a slew of fiery wordplay, lurid schemes and fierce personals to take the deciding 3rd round in an entertaining battle from VDM5 in Chicago,
Verdict: Chilla Jones (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Chilla Jones – “Nigga, you look like Mr. Clean….fell asleep in a tanning booth!”
Recap: 3 elongated rounds from Snake Eyez, but nary a bar wasted as the Dot Mobb general puts on a fire and versatile show, dishing straight heat with gritty urban semantics, aggressive bully bars, rich personals and that tough jail shit that you ‘had to be there’ to truly grasp. In the face of Snake’s gripping polemics throughout, Mack Mel still came through with a performance and punch-heavy palette that at times shook the stage, when he wasn’t delivering stinging (“Spine shot [Bhow!], nah y’all too used to that, blade out, drag it down his back like a Yakuza tat!”) punchlines and some casual wit that made this bout competitive, while also edging him the 2nd round. However, after forgetting his bars at the start and almost choking away his entire 3rd round, the newest Goonie member pulled it together and stood tall with a solid, gun-savvy turn that gave him an honest chance at winning. But after getting off to a bit of a slow start in his final round, Snake Eyez, just as he did to take the 1st, used a steady stream of wicked punches, more grandiose (“The clip longer than an O-Red translation!”) heaters and some flexing performance bars to take the deciding 3rd and gain the win.
Verdict: Snake Eyez (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Snake Eyez – “Lying all in your raps, I’m with all that tho, you ain’t never been up North, nigga’s trying to get waves off Corcraft soap!”
Recap: Accusing a battle rapper of being gassed isn’t always easy to do, but once So Severe had the audacity to spit, in 2018, a Busta Rhymes/Spliff Star bar and get away with it, you just knew that something ain’t right here. Besides that, even a Gwitty on his B-game has enough puchback to beat the mostly light bars his opponent was kicking.
Verdict: Gwitty (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Gwitty – “Another cat, with a chihuahua face, looking stupid, Ren and Stimpy!”
Recap: More constructed in his raps and a little more consistent overall bar-wise than his opponent, who seemed to be spitting themes at random throughout the battle, Cortez can be forgiven for the misuse of Bret Hart in the 4 Horseman reference, in an otherwise well-themed and personal 3rd round that serves as the difference maker in this win versus Christian rapper/KOTD stalwart A. Ward.
Verdict: Cortez (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Cortez – “Ain’t shit we gotat speak about, ask Hollohan bitch, i killed God already!
Recap: A competitive, altogether fire and epic punch-fest with plenty of replay value, Geechi Gotti versus Ave is easily one of the best battles to go down in 2018. And damn if Ave, on his A-game throughout with a shitload of flexing (“My mans died, my mode was on ‘ride’, wasn’t even sleepin’ bro, then wifey caught me loadin’ the strap, lookin’ like, “Please don’t go!, two wrongs never make it right!”, [but] it make it even though!”) punches, some phenomenal wordplay and aggressive mayhem/gun play, didn’t do everything to win. But unfortunately for the Norfolk, VA rapper, Geechi, in rounds 1 and 3 (a superbly-executed classic) anyway, just did him one better. An urban alchemist when it comes to the bars, while Geechi’s real life street ethos usually garners the headlines, his ability to mix in dope personals, witty barbs, ‘random’ shots at whoever’s irking him at the time, storytelling bars and gritty (“‘Cuz I’m struggling with making it out the streets, and that’s one of the toughest problems to have, I’m just sayin’, my whole life I’ve been battlin’ the Ave!”) name flips/schemes, more often than not doesn’t get the credit it deserves. And that’s why Gotti wins here.
Verdict: Geechi Gotti (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Geechi Gotti – “My nigga, you remind me of 2Pac though, not ‘cuz of your bars or because the hood feel you, it’s just we seen you throw punches on cam, but we still think Suge killed you!
Recap: In this 3-rounder from WeGoHard, Steams uses a nice quartet of intricate wordplay, ill set-ups/personals, snappy name flips and steely punchlines to survive both a 2nd round choke and a sterling middle round from Ish Mula, who while forever gritty and aggressive with his punches, came with too many reaches/pedestrian bars in the first, before an elongated and pretty average 3rd got him edged there too.
Verdict: Steams (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Steams – “Ish wanna be the shit, but that’s a gift and a curse at the same time!”
Recap: Granted he went a little overboard on the Math personals, but other then that Scottish rapper Respek BA’s witty punchlines, potent rebuttal game and aggressive schemes are more than enough to beat (Respek easily took the 1st and 3rd rounds, call the 2nd debatable) an up-n-down and sometimes reach-leaning Serius Jones. Verdict: Respek BA (W) 2-1 Favorite line: Respek BA – “Let me assist you, ‘cuz you must have got confused, it doesn’t make you a pimp ‘cuz your woman is a prostitute!”
Recap: Good to find out that J.R. Smith is a fan of battle rap. Besides that, in this one-rounder from I Got Bars Battle League, a mostly free-styling Prep gets busy with off-the dome shiners that mostly hit when he clowns his opponent’s (“This gun is Supreme, just that like ski-mask, you only gonna see half his face!”) wardrobe. However, a slip-up and too many pedestrian bars mid-round, allows the super emotive Rush Tyg, while not as intricate with the heat, still hang in there with able wit along with a load of fiery punches to earn himself a debatable.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: Prep – “You front liek you with the shit’s and need Teflon, but you running around dressed like Zac Efron!”
Recap: This latest PG matchup is a standard gun-bar fest between Haixian and Skates, who both use aggressive and well-aimed darts/punchlines to split the first two rounds before Haixian falters a bit with a shortened and pedestrian turn in the deciding 3rd, while Skates keeps up the live action, using boastful punches and hardbody set-ups to easily take the round and the win.
Verdict: Skates (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Skates – “Dipshit, big shit, flip whips, I’m Derek Fisher with Matt Barnes’ wife!”
