No Bias. No Narratives.
Mister Greco Recap: Comfortably nested for one round in the Quiet Room, O’fficial still manages to unleash an aggressive barrage of piercing name flips, sizzling gun bars and bruising punchlines to gain the win over a gritty, but unsteady Ms. Miami.
Verdict: O’fficial (W) 1-0
Favorite line: O’fficial – “I’ll leave Miami fucked up…like Spring break!”
Recap: Witty bars, jokes, wordplay, some freestyles and even a rebuttal or two…it’s all to be expected in a battle between a couple of chamelons like (…it’s two straps coming over the shoulder, like better safe than sorry!”; “…because as soon as you try angles, you’ll get the .9 in the middle!”) Bangz and (“This round coming off from the finger, that’s an angry wife!”; “I want a percentage of everything you make until you switch trends, I want my money to grow here [hair] so I cut Bangz [bangs] off if he don’t split ends!”) Uno Lavoz. But after drawing pretty even in the first couple of rounds, a short, slip-up prone 3rd round by Uno allows Bangz the opportunity to dish a solid and clean turn for the win.
Verdict: Bangz (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Bangz – “Wack is something that I ain’t never been, I’ll have a shell move into his body [what’s that?] let it settle in!”
Recap: Nice, gritty and aggressive with the bars even before the Zip ‘Em Up!’/Dot Mobb/NWX days, in front of a crowd that was clearly rooting him on, K-Shine snaps on an overwhelmed Carter with a host of steely punchlines and boastful one-liners to take this one-sided 3-rounder that was posted to YouTube in 2015, but clearly took place long beforehand.
Verdict: K-Shine (W) 3-0
Favorite line: K-Shine – “Lick a shit at your mother, with my meat in her mouth…she went out like a sucker!”
Recap: Conceited and Chilla Jones put on a solid battle in this main event matchup for KOTD. Got Chilla edging what turned out to be the best round for both battlers, the first, what with Mr. Jonas showing more consistency and versatility in his raps along with some aggressive (“Everything I holla graphic [holographic], I make the card shine!”) punchlines and (“You so small, I bet your rounds is short”) jokes thrown in. No doubt Conceited, after gamely attempting to predict the final word on each of Chilla’s rhymes, didn’t lack for confidence while putting forth a pretty dope round himself with some exquisite (“Being around all them K’s will bring the bitch out this nigga like Bruce Jenner!”) wordplay, feelgood Empire bars and a couple of ill slow-it-downs. But for some lulls within his turn, Con might’ve taken the round. Despite a slip-up, round two was pretty much all (“Nigga I’m the reason you rap the way you spit now, that flow is like Stephen King because I gave you IT, clown”) Conceited, who spouted out an ill Family Matters scheme that proved to be the top attraction of the round. Tied after two, Chilla dominated the final round, going long and heavy on the fiery (“He ain’t gonna grip a gat, and he ain’t gun-slinging, let Con vent, he got nuns singing, it’s like Sister Act”) punchlines and hard personals, while Con struggled with bars that apparently looked better on paper than they did when mouthed in the air.
Verdict: Chilla Jones (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Chilla Jones – “I heard you did a drive-by and niggas legs was breaking”
Recap: Nice, competitive, one-round matchup between Lil Joe and Checka Fred is filled with plenty of witty bars and fiery setups from both battlers. But a more consistent and versatile Joe, punching and raining down (“The .40 got a kickback, don’t believe me? look at [flicks his wrist in opponent’s face] the flick of the wrist!”) haymakers with ease, takes this in the end for Jersey.
Verdict: Lil Joe (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Lil Joe – “Come to my town, it’ll be like the NFL draft, the 1st round I’ll put a cap on his head!”
Recap: More often than not, European battle rappers (and their crowds) seem to value style over substance, that is delivery/entertainment value over bars. Raptor Warhurst, however, put s different spin on that theory, here in this 3-rounder versus Big Kannon, by actually dishing some pretty good and versatile punchlines throughout. Sure, the Englishmen’s more pedestrian bars were still met with many a cheer from the hometown crowd. But after an elongated 1st and a nice rebuttal from BK cost him the 1st, Raptor puts together enough witty punches and stealthy personals to make for a debatable 2nd, before he used some righteous sermonizing and more fierce punches to take the 3rd against a Kannon who while kicking some worthy (“I brought a whole Arsonal to Don’t Flop, that’s a few meals [mils] with the Shotty!”) heat for the first couple of rounds, never seemed stoke his A-game, making for a short and lazy 3rd round that made this match a draw.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: Raptor Warhurst – “You want to come to the UK and act like we ain’t no kind of a force, you flew straight from the Windy City and headed straight to the eye of the storm!”
Recap: Another nice battle from The Trap sees Stash score consistently with aggressive (“You sure you from Harlem nigga?, ‘cuz you straight bummy, if we exchange bucks these four .5’s will break 20!”) shiners and some potent schemes throughout his 3 rounds to gain a split in round 1 and edge round 3 over an (“I got bars, and I scheme for the punch like I’m sneaking a nigga!”; “The gun big, it look like it shoots t-shirts at half-time!”) overall solid/wordplay heavy, but shaky at times Fettuccine20.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: Stash – “Get Ya Boy Clip [clipped] like a dirty tackle below the knees!”
Recap: 3-rounder from Danger Zone Battle League features Brooklyn Carter unloading a boatload of mayhem, rich gun lines and some dope wordplay for 3 rounds and an excitable Relly Rell, apparently holding a grudge over some personal/battle rap shit that took place beforehand, literally going T-Rex on his opponent in a heated 3rd round turn that was highlighted by Rell slamming down of his cap. Other than that, Carter’s more consistently nice and potent raps easily outpoints the mostly basic lines of Rell in the 2nd and 3rd rounds, while we score the 1st a draw only due to a nice rebuttal by Rell.
Verdict: Brooklyn Carter (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Brooklyn Carter – “I keep the piece, I need the heat, a face shot will make his head dangle like a Jesus piece!”
Recap: After a pretty pedestrian 1st round that easily got upended by the more intricate and dizzying punches from First Ladi Flamez, an aggressive and hardbody Airborn stays in the mix with a wide load of bully bars/name flips and versatile urban shiners. But with a 2nd round rich on stifling punchlines and fire set-ups/gun bars coupled with a close, but slightly more condensed, in what overall was a pretty competitive battle, it’s still a well-earned 30 for Flamez.
Verdict: First Ladi Flamez (W) 3-0
Favorite line: First Ladi Flamez – “Maybe you’d prefer if I was palming the 5th, gun down your throat like I was testing your gag reflex!”
Recap: In this 2-round battle from KOTD, while Madness’ trailer park white boy-ism punches and jokes keep him in the game, it’s a rebuttal-lit, scheme/personal-heavy and punchline crazy Real Deal who takes both rounds for the win.
Verdict: Real Deal (W) 2-0
Favorite line: Real Deal – “You reppin’ Magic?, fuck that shit, I got the punch that ruptured Houdini spleen!”
Recap: Rarely seen judged battle on the RBE stage is a dope one between Big Kannon and Mr. Mills. 1st round was Kannon’s…clearly, a combo of nice punchlines, hard name flips and excellent (“But Gracie say ‘Don’t battle him bro’ yunno, trying to save the day, well pray before Mills [meals] get ate, you know what I’m saying, Grace”) wordplay that stayed a step ahead of Mills aggressive personals and rigid (“We been killing over Jordan’s and I send my prayers to heaven, ‘cuz if it was 12 new bucks pointing infrared shit, I probably bred 11!”) bars that got restrained a bit by elongated set-ups and some filler. With a tighter delivery, killer wordplay and a steady stream of (“Try to run up on me, you gonna fail B, before they see you beat my ass they gonna see hell freeze, a right-left combo will have your face looking worse than NuNu Nells knees!”) haymakers, Mills took the second despite a solid (“It’s like a halo, even my light rounds go over heads”) go from Kannon. Tied after two, the always confident Kannon went back to basics, earning the win with airtight (“This 3rd round sure to be crazy, if y’all don’t know what I have in for Mill, peep the formula baby!”) rhymes that had the crowd spazzed, a frenzied performance, more delicious name flips and wicked (“You know what? you rap and you fat, you got my life, he has no talent until he in another nigga’s shoes, that’s why I don’t Like Mike”) schemes that spoke to Kannon’s prestige. Mills’ made it close with dope screeds on Kannon’s authenticity and his own real-life (“See, I handle my business on the inside, that’s how I can get you clapped on the outside if shit get insane, even in New York I could have nigga’s on the inside place your body in the attic ‘cuz niggas in Attica love my [slashes neck] love my pen game!”) urban theatrics, but a little too much pontificating combined with Kannon’s overall potency and delivery, got him the loss.
Verdict: Big Kannon (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Big Kannon – “I’ll let that bitch peel, aim at his shit and he’ll get killed, blow the pump bullets are going dutch, they split bills!”
Recap: Redundant with the themes/bars during the middle of his turn, but punch/boast-heavy at the start of his round as well as towards the end with a nice mix of piercing personals blended in, Danny Myers is able to beat back a steady-flowing, but mostly pedestrian Billy Boondocks in this 1-rounder from Snoop Dogg’s Gladiator School.
Verdict: Danny Myers (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Danny Myers – “Your bars is something nobody listen to like Snoop’s No Limit albums!”
Recap: Dishing mostly fierce braggadocio lines, jaunty wordplay and fiery gun bars, (“See, this why I don’t scheme, I rather give you all this info upfront like a lobby booth!”; “In battle rap it’s a million finger guns and niggas faking straps, but this, this a textbook example of a nigga with a hard cover, but he paperback!”) Beddafi Green and (“When they tell you I’m the truth, it’s all facts, no deceptions slick, and I do numbers with that white girl and the flow [Flo], now that’s Progressive bitch!”; “I show up and Black on competition like away game jersey’s!”) Gutta both do little to separate themselves during the first couple of rounds here in this matchup on Trap House NY. Then the 3rd round came, and tho Gutta still managed to deliver a solid (“I’ll let the first kick in here sleep, then take this jerk chicken in the street..but shit, that’s just a typical Labor Day in Brooklyn”) turn, Bedaffi’s added mix of hitting personals and harder (“When the block hot, his heart drop, Gutta be exposed like a big bitch in a crop top!”) punchlines gets him the win.
Verdict: Bedaffi Green (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Bedaffi Green – “This why I hate speaking to clowns, no daps, but I peeped you when I see you around!”
Recap: In a battle that started off as a crescendo, but ended up on a light note when it came to performance and bars, after a debatable 1st round, a wordplay-heavy, simile-lit, storytelling/gun bar-bent and personal/punch-savvy K-Shine easily beats back Aye Verb with the St. Louis vet, who got off to a dope start with a witty and entertaining round 1 before succumbing to a bunch of redundant personals and punches that were mostly rarely stung.
Verdict: K-Shine (W) 2-1
Favorite line: K-Shine – “I got a Puerto Rican chopper, I gotta call Cortez just to work the button, the Desi’ African American, I can’t get it to work for nothin’, but the .40 Mexican, I can put it to work for nothin’!”
Recap: Magic City Mics 1-rounder in Florida gets witty and salacious at times what with Kaymo’s brazen sexcapades (which included bending down to ‘talk’ to 40’s vagina). But a mostly subpar 2nd half to Kaymo’s elongated turn plus a shorter, but concise, name flip-lit, wordplay/punch-heavy and versatile run by 40 B.A.R.R.S. gives her the edge here.
Verdict: 40 B.A.R.R.S. (W) 1-0
Favorite line: 40 B.A.R.R.S. – “See I rap circle around clowns, I’m the battle rap Flo-Jo, you standing in front of me on this cam is the only way you gonna Go Pro!”
Verdict: Bill Collector (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Bill Collector – “I swear my sneaky bar attack is perfect, ‘cuz I just killed you dog but I’mm keep you around, I’m such a taxidermist!”
Recap: Ill Will and Bigg K live up to their reps with a hyped and competitive battle that pen-wise saw them both bring their A-game. Too many ill verses from Bigg K in round one got him off to a hot start with lines like “What this man drop, hand cock [Hancock], Will’s a bum” and “Bitch, I’mma about to wig on Will like Ron Burgundy” just leaving you dumbstruck. Will had a nice (“How many y’all hear for K [crowd roars], all y’all mamas pussies got athlete’s foot”) first round, but it ended up being his worst as bar-wise there was a little too much filler along with lines that weren’t as remarkable as he would’ve liked you to believe. K, a punchline-heavy feen who be credited with mixing in more (“They throwing me racks on racks, while you on Twitter…everyday, sucking dick, trying to get back on Smack!”) personals in his rounds here than usual, continued to work the crowd into a frenzy with dope punches in round 2, but a couple of nonsensical (“I’ll catch you on a late night, that’s a matinee” lines and less potent bars overall than his first round couldn’t keep up with Will’s second round comeuppance. A round that saw him get more versatile with dope personals, crazy wordplay, righteous (“Back in the day I would’ve dropped you every week, like a No Limit CD”) bars and all-too-nice (“If it start with ‘K’ [makes hands like gun] than it end with K [points hand like gun at Bigg K’s head], like Kodak…you get the picture?”) performance bars. 3rd round was pretty standard fare, but Bigg K scored well with pointers on how he allegedly chose a battle over his brother’s funeral (even tho that’s pretty much how it sounded when he first brought it up in his battle against Half Past 7) and some ill wordplay that kept heads buzzing. But Will did him one better, continuing to display more versatility along with a nicer performance and some rich (“Your bitch got a venereal disease, it’s chewing through the shorts”) joke to take the round and edge it at the end.
Verdict: Ill Will (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Bigg K – “Got a brand new chopper, you wanna feel the flame first? This the best M-16 [Em 16] since the “Renegade” verse”
Recap: Diesel and J-Money put on a fiery and competitive show throughout this West-Coast PG battle, loaded with plenty of hardbody punchlines/gun bars, feisty wordplay, ill braggadocio lines and aggressive performances. A more condensed and consistent Diesel takes a close round 1, before a (“They say you the hottest Dies…but you know nigga’s, they say a lot of things!”) pronounced, versatile and scheme-heavy J-Money comes back to edge the 2nd. The deciding 3rd round was nice all around with Diesel hitting hard with boastful punches and some fire set-ups, while J-Money dished his own crazy steeze of West-coast themed punches and stifling polemics to earn a debatable.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: Diesel – “I’m riding, with a SOS…that’s a big flare, that’ll take you from your baby, your baby momma be Living Single like Sinclair!”
Recap: Newcomer E-City makes a name for himself with some nice name (“You wanna be a star, but you’ll never be a celebrity Show!”) flips and hard (“For you to Access Hollywood, you gotta blow like TNT, but I’m embarrassing you on cam, like TMZ!”) punches that landed well in this one-rounder against the favored Show Off. But too many average bars and lackluster setups from the Massacre Battle Association emcee couldn’t hold their weight when faced against Show’s aggressive performance bars, dope (“You a walking contradiction, like a white Latin King!”) lines/schemes and fiery wordplay.
Verdict: Show Off (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Show Off – “You talked all that you was gonna beat me shit…knock it off, my bars got your bitch on my dick, she will knock it off!”
Recap: After slumping a bit in hi slast battle against Born Xcel gets back to basics with a combo of exemplary wordplay, superb rebuttals and a legion of sharp-witted (“I leave earth every time I’m spitting, my alien writtens cut deep, I’m Zecharia Sitchin!”) bars to take a close one from the steadily (“I’ll tag Xcel [XL] with this shit that go over the head…I’m not putting you on”) improving, but still too often word-stretching Steams.
Verdict: Xcel (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Xcel – “My first thought, when I caught the first draft of y’all name…was Little Debbie, cux all the Cakes come packaged the same”
Recap: In this 3-rounder from Showtime Battle Arena, tho he’d choke away his 3rd round, the hardbody punches and witty storytelling from Ghetto Fama would keep things interesting. That said, Fama really stood no chance as a consistently blazing with the heat, bruising with the personals and punch-lit from all angles Nu Jerzey Twork delivers the 30.
Verdict: Nu Jerzey Twork (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Nu Jerzey Twork – “If he see long snipes, he gonna head for the nearest exit, infra-red tags on clothes like the Clearance section!”
Recap: In what was an aggressive on both sides, but pretty underwhelming 3-rounder from KCBL & Barburians Battle Arena, Bill Collector uses doses of self-deprecating humor, some solid punchlines and personals and bouts of frequent mayhem to beat back a mostly pedestrian punching and personal-light Moses West, handily taking rounds 1 and 3 when he didn’t have a debatable 2nd.
Verdict: Bill Collector (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Bill Collector – “You ain’t really booty, just an ass shot!”
Recap: An unusually funny Danny Myers attaches a gang of witty barbs/personals to his usual assortment of frenetic street missives to beat back a solid, but less consistent showing from fellow West-coast energy capo Cali Smoov in this 1-rounder from KOTD.
Verdict: Danny Myers (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Danny Myers – “I walk into prison I’m the one they flex they grizzle at, he walk into prison he the one nigga’s whistle at!”
Recap: Not much to see here and a pretty dead crowd didn’t help things either as Uno Lavoz and O-Red are put together for a matchup that made little sense. First round stands out as the best round as a somewhat hyped O-Red gets off some nice (“Militant, ready for action, let this nigga trip, neck shot, he’ll walk off stage with the Reggie Miller clinch”) performance bars, while for the most part Uno struggles with his angles/bars freestyles and yo mama jokes. Latter rounds sees the crowd get more and more distracted as the combined performance by Red and Uno only gets lamer with a shitload of lackluster (Uno: “I heard you sleeping on me, yeah? Well I’ll put that silencer over your mattress, now that’s your deathbed”) bars and slip-ups. Still, with just enough potent bars and affable wordplay in round two to overcome a throwaway final round and Uno lacking hard in originality or consistency throughout, Red’s gets a dub that he probably won’t be bragging to kids grandkids about.
Verdict: O-Red (W) 2-1
Favorite line: O-Red – “It’s sad you losing your life God and your bae [Bay] watching me”
Recap: O’fficial’s classic “Cock the Dezzi?, Jaz, you can stop already, pop a gun!?, You too afraid to even pop ya cherry!!!” line gets most of the attention here and deservedly so as its performance, authenticity and execution were extra on point. But after a more consistent O edges the 1st round, what really makes the difference in this battle versus Jaz The Rapper is a spitfire, versatile, personal, witty and punch-crazy 2nd round by O’fficial and what would amount to a couple of lyrically underwhelming turns by her opponent. Indeed, when the gritty, scheme-slinging and wordplay-heavy Jaz we all know would finally show up with a (“How you gonna beat me, O, when (Owen) Hart made you die in the ring?, and after all that, y’all wanted me to be the one she go to?, yeah I battle periodic, but I take bitches out they element, now I gotta get O too (O2)!”) punch-heavy, consistent, angle-rich and personal-spazzing 3rd, the irony of O’fficial getting booed in her 3rd (tho the 2nd half or her turn made up for a subpar 1st half) round probably wasn’t lost on the heads who had Jaz as the heavy favorite going into this battle.
Verdict: O’fficial (W) 2-1
Favorite line: O’fficial – “And if anybody say they’ll fuck Jaz, I’m upset, ‘cuz she built like a 10 year old boy, y’all suspect, she gotta, big-ass head, no titties, ass or hips, and y’all know I would never lie, this bitch is standing here shaped like a lowercase letter ‘i’!
Recap: Fresh off his somewhat disappointing battle with Hollow da Don, Charlie Clips gets right back on stage against a formidable opponent in the punchline-heavy, Oakland-based spitter Pass. From the start it doesn’t look too good for Clips as Pass (who clearly took a lot of notes from the Hollow battle) uses his opponent’s penchant for excuse-making to set up some nice punches and fiery (“You not careful where your Ice is [Isis] you get beheaded”) bars. But after using his first round to spit some mostly pedestrian freestyles in between pontificating on time issues, Clips gets back to battle mode and steps it up with a mean performance, steady schemes and a couple of righteous (“I’ll walk through your hood, no scratches on me, I’m a Foam Posit”) haymakers that easily takes out Pass’ fast-rap indifference and mostly stale darts. With the momentum back on his side, Clips edges a competitive (Pass: “Just cuz’ you .38 don’t make you special nigga”) round 3 with nasty schemes, festive (“You know Simon?. who gives a fuck, do what this gat say”) wordplay and a ‘Timbaland/Timberland/Missy’ line that was the best one in the round. Take in account Clips’ freestyle pedigree and how prepared he was for Pass’ angles and whoever Clips battles next may want to rethink the idea that he might be falling off.
Verdict: Charlie Clips (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Charlie Clips – “And my Cole, Shirley, when I bring these biscuits in ya mama Payne [pain] bitch”
Recap: After using a barrage of graphic punchlines, heated (Krucial Ken: “How sharp is your shooting bitch?, ‘cuz mine’s razor, Detroit ain’t seen a point this great since Isiah!”) guns bars and pointed wordplay/schemes to split the 1st round, Dyce Rolla and Krucial Ken do the same with the latter two rounds. First, Ken gets amped with rapid-fire punches that led to a handful of haymakers to take the 2nd round, before Dyce edges the 3rd by mimicking his opponent with a nice freestyle game, a feelgood rebuttal and a more witty, condensed turn.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: Dyce Rolla – “Pistol to his head while he trying to stuff himself, put the biscuit in his hand, when the cops find him, they don’t know if it was suicide or he choked to death!”
Recap: Capped off by a righteous and spitfire 3rd round (which included a crazy mid-round rebuttal), Loso uses a boatload of stinging personals, Christian-laced zingers and spirited, but hitting punchlines to beat back the slick wordplay, but also topsy-turvy bars from Problems in this entertaining 3-rounder from The ETD Platform.
Verdict: Loso (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Loso – “I got two options when I look at you so you don’t die and choke, you could speak better or end up like Heath Ledger…die a joke!”
Recap: Honestly, but for a couple of 2nd round slip-ups, Ryda won this battle. Jerry Wess, who overall, despite a solid turn throughout, probably had his worse battle here with filler aplomb, edged the first round with a slightly better mix of (“I was at your girl house last night…I’m just here to give you her keys back!”) bars, rich schemes/personals and an ill performance. From there it was plenty of haymakers….but mostly from (“Hey Clip, you chose to put two dough on it?, I’ll make Jerry Wess feel like Jerry West, his front get the .44 [44] on it!”; “You start shit, I end shit…this is Genesis vs. Revelations!”) Ryda, who stepped it up in the 3rd to easily take round and would’ve had the 2nd too if he was better prepared.
Verdict: Jerry Wess (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Jerry Wess – “Wait, enough with the schemes, before he start thinking he punch better than I do, you gonna leave here on a bad note…like he lost on American Idol!”
Verdict: Ill Will (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Ill Will – “You gonna die my the Smif, but we brought the Sub in for the kids like Real deal called in sick!”
Recap: Despite Milton Bloe’s constant interruptions and need for screen time, this battle along with a B-Magic strictly on his A-game is still worth a see. And after getting edged in the 1st round, thanks in part to yet another nice (“You said, I’m the Chef, I should be used to long caps, well you Magic so when I pull something outta one, it shouldn’t be a surprise!”) rebuttal from the hard-punching (“Rib shot, bullets go through your side like the front door was locked!”) Chef Trez, Magic’s spitfire (“Round [around] 2, I’m eating like late lunches!”; “This fucker gonna die quick, see the ratchet, busting out the window, it ain’t a side bitch!”) punchlines dominate round 2, before he takes the last round with more consistent (“I made a song about the ratchet, called ‘I Hit It First!'”) heat and a higher overall bar quotient.
Verdict: B-Magic (W) 2-1
Favorite line: B-Magic – “Blow ya chest across the room like ya crib haunted!”
Recap: Put aside all the silly antics here, especially on Calicoe’s part, as a poor display of showmanship was made up by the fact that when it came to bars and performance Calicoe actually did really well. First round was pretty much a wash as Pat Stay’s aggressive wordplay and rich (“If you really trapped so much, you wouldn’t open your trap so much!”) personals overmatched what was a pretty ubiquitous round angle-wise from Calicoe. 2nd round saw a more focused Calicoe spit some nice bully bars, step up his performance, deliver some dope punchlines and efficiently mock (“These King of the Dot niggas, they just seem hot, they living like they married to the game, but got on ring pops”) Pat’s intimidation tactics. Surprisingly, for a guy renowned for his pen game, consistency and ability to stay focused, as the battle progressed Pat Stay seemed to get more spent, what with nice bars and witty lines surrounded by (“Even on a rag-you-later, you like Nate Dogg”) reaches and elementary rhymes pulled from 2005 instead of 2015–then too, an overkill on attempting to show just how real he is. Indeed , the “I’m just as real as you are” shenanigans just seemed too forced on Pat’s part, when in the past his mere poise always came off as organic. Last round Calicoe continued to come with it esp. on the personals tip, effectively mocking Pat’s (“You from Canada, you couldn’t make it to the CFL?’) stature, race and battle rap (“But you 6″6′, but that don’t matter cuz you still a big bitch!, I don’t know if you Kurt Angle, William Regal or Rik Smits!”) aura to trounce what was pretty much a wasted round by Pat–more attention on spitting jokes and spouting recreation bars than anything direct at his opponent. All said while many will watch this battle and solely base their decision on Calicoe’s tomfoolery, at the end of the day once you’re in the ring it’s all entertainment, thankfully no punches were thrown and overall Calicoe clearly had the better battle.
Verdict: Calicoe (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Calicoe – “You probably would block a shot like [waves hand like a girl] this, fucking with me you gonna have a block a shot like [falls back and cowers] this!”
Recap: A spitfire punch-wise (and less morbid) 3rd round by Tink tha Demon isn’t enough to save him from Big Hann’s more condensed, rigged and punch-heavy 1st and 2nd, thus giving Hann the win in this nice, competitive battle from World Battle League.
Verdict: Big Hann (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Big Hann – “You Delaware nigga’s is pussy with no hammers, Me? I keep the ratchet cuffed like I’m slow-dancing!”
Recap: As long as Ty Law’s been out of the ring, you had to know he was sitting on a shitload of bars. Still, up against a resilient punchline fiend like B-Magic, the main question here was if Law’s long break would give way to rust. Apparently not as from the jump Law’s pronounced, slow-punching and for the most part (one too many lines on Magic’s past brouhaha with the S.O.N.S’ Fox), consistently biting lines definitely made their presence felt throughout the battle. B Magic, on the other hand, quicker and adept with the punches, while also fierce with the name flips, wordplay and unorthodox polemics, would take advantage of Law’s worst turn of the night (a hitting at times, but somewhat pedestrian 3rd that came right after he tied things up by edging round 2) with a condensed, but ably proficient and punch-heavier round that worked effectively enough to edge him the battle.
Verdict: B Magic (W) 2-1
Favorite line: B Magic – “You better break when it clap like a football huddle!”
Recap: Bars, bitch. In a close and competitive one from QOTR, 40 B.A.R.R.S. (returning the scene of that notorious Jaz battle) lets off a boatload of fiery punchlines, some superb wordplay, stinging personals, a flexible flow/cadence, stirring mayhem and feisty schemes/name flips to edge rounds 1 and 3 and get the win over a punch-heavy, gritty and persistent, but not as consistently spicy Chayna Ashley.
Verdict: 40 B.A.R.R.S. (W) 2-1
Favorite line: 40 B.A.R.R.S. – “So what I took a L bad, I mean y’all don’t never see C back to back except for on Chanel bags”
Recap: Tone Montana withstands a mediocre 2nd round and uses a stellar mix of grimy schemes, wicked (“I got two moods, one’s rude, that’s ‘please excuse me’ and ‘fuck you!'”) punchlines and ill bully bars to beat Uno Lavos, who came with his standard assortment of potent (“I heard you name all ya guns, well homie that’s whats up, I name my guns too, this is ‘shut’ and this is ‘da fuck up’!”) jokes and salty gun bars, but overall couldn’t keep up with his opponent’s more consistent flow, delivery and bar quotient.
Verdict: Tone Montana (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Tone Montana – “I ain’t one of those niggas you almost beat, stay in the bike lane pussy nigga, you almost street!”
Recap: Some battles lean on consistency and some lean on moments. Tsu Surf vs. Tay Roc? Definitely more momentous, which thankfully didn’t make it any less competitive what with a bar-heavier Roc taking the 1st round before Surf made a pretty flexing comeback in the latter half of his 2nd round to edge that turn and make things even going into the 3rd. A battle littered with plenty of ferocious gun bars (esp. from Roc), understated wordplay, very little personals, a bunch of name flips, boastful barbs, a boatload of dry spots and a slew of graphic mayhem, would see its climax in a surprisingly underwhelming final round that the steel gripping lines Roc managed to edge…because he just happened to have more moments than his opponent.
Verdict: Tay Roc (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Tay Roc – “Test Roc, get a cracked head and a neck shot, paralyzed from the neck down, he can’t even play his X-box!”
Recap: Strong 3rd round (“He ain’t seasoned enough…Caucasian food!”) by Took, but too many reaches versus a solid 2nd round by Fettiuccino20 and a solid 1st versus an epic, (“Two different guns, the .40 or the Larkin, these nigga’s will run out quicker than hot water in the projects!”) haymaker-drenched turn by Fettuccine20, allows the Harlem kid to take the first couple of rounds and hold on for the win.
Verdict: Fettuccine20 (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Fettuccine20 – “We snatched Took daughter hoping Took come fidn us, either that or we shooting all through Brownsville like Brooklyn’s Finest!”
Recap: A veteran emcee spreading the love, Cortez uses his newly formed Tiers Over Tears league to give undiscovered talent a chance to shine. Then he proceeds to use some sharp wordplay and aggressive (“This silencer will leave him on mute, now y’all can read his mind”) bars in rounds one and two to easily take out an overmatched Brayzack.
Verdict: Cortez (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Cortez – “Another rapper, exposed, in broad daylight [Daylyt] you gotta face that…wordplay, face tat, Daylyt, I spawn out of nowhere”
Recap: Thanks in part to Cali Smoov ending what was a pretty (“…that’s why I’m confused, like why do I hear a Mark all throughout John’s verses?!”) solid round early, John John da Don survives a 2nd round choke with some hard personals in the deciding 3rd to edge this one on the road.
Verdict: John John da Don (W) 2-1
Favorite line: John John da Don – “I should leave him alone, ‘cuz he ain’t got no money, but I’d rather give him bucks on sight, like GoFundMe!”
Recap: Self-proclaimed “Reach God” D.O.T. exercises his bars to superb effect, especially in rounds 1 and 2, with a combination of vanglorious (“My bullets stick together, it’s like they got chemistry!”) gun bars, lofty sound bites and an over-the-top performance to take this one against Traffic, who landed some (“I’ll pull out my evil twin on you, like ‘my bad’ bro”) shiners here and there, but overall couldn’t match D.O.T.’s intensity or wordplay.
Verdict: D.O.T. (W) 2-1
Favorite line: D.O.T. – “Empty the clip on him…[click]…[click]…’Fuck!!!’ then throw the glock at him!”
Recap: Basement battle between two seasoned vets, Pass and Caustic, is highlighted by a boatload of pointed personals, freestyles, rebuttals and fiery punchlines. Close throughout and competitive despite neither battler really being on their A-game, a more condensed and consistent with the barbs Pass edges rounds 1 and 2 to take the win.
Verdict: Pass (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Pass – “Ill give this boy the biz-ness [business] like rich, white parents!”
Recap: As Florida Evans would say: ‘Damn! Damn! Damn!’ Ooops and Daylyt match up on the RBE stage to put on one of the realest rap battles ever, kicking so much emotions, real rap talk and soliloquies in their lines that you couldn’t ashamed to say if you were brought to tears. Not that really matters who won, but after Daylyt’s punchline game and rip-shredding bars edged him round one, Ooops continuous name flips got him round two, a deadlocked battle became a near-classic with a gut-wrenching 3rd. First, Daylyt (who perhaps inspired by Ooops conscious/poetic rap stylings decided early on to drop the antics for this battle) drops what is arguably his best round ever, with a consistent barrage of haymakers that gamely ripped apart all his naysayers, while giving you new understanding of what makes Daylyt so (“Steve Urkel should y’all that if a square randomly get a machine, then out of nowhere he a cool nigga”) gifted, controversial, (“It was pops at my front door every day, it was never dad!”) nuisanced and borderline schizophrenic. So stupendous was Daylyt’s round that the stunned look on Ooops face alone spoke volumes on the impact. Still, when he was finally ready to begin his round, Ooops used his turn to hit hard with some sentimental (“See you talking all that protesting shit, but we ain’t have to go to Selma to see what they went through”) analysis and personal real life gab that just as gamely moved the crowd. Daylyt’s delivery and righteous bar quotient got him the round and won him the battle but either way Daylyt vs. Ooops is another contender for Battle of the Year.
Verdict: Daylyt (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Daylyt -“When y’all say I’m stupid, God is the reason I got the face tat”
Recap: In what was indisputably a dogfight, Reepah Rell’s more consistently fiery (“B-Trillz, who?, better be still. a couple of bucks will take the braids off a nigga…Meek Mill’s!”) barbs, flaming gun lines and haymakers edges him round 1 and 3 against a steadily (“I’m addressing all these bitches the same, like they was bridesmaids!”) knocking, till he lost a little steam in the 3rd and deciding round, B-Trillz.
Verdict: Reepah Rell (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Reepah Rell – “Don’t this shit got you bugged?, that’s like when my gun blow, it’s escargot, a shell will pop and somebody will eat a slug!”,
Recap: A staggering 1st round filled with multiple derision’s on his opponent’s battle technique, witty punchlines/schemes and aggressive haymakers by Hollow da Don beats back a very solid, but less versatile and a little pedestrian turn by Charlie Clips. This highly anticipated battle is then decided by yet another superlative round by Hollow, going after Clips with a rich palette of jocular darts, crown-friendly punches, career/life tutorials, and heavy-handed personals that all hit their mark. In turn, after a dope 1st round that would’ve easily beat most rappers and during one of the biggest battles of his career, Clips literally goes off-track in the 2nd, struggling with his flow, dispensing substandard rhymes and strangely taking his focus off Hollow to throw shots at Cortez and D. Chambers who were each looking on from the stage. And while Clips’ focus would return in the 3rd with a fiery, personal and punch-heavy turn that got past a solid, but elongated round by Hollow, by the end it’d be too late.
Verdict: Hollow da Don (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Hollow da Don – “I ain’t saying your shit wack, but bro, it’s the same move every time you kick that, set-up/punchline, set-up/punchline, that’s how you spit that?…just a candy rapper with 4 bars, you a [Kit-Kat]…see how easy it is to predict that?”
Recap: Good to see Kid Twist, one of the best Canadian battle rappers out there, taking on a URL head in John John da Don. Even better is witnessing a good battle between two contrasting styles as neither battler underestimated their opponent. JJDD came hard with some dope gun (“I bought my Nina a friend, Why? because she enjoys company, I feel like Andy with Buzz and Woody, these toys stuck with me, I let ’em take turns with Kid like joint custody!”) bars and rich punchlines, while Twist’s penchant for tactful rebuttals and witty (“But I’ll bring in the real reason for your name into light, you’re a double-john because hookers started made you start paying them twice”) jokes scored heavy. Got Kid Twist taking the 1st round easy and the same goes for JJDD with the 3rd. So with the battle coming down to the middle round, it’s Twist who gets the win with more consistently nicer bars, better crafted angles and doper (“….you’re like a kid who didn’t make it in sports, you been getting the Battle Rap Participation Award”) personals.
Verdict: Kid: Twist (W) 2-1
Favorite line: John John da Don -“I bet you thought I was coming with some wack shit, sorry, this ain’t what you expected, you been Catfished”
Recap: Rosenberg Raw gets off to a hot start in an apparent grudge match against Johnie Alcatraz, using some nice personals and witty (“Suge, what part of Jersey this dickhead from, Cherry Hill?”) anecdotes to easily take round one. However, as the battle moves on, Raw’s bars get less potent and his delivery gets enigmatic, allowing Johnie’s rich performance bars and lucid (“…Raw got pissed, walked in and tried to grab his toaster, so I left Rose on the front porch, I’m a Casanova”) punchlines to edge round two. Last round is a lazy round for both with Raw getting laconic but not saying too much and Johnie failing to take advantage with a couple of punches that landed but did little damage. Call it even.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: Rosenberg Raw – “…my only question is how many different colors you got?, you probably be matching the mirror like these red Jay’s gonna do one thing and I’mma kill it when I match it with the red tongue ring”
Recap: Precyse Da Assassin lands some hot punches/personals here and there. But in this Bosschick Battle League bout for the ‘Assassin’ name, an off-tilt delivery and way too many pedestrian bars from Precyse to go along with a Viixen The Assassin who was on her A-game from jump with a gritty fleet of piercing punchlines, witty/bruising personals, righteous heaters and rigid name flips throughout the match, gives the Wisconsin battler a scorching 3-0.
Verdict: Viixen The Assassin (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Viixen The Assassin – “Now they said Precyse Top 5 off of looks alone, well bitch stare at me wrong and I’m giving your top 5 off oa ya looks alone!”
(No embed link available for battle)
Recap: Seasoned rapper/artist versus Battle rap honcho? Well, if you’ve already seen the likes of Mr Fab vs. Arsonal or even worse, Canibus vs. Dizaster, you’d have a right to be skeptical about Hollow da Don taking on Eminem’s Total Slaughter stage regardless of all the hype that went into this battle going into it. But put aside all the mic issues, the horrible host that is Sway, a 10-minute plus intro, Hollow just looking weird in a wife-beater that was obviously worn to show off his flexing rams and Budden’s sporadic “reading from a book” flow and you’re left with a fairly decent battle that for first two rounds, was at least competitive with the two light-skin emcees splitting the first two rounds through the use of a nice range of fluid (Hollow: “He can’t escape, he a ho to me, he too/two bitch, Floetry, he get close to me…nah put up that Jagged Edge, I got 112 [1 .12] I want Joe to see [Jodeci]!” wordplay, witty (Joe: “Now why these labels never called you?, lack of hunger?, couldn’t find you?, ain’t have your number? defies all laws of gravity, it’s distorted, you the only thing that stay on Lean but ain’t support it [supported]!”) personals and nifty [Joe: “Said you had a clothing line, but that’s not clear, you putting an emoji on a shirt, nigga that’s not gear!”) punchlines. That said, call the 3rd round a huge let-down…at least for Budden anyway. Succumbing to a chorus of boos throughout what was bar-wise, a pretty lackluster turn to begin with, Joe literally gives up, dropping his mic to the ground before picking it back up after seemingly reminding himself that this much-hyped, flashy, over-produced event wouldn’t be a good look to his career if he cried foul and quit on stage. Still, for Hollow, who overcame an underwhelming 2nd round for a potent (“Third round! these bars gon’ stay with him, deadbeat dad, I ain’t got time to play with him!”) 3rd that was laced with scathing personals about Joe’s well-publicized history with women and showed guts for earlier going after show organizers for alleged money issues that occurred pre-battle, despite his opponent mailing it in at the end, a win of this magnitude certainly put him in another category when it comes to battle rap.
Verdict: Hollow da Don (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Hollow Da Don – “I’m shooting like Craig Hodges, that arm strong [Armstrong] I ain’t missing nuthin’, and you Dennis Rodman, ‘cuz you nice around that mic [Mike}, but sometimes you a bitch in public!”
Recap: Arsonal da Rebel and Caustic (who did really well despite having one day to prepare) battle for the crown of “Who’s The Most Disrespectful?” in this one-rounder from KOTD. A close, personal and oft-times pretty heated (hey, as many times as Arsonal’s brought racist bars to battles with white dudes in the past, no one should be upset when a white dude turns around and does the same to him) battle throughout, despite a more consistent flow from (“How the fuck am I racist? I use such colorful language”) Caustic and a horrible “fanny pack” line from da Rebel, it’s Arsonal’s more formidable haymakers and variety with the bars that edges him the win.
Verdict: Arsonal (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Arsonal – “I’m disrespectful, I’ll walk in your house and shit everywhere…that’s a hoarder nigga”
Recap: Granted, No-A-Lot did himself no favors quickly going from misogynistic punches (which sometimes landed) to a lame Loaded Lux impression what with a Bible reading that was ‘complimented’ by a passing put of a collection plate. But if there was ever an example why small, independent battle leagues fail, this was it. From absolutely zero crowd control to having to hold a mic to her head so QB could rap to an audience that talked all through both battlers round’s, clearly HeaviiTV didn’t put in the leg work to put on a battle. Other than that QB’s boatload of raucous shiners and piercing personals win the day in this 1-rounder.
Verdict: QB (W) 1-0
Favorite line: QB – “I’ll have this white boy bowing down to a black bitch with power, I’m Olivia Pope!”
Recap: Philly battle rappers been taking a lot of L’s in the ring lately so it’s good to see Tech-9 back in there upholding that gritty Brotherly love tradition. Here against Shotgun Suge, Tech spouts a barrage of no-nonsense bars and drops in a couple of head-ringing (“My block, crackheads and d-boys, Your block? Cisco’s and Leroy’s!”) haymakers to verify his elder statesmanship. His elongated round does contain some filler, but after a crazy (“Say cheese, the clip on the chopper look like a smiley face!”) start to his round, Suge trailed off too dramatically for any real chance at a win.
Verdict: Tech-9 (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Tech-9 -“I do shit deliberately, on purpose, money hungry, for that lunch break, these twin 4’s be smoking together, they like co-workers”
Recap: Fiery 1-rounder from AngryFan Radio sees Chubby Jag start off his turn with some dope punches/personals, stay gritty with his material and flow throughout the battle, but fail to put much points on the scoreboard due to a lack of intricacy to his bars. On the other hand, a pretty confident Cortez was able to back up his moxie with a steady stream of fierce name flips, stinging 4-bar set-ups, rigid personals and piercing punchlines/trap talk for the win.
Verdict: Cortez (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Cortez – “You ain’t never sold no drugs, son feeble, it’s Jag, we all know Jag’s don’t pump diesel!”
Recap: After dishing a plethora of righteous (“It’s clear you’re pulling back scotch [Scotch] if you ever think I’d duck [duct] tape!”) name flips and hot punchlines to easily take round one, Mike P gets lackadaisical and pretty much takes the second off, while allowing Tapedeck to even things up with sizzling schemes/bars and some nice (“This ya last resort, big machine, you better grab your horse or it’s Swave Sevah versus Danny Myers what’s that?…two .40s going back-n-forth!”) comedic wordplay. After a solid turn by Tapedeck in the final round, Mike P gets back in his bag, dispensing steady heat along with pent-up (“This bitch give me lip, this smack coming with an 8-ball jacket!”) shiners to take the win.
Verdict: Mike P (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Mike P – “I told y’all I’m a step above Tape, so CD’s [see deez]!”
Recap: If freestyle battles are ya thing it doesn’t much funnier, competitive or prolific than this one as Charron and the UK’s Pedro go off-the-dome for 24 rounds of witty jokes, dope flips/rebuttals and spirited punches. However, as entertaining as this battle was on both sides, it’s still a more consistently spicy Charron who gets the win.
Verdict: Charron (W) 17-7
Favorite line: Charron – “Kill him with 4 bars, it’s a Kit Kat brand!”
Recap: Using a fluid cadence to spit plenty of nifty punchlines and nuanced mayhem, against the subpar and pretty basic raps of Leem, Jakkboy Maine marks an easy one down on the win ledger in this 1-rounder from 7 Cities Shark.
Verdict: Jakkboy Maine (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Jakkboy Maine – “How many seconds will it take before my bullets him?, it’s like a kid in the corner…a smart mouth gets extended time!”
Recap: Rest assured Math Hoffa versus Chilla Jones will go down as a finalist for 2015 Battle of the Year. With contrasting styles and both putting forth their A-game, each battler had the crowd buzzing throughout the match, more than giving the fans their money’s worth. Math’s first round was straight fire, a sizzling combo of contentious bully (“You ain’t about that life, you ain’t been where I been Chilla, forget who the F U R and that’s your chin-Chilla”) bars, heated wordplay and wicked performance bars/schemes. Yet, an undaunted Chilla, quickly returned the fire with a series of lofty (“What good is street cred if you can’t spit that tight?, you get broken off with 4 bars, you the Kit Kat type”) punchlines and fiery name flips that somewhat went away from his forte, but still worked well. Second round kept the crowd hyped with Math putting on emphasis on creatively mocking his opponent’s (“When you tell niggas you scheming that means you rhyming shit for ’em, if I tell niggas I’m scheming, that means go inside it’s a warning”) style, while Chilla gamely turned the table on Math’s notorious real rap lines with steady sermons (“You worry about looking real, that’s something I feel is pitiful, cuz whats’ real about your kids going to jail to visit you and birthdays and holidays past, but you still invisible”) on what really matters most in life. Last round served up another stellar platter with Math splitting his time supplying more (“5 niggas against one, that ain’t a jump, that’s a leap!”) rhetoric on the infamous Dizaster battle along with some aggressive BK (“We slide through, bust it in Ds, it ain’t a titty fuck!”) punches that landed hard. Chilla’s 3rd, arguably his most consistent round, saw him step to Math with some fresh (“If you used that wood proper like you should patna, Bonnie would’ve came back like good posture!”) personals, amiable wordplay and good-natured jokes that’d make Drake proud. Overall a great battle, but while Chilla showed off his humor and took away Math’s penchant for disrespecting his pen game, some of his set-ups took too long, he did have some filler and one wishes he’d played to his strength and schemed a little more. Thus, credit Math for sticking to his repertoire and having a tighter ratio of dope bars per lines, a slightly better performance, a nice counter for all of Chilla’s (“Inside you mad you ain’t fucking with me, youze a Bonnie nigga”) Bonnie drops/Dizaster lines and a wider degree of angles throughout the match, especially in rounds 1 and 3 to take the win.
Verdict: Math Hoffa (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Chilla Jones -“When y’all want bars, he just be rapping facts at you…I mean this gonna be a serious [Serius] disaster [Dizaster]”
Recap: Judged battle from KOTD between Profecy and Wronzy sees a load of spitfire bars from both battlers that allows for a split in the early rounds before Profecy, with a more consistently sanguine flow that scored with plenty of bully bars, witty punches and fiery wordplay, taking it at the end.
Verdict: Profecy (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Profecy – “Been busting guns since I was fucking young…that’s Asian porn!”
Recap: First off, I have no idea where the Showoff/Tsu Surf comparisons keeps coming form because they really do not sound alike at all. Secondly, Showoff’s stylistic wordplay and fiery gun (“Left this body with nothing but holes, I borrowed Goldie’s mac”) bars easily got him the 1st round and edged him the 2nd here in this entertaining matchup versus Bangz. Lastly, while Bangz has plenty of charisma along with some hot (“I’ll grip the pipe or you’ll get the knife, I figure full pizza, ff you could give a buck, you could get a slice!”) bars, the hometown fans were clearly gassing up some of his lines at times and one can only hope that that shit Daylyt started with the collection cap getting passed around gets deaded quick by more promoters/battle league owners taking care of their performers pockets.
Verdict: Showoff (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Showoff – “You the type to let outsiders come in and take over your land, you the 1st type of nigga”
