Recap: Strizzy Streetz had a couple of nice (“He try to run from me, good luck, I’m hitting every house up like I’m fundraising!”) lines and the MJ bars were cool, but other than that the local hero failed to impress with way too many reaches to count, plus standard bars that were totally gassed up by the hometown crowd. And even tho you didn’t get the best K-Shine here (not to mention how hard it was to hear some of Shine’s bars with all the chit-chatter going on throughout his round), he still managed to impress with some righteous name flips and feelgood (“Boy I get him wet in broad day, that’s a sun shower”) punchlines to gain an easy win.
Verdict: K-Shine (W) 1-0
Favorite line: K-Shine – “You gonna jump whp?, nigga you don’t see they shells? I’ll get Streetz [streets] blocked off like PAL”
Recap: Bar-wise, Pro Verb’s witty (“Weapons drawn? you run uo the stairs and get your Precious on, running right behind Zone, like you Megatron!”) versatility is able to keep up with Haixian steady combo oi potent schemes and flexing (“I aim high, so I had to take it down, before you can move, you’ll get capped, how the graduation sound?!”) wordplay. However, Pro Verb’s flow, which was interrupted by a handful of slip-ups, ends up costing him the win in what was otherwise a pretty good battle.
Verdict: Haixian (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Haixian – “All I had was a .22, but I put it in front of you, now you Gwitty, some weak shit got you dying in the crowd!”
Recap: In this Rookies vs. Vets battle between John John da Don and Prep. even with the (“Hold on, NuNu Nells your manager?!, fuck you had to do for that?, how we supposed to know what she could do for you, when we don’t even know what she do for Smack?”) hottest line of the beginning round JJDD still gets edged by a slightly more wordplay-heavy and set-up (“Question: verse Hollow, how did it feel to finally throw your own punch?!”) rich Prep. After that, thanks in part to Prep making rookie mistakes like wasting bars on other rappers and tossing out rebuttals that didn’t land, it was pretty much all JJDD. Who even while dishing his own versions of a couple of bars you might’ve heard before, still offered up enough witty personals, hot punchlines and PG-centric tutorials to take the latter two rounds over much less strapping opponent.
Verdict: John John da Don (W) 2-1
Favorite line: John John da Don – “No wonder you from the DMV…with all them L’s you got!”
Recap: Hey, battle rap has come a long way and I have no problem with Eminem, a former battle rapper himself, giving back to the culture by putting on this Total Slaughter event. Still, why Ebro was there is beyond me, considering all the shitting on battle rap that he’s been renowned noted for. And while the production was slick and on point, mic issues seemed to be a problem throughout the night I hope that someone approached host Sway after the battle to tell him what the meaning of ‘rebuttal’ is.
As for this battle, a comfortable and clearly motivated Arsonal easily 3-0’ed a usually competitive Big T with a steady barrage of winning personals, feelgood (“What happened T, you used to be the man killing them, bars was heavy, but you got lighter over the years..Aunt Vivian!”) wordplay and rich set-ups and let to even (“I’m from where they say don’t pull your glock out if you don’t plan on it shooting, shhhhhhiiiiittttt I’m like Daylyt tattoo artist, I’m drawing on a nigga even if I don’t know what I’m doing!”) richer performance bars. And while Big T didn’t seemed to be intimated by the big stage, his lack of potent wordplay, persistent bouts of righteous (“Nigga I killed a lion, what y’all mad I ain’t spar hard with the kittens?”) filler and stumbles in the last round were a bit surprising to say the least. Too bad as Arsonal’s latter rounds weren’t nearly as crazy as his first, which lets you know that if Big T had brought his A-game, he would’ve had a chance good to win. But none of that was the Arsonal’s fault as Jersey gets another dub.
Verdict: Arsonal (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Arsonal – “Tahiry was like this with JR Smith [licks lips emulating sucking a –] it’s a boy!”
Recap: Like a boxer preparing for a big fight, it’s a wonder watching the ever-passionate Danny Myers prepare himself for a battle what with the chap stick, water bottle and of course, the intense stare down of his opponent before they ring the bell. And as Diesel finds out here in this 1-round, West-coast AHAT battle, Danny’s focus usually pays off in the ring as after a pretty solid, raucous when needed and punch-centric turn by his opponent, Danny wrecks him with a systematically violent, punchline-crazy and storytelling rich go-around that your favorite up-coming battle rapper can certainly learn from.
Verdict: Danny Myers (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Danny Myers – “I’ll test you before I put you through war like the ASVAB!”
Recap: Putting aside the incessant crowd noise (including, surprisingly some on stage), QB and Morawsha engage in a dope and highly entertaining 3-round battle for Bosschick Battle League. Morawsha would stay competitive with a fly rebuttal game (esp. in round 1) that along with a gang of bruising name flips/schemes, witty burns and piercing punchlines/personals let the audience know that she’s a problem. However QB, flexing throughout the battle with a boatload of disrespectful darts, hardbody punches, some stinging wordplay and boastful barbs, gets the win here, taking each of the opening rounds with a couple of condensed, haymaker-lit turns that secured the vic before a more consistently spicy Morawsha took the 3rd.
Verdict: QB (W) 2-1
Favorite line: QB – “I’m like a bitch with no ass, I’m just not gonna switch!”
Recap: In this 3-round battle from Crown of Tha South Battle League, a punch-heavy Kush Cloud and a mayhem-driven Krucial Ken split the first round, before Ken spout’s more rapid (“If any nigga from your clique defend you, I’ll throw flame, I got that ‘ol flame like me and my ex-bitch rekindled!”) heat in the 2nd to back a nice and competitive, but slip-up stained Kush in the 2nd to take the lead. However, despite another slight hiccup, the still punchline swinging Kush dishes just enough nifty haymakers to out-rap what was a mostly pedestrian turn from his opponent, thus making this one a draw in the end.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: Kush Cloud – “Why use aggression to kill, when my character’s only charismatic [carry these matic’s]!”
Recap: Another dope battle from RBE as Ah Di Boom and JC put on a gleaming showcase on bar efficiency and pen game acumen. From jump Ah Di strives to win, spitting rich (“I’m a one-man army, John Wick, and I get Dumber and Dumber when I’m driving my dog whip!”) bars along with (“I got size on me, he ain’t trying to the tussle, if this bitch fight it’s a wrap here, I prepared his funeral, he ain’t trying to the Hustle”) feelgood quips on JC’s notorious dance steps, all backed up by his usual spirited performance. Still, while JC spat a somewhat shorter round, his bars were just as intense, delivering on variety with spicy (“For some reason, niggas without bars done found a way to thrive, then say I only talk about killing, well it’s only been 40 battles, bitch it’s a thousand ways to die”) personals and amiable schemes, while scoring (“I’ll put a blunt out on his face, that’s a hash tag”) higher with their impact as well as a crisper flow. Although JC steps up his performance and stays consistent with the fiery (“You’re not vicious and Ah Di about as real the one McLovin carry”) punches, Ah Di gets tighter with the (“Army shots, he’ll be a corpse, now be all you can be, that mean Omarion about to have an Ice Box where his heart used to be”) wordplay and edges a close round 2 with slightly less filler. It’s the 3rd round that sees each opponent’s skillset fully on display yet separating themselves vigorously, as while Ah Di continues to drop some (“He mad, look like I just touched a female cord, Misfit”) gems, his well-noted foibles for decreased viability, reaching (“He could be Mus-a-lamb I’ll still go ham…”; “…this when I’m gonna try dent [Trident]” and getting distracted (Really, using a big match against JC to call out T-Rex?!? that’s what blogs are for) with random BS materializes–all the while becoming a perfect foil for JC’s nonstop stream of stinging set-ups, potent (“Y’all wave arms to perform, not in the streets”) personals, repeated (“You got a of niggas wanted with you, but in the Spur of the moment the whole team will pass before any one of them shoot”) haymakers and wicked punchlines. All told Yak Town wins again.
Verdict: JC (W) 2-1
Favorite line: JC – “It’s apparent tho, y’all putting marble against carpet, you can’t compare the flow”
Recap: Well, this was an easy one to judge as Daylyt uses some behind-the-scene drama with host Eurgh to literally walk out on his battle with Rone. Of course, if it was that serious Daylyt could’ve thought about the fans who paid their hard-earned money to see him, backed out of the event earlier, did a blog or something to air his grievances with Eurgh and allow Don’t Flop enough time to find somebody else to replace him. But Daylyt wouldn’t be Daylyt if he did things the proper way…smh. Credit Rone for maintaining his cool and spit his bars–the crowd certainly ate it up.
Verdict: Rone (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Rone – “He fucks over his own culture, like a porn star fight, but it’s cool, as long as he gets on World Star, right?”
Recap: Dizaster visits Germany to take on local rapper/artist Tierstar and while the mostly pedestrian crowd fave hit with some witty punches and mocking personals here and there, overall this one was all Diz, who kept the scoreboard lit with a gang of raucous heat, spicy punchlines, wicked 4-bar set-ups/freestyles, hilarious anecdotes and fiery schemes to earn a 30.
Verdict: Dizaster (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Dizaster – “The toughest man in your circle is Angela Merkel!”
Recap: Showing an ability to dispense hot bars (“You playing with health, so I can’t wait any sooner, so I bought a gun so big, the bitch came with the shooter!”) here and there, Harlem’s P. Jones undoubtedly elicits potential here against the ever-entertaining, (“I ain’t Top Tier or a PG, but I tear tops…off GP!”) punch-heavy and versatile Jerry Wess. However, a downpour of slip-ups in rounds 1 and 3 by Jones in addition to Wess’ continual prowess throughout the battle, equates to an easy bodybag for the Brooklyn rapper.
Verdict: Jerry Wess (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Jerry Wess – “Jones, you a two-percent discount…you’re not a big deal!”
Recap: Scintillating (“And I know y’all can’t see his soul, but hear it linger, cuz these hands will sit ya with your creator, they spirit fingers!”) wordplay combined with a plethora of intoxicating performance bars by Jakkboy Maine makes for an easy bodybag over a stumble-prone Goldie in this one-rounder from the Quiet Zone.
Verdict: Jakkboy Maine (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Jakkboy Maine – “I’m hot headed, juggling gravel, I’ll rock steady, Before and After pictures, back words, because they got heavy!”
Recap: A dope battle between (“Head shot, I done kill more dreams than sleep apnea!”; “Nerd rapper or street nigga, whatever the case, I eat ’em, like Mikey, life made me this way!”) Xcel and (“Every rapper he ate..ass, I could take it a step farther [step-father] like a play dad!”; “X, ain’t nothing God body about false prophets!”) Hazey Williams’ outcome is unfortunately decided early as the former chokes early in the 1st round. What with both batters equally dispensing fiery bars in the latter rounds, it’s Xcel’s lack of preparation that ultimately ends up costing him this one.
Verdict: Hazey Williams (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Hazey Williams – “That nigga prez was your brother, but he got to clap dumb shit, Merci disowned him, that made him a punk bitch, you co-signed it, praising that fuck shit, ‘cuz Five percenters were Islam niggas that jumped ship!”
Recap: From Don’t Flop, a versatile Real Deal, scoring with a variety of stifling punchlines, witty personals, solid off-the-dome heat and spicy storytelling bars, puts up enough points (esp. during a killer opening round) to beat back a mostly competitive effort from a mayhem-lit and punch/personal heavy at times Syd Vicious, who after getting edged by RD in both of the early rounds, was on his way to at least taking the 3rd if not for a couple of slip-ups.
Verdict: Real Deal (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Real Deal – “And this is Syd from Atlanta?, this for the ’92 Pirates, no way I could let him slide!”
Recap: Dishing fiery punches as well as ripping on his opponent’s government name/swag and throwing in a couple of nice freestyle’s for good measure, DNA handily beats a very pedestrian S.Youngin in this one-rounder from Coloradorap.
Verdict: DNA (W) 1-0
Favorite line: DNA – “You try to front with that .9, but that .8 shooting different, so once I throwback Bullets, y’all gonna see me take a nigga from St. Louis Spirit!”
Recap: The hurting Born’s been consistently putting on dudes for the past couple of years just begs for a return to the URL stage. Indeed, it’s another strong showing here against a (You’ll get cut out the picture by the cream of the crop”) game, but overmatched Xcel. Delivering exquisite (“Run up on him like ‘give it up’. but he broke as hell, nuthin’ on him but Android, I guess we all can’t be perfect Cel [cell]”) punchline after (“Try me, get a single hit like Def Loaf”) punchline with steady ease in addition to a flurry of rich name flips. Born’s consistent verbal hijinks prove to be too much for Xcel, whose shortened rounds and elongated set-ups, didn’t help matters either.
Verdict: Born (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Born – “I said what up nigga, I know you hype to me, but the only way I’ll lose my footing? diabetes”
Recap: Spilling with confidence and performing (he even brought a mop out) righteously throughout his 3 rounds with hardbody punchlines, boastful set-ups and a nifty mix of fiery name flips as well as some feelgood personals, Presidential Dubz outshines a pretty solid in his own right Stylez to take this 3-rounder from We Go Hard.
Verdict: Presidential Dubz (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Presidential Dubz – “One hit will have him rocking on cam like Jada reaction!”
Recap: Nice with the rebuttals, piercing with the multi-syllabic flow, pointed with the personals and more consistently solid with the punches/wordplay, Illmaculate also takes advantage of a lackadaisical 1st and 3rd rounds from DNA to earn the win in this 3-rounder from KOTD.
Verdict: Illmaculate (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Illmaculate – “See, it’s all a perception game, marketing plan, but this the heart of a lion versus the heart of a lamb, my words pierce through the facade of a man, it’s like punching through his chest and holding his heart in my hand!”
Recap: By the time a somewhat subdued Bangz ups the ante with a banging (“I got a punch for every nigga that don’t believe in the cross…that’s an atheist!”) 3rd round, it’s a case of too little, too late as Aks’ feening bars and spitfire (“I’ll have bullets spiraling through his scalp, turn Bangz [bangs] into flat twist!”) wordplay edges him the early rounds, and allows him to hold on for the win. Verdict: Aks (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Aks – “I’m from Brooklyn, nigga I just left from the East, my whole block getting chicken, call it Sesame Street!”
Recap: Shakespeare once said “Brevity is the soul of wit”. If only someone had reminded Ah Di Boom of that before he finished up his somewhat abbreviated rounds 1 and 3 here against D.O.T. Indeed, using Boom’s sublime 2nd round as an example, where even D.O.T’s best rhyme (“I’m that cold, this balde on this knife rusty, that’s ‘cuz the blood on on it is that old”) provocateurs are topped by Ah Di’s witty (“I grab the mettle and pull the handle, that’s a fridge!”) mocking of his opponent’s most vexing foible, in addition to doubly proficient performance bars and some fiending (“Blind man at the restroom, cuz I read D.O.T. [dot] at the door!”) wordplay. Still, ignore the few weed carriers in the crowd who might’ve gassed some of his more pedestrian bars and credit D.O.T. for what’s arguably his most consistent overall performance, rich with festive (“I got a bullet that’ll knock your eye out your socket, maybe you should look out!”) punchlines, amiable bars and fiery (“I got a chopper with a kickstand, he like ‘What that mean?’, the leg’s long and the butt poke out, like Ms. Hustle”) anecdotes. D.O.T. resurrected indeed.
Verdict: D.O.T. (W) 2-1
Favorite line: D.O.T. – “If I catch you in Brooklyn, Carter will release 6 like Young Thug”.
Recap: Punch for punch, (“They’ll find ya body stiff in the park, my young ratchet was playing freeze tag!”) Mo Mula and (“My razor blade is ripping skin, ya man’s could get sliced too, y’all could share cuts like you splitting dividends!”) T Rav were pretty even, but too many visits from Earl and a better overall performance from his opponent cost Rav any chance if winning this one-rounder from Colosseum Battle League.
Verdict: Mo Mula (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Mo Mula – “You’ll never see me sweat, I got mad genes, my Pierre’s [peers] are Haitian, I know mad Jean’s!”
Recap: I agree with Jaz the Rapper on this one: Charlie Clips being on this Rookies vs. Vets card was just weird. No disrespect to T-Top, but considering that Clips is pretty much Top 5 on anybody’s list, to me a rook has got to put in more work before earning the chance to face the likes of Clips. So perhaps a more suitable option would’ve been Math (who’s publicly voiced wanting to face T-Top) or Cortez or even Arsonal. Still, a good match nonetheless and it was nice to see Method Man voice what I think most hardcore battle rap fans feel about mainstream artists trying to get down with the scene. That said, I got Clips (more variety, fierce schemes and sharper [“But if y’all do compare him to Tyson and he weave them first two rounds when that .4 bustin’, Total Slaughter ‘cuz the 3rd round dropping mics like Joe Buddens”] bars) clearly taking round one and Top clearly taking round two with that electric Trap talk, ill (“How many times we gonna guess what room in the same house?’) personals and wicked gun bars. A close 3rd round saw Top spit some nice personals and more of that real street (“I’m a drug lord, I’m only charging a rack a tier [racketeer])” chatter he’s become known for. Yet, Clips came one better here, mocking T-Top style and repetition before delivering a gripping prayer, some tutorials and enough stellar (“Maury show, I call DNA, he know who da [to] pop”) bars to edge this one at the end.
Verdict: Charlie Clips (W) 2-1
Favorite line: T-Top – “All y’all see is fire, but I notice the kickback, that Clip worth two good rounds, like your bitch ass!”
Recap: In a noisy room that seemed for the most part, to have no idea that a battle was taking place, Joe survives a 2nd round choke with enough solid punchlines and nice personals in round 1 as well as a more condensed round 3, to beat back a gritty at times, but too-many-dry-spots-having Hazeman.
Verdict: Joe (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Joe – “Two pistols, you’ll be torn between the two like a tough decision!”
Recap: In what was a pretty substandard battle all around, littered with too many pedestrian bars, Lexx Luthor’s strength in ample wit eeeks out a win over Jimz’s brawny punchlines, especially in a deciding 3rd that saw a more condensed Lexx display more consistency.
Verdict: Lexx Luthor (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Lexx Luthor – “You said I don’t really battle in the hood, today, see I ain’t really at’cha…guess someone don’t know that I’m 2-0 in Africa!”
Recap: Good to see Bill Collector back on the stage, a little less animated, but more consistent and still able to put on a quality show. Against fellow PA homie E. Ness, Bill stuck to a balance of familiar jokes on his opponent’s renowned rap history, some ill personals, righteous gun (“No cheap sneaks, this a math test with no cheat sheet, hot 12 will get you squared from one .44”) bars and even some nifty wordplay (“You still the same OL E”) that all delivered on the scorecard. A terrific first round by both battlers had the crowd hype. But in the case of Ness a little too hyped as while BC for the most part stayed true his character, while Ness had his (“Watch how my trigger finger do a thousand reps”) moments after round 1, he seemed to gas himself with some of his own more lukewarn bars (it’s arguable too that Ness used some mixtape verses in his round 3 since his crew seemed to know what was coming) while showing more concern for putting on an entertaining show in front of his hometown fans than actually out-rapping his opponent. First two rounds tied, Bill edged the 3rd with more variety along with enough performance bars to make the late, great Robin Harris proud.
Verdict: Bill Collector (W) 2-1
Favorite line: E. Ness – “I’ll send shots that’ll pass through Bill, cut his fucking lights out, that’s a past due Bill”
Recap: Along with basically retiring Okwerdz from battle rap, Rone made a name for himself during the old Graind Time days with an eccentric delivery, congenial white-boy swag, self-deprecating bars and more-often-than-not wicked comedic timing. Add on the repeated name flips and while not much has changed strategy wise, it was still enough to beat an inconsistent Big T during his appearance on the KOTD stage. T takes the first round with a better performance and more variety to his bars, which included enough gun sounds to make one think they were visiting a gun range instead of a rap battle. Yet during a 2nd round that his opponent pretty much handed him on a platter, while Rone’s delivery was little off, he still managed to earn an unexpected dance from Big T with his caustic (“Bro, I can’t even hang with T cuz son stressing, he thinks everything is a drug or a gun reference, like I said Molly, Miley and Nina is in the back of the whip, he said pills, coke and a nine? I said no, actual chicks”) wit, hitting bars and some frenetic wordplay. Last round saw Big T hit with some dope (“You like Brad Pitt in Fight Club, they got you out here looking crazy beating yourself up”) personals, but his sardonic angle on Rone’s presumed lifestyle could’ve and should’ve hit a lot harder. And while Rone went predictable with the fat themes during round 3, he still killed it with too-funny one-liners and enough real life (“You are inconvenient to be around, how awful does that feel?) bars to gain the win.
Verdict: Rone (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Big T – “You king? I heard you was selling coke in college to all your rich white friends, shit I walk up to you like ‘Hi guys’ [slaps hands] giving high fives, I’ll fit right in”
Recap: Apparently allergic to time limits, one gets the feeling upon watching this battle that (“I could let that pound hit him square in the middle, that’s how you hashtag him!”) Oace Spades could rap forever if you let him. Too bad, as Spades’ mostly a-ight bars throughout his elongated rounds leave you appreciating even moreso Glueazy’s rambunctious gun bars, fiending (“….but in the same breath I was taught to grip that razor, red beard, mask on, like I’m Big Van Vader!”) punchlines and witty personals throughout the latter’s 3 shorter, but still victorious rounds here.
Verdict: Glueazy (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Glueazy – “You remind me of Asics Spades, you wasted space!”
Recap: Not your best Danny Myers in this 1-round AngryFan Radio phone battle against former Diplomat affiliate Tom Gist. But with the gritty and steady flowing, but intricate lacking Gist not doing much to ring up the scoreboard, Danny’s transient mayhem and piercing personals/name flips do just enough damage to give him the win.
Verdict: Danny Myers (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Danny Myers – “You ain’t even an industry nigger, I don’t have time for it, Cam’ron and JR Writer riding luxury shit, I guess they gave Tom [a] Ford!”
Recap: Barbarian Rap League battle between Kid Chaos and C Dot contains some messed footage in the 3rd round (thus, the asterisk on verdict end). But by then a confident Chaos, via a barrage of flexing personals, steely gun lines and stifling punchlines in the earlier rounds, already had this one in the bag.
Verdict: Kid Chaos (W) 2-0*
Favorite line: Kid Chaos – “The guy’s I be dapping fire more ratchets than McDonald’s!”
Recap: Real Deal uses a variety of gripping personals, hitting (“Twinz said he putting out a trailer for this and you asked if it was double-wide”) jokes, nice race quips and steady rocking bars to perform a bodybag on Sno. Who with plenty of lame set-ups, a whole lot of filler and weak lines like “Where I’m from we got so many guns, if we start shooting for the starts, we might fuck around and shoot the sun out the sky” clearly showed that he only showed up to pick up his paycheck.
Verdict: Real Deal (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Real deal – “Don’t judge a book by its cover, I’m Billy Hoyle with them knee highs and velcro snaps”
Recap: Bar snobs will delight in this one as Chess and Brooklyn Carter go toe-to-toe for 3 rounds with a wide load of gripping punchlines, rich wordplay and steady performance bars. Both brought plenty of heat with Chess winning the crowd over and over with fiery lines like “Split this guy in parts, use body parts for souvenirs” and “You hype now?, Mario game, pipe down!” Still, the always animated Carter held his own, relishing in urban (“I do bids, think grandma going to bed, how I remove wig”) theatrics while making his comeuppance (“What you know about your moms asking what you want to eat nigga…and never coming back from the store!?’) readily known throughout the battle. Close and competitive battle throughout with little personals, the difference came down to Chess being more condensed and consistent with his bars while Carter took too long with some of his set-ups/angles, especially in rounds 1 and 2.
Verdict: Chess (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Chess – “Silly rabbit, I go stupid hare [here]’
Recap: While there were plenty of nice bars in this battle, neither Big Kannon or Chedda Cheese registered much on the haymaker scale. That said, while Chedda came with a better performance and may’ve landed more punches (landing hard with a nice rebuttal in the middle of the 2nd round too), his bars were too-often cartoonish, he may’ve bit a bar from Rone and his lines were a bit dated. All the while Kannon’s wordplay (“If you say Cheese, usually a Kannon’s [Canon] seen flashing after that”), schemes and veracity stayed consistent throughout to edge him the first two rounds.
Verdict: Big Kannon (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Big Kannon – “Your punches, are the gayest fool, why? cuz’ they dated dude”
Recap: Syah Boy makes up for a couple of reaches with a barrage of heated punchlines mixed in with some fiery personals, witty (“I just left my drawers at your bitch crib…can I get my socks?”) anecdotes and frenzied wordplay. All in all, just enough to beat back what was a dope (“I can box and cook with the metal [medal]…I’m George Foreman!”), but not quite as versatile performance by Mack Mel.
Verdict: Syah Boy (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Syah Boy – “It don’t stop, I even had a talk with the .9 like ‘nah, don’t pop’, but the machine got a mind of its own, like I Robot!”
Recap: A couple of Brooklyn up-n-comers, Dougy and J.O, both bring the heat/street shit in this matchup from WeGoHard. But it’s Dougy, with fiery sports bars, elite (“Glock 9, clean off the shelf, old-school shooter, I squeeze arms, like fiends with the belt!”) gun lines and relentless smoke/wordplay, that sets the tone early and often throughout all his three rounds, leaving the mostly subtle, speakeasy bars of J.O hammering, but with little overall effect, much less a chance to win.
Verdict: Dougy (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Dougy – “Half my uncles, locked on a Fed case, ‘cuz they was on the block, pumping rock, like a head fake!”
Recap: The aggressive, braggadocio and gun-centric bars of B. Strong get lit at times, but too often lack intricacy, therefore losing steam, much less any chance of beating a more consistent, set-up/punch potent and wordplay-heavy R Streetz in this one-round battle from 100 Bars Magazine.
Verdict: R Streez (W) 1-0
Favorite line: R Streetz – “Save that rah-rah bully shit for rap nigga’s, not with me, ‘cuz you won’t even finish that sentence…it’s like he copped a plea!”
Recap: Close one here between AHAT denizens Jey The Nitewing and UN with the latter getting the win via a slightly more steady delivery of hitting punchlines and direct zingers in the deciding 3rd round.
Verdict: UN (W) 2-1
Favorite line: UN – “Three rounds, didn’t use one fucking Batman joke, but if I give him that [BOOM!] [POW!] [WAM!] he gonna be like ‘ Un, Holy smokes!'”
Recap: Well, Stuey Newton certainly earned this one. That’s how nice his opponent (“I’ll smack, Earth, Wind and Fire out this man, and I don’t care for oldies!”) Logic413 was throughout, but for a few predictable punches and some second round dry spots that cost him that deciding round. Still, for Newton to spit a barrage of (“Mac with the beam on it, I lean on it like it’s trustworthy”) haymakers in his opening round, before dishing an even more versatile, performance-heavy, bar-centric round that also got him the 2nd, it not for Logic’s resiliency along with pontificating a little too much in the 3rd, this might’ve been a close 3-0.
Verdict: Stuey Newton (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Stuey Newton – “Run inside his place, then annihilate him, it’s like ‘Good morning’ from a bitch that you finally dating, ya wake to the texts [Tek’s] with the smiley faces!”
Recap: This doesn’t quite sound like Charron, but the video was upped on YouTube in 2015 and it’s supposed to be an 1-round, audio-only, LetsBeef.com battle from 2009, which would mean Charron was still in his teens at the time. Plus, one would think that if it wasn’t Charron that you heard here, he himself or one of his many fans would’ve gotten it took down by now. Anyway, against a solid showing from Brutally Honest, a slicker-talking Charron out-punches his opponent for the win.
Verdict: Charron (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Charron – “One shot, blink he’s gone, using all my trigger finger’s till my pinky’s gone!”
Recap: Rookies vs. Vets battle between the charismatic Mr. Wavy and the wily K-Shine certainly had its share of moments (like Wavy’s 2nd round ‘Oh I get it, you like ’em, a little debatable’ punch which I thought was actually a lot better than the notorious ‘Shotgun in the pants leg I’m walking like a zombie wit it’ performance line from round 1), gritty punchlines, flinging (Shine: “The kick back gon make it look like he shot me!”) mayhem. ringing name flips (esp. from Shine), rook vs. vet chatter, fiery schemes/storytelling and even, in the 3rd round, a human prop courtesy of Shine. That said, overall Wavy (give him the 2nd and 3rd rounds after a debatable 1st) gets the edge here as the Brooklyn emcee not only displayed a level of versatility with his raps that you don’t normally see from relative newbies, but Shine’s often erratic flow combined with a somewhat lazy 3rd round definitely gave you the feel that he wasn’t as prepared as his opponent, thus the loss.
Verdict: Mr. Wavy (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Mr. Wavy – “I put niggas in front of lines like they got some free throws coming, that Bull shit’ll get you hurt, I got a D Rose button!”
Recap: “I’m dead nice”–never witnessed a more confident, flat-out consistent and all-out superb Danja Zone than here against Lotta Zay. So prolific was Danja’s pen game, that nothing Lotta did in this battle would’ve mattered at the end. So despite a rare choke by Lotta in round one, being followed by a couple of (“I’ll leave y’all all hurt, Rugrat open and crank it, y’all see the Tom’s squirt”) average rounds, with a wide array of fierce wordplay, booming punchlines, spirited (“Zay verse Danja, bet, but if this a battle on Olympus, in light of when greats connect, then why he kept getting invited like Facebook game requests?’) bars and addictive (“Cut out your middle and side man, like when Frank went to Thailand!”) crowd-pleasers, Danja Zone not only only gets the white towel thrown in during round 3, but his stock should go way up after catching a body against a pretty formidable opponent.
Verdict: Danja Zone (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Danja Zone – “Headshot, y’all getting the head at the same freaking time, that’s a 69!”
Recap: Kicking those righteous, Pro-Black tutorials, but also equally mired in scathing personals, fiery schemes and piercing gun bars here and there, an aggressive and pointed B. Dot puts a hurting on a lyrically pensive, but mostly low bar efficient Fiji Osa in this 3-rounder from L.A. Battle Groundz.
Verdict: B. Dot (W) 3-0
Favorite line: B. Dot – “I gotta laugh, Hoodwoods and Alcatraz, I thought y’all would provide me a threat, yunno, give me the type of nigga that would ride on my set and send me a message when they slide up with Tek’s, instead I get a Marine named Fiji, well this ain’t the type to respect, I mean he obsessed with water, they got me spraying at a nigger that like to get wet!”
Recap: Judging from his reactions during Dre Dennis’ raps, his freestyles and a couple of game rebuttals. it’s pretty clear that either Big Kannon didn’t take this battle seriously from jump or sipping on too much of that somethin’ somethin’ effected his game plan. And while for most vets in the game that’d be a bit a huge setback, credit Kannon’s experience, rebuttal game and verbal (“I will smoke the rest of the loud boys after I smoke the leader, but don’t trip, he’ll get the whole clip…but any extras get added to bonus features!”) potency for making the battle close, especially versus the steady stream of heavy (“…bnt on Smack they ain’t think your rhymes mattered, so you was great in school but was bad in the league, Dajuan Wagner!”) heat and performance bars Dennis was bringing–which in the end edged the rook a dub.
Verdict: Dre Dennis (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Dre Dennis – “They say come back from the block…Sanaa Lathan in Love and Basketball, I keep my arm up after the shot!”
Recap: Nice battle with a shitload of swift punches between Chilla Jones and 100 Bulletz. Chilla edges it in the end, but 100 Bulletz with quality (“I’m here to catch bodies and stack coffins, it’s like a watching a URL battle…let’s skip all the Smack talking”) punchline after (“Call me Carlton Banks? That’s cool, you gonna see snap with the Tom Jones”) punchline along with repeated quips on Chilla’s style, definitely made his opponent work for it. Still, altogether it’s better flow/deliveries/set-ups, more variety with the (“Words is weapons and these bars off the chain like nunchucks”) bars and less filler per the kid from Bosstown that gets him rounds 2 and 3 to take this KOTD matchup.
Verdict: Chilla Jones (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Chilla Jones – “This gun so big that if I load a clip and squeeze, it’ll pick Bulletz up off the ground like a Hitman remix!”
Recap: The Rookies vs. Vets card has certainly lived up to the hype what with 3 dope battles released so far including this one between Brizz Rawsteen and Aye Verb–a really good look considering that Verb can be so hit or miss. As expected Rawsteen delivered three rounds of consistent heat. Whether it was neck-snapping (“I thought he had the iron low like it’s anemic, nigga I feed the iron shells, it throw ’em back up, that bitch bulimic!”) personals or cinematic (“In this movie he get hooked from the [raises right fist and points at Verb] right hand, cuz I know what you did last summer”) wordplay, Brizz didn’t leave any doubt that he came to win. Yet, through the first couple of rounds Verb matched him, mocking Brizz’s uber-aggressive style, unloading sparkling reminders (“You gotta be special, you can’t be mediocre and come see the Yoda!”) on his vet status and styling on Brizz’s team with witty (“Look at your fucking squad, these heathens and thots, 2-4-6-8, the 3-5-7 even them odds!”) punchlines. The 3rd round is where Brizz stands out the most, staying hot with a deluge of dope performance bars, brash anecdotes and a consistent delivery. While Verb, despite a couple of (“You into martial arts? Me too, but it’s not the same, two arms up, mean kick, nigga this is not the crane!”) shiners and surprisingly saving his signature “Showtime” for the last round, takes too long with his angles and suffers from a little too much filler in a shortened round. A great effort by both parties, but in the end Brizz’s lack of originality with his personals versus Verb’s better display of variety in the first couple of rounds gets the vet from St. Louis the win.
Verdict: Aye Verb (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Brizz Rawsteen – “Do you think you compare better? Or do you just think your hair’s better? I mean, see this is the difference between niggas with barbers and niggas with hairdressers”
Recap: Some production issues in the 3rd round doesn’t ruin this competitive punchfest between M. Ciddy and Anubis, with the first couple of rounds highlighted by Anubis’ understated wordplay and Ciddy’s wide-ranging vocab that stayed potent even amongst other more recreative verbal gymnastics. And for a more consistent Ciddy, that was just enough leverage and zing to edge the first two rounds, couple with a win.
Verdict: M. Ciddy (W) 2-1
Favorite line: M. Ciddy – “See, I handle breaking crews, if the camera can’t review, can your pics are alike, I’m panoramic makes moves, Madagascar shit, I gotta animate the zoo!”
Recap: If Skelly paid more attention to the bars he writes that actually (“I bet you got a gun so big you couldn’t fit it inside your rental, well I got a gun so small I got it inside the venue”, “You couldn’t give a bitch the ‘D’ with a key to your city”) hit, he might actually study his lines and work on being more consistent in order to uplift what is too often a lukewarm pen game. That being said, easy win for Marvwon here, a more confident flow in addition to way more efficient wordplay and nice performance (“They say that one monkey can’t stop no show, well I guarantee [points gun fingers at Skelly] you that one llama can”) bars to take rounds 1 and 3 along with the dub.
Verdict: Marvwon (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Marv Won – “I’m trying to see what that mouth do, so I slid in her DM’s, ‘cuz I heard she works on the head all night…like a Tylenol PM”
Recap: Against a mostly solid, pretty (“Face shot [bwoh!], that shot will put Bonus features on the other side of him like a dual disc!”) intense and punch-heavy Craig Lamar, Bonus leaves it all on the table with 3 elongated rounds that were filled to the rim with steady mayhem, whether in the form of stinging (“I’ll go over ya head to put you under Jersey…like shoulder pads!”) wordplay or fierce punchlines or for that matter braggadocio bars that lit up the room. All enough, after getting edged in round 1 by a slightly more condensed opponent, to take the latter two rounds and the win.
Verdict: Bonus (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Bonus – “I’ll start with a round to his head, then line the body up like a stick figure!”
Recap: Nothing too out of the ordinary here, but Mo Mula’s still spouts a more buoyant flow while overall dishing more consistently harder bars, a lil Espanol and delicious name (“I’m cooking Fettuccine like fettuccine, leave the noodle flat!”) flips to take this one-rounder from an aggressive, but mostly hit-or-miss (“I bear arms and I squeeze them tight, that’s a big hug, these tips will leave Mula [moola] all over the cakes [tosses money in the air], that’s a strip club!”) Fettuccine20.
Verdict: Mo Mula (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Mo Mula – “Mula is a fucking animal and that’s a compliment, I’m from a block where the pizza shop gotta tie up the condiments”
Recap: First, no slip-ups on Chess during his round one considering the kid only stopped because he was sick and all. Secondly, dope battle. Chess did his thing on the big stage, landing plenty of wicked jabs, punchlines and rich (“Put the guns up. I got several, I palm metal, the .9 get you, let two bust [bus] in the same spot, that’s MTA behind schedule”) bars on DNA the PG Killer with utter confidence throughout. Still, for all of Chess’ comeuppance, during the first couple of rounds DNA did him one better, edging both rounds with dope performance (“I’mma use the right hand on Chess, that’s the pledge of allegiance”) bars, witty (“You couldn’t beat Top rhyming, so why y’all souping him up?!”) personals, strong (“I’ll knock a ‘G’ down for acting G’d up, I love Gucci!”) wordplay and a couple of slick (“My gun got a mind of its own, it be letting off 8 rounds, some retarded shit, I’m calling it A-Town!”) haymakers. And thank goodness too because Chess’ 3rd round was a straight-up classic, (“Double barrel to his face, look like he was using binoculars!”) haymaker after (“You from the school of hard knocks?, I’m from the college of kicking doors down!”) haymaker combined with a superb performance/delivery and exquisite wordplay that served as yet another reminder of just how talented this kid is. Nice tutorial session from DNA in the 3rd (with a cameo appearance from the infamous Professor Shine), but after taking it on the chin during Chess’ 3rd, DNA should be glad he outscored his opponent often enough in the early rounds and was able to get outta there with a win–respect the youth indeed.
Verdict: DNA (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Chess – “Open-mic, poets night, I like to snap, keep the ratchet under the bed like wifey back!’
Recap: Best thing D.O.T. did for his career was own his “reach” status, as it’s not only gotten him more shine in the game, but overall it’s made him a more complete battle rapper. As seen here against (“If I see you with Ice Cream, you better get to dipping D.O.T.”) Dubby Dub, who made the mistake of thinking he could simply out-bar D.O.T., the Reach God emptied his clip with witty punchlines, delicious (“You too old to be catching stage fright!”) personals, rich performance bars and some nice young nigga (“”You real? I’m real too, you got bills? I got bills too, you lived it? I’m living it, different size same shoe, let a young nigga talk to you”) polemics to easily get the win.
Verdict: D.O.T.(W) 2-1
Favorite line: D.O.T. – “These bullets are hard-headed nigga, that mean they go through one ear and out the other!”
Recap: Killing it throughout with a boatload of raucous punchlines, nifty name flips and hard-hitting/witty personals, even his subpar-punching opponent Sizzle struggling to start his 2nd round wouldn’t have made a difference in Yung Griz pitching a shutout in this Casual Conflicts Rap League 3-rounder.
Verdict: Yung Griz (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Yung Griz – “In this rap shit, you my white brother, ain’t nobody gonna take care of you the way I do man, see I’m fucking you up to make you better…you should be trying to be my new friend!”
Recap: Young B The Future takes advantage (literally and figuratively) of the big stage at Snoop Dogg’s Gladiator School with hardbody gun lines, fierce punches and hyper-aggressive performance bars that had the crowd amped. Too bad the same couldn’t be said about his opponent B. Magic, who after delivering a pretty solid 1st round with his penchant for fiery punchlines, switched to a more pedestrian mode in the final two rounds, not offering much resistance to Young B’s steady comeuppance.
Verdict: Young B The Future (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Young B The Future – “I expected hate, but after that then the Tek squeeze, shit’ll go through your window like a fresh breeze!”
Recap: After getting humiliated in his last battle against Charlie Clips, T-Rex gets up, wipes himself off and goes back to basics with an infusion of aggressive gun bars coupled with some nice personals in three short rounds and fend off Hollohan, who seemed to be more focused on how well his jokes played to the crowd (as well as himself) than actually attempting to win the battle.
Verdict: T-Rex (W) 2-1
Favorite line: T-Rex – “Me and Mook against you and Pat Stay, we could do it a two-on-two nigga, kill you on a camera, put this body on the news nigga!”
Recap: Johnie Alcatraz doesn’t seem to battle often, but as he showed against both QP (Qleen Paper) and Ill Will, when he does appear on stage his flair for nifty repeated punchlines guarantees that you’ll get a good showing. Still, for all the promise a headline match with a usually-on-point Prez Mafia would bring, it’s a bit of a letdown here as after Prez uses a stifling cable scheme to edge round one, he proceeds to take round two off with what one could readily assume was an old mixtape verse–a round he could’ve won considering Johnie’s rurn was pretty short and subpar. Tied going the last round, Johnie takes it in the end with a better variety of personals, wicked bars and nice performance bars versus Prez, who had some hard-hitting punches here and there, but overall not enough left in his tank to overcome Johnie’s versatility.
Verdict: Johnie Alcatraz (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Johnie Alcatraz – “Big strap, Mac, laser and the —-‘s tucked, banging the trey [tray] like the waiter fucked my order up!”
Recap: “Look at me when I’m saving you!” It’s one thing for Th3 Saga to run circles around an opponent with fiery Christian testimonials/polemics, But add to the mix some palpable wit, spitfire punchlines, ill personals and ample wordplay, even if his rounds are often too long, it’s a very hard combo to beat. Such is the case here, in this Rookies vs. Vets matchup against the always aggressive Shotgun Suge. After a more performance-heavy and (“This ain’t OZ, I’ll bury Reverend Cloutier in the kitchen behind the wall!”) just-as-bar-proficient Suge ably takes the first round, Th3 Saga turns it up and gets downright resourceful with his darts, to the point of making a notable point concerning Suge’s habit of pocket-tapping: “What’s the point of tapping someone’s pocket if you don’t go in ’em?” Solid throughout, but hurt a bit by too many pedestrian religious barbs, an overkill on guns bars, his usual assortment of utter mayhem becoming a little redundant at times and a less-than-stellar “What’s Your Life Like?” turn, Suge for the latter two rounds anyway, just couldn’t keep up with Saga’s sterling comeuppance and more versatile palette.
Verdict: Th3 Saga (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Th3 Saga – “Everybody wanna talk about God…till they need him!”
Recap: Competitive 3-rounder from LA Battle Groundz sees Real Talk put together enough consistently spicy punchlines to earn a split going into the final round against an explosive at times, but less steady Danny Myers. But after a solid, but none-too-spectacular turn by Real Talk in the deciding 3rdl round, Danny ups the heat with a spitfire, sacrilegious, punch-tastic, witty at times and name flip heavy turn that easily gets Myers the win.
Verdict: Danny Myers (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Danny Myers – “You rep the Goon Platoon, that sound like a weak ass clique, y’all had that name since 6th grade and decided to keep that shit!”,
Recap: Rapping over beats for 3 rounds in London, Ontario on a KOTD Squad Tour 2 card, DNA’s boatload of nifty punchlines make for easy work against the quick-flowing, but pedestrian rhymes of Barz.
Verdict: DNA (W) 3-0
Favorite line: DNA – “Your girl’s like a potato, I put my stuff in!”
Recap: Snoop Gladiator School 1-rounder between Couture and Phara Funeral features plenty of illicit gun bars, residual mayhem, salacious personals and piercing punchlines. A goodie all the way through that kept the crowd engaged, a slightly more cleaner, scheme-heavy and haymaker-lit Ms. Funeral gets the win.
Verdict: Phara Funeral (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Phara Funeral – “This reach…God [Gawd] I’m about to hit her with the ‘Urn’ and ‘Ash’!”
Recap: Arsonal and John John da Don are pals outside the ring, but that side note seemed to have more an effect on JJDD than da Rebel during this battle as John John struggled to stay consistent with his personals, set-ups, aggression and bars, all which cost him in the end. What with pretty much a debatable 1st and 3rd round, it’s Arsonal who gets theatrical and distances himself in the 2nd, cleverly taking one of battle host Snoop Dogg’s lines from Baby Boy to set up a nice mix of stifling (“I give a fuck if ya daughter was with you, I shot the both of ya, what you thought I was only gonna hit you and not the stroller?”) gun bars and disrespectful shiners. Overall, not the best showing from either battler, but it’s Arsonal who definitely came more prepared.
Verdict: Arsonal da Rebel (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Arsonal – “You told niggas you was signed for real?! Nigga, Bow Wow pay you to suck dick and lip sync, that ol’ Ashanti deal”
