Recap: From URL’s Civil War 2 card, against a D.O.T. who’s definitely prioritizing lyricism and aggressive punches (to a topsy-turvy effect as seen again here) these days over the exuberant, performance-rich hijinks of his more noted classics from the past, a consistently lit Swamp dishes a boatload of gritty name flips, killer set-ups/punchlines, bruising gun lines and stinging personals to handily score an impressive 30 in front of a hyped North Carolina crowd.
Verdict: Swamp (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Swamp – “It really don’t matter where I choose to hit D.O.T. cuz’ wherever I choose to be it’s gonna be spot on!”
Recap: D.O.T. wins the funniest line of the night with that ‘A nigga twice my size? that just mean I gotta knock him out twice!’ barb. But in this 1-rounder from Our Society Battle League, it’s the more consistently hitting, action-based and mayhem-lit with the punches Sheed Happens who earns teh win.
Verdict: Sheed Happens (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Sheed Happens – “Hood nigga, Gorilla Zo, this my only banger!”
Recap: One-rounder from The Trap NY sees D.O.T. use a plethora of performance-stunting/well-styled name flips that combined with some brazen/witty punches/gun bars are enough to beat back the ‘Most Exciting’, but in this case topsy-turvy 1, 2 punches from O-Solo.
Verdict: D.O.T. (W) 1-0
Favorite line: D.O.T. – “But I can’t kill you tho, you my father’s uncle on my mother’s side…fuck it, [BOAW!}, now you my father’s uncle on the other side!’
Recap: From Organyzed Cryme Battle League, another gritty, street missive-laced and solid effort from newcomer Coy Gutta (who was impressive enough to score an upset and beat New Jerzey Twork in his last battle) this time gets beat by the more versatile, performance-nice, witty at times and punch/personal/name flip-lit D.O.T. in what was a competitive 1-rounder.
Verdict: D.O.T. (W) 1-0
Favorite line: D.O.T. – “Bust-It challenge, as soon as this bitch hit the ground I gotta change clothes!”
Recap: After getting edged by a stronger-punching and gritty Squeako in round 1, D.O.T. takes advantage of a slip-up prone turn from his opponent in round 2 as well as a subpar run by Squeako in the next round via a couple of lyrically-sharp, gun bar-heavy, witty at times and wordplay-solid 2nd and 3rd’s to comeback and win this battle from URL’s Super Fight 3 card.
Verdict: D.O.T. (W) 2-1
Favorite line: D.O.T. – “Revolver, burning a hole in my pocket, I gotta spin it nigga!”
Recap: Close and highly entertaining (don’t believe me then just ask Bill Collector, who at times looked like he might blow a gasket laughing so much throughout the bout) battle from URL’s Born Legacy 12 card between D.O.T. and Your Honor features a gang of dope name flips from each side to go along with plenty of loud gun bars, piercing punchlines, witty barbs and performance-rich antics that kept the crowd glued. A really strong 1st round by Your Honor gets edged by a slightly more punch-lit, eccentric and condensed D.O.T., before a more consistently spicy YH edges round 2 to split things going into the final round. And while a pretty solid YH would come through with another congenial turn of whimsical punches to highlight his 3rd, a more versatile D.O.T. would get both real and personal while addressing the small elephant in the room, that is D.O.T. being a former member of Dot Mobb while in turn YH recently joined the legendary collective. The change in subject matter would allow D.O.T. to get intuitive and take some time and share some intriguing war stories concerning the group before moving on and unleashing some more resident heat to win the round and the battle.
Verdict: D.O.T.
Favorite line: D.O.T. – “Let’s see if you can handle bars…that’s two grips!”
Recap: A couple of dudes we haven’t seen on the battle rap stage in a while, Mack Mel and D.O.T., meet up for a Banned URL battle and it’s a goodie with Mack’s serving up a gang of gritty street boasts, loaded gun lines and steely punchlines/personals, while the returning ‘Reach Gawd’ came through with his notorious palette of young G-theatrics amongst moments of witty banter/name flips/punches, trap talk and protruding reaches. A competitive battle throughout, the main difference here was the consistently spicy Mack unloading with enough steady heat to take the first two rounds with nary a sign of ring rust. On the other hand, while overall D.O.T. (minus his usual hypeman Gwitty) impressed here and there (esp. in Rd. 3 to force a debatable), too many dry spots and pedestrian bars from the BK spitter would assist in him losing the battle.
Verdict: Mack Mel (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Mack Mel – “.22 3’s, blow through his stomach, leave his liver cracked, now D.O.T. [dot] body on the floor…it’s a Twister match!”
Recap: Delivering verbal hijinks and stinging performance bars at will, D.O.T.’s virtuoso showing here against a solid, but too often underwhelming Gunna, results in a nice win for Brooklyn.
Verdict: D.O.T. (W) 1-0
Favorite line: D.O.T. -“I could let the Mac hit his bitch…Ms. Parker!”
Recap: Dope battle between D.O.T. and Dre Dennis on the TrapNY stage is only set back by a couple of elongated rounds by Dennis, one of which (rd. 2) he dished enough fire (“The tool spit, stoop kid, you ain’t trying to leave the steps, you never suited up…that’s the Iverson effect!”) gun bars and haymakers to edge, but another of which, round 3, he didn’t quite so much. That faux pas’ in the 3rd and deciding round would prove to be fatal for Dre as a solid and consistent from the beginning D.O.T.’s resolve for salacious performance bars combined with some nifty (“Adam and Eve, bullets like a forbidden fruit, how you like them apples?!”) wordplay, verbal twisting and witty punches with little on the reaching side ends up being the difference here.
Verdict: D.O.T. (W) 2-1
Favorite line: D.O.T. – “He won’t hear the Tek’s [texts] like a thot’s favorite excuse….it was on vibrate!”
Recap: Damn, where was that spitfire, 3rd round Mula at in the first two rounds? In a battle between two noted performers, D.O.T. returns to the URL scene and immediately reminds you of what you’ve been missing, slaying his opponent with stunt-heavy (“Treat him like an 8-ball, ‘cuz I’ll make sure, you are, the last thing I hit!”) gun bars, Bed-Stuy trigger-nomics and righteous name flips to beat back a solid, but somewhat subdued for him, turn by Mo Mula. Second round was more of the same, but even better, as D.O.T enchanted the crowd with more performance-heavy (“If I reach…Lawd, you gonna reach? Lord!”) gun bars and sizzling punches that continuously landed. Already down 0-1, Mula came back with some nice angles, (“You’ll get a wet back , with a Mac, like Thesis when he editing!”) wordplay and personals that would’ve made the middle round close if not for a couple of slip-ups by Mula. Still on fire in the 3rd, D.O.T. put forth yet another solid round that might’ve been even better if he hadn’t rapped for so long. However, looking to avoid getting 3-0’d in a battle many have long called for, the Mula that impressed so much in previous URL battles against Bonus and Ha Style, finally showed up, delivering a steady mix of fiery (“I had to renew the clip, to make sure I would hurt ‘cha, now my K go egg with extensions, welcome to Good Burger!”) bravado, wit and of course, performance-heavy heat.
Verdict: D.O.T. (W) 2-1
Favorite line: D.O.T. – “Catch me all in your bitch walls, all she felt was D.O.T. [dot], like she was reading in Braille!”
Recap: Because he supposedly ‘doesn’t even rhyme’ D.O.T. may be the easiest battle rapper to knock, but whatever, as his performance-heavy semantics which usually overshadows a barrage of fine understated (“If I reach, he’ll be running scared…Paul Walker!”) wordplay, are what really matters at the end of the day. So while opponent Hoodie Cruger stayed consistent with an aggressive flow and (“You’ll get something special from under my shirt…nigga I’ll polka dot [poke a dot]!”) shined at times, too much filler along with a higher bar quotient from D.O.T., gives the latter the win here in this one-rounder from IGrind Battle League.
Verdict: D.O.T. (W) 1-0
Favorite line: D.O.T. – “Soon as I back out, turn him to Yung Joc…just a nigga with his wig blown out!”
Recap: “Reach Gawd, that’s what the haters gave me!” Apparently settled on the idea that he had a point to prove in this battle rap game, a determined D.O.T. ditches, for the most part his noted performance acumen for tedious bar-thirsty polemics and elongated schems that defied logic when you consider the notable run he’s been on of late. Too bad too as outside of an elongated, but pretty fiery, name flip (“Stop playing with me, I ain’t wit’ them X games!”; “I got the aim of an eXpert, baretta’s llama’s semi’s ruger’s, I could show him eXcellence, I been killing shit, I got eXperience!”) doused 2nd round, too many average lines (Rd. 1) and a lil too much pontificating (Rd. 3) spoiled what could’ve been a win over a versatile and funny, but not always consistent Young X. Nonetheless, with a fiery X kicking steady (“D.O.T. could get it any day, nigga I let them semi’s spray, no guns in New York?, fuck you talking to nigga, we brought pistols anyway!”; “Picture X going at D.O.T. and me not winning, when I’ll fuck DNA up and that name got 3 dots in it!”) haymakers and dope guns bars while mocking D.O.T.’s style in the first round and edging out the 3rd with a better bar quotient as well as comical multi-faceted (including another rousing “Get ’em” rant: “You, when it comes to brushing my teeth, I hate reaching-ass nigga!”) verbiage in the last round…on paper it’s a win for Young X. But as far as D.O.T.’s most likely concerned, as long as he got his point across it’s a win for him too.
Verdict: Young X (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Young X – “I said Smack ain’t pay me, this three rounds of community service!”)
Recap: D.O.T. uses some dope (“You wanna bro, we can go, die slow, swing a beer bottle across his head…it’s gonna sound like Stone cold intro!”) wordplay, rich performance bars and steady punches mixed with resident “D.O.T. Talk” to take out Hitz, whose bad sportsmanship and mostly bland bars amounted to nothing more than a lot of righteous filler and a loss.
Verdict: D.O.T. (W) 1-0
Favorite line: D.O.T. – “Boy, I don’t go nowhere without this can tucked [Ken-tuck] please, squeeze till the clip on E…you ain’t even catch the reach…boy I got this strap from Ken-tuck-y!”
Recap: In what you’d think would be a entertaining barfest, D.O.T. versus Uno Lavos is less engaging when interrupted by attention whores in the crowd. Yet isn’t helped either by Uno’s lack of verbal (“I was about to stab you then punch you, now that’s how you cross your T’s and DOT your I’s!”/”I’ll knock you the fuck out over a ceiling fan”?!?) consistency, much less oft-lame attempts at mimicking D.O.T.’s style. Still, while D.O.T.’s veritable army of braggadocio bars and witty gun bars aren’t always impressive, overall, they’re still (“This barrel hot like corduroys on the 4th of July!”) efficient enough to take rounds 1 plus 3 and walk out with a win here.
Verdict: D.O.T. (W) 2-1
Favorite line: D.O.T. – “Neck shot, will fuck up his posture, I twist scalps like rasta’s, I’ll send a Mexican shooter, she’ll come to ya casa, take out the familia…para nada!”
Recap: D.O.T. and Houston’s Scotty hash it out on The TrapNY stage and leave with a split. Round one sees Scotty get off to a robust start with speakeasy (“Don’t point between numbers, ya name D.O.T. not decimal!”) reprimands and rich (“You got it before it came out, damn I’m leaking this pistol!”) gun speils that made their point. Howeverm they’re they’re matched by D.O.T.’s aggressive wordplay, lofty (“I’m trying to catch a Goofy-ass slipping, like Disney On Ice!”) punchlines and urban street theatrics. Second round is an easy dub for Scotty as his punches and schemes continue to hit and land with more than enough (“They don’t know what to do with Scott, well I’m a talk this game till I die, I’m Stuart Scott!”) heat to take out what was a pretty inconsistent turn from his opponent. But thanks in part to a lethargic round from Scotty, D.O.T. gets back to basics and takes the round with steadier wordplay and relentless (“They gonna be moaning by your coffin, y’all know I hate deadbeats, [well] tell ya mama I was trying to box somethin’!”) shiners that left a huge mark and gave him a draw.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: D.O.T. – “Neck shot, they ain’t gonna do shit but watch you bleed out, what’s that tough act ’bout, .38 snub nose, plus it’s one in the snout, all them niggas know all that acting will make a nigga like me, act out!”
Recap: In this one-rounder from Spittaz League, D.O.T. does him: standard reaches that eventually hit their mark, sanguine performance bars and urban street (“If Nem is short for nemesis, then that means down for destruction, demise, I just gave y’all one, y’all with me?, I ain’t talking, I’m rapping, you named yourself after a disaster before it could happen!”) flair that his fellow Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn natives would be proud of. And what with his opponent Lord Nem mostly drab bars failing to offer much outside of unintended comic (“Knock the wig off this crackhead Coolio!”) relief, it’s an easy win for Determination Over Trust.
Verdict: D.O.T. (W) 1-0
Favorite line: D.O.T. – “Try to run and I’ll put two in your calves [Cavs] like Kyrie!”
Recap: Bill Collector’s persistent steez on (“I’m at Liberty for Bell because I deal crack!”) bars over performance holds a lot of weight in round one here versus D.O.T., but falters a bit afterwards, thanks to some lazy rhymes and overall way too much pontificating. On the other hand, a comfortable (“Just stop, I’m really a street fighter, I’m no liar, just think Zhou Shen, maybe because I reach and spit fire!”) D.O.T. is a dangerous D.O.T., especially with the elasticity on his wordplay that occurred when he wasn’t spitting punches with the able renditions of say…a Hitman Holla or an old Bill Collector. It’s certainly a crowd-pleaser, but don’t let that take away from the fact that D.O.T. was just better here. Round 1 saw D.O.T. consistently hitting with more heated (“Blow the brain’s on ya body [what that mean?]…maybe you should think for yourself!”) punches and dramatic schemes, before a round 2 that while showing Bill dishing some random shiners here and there, again being outperformed and out-barred by a more steely and intrinsic (“True shit, my aim like my money nigga, I could count on it!”) opponent. 3rd round saw Bill step it up and get back in his grind, using frenetic performance (“I done fucked you up with like 67 different flows, dirty D.O.T., Roscoe, knocking with this nippy nose!”) bars and pointed personals to edge what was a solid, but elongated turn from D.O.T. Classic? Probably not. But yet another flexing of D.O.T.’s potency…even if he isn’t always rhyming.
Verdict: D.O.T. (W) 2-1
Favorite line: D.O.T. – “I ain’t got shit to lose, I told your bitch don’t get cracked from this Remy Ma bottle….or get hit with a long nose, it got a Papoose nostril!”
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: 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: 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: Sleeper battle between D.O.T. and the New Jersey reppin C Low as a competitive matchup is decided by the 3rd round, what with Low edging round 1 with better bar (“I’ll leave you O-Solo [oh so low] with this Tek-9, and slam your cap to the floor like you just spit a T-Rex line”) potency, while D.O.T. got the 2nd by displaying more (“I’m in your bitch C Low!, whether you ace or not cuz around 1, 2 or 3…regardless D.O.T. [dot] in her box!”) versatility along with a nicer overall performance. The final round sees C Low continue to put on a tactical (“I’m an animal leaving nigga’s brain dead, out in the street with one boot and skully, looking like Waynehead”) barfest with each line delivered with a titled mission. However, D.O.T.’s 3rd round one-ups his 2nd and with his stellar delivery, similes, showmanship and history (“You supreme? show up in court…Supreme…Court, I’ll harm you, I’ll be the first negro banging hammers in court nigga, that’s Thurgood Marshall!”) lessons staying on point, it’s another victory for Brooklyn and the Dot Mobb.
Verdict: D.O.T. (W) 2-1
Favorite line: D.O.T. – “Catch him while he boo loving, heart shot!”
Recap: ‘I could never lose a battle to someone who looks like a puppet’. Whatever Billy Bars has in energy, he severely lacks in wordplay, much less quality bars. In other words, an easy win for D.O.T., who besides a spitfire (“Catch me on ‘1st 48 like ‘Who talked?!'”) 3rd round, really didn’t have to do much to take this one in the end.
Verdict: D.O.T. (W) 3-0
Favorite line: D.O.T. -“You think this crowd care if you Unbias?, I could get you shit by an Angry Fan!”
Recap: Hard to believe that with $10,000 on the line any battle rapper would go so light as D.O.T. did in his 3rd here against the forever-on-Beastmode Brizz Rawsteen. Could’ve cost him as indeed this was a pretty close battle through two rounds, but Brizz ran away with this UFF matchup in the 3rd with better wordplay, (“You crazy bro?, You smoke crack, dont’cha? well try this Lean On Me, [but] I ain’t Crazy Joe”) personals and crazy performance bars.
Verdict: Brizz Rawsteen (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Brizz Rawsteen – “You still think eating pussy gonna give you facial hair”
Synopsis: Nice battle (tho someone’s gotta tell heads who wanna talk during a battle to go elsewhere) esp. for a PG matchup. Both D.O.T. and Chess had energy, similar styles, ill schemes, great wordplay and performance galore. Close throughout, but when you dissect the battle a little bit it clearly came down to who had more sensibility (Sorry Dot, but the Olympic logo has 5 rings, not 4. And “Gabby Davis”?!? Lupus being a “hair” disease?!? Really?!?) with his bars as well as who dropped more haymakers–that’s Chess on both counts.
Verdict: Chess (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Chess – “Pop your melon while you sleep, you’ll be yelling, that means I blew dreams out his dome for getting loud, but that’s regular, that’s dot, dot, dot, etcetera, etcetera . . .”
Recap: “Everything fire”!!! More of that dope PG shit from the class of 2014. Prep vs. Dot and it’s entertaining all throughout with performance bars, schemes (Dot’s Jordin Sparks scheme was fire), crazy wordplay, personals, name flips, jokes (Prop suggesting Dot be a mime was over-the-top theater) the whole nine. But it’s Prep who edges it here, not counting Dot’s reaches (I double-checked, “matics” is not a word and the “umbrella” to “baretta”?! Really???), his delivery and execution were just more consistent. And while Dot came with plenty too, I thought Prep just outnumberd him on the hot (“OK we both PG’s but this is my stage, so play your position.or it’ll be Deron Williams, a PG from Brooklyn that got 8 [ate]”) bars and haymakers.
Verdict: Prep (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Dot – “I got coke in my ass crack, give me that drug walk”
Recap: After being taken to the woodshed by a more aggressive, metaphorically (“4 niggas in one class flow, I’m about to hit you with all types of special shit!”) nice and scheme-prone Eazy the Block Captain in round one, D.O.T. returns the favor in the latter rounds, leveling his ever-rich stage performance with a constant barrage of lethal (“i got the instincts of an animal nigga, but on my plate, human remains, so now I got the instincts of a cannibal!”) punchlines, nice personals and wild (“Chopper, heavy, I might catch a hernia if I lift from the thighs”) gun bars to come from behind and take the win.
Verdict: D.O.T. (W) 2-1
Favorite line: D.O.T. – “I’ll go in my closet and search for black clothes, I’m no pedophile, but the .9 I’m touching is about 4 years old!”
Recap: D.O.T.’s performance bars not only capture the gloomy chill as well as the passion of Brooklyn rhyme-slayers, but leaves you calling 911 to come pick up Hood Apostle’s corpse too.
Verdict: D.O.T. (W) 3-0
Favorite line: D.O.T. – “I’ll strangle you with a rope till I see Whoopi Goldberg in you, he like ‘what that mean?’, that’s the color purple”
