No Bias. No Narratives.
Recap: Dope 1-rounder from Montreal’s DMS Battle League sees the slightly more haymaker-lit DNA use a gang of spicy name flips and hard-hitting punchlines to get by a pretty solid punching effort from local battler Krome.
Verdict: DNA (W) 1-0
Favorite line: DNA – “See, Krome his own man, but I’m a spank him either way, you think you could beat a nigger from the X, why when you was made by DNA!”
Recap: From KLBL, dope 1-rounder between DNA and battle vet Philly Swain, with the latter spitting a gang of those performance-heavy, rambunctious (“My flow colder than the foot that ain’t under the blanket!”) punches he’s long been known for only to get beat by the NWX capo’s consistently-lit 4-bar setups, mocking personals (that included a fire Philly-flow impression/sequence) and gritty wordplay.
Verdict: DNA (W) 1-0
Favorite line: DNA – “If I shoot hope your bitch beside you, get hype man, you gonna get the extra Oooh’s like Gwitty by you!”
Recap: Coming off a strong Proving Grounds performance against Jerry West, Bangz takes on DNA on the KOTD stage and unfortunately takes a step back battle-wise, literally getting schooled in wordplay, freestyles and most of all showmanship. Not that Bangz didn’t show up, as his requisite unorthodox style and delivery at times (“And you done walked into the lion’s den, I’ll fire, then put knives in him faggot, that is not a chink in your armor… you just have the chest of a chinaman!”) glistened. But in front of a crowd that often had a hard time catching up to his unique presentation, the newcomer let the hecklers get to him and thus, wasn’t able to perform at his best. And as veterans are apt to do, DNA with a solid flow, dope (“You wanted the old DNA, [well] I’m a different version, he died as soon as I shoulder straps, Mr. Perfect!”; “Since you ain’t want to put Respek on my name, it’s about time you see the God! [Charlamagne tha God]”) punchlines/jokes and crazy versatility with the bars throughout all 3 rounds, more than took advantage of his opponent’s subpar showing to score an easy 3-0.
Verdict: DNA (W) 3-0
Favorite line: DNA – “You’ll hear two bangs after Bangz soon as the Tek pop, they don’t know if the shooter was Don DeMarco or Craig’s pops!”
Recap: A rematch from their classic battle a handful of years back, Dizaster and DNA go at it again for one round here on KOTD with the added surprise of Diz being unaware of who he’d be facing pre-battle. And with one battler coming in prepared for who he’d face and the other having no such knowledge, the advantage would clearly go to DNA, right? Well, think again as after DNA resorts to a plethora of redundant name flips and even some pedestrian bars when he wasn’t spouting some solid punches along with an amiable Dizaster impression during his turn, Diz just showed off his repertoire. The always boisterous and combative West-coast legend loading up with a consistent gang of potent freestyles, witty personals, gritty rap tutprials and hard-hitting punchlines to take this one pretty easy.
Verdict: Dizaster (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Dizaster – “Fucking weirdo, now that it’s you I have to devise a new game plan,
‘cuz I’m a battling a dude with a IQ of a fucking Geicco Cave man!”
Recap: From Don’t Flop, a bunch of nice rebuttals on both sides on this Skype battle (which strangely had DNA battling remotely), but after a debatable round 1, a spicier-punching, more consistently hitting and more direct DNA edges each of the latter rounds for the win over Troy Brown.
Verdict: DNA (W) 2-1
Favorite line: DNA – “These 5 rounds will put him to sleep…that’s Mook and Iron!”
Recap: A sluggish with the bars Arrow lands a nice right with his ‘After I let the Tommy ring 4 times, I’m Belichick’ line, but other than that it’s all DNA with yet another consistent, (“Your last battle was with Jason, your thoughts was deadly, but your career is still in my hands, come walk with Freddy!”) punch-heavy and imposing performance to easily take this one-rounder brought to you by iGrind Entertainment.
Verdict: DNA (W) 1-0
Favorite line: DNA – “Murdered him, Shine right there, he’s the accomplice, y’all just seen me spin Arrow in a round, that’s a compass!”
Recap: With the chances increasing of a battle ending in a tie, this is why everyone should hate even round matchups. Especially in this case where, if what DNA said was true, Ty Law went past the required time limits in both rounds–so they might as well had done a one-off. Either way, I got this one split down the middle. DNA took the first with real talk(“This gonna be your first battle with 500 thou, so you could tell me your welcome more, ‘cuz Will thought like the police, he used dna to help the Law”) personals and (“The way the Nina kicking at Law, look like a Tekken fight!”) haymakers, while Law’s punchlines was (“Get nigga’s jumped, I hit each gunner, like 3 people in the Flintstone car, see them 6 feet under!”) splendid at times, too many lazy tooth jokes did him in. 2nd round saw Law step it up on the (“Steal him, I don’t gotta smack him, know he feel himself so he get the closed fist like when Saga try to dap him!”) wordplay, nice schemes and more crazy (“I’m dumping at his big-ass head, have this nigga cabbage baking, that dome you’ll get a round 2 to it, like procrastination”) punches, while DNA had a slow start and came with fiery bars here (“Nigga whatever you bleeding on, we’ll be next to the fresh prints [Fresh Prince] like Nia Long!”) and there, his freestyle compensation for Law’s elongated turn, was at the end pretty subpar.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: DNA – “I’m the PG killer, I give them that feeling, made Chess a star, off that [a] million, and showed I even got punches for the kids [balls fist], I’m Kat Williams!”
Recap: DNA shows off his competency in this rare freestyle battle against the UK’s Pedro. Whether it’s prolific (“You mention my mom so much, here I’ll give you her number”) rebuttals, amiable (“For talking shit, i’ll forward clips, that’s a side show!”) wordplay or wicked punchlines, DNA’s package of continuous heat had the road crowd buzzing way more than Pedro, who while spitting a couple of shiners here and there, caught a bout with the slip-ups throughout his rounds and relied on way too many lame ‘Yo momma’ jokes to stand a chance.
Verdict: DNA (W) 10-3
Favorite line: DNA – “Yeah, when I run up I shoot those cribs, you mention my mom but I’ll wig on your mom like Uno did!”
Recap: Rone clone Deffinition steady came with the jokes, some (“People keep caling him DNA, he’s not, this dyslexic cunt’s name is actually Dan!”) decent and some not-so-much. But other than that too many standard name flips and flat personals from the Brit failed in keeping up with DND’s punchline (“I been in this 3 times and I already killed 2 battles, I’m leaving this dude baffled, Morpheus hands because cuz I could let it peel with two capsules”) virtuosity, fierce name flips and admirable (“Got 3 K’s the best clan, then I’m coming for Def’s squad, Redman”) wordplay, despite some hiccup in his flow here and there.
Verdict: DNA (W) 2-1
Favorite line: DNA – “And it’s definite, you’re gonna leave red, deficit, Don’t flop and struggling with views, you part of the deficit”
Recap: A swagger confident DNA uses a steady diet of righteous name flips, rigid schemes and surefire (“He gonna take an ‘L’ on this field, when I put a shell on his grill, Chipotle”) personals to beat Cojay in this one-rounder from Don’t Flop. Cojay provided some worthy competition with an aggressive flow that held up when he spit some decent punchlines and able (“When Chess moved, your set proved you ain’t rep for the streets, ‘cuz I thought when kings got checked, Queens went for the piece!”) schemes, but too much filler along with DNA’s more consistent punches, combined to do him in.
Verdict: DNA (W) 1-0
Favorite line: DNA -“I’m in a low ride, with arms out on both sides, if I drive through [points arm like gun] you gonna get the mill [meal] with no fries!”
Recap: DNA uses an exquisite palette of feelgood (“…yellow tape surround the block, weave the punch, counterblock”) schemes, cunning (“I’m old school, Aviator, these two 4’s, your favorite Laker, when these meals come out, it ain’t a Baconator!”) wordplay, witty personals, ill angles and fiery (“For them Knicks you’ll get robbed Early in Queens, this is not Uber!”) punchlines to beat Danja Zone, who at (“Don’t even think to compare him to this beast from Maryland, they ain’t seen a fly nigga drop bombs since Tuskeegee Airmen!”; “Right after I body Shine, that’s Bruce Leroy!”) times merited his consensus Battler of the Year acclaim, but overall settled for too much filler. That, along with his opponent’s incredible consistency and robust performance, made for a surprising 3-0 from DNA.
Verdict: DNA (W) 3-0
Favorite line: DNA – “See, we used to think you was tough when you was fat, but all that disappeared, I used to think the old Zone [ozone] would lay a han don me, but now all I see in him is fear”
Recap: An alarm ringing towards the end of the battle, an ill-prepared DNA resorting to freestyles in round 2 (but still making the round relatively close) and some ‘pause’-worthy bars from Brizz Rawsteen made for a buzz-worthy, but action packed matchup on URL. First round was pretty potent on both sides with Brizz overcoming a somewhat slow start with an elongated turn that gradually led to some (“I see now you trying to Shine with K, well Clips must’ve told you he needed time and space!”) haymakers towards the end. But DNA, dishing a newer, rapid-fire flow with fervid ease, edged the round with more spitfire (“The nina clean, the Wesson dirty, but still got both hands close to the 12…11:30!”; “Then step on a party scene, a new Dot, I brought a bean, that shit will be hitting Raw everywhere…I’m Charlie Sheen!”) punches in a shorter timeframe than his opponent. Brizz, keeping the steady aggression up in round two, but also displaying more variety to his bars with witty (“Ya fake ass rapping ’bout ya clapping biscuits!”) jokes and personals amply mixed in, looked to easily take the middle round with what was his best go around. Still DNA, who apparently was going through some personal issues at the time of this battle, failed to build off the momentum he gained from his lofty 1st round, literally free-styling the entire round with lines that were hit-n-miss and even resorting to playing word association with the crowd just to get through the round. And albeit, come might say he was entertaining and (“You lost to ya man on 106, but that’s cool with me!“) capable enough to make the round debatable, the feeling here is a more prepared Brizz evening things up. Last round saw Brizz still popping, if not with more loud (“What, you think you getting girls now because of your looks?!?, Negro Please!, that mustache look like you in the Negro League!”) personals that landed hard, but with frenzied bars that kept his consistency top-shelf. And while DNA came back to his written’s in the last round, his punches, while fiery at times, weren’t nearly as strong as those in his 1st, allowing for Brizz to earn the win.
Verdict: Brizz Rawsteen (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Brizz Rawsteen – “I’ll leave a tool sitting where ya tooth missing…that’s how I bridge the gap!”
Recap: Highlighted by a trio of rare rebuttals-in-the-middle-of-the-round bars, DNA puts forth one of the most consistently superb 3 rounds you’ll ever see in battle rap to take out a mostly (“Your freestyle’s nice, but we don’t fuck with your writtens, I never met a toothless nigga that had trouble with spitting!”; “I’m official, Question: do you feel like trash? Clips standing there watching you get punched out, do you feel like Math?”) nice, but sometimes pressing at times Syahboy (who was probably still feeling himself a little bit from almost single-handedly beating DNA and K-Shine in a 2-on-2 battle with John John da Don earlier in 2015). Indeed, it was a complete showing by DNA: exquisite (“Y’all think this herb will peel on me?, y’all joking, he go to sleep and wake up to the ‘K’, Lamar Odom!”; “He don’t even know who to pop, his set DOA, but the more he [Maury] talk, he know not to test dna!”) wordplay, a wicked delivery, dope performance bars, delicious personals and fiery (“Send shots ya boo way, then have something dark liquor [dark lick her] D’ssue!”) punchlines that not only sunk any chance his opponent had of winning, but was probably the best DNA we’ve seen since the classic Dizaster battle.
Verdict: DNA (W) 3-0
Favorite line: DNA – “All your bars is useless, you think you smart but stupid, Immature, now You Got Served, that’s Marques Houston!”
Recap: From KOTD, against the mean personals, ‘Bird bars’ and aggressive/witty punchlines from Dirtbag Dan, after getting edged in round 1, a more consistently-punching, rigid name flipping, personal-lit and wordplay/scheme rocking DNA handily takes each of the latter rounds for the win in this fiery 3-rounder.
Verdict: DNA (W) 2-1
Favorite line: DNA – “Danny Boy, I ain’t gotta be mad at you to send you where ‘Pac at!”
Recap: 6 years after they battled in an epic freestyle battle on the streets, a couple of Grind Time vets, Real Deal and DNA, finally do it for real on Black Ice Cartel. DNA easily takes the first round with more potent bars and wicked wordplay versus Real Deal who stayed aggressive with his punchline game, but was inconsistent with his verbiage. A much closer second round still had DNA coming out on top, dropping a harder slice of performance (“So make sure you come correct if you offer a deal, bars, or you’ll see two arms swinging air, that’s a windmill, [or] you can get the .4 piece with the toy, that’s a kid’s meal!”) personals and name flips to edge Real Deal comeuppance of fierce (“Even haters quote me with flame emoji’s”) punches and stinging (“This gonna be the worst day for Eric since Dre Day dropped”) metaphors. Last round saw DNA get personal with some resident Dot Mobb jokes/lines, which weren’t really effective enough to take on Real Deal’s dope storytelling (You should know if it’s WCW, I’m knocking Eric Bischoff [bitch off]”) bars and steady wisecracks.
Verdict: DNA (W) 2-1
Favorite line: DNA – “I’m awesome with skills, go both ways, this .40 for real, torture his grill, Michael Carter Williams, I’m on point in the Mil!”
Recap: For two rounds anyway, this was a pretty hype battle between Cityy Towers and DNA, what with both battlers delivering on raucous punchlines, stinging personals, nice schemes, a little sermonizing and boastful, braggadocio barbs (and in DNA’s case, freestyles) to split the first two rounds. Then the 3rd round came around and surprisingly less than a minute in, Cityy seemingly forgot his bars. Granted, the Connecticut spitter would nimbly freestyle his way through to avoid a choke and complete the round. But against a vet like DNA it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that Cityy’s awkward turn would cost him the battle and it did as his opponent would use a standard artillery of nifty punches and festive wordplay to gain the vic.
Verdict: DNA (W) 2-1
Favorite line: DNA – “Try to run, the can will take half off…that’s Six Flags!”
Recap: Bit of a surprise here, what with Rosenberg Raw going up against DNA in a 5-minute, one-rounder on Don’t Flop of all places. Both came with it, delivering an orgy of hard (Rosenberg Raw: “See, I could talk about them burners ‘cuz this .22 pregnant with like 9 kids”; DNA: “Think I won’t give Rosenberg this hot .9, y’all must be on E bro [Ebro]”) bars and lucid personals. But it’s Raw who edges this one with more versatility to his rhymes, nicer haymakers and a slightly better delivery/performance over DNA, who may need to work more on separating his solo flow from his NWX tag-team flow.
Verdict: Rosenberg Raw (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Rosenberg Raw – “See, my problem is with your pops and off of this fact, see if your mom mentally disabled, why would he hit that?”
Recap: Serius Jones’ return to the URL stage is a topsy-turvy one as after laying down and pretty much giving up the first round with a load of lackluster (“Take half your head off like Casio, and after that plastic around your face, I bet your G shock”) bars/schemes versus DNA’s steady (“You are one of the worse, word to Eric you in for a long Sermon, be smart, or see hawks [Seahawks] as soon as I call Sherman”) wordplay, fiery personals and aggressive bars, it looked like Mr. GTFOH was on his way to an easy 3-0. But out of nowhere Jones made things competitive in round two, although DNA shined with both his rebuttal (“Yo Serius Jones you fucking up a bad rhyme, nigga stop talking while I rap, you seen what happened last time!”) and punchline (“Your career should’ve been took a hike, Roethlisberger”) game, Jones edged the round with some righteous (“How could call me a hypocrite or front me ‘cuz I’m living lux and I never even act religious, but I prayed over every bag I sold, yeah I’m sacrilegious!”) haymakers and punchlines that finally hit. However, with a chance to win things in the 3rd round, Jones came apart again with mostly lame bars, name flips that fell totally flat thanks in part to getting his opponent’s government name (that’s ‘Eric St John’ NOT ‘Eric Wright’) wrong and spits a Queens scheme that came off hard, but lacked the linguistics to back it up. And while DNA’s 3rd wasn’t resounding either, at the end of the day he had much cleaner, (“Now Smack called me, I was getting some head, he said I got a battle for you and it might involve you getting some bread, I jumped up, grabbed my tooth out the water, pushed the bitch off the bed…”) funnier and consistent round.
Verdict: DNA (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Serius Jones – “I’mma tell y’all what GTFOH could stand for in your case…ok, it could be ‘Got The Face Of Hurt!'”
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: 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: 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: 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: In this freestyle battle from Don’t Flop, DNA’s fierce rebuttal game proves to be too much for noted freestyler Dotz as the NWX capo takes 6 of the 10 (edged 3 for Dotz with one tie) rounds here for the win.
Verdict: DNA (W) 6-3-1
Favorite line: DNA – “That was cool but you still not killing me, I’m beating you lyrically, you could bring my mom’s wheelchair and still wouldn’t have this ability [disability]!”
Recap: Much as I’m sure the hardbody fans of battle raps in Detroit must’ve appreciated Charlie Clips (vs. Marv Won on the same card) and DNA making an in-town appearance, there’s just too much experience, similarity in styles and chances of a classic matchup for a DNA vs. M. Ciddy matchup to be reduced to a one-rounder. Smh. Nonetheless, while they both went in on the personals, name flips, (DNA: “What you thought cuz you was on this card you was get the power?, well they kill whoever I Battle so they should’ve gave Ciddy [Citty] towers”), jokes and (Ciddy: “You slept on me for a long time…Charlie’s sofa”) punches, it’s M. Ciddy who edges this one with better angles (ex. calling out his opponent’s rhyme pattern), a couple of more haymakers and a slightly performance, home crowd notwithstanding.
Verdict: M. Ciddy (W) 1-0
Favorite line: M. Ciddy – “You name drop every punch about a current event, you Tanqueray, you just a cheap version of Jin [gin]”
Recap: Replacing an absent Uno Lavos at the last minute with only a couple of hours prep, DNA flexes his battle rap acumen by mostly freestyling his entire round. And with a boatload of piercing punches and personals, the Queens, NY vet does just enough to score a sufficient amount of haymakers to edge the witty at times, but overall so-so written’s from Rone in this KOTD rematch.
Verdict: DNA (W) 1-0
Favorite line: DNA – “I don’t respect you Rone, the last time I was so upset, I came up last time with a bomb and you still ain’t blow up yet!”
Recap: “Just having fun”. In rounds 1 and 3 anyway, Tay Roc literally toys with DNA here, using steel gripping (“Fuck you and the clique you rep, red beam on your lip. looking like a lit cherry on a cigarette”) lines, gritty gun (“Roc tripping, I will let a glock hit him, man the can come from under the shirt like I’m shoplifting”) bars, congenial name flips, Dot Mobb (for every diss DNA hurled at Dot Mobb, Roc had an answer) darts, a killer rebuttal for his boy Smack and hard (“That tooth, that’s in your mouth? I ain’t got time for all that [instead] I’ll put a loose one in ya mouth like you ain’t buy a whole pack”) personals to overwhelm what was exactly a pretty nice round (“I tell my man keep ya eyes on the clock, so when I shot at 8:59, all y’all gonna see is 9 on the Dot”) from DNA. And while DNA stepped it up round two, using aggressive bars. feelgood (“Since he for peace [4 piece] tell Smack to set it up with Factz if you get the cheese, cuz’ once I serve Tay with this Big Mac I’mma give Mickey these”) wordplay and dope personals (“See? When DNA don’t make sense it’s because I freestyled it, thought of it this very minute, when you don’t make sense you went home, took time out and it was written”) to outwit a pretty average 2nd round from Roc, dissing Smack on SMACK and his boy/fan fave Charlie Clips just made no sense, much less did letting the crowd get to him considering how long DNA’s been in the game for (and he must remember THIS, right?). Indeed, with this battle now posted if DNA’s ever gonna get that match he wants so bad with Mook, he’s gonna have to show more poise, consistency and come up with a better game plan.
Verdict: Tay Roc (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Tay Roc – “I am pure violence, I don’t decide peace, pimp shit, i came with my main bitch and my sidepiece, aim it at that side, you could tell that whole side peace, i done hot so many niggas with the side piece, I lost a sidepiece!”
Recap: Cruger is definitely a beast (“You’re about as threatening as Conceited in leather trousers”) with the comedy, but relying strictly on jokes and personals doesn’t hold up here against the better variety of styles/bars (and a couple of rebuttals) that DNA was spitting. Close battle nonetheless, but I got DNA’s overall schemes, wordplay, personals and performance edging the first couple of rounds for the dub.
Verdict: DNA (W) 2-1
Favorite line: DNA – “Honestly, I’ll run up in ya flat and tops get blown up, so Eurgh catch the fade, if not I’ll get Cru [crew] cut”
Recap: Sketch Menace is a pretty dope battle rap moniker. But as seen here versus an animated DNA, Menace’s shtick works best when he sticks to the (“Talking about you got a million dollar smile?, yeah, that’s what they quoted you to fix it!”) jokes and punchlines, rather than the too-often ‘plain’ lines he spat here. All of which made for an easy 3-0 when faced against DNA’s fresh hometown schemes, spirited (“They booked Clips and Daylyt ‘cuz they wanted them bars, so how’s your name Sketch when you still not a draw on this card?”) name flips and more consistent delivery.
Verdict: DNA (W) 3-0
Favorite line: DNA – “Boy I work miracles, I could stop Advil with this pump!”
Recap: Close 3-rounder from Don’t Flop sees the witty puns and piercing punchlines from former Grind Time host Sonny Bamboo score here and there to keep things interesting. But a cleaner-flowing DNA, while not always on his A-game when it came to dope punches, delivers a sufficient amount of haymakers to take the deciding round 3 for the win.
Verdict: DNA (W) 2-1
Favorite line: DNA – “They nicknamed you the leprechuan, but you still ain’t got luck with me, and since I got the juice now, I guess that’s why they gave Sonny [Sunny] D!”
Recap: Getting some prep in before his Ill Will battle, DNA uses a gang of flexing punchlines, on point freestyles, fierce schemes/personals and piercing name flips to sneak past a loud, aggressive and actually pretty nice and at times punch-heavy effort from Celebrity Cell in this 1-rounder from 413 Battle League.
Verdict: DNA (W) 1-0
Favorite line: DNA – “Rule number one on being a celebrity is people have to actually know you nigga!”
Synopsis: DNA got this, but this definitely wasn’t a body as Ill Will more than represented (esp. in the 3rd) with his usual aggression, real talk and potent bars in front of a clearly biased crowd. Still, knowing full well the kind of arsenal DNA is equipped with (rebuttals, crowd control, quality bars, schemes, personals, freestyles and a rare ability to match almost anyone’s style), the idea that DNA would go as an underdog against any non-top tier battle rapper is just plain ass-backwards. No need for motivation tho, the kid is just gifted like that (despite reppin’ Queens while wearing a Brooklyn Nets shirt). And he showed it from the off-the-top butchery (“I’m glad you got the kush on ya shirt cuz’ we’d (weed) smoke you”) to mean haymakers (“…like the last Ill Will you gonna’ die under a Queens nigga'”) that’ll have you pressing the rewind button. It’s what he does.
Verdict: DNA (W) 2-1
Best line: DNA – “And I’m still looking, like what your crew gonna do? You got your man, I got my gun, let’s have a 2-on-2”
Recap: Up until prez mafia stumbled in the 3rd round, I thought this battle was pretty close as prez’s personals, angles and flat-out bars were an even match for DNA’s performance, jokes and freestyles. But then the 3rd round came and while prez continued to hold his own despite the stumble, DNA just straight-up spazzed with freestyles, rebuttals and stellar (“You tried to look good against KG in Brooklyn, but you ain’t have enough power for it [power forward]”) lines that reminded everyone who the seasoned vet was in the building. All in all, still a dope battle.
Verdict: DNA (W) 2-1
Best line: prez mafia – “Nigga I’ll run up on Clips with a big plate, (makes eating noise) eat that shit in front of him then switch plates”
Recap: Both DNA and Arcane have been around long enough that you’d think this battle would be better, however thanks to Arcane’s mostly unimaginative lines/set-ups and DNA’s lack of focus, the names here failed to meet the standard set on the billing. Still, DNA wins with better punches and personals (the “When you battling Arcane you never really know who you going up against” angle worked) in front of a Canadian crowd that had a hard rooting for their own guy because he came so lame.
Verdict: DNA (W) 2-1
Favorite line: DNA – “Since recently it was Martin Luther King day I had a dream…that you wrote yoru own bars”
Synopsis: Probably the worse Calicoe we’ve ever seen: totally unprepared, testy and clearly overlooking his opponent for his upcoming match with Surf. Props to DNA for catching an easy body on his home turf and putting it out there in no uncertain terms to Calicoe that he lost to Lux.
Verdict: DNA (W) 3-0
Best line: DNA – “But since you like Michael Vick, it should ne no problem when this eagle spit, this nigga Calicoe be fighting with chickens more then Peter Griffin”
Recap: Villun’s often mean (hey, it worked to enough effect to get him a debatable round 2), but redundant personals on his opponent’s mom aside, this one really wasn’t that close as DNA’s variety of fiery punchlines, fly schemes, creative sermonizing and spitfire personals manage to easily beat back Villun’s otherwise pedestrian bars in rounds 1 and 3 for the win.
Verdict: DNA (W) 2-1
Favorite line: DNA – “Besides tonight, he been getting fucked by DNA his entire life!”
Recap: In this one-rounder from GO-Rilla Warfare and Black Ice Cartel, you can tally up Midwest Miles’ witty (“If a bitch say she had DNA inside her, then she was raped!”) personals and it still won’t make up for too many pedestrian raps as well as DNA’s more versatile round of room-shaking (“You, Cal and X, when’s the last time y’all 3 won 3 [313]?!”) punchlines, banging freestyles and fierce personals/gun bars.
Verdict: DNA (W) 1-0
Favorite line: DNA – “I could respect a nigga losing to Tech-9 off performance, but you lost to him lyrically!”
Synopsis: Pass knows damn well that he didn’t beat no Hollow da Don (hell, his battle against Hollow is probably the main reason he shortened his name) when they battled a few years ago. But against DNA (way too much name flips, half of which just weren’t hitting) here he had enough variety with personals, punchlines and heavy bars galore to score da dub.
Verdict: Pass (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Pass- “It’s apparent that you’re a parasite, it’s HIV in your DNA that’s why your first name is Eric, right [Wright]?”
Synopsis: Funny how they still biting Math (“Bars!”), but anyway after an average round one, B-Magic just get ham in round 2 (“Bullets come out St. John like Ron Artest”) and 3 with personals, (“Where Charlie at? Boy I’m slaying your little sister”), punchlines, aggression, performance and bars galore. DNA provided plenty of comp with some nice freestyles and schemes, but wasn’t nearly consistent enough to stand a chance.
Verdict: B-Magic (W) 2-1
Best line: B-Magic – “Reload the clip so many times you think it’s Bufferin”
Synopsis: “Smack rappers are bitches who can’t admit that they loss”….damn!!! There’s no denying how nice Charron is (that “masked up like MF doom” line was nice, as was “taking a picture with your sister was the only time I’ve seen you with a ratchet”), but too many angles on DNA that’ve been used to death and generic bars that could’ve been used against anybody combined with DNA’s personals (esp. the “loyalty” bars) and rebuttal (pocket checking back on his opponent, the Drect rebut, etc.) game being so on point, made me give DNA the first and 3rd rounds by a nose.
Verdict: DNA (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Charron – “Your bars are like your new tooth when its back, cause you need something false in your mouth just to bridge the gap”
Recap: A more versatile (and condensed) DNA, stunting throughout with ill freestyles (including a really fierce dart at none other than Kevin Durant while the NBA star stood on stage), rapidly fire punchlines, fly name flips, some stinging personals and festive gun bars manages to beat back a scheme-heavy, but elongated Chilla Jones in this 3-rounder from NOME 3. Jones, clearly committed to spouting scheme after scheme throughout this match, definitely had his moments, especially during a spitfire 2nd round that saw his wordplay and consistency elevate to its highest level. But thanks in part to a mostly one-themed showing as well as some long drawn-out dry spots in both the 1st and 3rd rounds, just couldn’t keep up with his opponent’s quotient for haymakers, much less DNA’s roundhouse scoring ability.
Verdict: DNA (W) 2-1
Favorite line: DNA – “Serius, Arsonal, Darrel Jones, I guess I gotta show up to Chilla with some real chrome, so when you hear it click, no, that’s not a dial tone, so when I raise the stock, who you gonna dial [Dow] Jones?!”
Synopsis: Way too much filler, a plethora of lame lines about DNA’s dad and a surprising stumble in round 2 gave Arsonal the loss here. But then DNA’s 3rd round, what with the funny wig, exposing the UW league business dealings/editing skills and Arsonal’s past teh ghey moments during battles, deserved just as much credit for getting him a clear win.
Verdict: DNA (W) 2-1
Best line: DNA – “I like when he told Charlie Clips you can’t spell ARS without putting the bars in it, it’s just one problem in my rounds I been had bars in it, nigga while you was on Earth, I was on Mars with it, conquered my fears through blood, sweat and tears, in these battles I went through wars with it, over the years I opened some ears, met a few stars in it….”
Recap: When he wasn’t talking throughout DNA’s rounds, The Saurus mostly kicks some lame (“What do you call the people who ghostwrite his bars? DNAides”) rhymes as well as Charlie Clips/DNA fodder that we’ve long been privy too. Thus, it’s a pretty easy 3-0 for DNA, who before spazzing on race matters along with his opponent’s noted hypocrisy for style points in round 3, took round 1 and edged round 2 with better delivery, (“I came with all my niggas, we rolling 60 deep, don’t ask me if I ball, just know that I grip the heat, ain’t got nothing but white shooters, so you could die from a Pistol Pete”) wordplay and punchlines.
Verdict: DNA (W) 3-0
Favorite line: DNA – . “Now you wanna act like it’s words nigga, your brains will be on that curve nigga, shoot you and your bitch with a .33 on her, now you on the back of that Bird nigga!”
Recap: From Australia’s Got Beef league, against a solid overall punch game from Anecdote, DNA uses a steady diet of fierce name flips, rigid schemes and a couple of spicy rebutalls to edge rounds 2 and 3 (call round 1 debatable) of this 3-rounder for the win.
Verdict: DNA (W) 2-1
Favorite line: DNA – “Your metaphors and schemes are stretched out like a rubberband, and your punches are like Alice ‘cuz you can’t get one to land [Wonnderland]!”
Recap: First of all, salute to Lil Caeser and Wyclef, who co-hosted this battle and of course, R.I.P. Biggie Smalls. That said, besides an educational, spitfire and classic appearance in round 3 from ‘Professor Shine’, a couple of things always stood out about this battle between K-Shine and DNA. For starters, there’s the dope schemes/name flips and personals shown by each battler throughout the bout. Secondly, you have all the Charlie Clips mentions. And then there’s the fact that for all the ridicule DNA’s gotten for that WTF moment in choosing to rap-on-beat towards the end of his turn, up until that disastrous decision, his final round was not only crazy, but competitive and looking to be his best round of the night..Either way, a pretty memorable battle that would spearhead one of the greatest battle-rap duo’s of all-time, would be decided by a speed-rapping, but gritty and punch-heavy Shine taking the 1st round before an equally-stout, but also condensed DNA edged the 2nd. And ably assisted by an electrifying cameo from the rarely seen and previously mentioned Prof. Shine, a versatile and consistently hitting Shine would take the 3rd for the win.
Verdict: K-Shine (W) 2-1
Favorite line: K-Shine – “I’m in shape like Rocky when was boxing Apollo, ‘If he dies, he dies!’, I got the conscious of Drago!”
Recap: DNA’s 1st apperarance for the UK’s Don’t Flop league is an impressive one as the Queens, NY battler flexes during a condensed trio of rounds with a barrage of pinpoint name flips, hard-hitting personals, righteous banter, fire rebuttals and stinging punchlines/4-bar set-ups to take the opening rounds (call the 3rd debatable) and earn the win over Sensa who while serving up 3 rounds of gritty raps, outside of round 3 often times took too long to get to the punch, when he wasn’t spitting one too many pedestrian lines.
Verdict: DNA (W) 2-1
Favorite line: DNA – “Now I’d like to commend Sensa’s opponent’s, ‘cuz they spit a lot of clever lines on you, I’m just trying to figure out how you ain’t rich in London when you got all those pounds on you!”
Synopsis: To think, how many people used to respect E. Ness’ grind back in the day when he battled Jay Millz on MTV and walked all the way to Brooklyn to get that cheeseburger for Puff on Making The Band. Then some years later he works his way up to and receives “legends” status here, returns on a card and disrespects DNA all throughout his rounds, while expecting to win a battle where he spouts what is arguably the worst line in battle rap history?!? That shit is just nutty. To think, we’ve seen way better from DNA who was just alright here. Thus, the body comes from Ness being that bad.
Verdict: DNA (W) 3-0
Worst line: E-Ness – “I’m crazier than crazy glue!”
Recap: Despite some heavy lifting of Conceited’s notorious “Slow It Down”s and a sharp 2nd round from (“Your reputation is very different to mine, I’m known for what comes out of my mouth, not what was missing inside!”) Eurgh, DNA has enough witty (“Cigarettes are called a fag, in New York we say can we get bogies and get that what matches, you know you gay if you can go to the store and ask for a pack of faggots!”) personals, trademark rebuttals, steady name flips and grandiose schemes to take rounds 1 and 3 and pull out this battle on KOTD.
Verdict: DNA (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Eurgh – “Now let me hear something different, all these unoriginal Diana lines, you all got fucking tunnel vision”
Synopsis: Any wonder Voss stepped it up against John John after getting buried here? DNA puts on a clinic in freestyling: rapid delivery, no stumbles, stellar flow and just to add some icing to the cake, he not only flipped his words, but reversed them–that kid is nice.
Verdict: DNA (W) 1-0
Best line: DNA – “like the Titanic his body’s underwater”
Synopsis: Amazing how many commenter’s side with DNA on this one, but I’m guessing that’s due to DNA having the home court advantage and thus getting the more favorable crowd reactions. However, bar for bar I just think Tech had more punches overall while giving a crisp performance along with real life bars: “You know how awkward it feel picking your daughter up from daycare strapped, when your shirt raise up by accident and your daughter say ‘what’s that?'” that you felt through the screen. And though it seemed like Tech lost a bit of energy towards the end of each rough, this definitely wasn’t DNA at his best (tho both bodybag scheme and the tooth story in round 3 were hilarious as hell), so overall I gave Tech the edge.
Verdict: Tech-9 (W) 2-1
Best line: DNA – “If everyone you body bagged was already in a body bag then who did you really body bag?”
Recap: An hour long battle with an unlimited 3rd, Dizaster versus DNA contains almost all the elements of battle rap that a true fan can appreciate: competitive throughout, nice freestyle darts from each side, fiery rebuttals, wily personals that brought out the old Grind Time days, rampant (“You gonna try an rebuttal everything I say, don’t act like you fucking not, but it’s cool, ‘cuz a good rebuttal means that I had to say something hot!”) boasts, righteous name flips, pointed impressions of each other, heavy-handed schemes, witty (Diz: “The day you beat me is the day everyone in Canada considers Snow an actual Rasta!:) barbs and a shitload of nifty punchlines. That said, after a more angle-prepped and versatile DNA edges the 1st round, minus way one too many mentions of Cortez, it’s a more consistently punch-heavy Dizaster who makes a comeback and takes the latter two rounds for the win.
Verdict: Dizaster (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Dizaster – “Two-thirds of his life has been a root canal!”
Recap: 1-round Red Bull EmSee freestyle battle between Yung ZM and DNA goes the latter’s way as while ZM dished a solid roudn of gritty burners, the more eclectic and rebuttal-friendly DNA edges things in the end.
Verdict: DNA (W) 1-0
Favorite line: DNA – “You know I’m gonna pop shit after being at the your bitch house, ‘cuz I’m the locksmith!”
Recap: Like a Mariano Rivera cut fastball, even if you know it’s coming, doesn’t mean you can hit it. That’s the theme here as a hilarious, crowd-pleasing X-Factor loaded up on the tooth jokes to help him come from behind and beat a versatile, but stamina-lacking DNA. Indeed, after (“Nigga, you so old when you battled Nemysys I had a tooth!”) out-snapping his opponent to take an all-around fire 1st round, DNA, while still solid for the latter two rounds, just couldn’t match X-Factor’s comeuppance, which included a multi-faceted, (“DNA stand for Dentures Not Around!”) punch-heavy 2nd round and a superb, personal/priorities-drenched and witty 3rd round that continued to rock the crowd and more importantly gave the Detroit emcee the win.
Verdict: X-Factor (W) 2-1
Favorite line: X-Factor – “If you walk into an executive office, they’ll beg your pardon…they’ll look you square in the face and say, that’s nothing we can market!”
Recap: Not the first time DNA has been robbed of a battle (check his Grind Time battle vs. Lil Farnum), but shame on Spoonie G., Redman and Joell Ortiz for screwing him here as in the Final round of this Redbull Emsee Challenge, despite clearly spitting the better freestyles and punches, all 3 judges would give the win to his mostly pedestrain opponent Mic Stew.
Verdict: DNA (W) 1-0
Favorite line: DNA – “I’ll treat you like Roc-A-Fella when my heat spray, if you spill the Beans, you’ll find that body on the Freeway!”
Synopsis: Here we see two of the worst decisions (the other being rapping on beat against K-Shine) in DNA’s career: trusting someone within his camp with what he was gonna do during his second round against and thinking it was a good idea to play off the audience during a rap battle with the whole “say something and I’ll freestyle a response back to it” steeze against a Yung Ill clearly in his prime. Freestyle a is a good skill to have when necessary, but it shouldn’t be used for whole round, not in today’s battle rap era. Personals, punchlines, bars, performance…..Yung Ill all day.
Verdict: Yung Ill (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Yung Ill – “I’ve seen every battle when DNA get murked, coincidental. your team still get excited for you, meaning your dickriders are grade A DHD, they get hyper for you”
Recap: Wow. Well, that’s something you don’t see every day as DNA literally walks off and quits this 2010 EmSee freestyle battle vs. Fowl after the Detroit crowd clearly wasn’t feeling his ‘8 Mile’ impression in the 2nd round of a two-round battle. This after a debatable round 1 where DNA overall spat the better bars, but Fowl tied it with a worthier performance and slightly better personals.
Verdict: Fowl (W) 2-0
Favorite line: Fowl – “You look like Young Jeezy son that went to the retarded class!”
Recap: Despite consistently aggressive rhyme styles from both, DNA versus New Haven, CT rapper Gage, outside of DNA’s 2nd round, fails to impress. For Gage, a frenetic delivery of okey-doke (“This nigga take dick in his ass, he like Raz B!”) personals and righteous gun diction, is too often followed up by simplistic lines that failed to land. Yet, bar-wise, DNA didn’t (“Stick my dick in his girl’s pussy, she’ll be screaming ‘owww!’ like Max B.”) differentiate himself much from his opponent, but was versatile enough and scored (“Ask Gage if he got beef and he like ‘nah, my taco’s finished!'”) more with his punches to edge the round. Round two saw DNA step it up with a steady mix of sizzling personals and earnest street chatter, while Gage stayed congruent with some nice schemes that unfortunately, were overshadowed by more plain (“I got 9 lives, I’m a cat, you a kitten, when there’s beef in the club he don’t bang. he just keep sitting”) speak. Gage easily managed to save face in round three, delivering feelgood (“Y’all Grind Time niggas is fags, you get your dayton on, you claim you getting bread, but you can’t even keep your cable on!”) personals, nice schemes and hitting punchlines with ease, while DNA, probably feeling confident that he already won the battle, pretty much gave up the round with a weak opening rebuttal and more ordinary bars that you wouldn’t associate with the likes of the up-n-coming Queens battler.
Verdict: DNA (W) 2-1
Favorite line: DNA – “His chick like margarine, we like everything but her [butter]”
Recap: Through the first couple of rounds this was a pretty dope battle, what with DNA edging round 1 with mean (“It’s crazy cuz’ those 4 shots ain’t do as much damage as that one Hollow”/”We all respect the shooter not who gets shot”) bars on Big T getting shot, nice punchlines and winning (“You got the swag of my grandmother, old, dirty and wear the same shit!”) personals. While Big T used hilarious performance (“He got that ‘Reason Why I Tell’ face, Well? cuz he don’t wanna go to jail face”) bars, personals and hard-hitting (“Man, she talk about sucking my dick so much I thought I was in the Army during our last date, cuz’ every time we talked it was about face”) anecdotes to take round 2. Both came kind of light in round 3, but Big T wins with a roundhouse of jokes, rich (“Every day I have bullets hitting close to home like a touchy subject”) bars. nice set-ups and steady personals as opposed to DNA’s round of one-third filler and self-deprecating bars that sounded like they were inspired from Eminem’s final round in 8 Mile.
Verdict: Big T (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Big T – “Nigga, how you ugly and soft?”
Round 2 Round 3
Synopsis: I could see some people saying this one was one for DNA. esp. with his first round getting so many points for performance alone. Yet, the bars Tsu Surf was spitting here, IMO, don’t get enough credit for how they landed or appreciated for all the subliminals (“that whole Grind Time team? Bring ’em all over ‘cuz they good over there, but Bryon Russell with the crossover”) he dished out–it was just his delivery that needed a lot of workThat said, DNA’s personals, rebuttals, bars and all-round aggression gave him teh win, but not a bodybag.
Verdict: DNA (W) 2-1
Best line: Tsu Surf – “Where da goons lurk, you don’t get love nigga, on every bitch heels, you an UGG nigga”
Recap: First, props to the dude in the middle on stage with the shades on, showing absolutely no emotion throughout–if anyone out there’s looking for a human statue they need to look no further. Secondly, retired from battle rap for like 4 years now, I’d imagine that the URL misses Oun-P’s heavy aggression, BX flow and lyrical stylings. Lastly, this battle, the first for both Oun P and DNA on Smack, while decent at times, didn’t really deliver what you’d expect as DNA wasn’t consistent and came with a lame 3rd round, while some of Oun P’s bars didn’t match his aggression and he seemingly choked in the 1st. With the battle pretty much coming down to the 2nd, tho it was kind of raw I had no problem with DNA’s backwards Mook scheme (which would undoubtedly spark some copycats) and most of his personals were on point. On the other hand while a lot of his bars didn’t get the crowd reaction they deserved, Oun-P still executed his lines well and more than delivered on the performance tip. All told you could call this one even.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: Oun P – “He do got a chick, see, and she broke it all down, ’bout how his pipe game is like Grind Time, nothing but short rounds”
