Recap: In this gritty 1-rounder from Capitol Battle Grounds, despite a couple of minor stumbles with his flow, a punch-heavier, name flip-lit, personal-hitting and braggadocios Swamp manages to score more than enough haymakers for the win over a street-themed and solid overall, but less consistent Reed Dollaz.
Verdict: Swamp (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Swamp – “This battle rap shit is a outlet, no fun, I was always taught stay ten toes down and don’t run, if it’s 4th down? you don’t punt, home runs, don’t bunt, this morning my bitch sent me 5 attachments…to 4 guns!”
Recap: From Gates of the Garden, funny how Reed Dollaz predicted Dre Dennis would rap for like 10 minutes (actually, it was more 8 but who’s counting?) in this 1-rounder. That said, it’s all Dre here as after the ever-gritty and condensed Reed got off to a hot start, but slowed down considerably with a couple of slip-ups and subpar bars, Dre’s spitfire barrage of gutsy name flips, animated gun bars and flexing punchlines would be more than enough to gain the win.
Verdict: Dre Dennis (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Dre Dennis – “You was popping way before, thought you was sick all them years like Magic Johnson, now we can’t even tell if you got it anymore!”
Recap: In this 1-rounder from The Battle Academy, JC once again shows that there’s levels to this shit by mostly staying away from the standard name flips used against his opponent and instead relying on a steady platoon of hard-hitting gun bars, fiery wordplay and gritty punchlines/metaphors to beat back a menacing, but not as consistent turn by Reed Dollaz.
Verdict: JC (W) 1-0
Favorite line: JC – “We gonna serve him up, fuck every animal Rambo studied in that jungle…he shoulda learned to duck!”
Recap: A couple of Philly’s finest, Reed Dollaz and Eazy The Block Captain, put on a close, competitive and dope show for 3 rounds to headline the latter’s “The Trenches” card. The veteran Reed gritty, braggadocius and hardnody as ever, kept it condensed and consistent throughout with a boatload of fire punches, fiery street themes, ill personals and stinging name flips. While the ever-confident Block Captain scored with a plethora of piercing trap talk, fire name flips and personals of his own, flippant boasts, steely/righteous punchlines and buoyant gun bars. Gripping throughout in front of a Philly crowd that was all-in from the jump, after a debatable round 1, it’s the slightly more haymaker-lit Eazy TBC who edges rounds 2 and 3 for the win.
Verdict: Eazy The Block Captain (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Eazy The Block Captain – “I am not for play, I take pride in cooking up, even my pots is dishwasher safe!”
Recap: As good as it is to see Philly vet Reed Dollaz battling more often these days, shame on Reed thinking it was cool to copy his opponent here and pull out his phone to recollect his bars in round 3. An automatic choke (as was the case for Bigg K in round 2) in these confines and with K out-punching and edging Reed in round 1 and briskly freestyling his way through round 3, what would’ve been an impressive win by Reed (who had am extra gritty and terrific round 2) gets screwed up by his own misdeed.
Verdict: Bigg K (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Bigg K – “It’s getting scary for Reed [read], are you afraid of the dark?”
Recap: Able to offset a gritty and often sublime-punching Reed Dollaz with a wicked freestyle game to go along with a barrage of hardbody punches/personals, fierce wordplay and stinging name flips/set-ups of his own in a more condensed and versatile 2nd round (after Reed took round 1) before handily the 3rd, Ill Will does just enough to get the win in what was a pretty dope and competitive 3-rounder from RBE.
Verdict: Ill Will (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Ill Will – “2 baretta’s, chop over the shoulder…like a masseuse!”
Recap: In this long-anticipated Summer Madness 11 matchup between a couple of battle rap legends, Murda Mook and Reed Dollaz, the duo would keep it close and competitive throughout via a gang of gritty punchlines and aggressive gun bars. Still, outside of a debatable 2nd round, it’s Reed who ends up earning the win. The longtime Philly rapper edging rounds 1 and 3 with a better overall punch game, that safeguarded his legacy when he wasn’t ironically styling on Mook’s contribution to the game, challenging his opponent’s street cred (as did Mook) and celebrated his city’s chapter in battle rap history.
Verdict: Reed Dollaz (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Reed Dollaz – “Snub pop, gut shot, watch his abs devour, funny how we in the congregation, but you still couldn’t pass the Dollaz!”
Recap: Reed Dollaz may be wary of all the name flips his opponents throw at him, but I can’t think that he gets any worse than say Drugz (who hears his moniker flipped even more considering he battles way more than Reed does). Either way, in this gritty Orgamyzed Cryme Battle League 1-rounder vs. Qleen Paper, while Reed’s hardbody punches would make their mark here and there, a more consistently cooking Kitchen Qleen equipped with more than just resounding name flips, but also scoring with fierce set-ups, witty barbs, fiery street missives and flippant boasts, would get the win.
Verdict: Qleen Paper (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Qleen Paper – “See, nigga’s be talking that big hustler shit and they really be clowns, window drapes, up all Summer, but in the Winter he down!”
Recap: Could’ve sworn that Reed Dollaz announced his retirement from battle rap late last year. But I guess he changed his mind as the Philly legend ‘returns’ to the scene for this 1-rounder on Organyzed Cryme Battle League versus Spaz Mayweather. A pretty solid effort on both sides in lieu of Spaz rapping twice as longer as Reed, but one too many reaches and a handful of mediocre bars by the otherwise gritty/punch/name flip-heavy Mayweather to go along with a more consistently hitting Dollaz really finessing with the name flips/mayhem and boastful punches, gives the self-styled Rambo a close win.
Verdict: Reed Dollaz (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Reed Dollaz – “You said your man better than me?, you a damn liar, I’m the one they talked about around the campfire!”
Recap: Here in this gritty matchup from URL’s Summer Madness 10, Philly legend Reed Dollaz goes back to ‘Rambo’-mode, utilizing a barrage of piercing name flips, boastful vet talk, raucous heat and some wily personals/punchlines to take the 1st and 2nd rounds (before a debatable 3rd as they both got equally busy) for the win over a gun bar-lit, but not as consistently spicy with the punches Rum Nitty.
Verdict: Reed Dollaz (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Reed Dollaz – “Out the trenches, ain’t nobody where I’m from safe Rum, what the fuck is a gun bar to a real gun case?!”
Recap: A pair of raucous turns by Shotgun Suge and Reed Dollaz in this 1-round URL/Quarantined battle gets edged by the slightly more versatile and consistently lit Suge for the win.
Verdict: Shotgun Suge (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Shotgun Suge – “I’ll clip ya family Dollaz, ya mommy, your auntie, even your pop, that’s Dollaz’s [Dollar] General!”
Recap: After infamously missing the recent Loaded Hollows vs. Gun Titles 2-on-2 match, it’s no doubt that a lot of battle rap fans were yearning to see who’d the ever popular Tsu Surf would face upon his return to battle rap after his latest bout with street drama. That the pick would be Reed Dollaz was probably a surprise to everyone, including his peers. And after a 1st round that saw a rapidly punching and verbally intoxicating Surf overwhelm the Philly vet with ease, it would seem that all the Reed doubters who predicted an easy Surf 3-0, would be correct. But in the latter two rounds Reed would finally get in his bag and show up, pressing on the ‘Rambo’-mode button and spouting a boatload of gritty (“Black hoodie on over the braids, Surf will splash on Roc, water go in the cave!”) punchlines, hitting personals and gripping street narratives to make the bout competitive. And while a lucid on his own life dealings, punch-heavy, (“Snatch his tre [tray], every time you on SMACK bring your food to me, I hate I gotta try Reed (read) in front my class like the school bully!”) mayhem-loving and name-flip spazzing Surf would still dish more than enough haymakers to take an altogether fire round 2 for the win, thanks in part to his opponent once again struggling with his 3rd round more due to his own continued comeuppance, Reed would salvage the final round and avoid the 30.
Verdict: Tsu Surf (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Tsu Surf – “They hit my arm, now when I shoot it don’t turn fully, boy, I’ll flip Dollaz like Smokey counting Worm money!”
Recap: From URL’s Lockdown card, in Philadelphia against the gritty stylings of hometown fave Reed Dollaz, a performance-lit K-Shine uses a barrage of rare off-the-dome heat, head-ringing gun bars, fiery name flips, stifling personals and raucous punchlines to handily beat back an oppoent who while solid throughout, was hurt a bit one too many subpar punches/similes, granting Shine (who really wasn’t on his A-game) the ability to still score a 30.
Verdict: K-Shine (W) 3-0
Favorite line: K-Shine – “Kaboom, was a part of y’all crew, but why you think eh came to NWX?, the trust fund, it’s crazy, he had to put Dollaz aside to touch money!”
Recap: Quick and gritty 1-rounder between DNA and Reed Dollaz has the latter kicking his renowned O.G. raps with plenty of braggadocios lines laced with a boatload of street scientifics–the type of adage Reed is known for, but not near enough on the potency side to beat a gun bar spazzing, punch-crazy, name flip fiending and more consistently nice DNA.
Verdict: DNA (W) 1-0
Favorite line: DNA – “If I see Reed snitching, I’m smacking him with the ‘matic, I’m shooting the rat out of Dollaz, I feel like Johnny Tapia in teh attic!”
Recap: URL’s “Summer Madness 7” gives you a long-awaited match between early YouTube street battlers T-Rex and Reed Dollaz. And if you thought that Rex might be motivated enough to give you 3 crisp rounds of righteous, aggressive heat against a longtime rival, after the 1st round you’d be very disappointed, while his Philly opponent impressed throughout the battle. Indeed, stunting as he usually does with a heavy load of fiery gun bars and a boastful performance, the Dot Mobb general would command the stage in the 1st round and make for a debatable turn against an equally solid Reed. But then Rex just went off-kilter, maintaining his aggression, but at the same time succumbing to a very basic pen that could never catch up to his bravado. All the while a clearly more prepared Reed just kept upping his verbal ante with a boatload of steely punchlines, salacious gun lines and gritty, braggadocio bars/personals that had a frustrated Rex not only talking through his raps, but literally sitting out half of Reed’s fire 3rd round after he had gotten equally beaten bad in the 2nd. Verdict: Reed Dollaz (W) 2-1 Favorite line: Reed Dollaz -“They gonna have me on TMZ for killing a star, don’t get shot for thinking it’s still in the car!”
Recap: Longtime Philly vet Reed Dollaz doesn’t battle often, so when he does, at the very least, it’s intriguing. At worst, there’s the John John battle. However, here against the always (“And you ain’t gotta pay me back, that’s on the house Reed, 5 leg shots will have him looking for his house keys!”) bully-centric Rosenberg Raw, an inspired Reed puts on a quality show in front of a hometown crowd that anticipated every bar. Indeed, spitting raw heaters, fierce neighborhood shiners, dope personals and expansive (“50-shot clip, that’s a bullet for every freckle!”) gun bars at random, a feverishly explosive Reed manages to edge the first two rounds, before Rosenberg’s 3 slip-ups in the final round, gives way to a 30.
Verdict: Reed Dollaz (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Reed Dollaz – “Running with a style I made, I’m getting pissed off, head shot before the game even start…like fuck the tip-off!”
Recap: After a subpar performance during his first battle on URL against John John da Don, Reed Dollaz returns to the scene with a much better showing here against Chess. Still, while Reed uses a gang of potent bars, braggadocio personals and some lucid (“Knock the gigs out’cha brain, leave the streets full of data!”; “Bullets hitting brick walls, trust me, it’ll go through, you don’t know the shooters, but nigga the shooters know you!”) gun lines to get his rep back and make this battle close (I got him edging round one thanks in part to Chess twice as long as him, thus a better bar quotient), too many outdated bars, a pedestrian 3rd round and the choice to lamely go into professional rapper mode midway in the 2nd, ends up hurting the Philly legend and thus overall, handing this battle to Chess. The latter who it should be stated once again, too often hurts himself with elongated rounds. Still, the understated wit, fierce (“Spend dollars on dollars, I’ll put a Check Up on him like a worried friend!”) wordplay, flippant (“Ghetto nigga side shot, look like I’m having trouble opening the car door!”) punches, an ill personals/performance, etc., altogether with his opponent’s shortcomings, gives the yung’un yet another pass.
Verdict: Chess (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Chess – “The old slammie, just like Reed, it got a rusty pen!”
Recap: The effort–hard-hitting, braggadocios, street-laced raps with a little wit and consistent aggression–was there. But in 2014 battle rap, where schemes, wordplay, metaphors, name flips, personals, angles and similes matter a whole lot more than they did a decade prior, Reed Dollaz really had no chance, easily bested by a confident and punch-heavy, but albeit methodical John John da Don for 3 rounds with a plethora of the aforementioned attributes that included the now-infamous ‘It’s in the car!’ response to one of JJDD’s more spirited disses. Include way too many pedestrian bars from Dollaz and even for a JJDD that wasn’t always on his A-game, a shutout over a Philly vet many consider to be a battle rap legend, still counts on the scorecard.
Verdict: John John da Don (W) 3-0
Favorite line: John John da Don – “We was supposed to do this out in Philly, I would’ve came Reed, but now you getting drugged in New York, I’m a Duane Reade!”
Recap: Philly vs. New York, Reed Dollaz vs. Mister for 3 rounds from an old 2 Raw For The Streets video finds Mister clearly using a gang of mixtape bars, while Reed keeps it gritty and condensed with a bunch of boastful barbs and hard street rhymes. And while Mister displays a superb flow, some fire punches and some wit throughout his bars, the more original and consistently nicer Reed edges both of the opening rounds for the win here before Mister took the 3rd.
Verdict: Reed Dollaz (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Reed Dollaz – “I ain’t even gonna mention my age, what could I say>, if they knew I was 17 it might fuck up your day!”
Recap: Philly vets Reed Dollaz and Kaboom trade hard, mayhem-ridden bars, heated punchlines and some recycled darts in this gritty and aggressive 2-rounder that a more scheme-heavy, condensed, less predictable and consistently visceral Reed edges here.
Verdict: Reed Dollaz (W) 2-0
Favorite line: Reed Dollaz – “Crushed the game, fitted in some Nike’s on, you play South street, stiletto’s and some tights on!”
