Recap: From Verbal War Zone, a pretty straightforward verdict here that might’ve been helped by the one the best off-the-dome battlers in the game, Chef Trez, possibly finding himself unable to rebuttal due to his having to rap over beats. Who knows. Either way, a gritty affair on both sides that saw Trez easily out-punch opponent Da Bull Boog in round 1 before Boog handily returned the favor in both of the latter rounds for the win.
Verdict: Da Bull Boog (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Da Bull Boog – “Nigga left me unseen, almost unfollowed him, hit me with the silent treatment, hit him with a silencer!”
Recap: From The Rap Committee, only a week after her Yoshi G battle, a slightly more consistent Pristavia uses a gang of blistering punchlines/schemes, some intertwined Godspeak, noble name flips and a bunch of piercing personals to take the 1st and 3rd rounds and beat back a righteous, wordplay-heavy at times and witty/personal-lit C3 in what was a competitive 3-rounder.
Verdict: Pristavia (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Pristavia – “This was a foolish intent, I’m as true as it get, I’ll go to every crib you ever lived in and burn up all your dresses…like you as a kid!”
Recap: MyVerse is such an anomaly. Has the skills and wants to sit at the table and eat with the top tier female battle rappers, but always has an excuse not to battle one of them. Still, after yet another long hiatus away from battle rap, as clearly seen here in this Rap Committee 1-round matchup against Chetta, the ‘Sex Symbol’ can still rap her ass off. Whether sporting some dope multi’s or a bunch of fiery punchlines or some gritty name flips and witty/mocking personals, even during a round that was a little longwinded, versus the repeated bully bars and aggressive mayhem from her opponent that at times became a little redundant, the versatile Verse delivers more than enough heat to earn the win.
Verdict: MyVerse (W) 1-0
Favorite line: MyVerse – “You’ve had that twinkie up in your purse for weeks, it’s only right for a fat bitch to feeding her insecurity!”
Recap: From IBattle, pretty solid, gritty and at times personal-lit effort by Lavelle The Artist still gets edged in all 3 rounds by an off-the-dome spicy, gun bar-heavy and more consistently punch/wordplay spazzing Chef Trez who frankly speaking needs to get some big name plates this year.
Verdict: Chef Trez (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Chef Trez – “I got hella choppers, a hundred different stocks like Nasdaq!”
Recap: Hey, even Fonz (who had all the material and hitting punches here, but was hurt by one too many slip-ups and an elongated turn) in his opening bar acknowledged Drugz’s incredible ability to quickly prepare for a battle. Add to that a cleaner flow, a bit lengthy but well-crafted punches, superb Ave angles and a bunch of aggressive/blazing heaters, gives the Gun Show the win and a bit of an upset in this 1-round Banned battle from URL.
Verdict: Drugz (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Drugz – “Put the piece up to his roof, he could see the leg dump, then give Fonz a shell, it’s a Easter egg hunt!”
Recap: A grudge match long in the waiting, it takes Remy Ma’s new league, Chrome 23, to set up and stage QB Black Diamond vs. 40 B.A.R.R.S for 3 rounds. And while the face off between these two opps was crazy and lit, outside of a pretty dope round 1 (which an unabashedly disrespectful, totally vicious and punch-heavy QB edged), the battle itself turned out to be pretty one-sided as a mure steady with the heat 40 just proved to be too much in the latter rounds. The Boston native (who’s only flaw here was a bit of longwindedness with her rounds) flexing in rounds 2 and 3 with a gang of potent punchlines, spirited/nifty wordplay and in giving her opponent some of her own medicine, a bunch of hard-hitting personals that combined to handily beat back a couple of topsy-turvy turns by her longtime rival and earn the win for 40.
Verdict: 40 B.A.R.R.S. (W) 2-1
Favorite line: 40 B.A.R.R.S. – “Who say Diamond studded, buddy was always at the clinic ‘cuz that kitty had a leak, shit was like Remy prison visit’s gotta Pap every week!”
Recap: As yet another reminder on why you can’t take the URL App vote seriously, despite Nu Jerzey Twork choking away this 1-round Banned battle to Real Name Brandon, somehow he still had 2,000-plus votes stating that he won as I write this recap. SMD. That said (and no disrespect to RNB who with his consistently-lit punches, stinging personals and spiffy wordplay, was just straight fire here), with the dominating storyline coming out of this battle being NJT choking once again, who’s to blame (to the point that his current manager Anwar and ex-manager Rome DMV had a heated back-n-forth online about who managed Twork better) and what to do about it, here’s some unsolicited advice for Twork (who when it’s all said and done has no one to blame but himself for his continual mishaps): no more distractions leading up to battles. As in, within the 48 hours leading up to a battle, no going out, drinking or partying, no phone calls (unless of course, it’s an emergency) and no stupid Twitter beefs (in fact, stay off social media altogether). No anything. Nothing but staying on lockdown and practicing his rounds over and over again right up to the battle (and that even includes any pre-battle interviews) to the point that they’re so embedded in his head, that hopefully he’s never capable of choking again. Hey, if professional athletes can take away the distractions while they prepare for a big match, then so can Twork (esp. when you consider the amount of $$$ he’s being paid nowadays). And if his manager can’t make sure he has no distractions beforehand, then Twork should find himself a new one.
Verdict: Real Name Brandon (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Real Name Brandon – “You thought you was gonna get up here and push a fat nigga around?, I ain’t Norbes at all!”
Recap: In what was a much needed win after taking a hiatus from battle rap to get herself re-energized after going through what had to be a humiliating losing streak, O’fficial uses a gang of bruising punchlines, fiery name flips, a fly opening round freestyle, spicy angles and some flexing gun bars/wordplay to take rounds 1 and 3 (call the 2nd round debatable) and get the win in this Chrome 23 matchup against fellow Bardashian Casey Jay, who while delivering a trio of fiery turns that gamely displayed her lyrical dexterity, overall just couldn’t keep with her opponent’s steadier heat.
Verdict: O’fficial (W) 2-1
Favorite line: O’fficial – “She was afraid of coffins way before Covid, she was at the end of rounds way before slogans, I was stopping nigga’s waves way before Moses!”
Recap: The 1st battle from Remy Ma’s new Chrome 23 league, Yoshi G. vs Pristavia, turns out for the most part (I don’t know what was up with that light guy being all up in the visuals and battlers face’s) to be a goodie with Yoshi getting her lyrical swerve on to make things competitive while a versatile, punch-heavy and even witty (esp. in round 3) Pristavia more than lived up to the hype (and her recent Gun Titles recruitment) with a trio of fire turns that more than kept the crowd in tune. That said, thanks in part to Yoshi getting her Murda Mook on with 3 elongated rounds that while hitting and thot-provoking at times were each loaded with way too much filler, while her opponent finessed the stage with everything from fire rebuttals to heavy-handed punchlines (esp. during a classic round 1) to fiery Godspeak to piercing name flips/similes to a well-crafted round 3 that flipped the script on anyone who might’ve predicted that the Christian rapper would get preachy with the Thot Queen, this battle would not only amount to a shutout but prove to be Pristavia’s finest outing yet.
Verdict: Pristavia (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Pristavia – “How is she the savage?, one call for a hit and you all will get killed, clip longer than your father’s trip to the store to get milk!”
Recap: While a more condensed and mostly scheme/punch-lit Couture did her thing (without much use of props btw) during this Chrome23 bout, Ms. Hustle may want to look in the mirror and blame herself for losing. A very close loss, but a loss nonetheless. And here’s part of the reason why: a creative and highly personal, but poorly executed 3rd round that was set-up well (tho Anderson Burruss or someone from her EFB clique would’ve been a better choice to play the commenter) and made plenty of sense when she brought out Ms. Pak (considering her and Couture’s notorious past on QOTR), but didn’t utilize her fully and altogether was topsy-turvy when it came to the punches. And with the battle tied (had Hustle edging round 1 and Couture edging round 2) going into the 3rd, after Hustle wrapped up her wayward turn, all Couture needed to do was stay consistent with her game plan, a versatile, well-themed, consistent, personal/aggressive when need be and witty at times effort that got her the final round for the win and locked down her top tier status.
Verdict: Couture (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Couture – “The East coast is popping, but you out here throwing up [tosses some nuts out on the stage] ‘Nut!’ like you from Compton!”
Recap: Dope 1-rounder from URL’s Banned card sees a lyrically spicy, punch-lit at times and versatile (including a solid rebuttal) Nunn Nunn give one of his more consistently jarring rounds to make things competitive. Yet, for all of his opponent’s heat, a well-equipped Rum Nitty would have an answer. The Phoenix, AZ, vet using his turn to deliver a barn-burner of potent set-ups, stinging name flips, fire similes and hard-hitting wordplay/metaphors.personals to score more than enough haymakers for the win.
Verdict: Rum Nitty (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Rum Nitty – “Nothing nice, you fittin’ to get smoked, y’all think this nigga lit bro?, whole career a fuckin’ joke, even spell his name with an innuendo!”
Recap: A friendly-fire affair with a cameo appearance from Rosenberg Raw (whom Bill Collector, in a sudden change of heart, really wants to battle now) in round 3, this highly entertaining 3-rounder from RBE turned out to be a real goodie. Swave Sevah, excellently mixing it up throughout with a flexing punch game, pointed storytelling/street tutorials, witty personals and piercing set-ups, still came to win when he wasn’t constantly dapping up his opponent. While BC, ever the showman, parlayed his enthusiam for batlling his longtime friend with 3 sturdy rounds of rich performance bars, some dope chain punching/wordplay (including what seemed like a fierce Daylyt impression), fiery (“You should’ve just took on Bill…dine and dash!”) personals/punches and resident jokes. A fire battle all the way through the end, we got Bill edging a fire-on-both-sides round 1, Swave taking the 2nd and a debatable 3rd which fittingly makes this one a draw.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: Swave Sevah – “No discretion, heart turns cold when I hold the weapon, lead off and re-load the Wesson and commit stickup’s with snub noses like Covid testing!”
Recap: A lyrical barn burner on both ends as well as a semi-rematch of their previous 2-on-2 matchup (where B. Dot teamed up with Real Sikh to face Kid Chaos and Arsonal), B. Dot’s continuously flexing punches that were often intertwined with some killer personals, stinging gun bars and sizzling wordplay/name flips are just enough to beat back a more scheme-heavy and often stifling, but not-as-consistently spicy run by Chaos in this altogether dope one round Banned battle from URL.
Verdict: B. Dot (W) 1-0
Favorite line: B. Dot – “I never wanted this Kid…Tristan Thompson!”
Recap: Kind of weird watching a battle where like half the audience could care less about the battle (much less making noise while the battle proceeds) going on right in front of them. Nonetheless, in what was pretty much a boastful, street bars/gritty punchfest, the more consistently harder-hitting and less pedestrian-bar prone Swamp gets the win over Black Aladdin in this 1-rounder from Black Elite Battle League.
Verdict: Swamp (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Swamp – “I’m the type of nigga, if you play stupid, they only gonna talk about how I shot him, Rest in Peace to Kendrick Johnson, it should’ve been this nigga they found rolled up in a carpet…not him!”
Recap: WRGB judged video battle that was originally planned for 3 rounds, but was knocked down to two after an already down 0-2 Pash Porter decided that she didn’t want to kick her 3rd sees Bonnie Godiva get downright mean and personal with it. The Yonkers, NY, vet dialing up a gang of bruising punchlines, fiery wordplay/schemes, piercing domestic drama allegations and even a sonnagram to top it off and get the win over an opponent who while scoring at times with some gritty punches, couldn’t overcome a 1st round choke, the fact that she had to read her bars during her 2nd round and of course, Bonnie’s lyrical dominance.
Verdict: Bonnie Godiva (W) 2-0
Favorite line: Bonnie Godiva – “You wanted Nuborn ‘cuz you was a new born that was never claimed, picked Nuborn and had a newborn you didn’t save?!
Recap: Two battlers from the school of unbridled mayhem, Danny Myers and Rio Nkosi, go at it for 1 virtual round on The Riot and it’s the veteran Danny who dishes a more substantial and punch-heavy discourse to earn the win.
Verdict: Danny Myers (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Danny Myers – “We don’t do paper work, we handle business off blood vials!”
Recap: From Onsite Battle League, a close 3-rounder with plenty of fiery gun bars, steely name flips, gritty punchlines and outright mayhem, despite some added spicy wordplay/set-ups and mocking personals from Stretch Millz, a more metaphor/similes-lit and consistently brazen with the punches Young Kannon manages to edge the 1st and 3rd rounds for the win.
Verdict: Young Kannon (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Young Kannon – “Keep ya grip tight, two hands on a .12, you wanna die at noon or midnight?!”
Recap: Gotta admit to kinda missing Cortez’s old ‘top tier money’ outro. That said, in this 1-rounder from GOTG, Cort’s rapid blasts of mayhem, nuanced heat and more rigid punches/personals work to enough effect to beat back a pretty solid overall, but too often-reaching turn from Dre Dennis.
Verdict: Cortez (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Cortez – “You stand still or the steel drawn, this arm? it lift a pole, I’m just showing him real form!”
Recap: In this one round Banned battle from URL, while the performance-heavy material was there for Shotgun Suge, the preparation just wasn’t as a handful of slip-ups from Suge along with a gritty, versatile, punch-heavy and clean-flowing Ryda gives the latter the win.
Verdict: Ryda (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Ryda – “The only time I care about what your life like is in an obituary!”
Recap: A dope, one-round punchfest with a bunch of hardbody lines, spicy personals and head-ringing similes on both sides, it’s the more direct, versatile, scheme-heavy and haymaker-lit Pristavia who gets the win over Nunchi Chinks in this battle brought to you by Queen of the Ring.
Verdict: Pristavia (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Pristavia – “Before I was rapping, I was still a beast, wasn’t trapping but concealed a piece, kept the .40 with the .9 like they got married in the Middle East!”
Recap: A few weeks after his memorable battle against Tay Roc, Danny Myers returns to the URL stage for a 1-rounder against Charron and delivers yet another energetic, lyrically conceptual and dope performance (without the lazy race angles). And while Danny also gets credit for having the guts to go first (after winning the coin flip) against one of the best rebuttalers in the game, that choice would ironically play a part in his undoing as the Canadian Wild ‘N Out emcee took his opponent apart with a gang of extra spicy personals, some fire punchlines, witty barbs, ill breakdowns and of course, a couple of room-rocking freestyles/rebuttals towards the end of his turn just to put the icing on the cake.
Verdict: Charron (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Charron – “For better or for worse, that remains on the table, you’re supposed to make her a promise, not make her an angle!”
Recap: Dishing a gang of fiery combo’s mixed with head-ringing personals, metaphors, set-ups, schemes and similes to increase the toxicity of the punches, in this KOTD Season 1, Week 18 3-rounder, Pass gets by a pretty solid, but oft-predictable rounds 1 and 2 from Cali Smoov to get the win before a round 3 debatable.
Verdict: Pass (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Pass – “You see when a fire blazing, high seas make the sky look strange, it was hot when those bullets drop, even in the summer time it rain, now your season short, it’s dark for Cail, this when the climate change!”
Recap: In this 1-rounder from OSBL, a fiery effort from Hazzy who made a statement with her aggression, Jakkboy personals and consistently gritty punchlines, gets edged by the gun bar spicy, wordplay flexing, vociferous punching and slightly more haymaker-lit First Lady Flamez.
Verdict: First Lady Flamez (W) 1-0
Favorite line: First Lady Flamez – “The closest I came to making peace was reassembling a Trey-8!”
Recap: Tay Roc versus Danny Myers from URL’s Super Fight 6 card. Let’s deal with all the “controversy” first…well, for starters judging from the hearsay, clips and previews we saw from this battle, the drama that came with it was kind of overblown (and that’s including the argument these two had after their face-off). Accusations of Danny getting gassed what with his friends in the crowd over-reacting when he spit a fire bar? Honestly, outside of rapper Royalty (I think that was him), the feeling here is that Danny’s pals (whether they were going extra with the cheering or approaching him in the ring to dap him) didn’t anything more than what Tsu Surf did rooting on Roc (to the point where even Danny had to tell Surf to shut up). In other words, it wasn’t nothing over the top. Tay Roc using a recycled bar from a virtual battle he did last year against Rio Nkosi? So what. As I’ve said before concerning recycled bars…they’re YOUR bars. So let’s not go crazy and make it like Roc pulled a Prez Mafia here. Then too is the fact that if you go back to the Rio battle, Roc didn’t just go back and use the bars again verbatim. He re-arranged them and it was literally the last bar he spit in a 3rd round I already had him winning. My only issue with recycling comes when either the round is super close (as in a debatable, in which case originality always get first dibs) or if a battler gets lazy and uses a gang of (or in some cases an entire round) of recycled bars during a battle. That said, one could partly blame Roc for stirring the pot in the first place by going on YouTube and stating that he never recycled. Lastly, as we witnessed in the clips to this battle before it dropped, Danny’s rebuttals were superb (esp. the ‘Stop, Hammer Time!’ joint which got him a re-tweet on Twitter from Mr. Hammer himself). Too bad for Danny tho as the rebuts weren’t enough to win. Simply put, after edging round one (which btw was close, thank to a pretty dope turn from Roc) with a classic turn that even the ever-excitable Mr. Myers literally doing push-ups) Danny just got out-barred. Consistently-lit throughout the battle, Roc’s gritty punchlines, fire wordplay, aggressive set-ups, hard-hitting personals (esp. the brazen quips that went right at Danny’s wife and kids) and stifling gun bars were too much to handle in each of the latter rounds. Indeed, except for one or two subpar lines, Roc’s 2nd and 3rd rounds were equally sublime. And while Danny continued to fight hard, dish some fire punches/name flips/witty burners/off-the-dome heat and earn his stripes, one too many indirect bars, pedestrian lines and time spent in the weeds with the mayhem (which Danny is notorious for) would cost him, especially with the amount of haymakers Roc was dropping left and right.
Verdict: Tay Roc (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Tay Roc – “You probably hear those words ‘head wrap’ and feel sick inside, that head wrap symbolize all those rounds you couldn’t memorize, Eazy-E ain’t the only nigga from the West that got Real Sikh and died!”
Recap: Virtual 1-rounder from WRGB/RBE between 40 B.A.R.R.S. and Queen Vixen serves up yet another example of there being levels to this shit as despite both battlers spitting a gang of gritty rhymes, the more much nuanced, punch-heavy, personal/mayhem-rich and scheme/wordplay-lit 40 (even while struggling a bit with her flow) easily spouts more haymakers to gain the win.
Verdict: 40 B.A.R.R.S. (W) 1-0
Favorite line: 40 B.A.R.R.S. – “40 hazmat, you just another muthafucka begging for me, what’s your Cash App?!”
Recap: Deftly taking on his opponent’s battle rap deficiencies (i.e. reaches, ego, etc) throughout the battle, while also scoring with some righteous storytelling, potent wordplay, mocking personals, fiery set-ups, dope punchlines and a boatload of fierce schemes, Chilla Jones makes up for a disappointing showing in his last battle against Emerson Kennedy by taking both of the opening rounds here in this URL/Super Fight 6 card to get the win over Serius Jones, who while delivering another lyrically solid (and witty at times) performance in his latest URL run (in fact, he took the 3rd here), still victimized himself with elongated rounds that contained too much filler, personals/angles that were so-so and ghastly pedestrian (‘All I C is Chilla backwards’) bars that he probably should’ve ran by one of his friends before he decided to use it.
Verdict: Chilla Jones (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Chilla Jones – “Self-love, I wasn’t even gonna take you Serius because nobody else does!”
Recap: Outside of an opening round that saw a way more punch-heavy and wordplay spicy Chilla Jones take with relative ease over a so-so turn by Automatic Ray, while the latter rounds of this 3-round Universal Battle Realm were more competitive (esp. with Ray getting more busy with a gang of witty barbs and piercing punches/personals), the 2020 Champion of the Year would prove to be too much here, scoring left and right with a bunch of flexing rebuttals/freestyles, bruising name flips and crazy dope set-ups/punchlines in both rounds 2 and 3 on his way to a well-earned 30.
Verdict: Chilla Jones (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Chilla Jones – “Some say I’m overpaid ‘cuz they don’t give Ray bands…that’s why he throwing shade!”
Recap: Not gonna lie. All that dapping JC gives his opponent’s during a battle when they spit a hot bar can be annoying. Like, it’s one thing to hear some shit from your opp that’s fire and nod your head out of respect, but as witnessed again here, JC just be going overboard with all the handshakes. That said, nice to see Charron (aka ‘The Smack Killer’) finally back on the URL stage after a long time away on this Super Fight 6 card, the Canadian vet coming off a stellar showing against Ooops that would ironically be used against here by JC. The Pontiac, MI, rapper dishing a boatload of searing disses towards Charron in the latter rounds in light of some feeling that Charron went too far in bringing up Ooops past mental illness struggles during their battle. But then, when he wasn’t scoring with a host of deft personals, JC was also lighting up the stage with a gang of stifling punchlines, some exquisite wordplay, rich gun lines, racially-tinged tutorials and dope set-ups. And while Charron stayed close with his usual barrage of hard-hitting rapid-punches, witty personals and slick talk, outside of a crazy 3rd round that saw him put it altogether, the Wild N’ Out star’s elongated turns in the opening rounds to go along with rebuttals that weren’t as spicy we’re used to seeing to go along with some filler here and there and a sense of humor that wasn’t as sharp/versatile as you’d normally see combined with JC’s slightly more condensed and consistently-hitting turns would edge the latter both rounds 1 and 2 for the win.
Verdict: JC (W) 2-1
Favorite line: JC – “I’m back on my shit, accurate clips, a self-defense video on Tik Tok not putting you in the sky as fast as this!”
Recap: Newcomer Anderson Burrus versus the vet Swave Sevah on URL’s Super Fight 6 card turns out to be goodie. In 3 rounds Burrus, also a comedian by trade, uses his comedic talents to score with a gang of witty barbs, funny storytelling, fierce schemes and hitting personals, when he wasn’t also putting up points via some dope punchlines. And even tho he was a little long-winded throughout the match and had a bit filler here and there, Burrus’ ability to put up haymakers never wavered. However, while he still put up his share of hardbody punches and whined a little bit too much on the ‘old jokes’ and karate angles his opponent used on him (like every top tier battler doesn’t have to deal with that stuff), Swave Sevah’s approach to this battle is what kept him competitive. The Team Homi capo directly taking on the huge ‘monkey in the room’ (i.e. another white boy trying to make it on the grittiest battle rap stage, the URL) and instead of doing the typical, racist angle shit, applying his funny bone and using the race card to superb effect with some rich metaphors, scathing personals, battle rap 101’s for white battlers, too funny (“Shit, I’ll even accept that he the son of a Caffiene exec and it was ‘Bring Your Son To Work Day’!”) jibs and even a bit of self-deprecating jokes that to go along with fire set-ups/punches/wordplay in 3 more condensed rounds allowed Swave to stay even through and through and earn a debatable.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: Anderson Burrus – “Swave, you remind me of a warm hearted janitor in a basketball movie!”
Recap: Dope 1-rounder from Our Society Battle League between Jade and Lady Caution sees both females score with a gang of gritty punchlines, syrupy street riddims/gun bars, slick personals/name flips and fiery wordplay/similes. A close one with little room for error, it’s a slightly clearner-flowing and consistent Caution who edges the win.
Verdict: Lady Caution (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Lady Caution – “This pole clap, empty the whole strap, get dome cracked, that squiggly line on a respirator will go flat!”
Recap: In this 1-rounder from GOTG, while he was a little longwinded with his punches, a solid and gritty effort from HNH Zeek would make things competitive. That still wouldn’t be enough however, as even without much of that gospel chin music, Pristavia’s gang of raucous punchlines, fierce similes and piercing personals would give the Christian battler the win.
Verdict: Pristavia (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Pristavia – “I’ll hurt this dude, I figure why preach to him when I could give you his corpse instead?, this dead nigag trying to make it through the Gates like the Walking Dead!”
Recap: Don’t get to see 3-rounders from Gates of the Garden too often. But for the 3 rounds, Wise versus JC, is for the most part a doozy, as the former showed he deserved a shot at the vet by delivering a strong and aggressive performance (when he wasn’t taking too long to build to the punches in the earlier rounds) what with a sometimes mean punch-game and a gang of gritty bangers/personals that when consistently lit, made for a debatable 3rd. Good thing for JC tho that he didn’t come to play either. The newly recruited EFB member sticking it to his opponent with a plethora of lethal set-ups/punches, sizzling name flips, rich metaphors, stirring vet talk and bruising wordplay that spiced with the addition of a suprising, final round pop-lock got him both of the opening rounds and proved that whether it’s the younger JC or the older JC, count your blessings on the outcome.
Verdict: JC (W) 2-1
Favorite line: JC – “See, y’all just a copy photo image, y’all flip the same stories for a punchline, but we supposed to believe ‘cuz you so descriptive?!…nigga, so are snitches!”
Recap: From ThirtyTwo Barz, Chef Trez, seemingly battling like every other day now, uses a gang of piercing rebuttals, fiery gun bars and stinging set-ups/punchlines to put more than enough points on the scoreboard to beat back a solid, aggressive and gritty effort from Juvelliii Tha King.
Verdict: Chef Trez (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Chef Trez – “Home owner, there’s nothing but space inside, his body separated, a piece will be over there like a deep dish…I’ll have your features in more places like a remix!”
Recap: In this competitive 3-rounder from The Riot, F.A.T.E.’s hedonistic raps and slinging wordplay work well together to edge him round 2. But a Chef Trez enriched with an astute combo of stinging off-the-dome heat, rigid build-ups for the punches and piercing gun bars/name flips proves to be a little too much to handle in rounds 1 and 3, thus earning the win.
Verdict: Chef Trez (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Chef Trez – “Who the fuck wanted to see F.A.T.E. battle me?, fuck F.A.T.E., I’ll push his brains through his face…it’s a FATality!”
Recap: Fire 1-rounder from the Gates between Bill Collector and Sully Seventeen as both battlers contributed to making the bout competitive with a gang of steely punchlines, dope name flips and righteous pontificating. However, more condensed with his ratio of haymakers, armed with some really explosive gun bars and also able to supply less filler than his opponent, in what was a close one, the edge here goes to BC.
Verdict: Bill Collector (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Bill Collector – “I’m from East-coast Compton, that’s a eral place but don’t Google it ‘cuz my people’s low!”
Recap: Don Vido’s gritty gun bars make for plenty of violence as well as a competitive showing. But in this visual 1-rounder from the Word Sport Battle Group, Chef Trez’s frequent dishes of mayhem, off-the-dome heat, sizzling 4-bar set-ups and prolific gun bars are more than enough to score the win.
Verdict: Chef Trez (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Chef Trez – If I see dun I squeeze guns and pop a K near him, he’ll get sent to God around Christmas time…he had a holiday spirit!”
Recap: A bit of an overkill what with the extra length to his round, but in this competitive 1-rounder from OSBL, Ryda still manages to parlay a gang of fiery name flips, pointed vet talk, hitting personals and gritty gun bars/punchlines into a win over a versatile and witty at times, but not as steadily turned up Swervoo.
Verdict: Ryda (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Ryda – “You went from being in the stands to trying to play in the field, now I gotta slide on the field like Jermaine O’Neal!”
Recap: A bit quicker to the punches, fly with the name flips, consistently bullish with the mayhem, some fire storytelling and able to work in some elite gun bars, gang talk and witty barbs throughout his 3 rounds, in this bout from URL’s/Smack Volume 8 card, Shotgun Suge, after getting edged in round 1, comes back to take both of the latter rounds against an overall pretty solid and mostly punch/wordplay/gun line heavy (but a bit filler-prone) Real Name Brandon for the win.
Verdict: Shotgun Suge (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Shotgun Suge – “I’m outside with my new .40, I’m Pete Davidson!”
Recap: From The Riot Network, a fire battle that was close and intense throughout, Charron still manages to edge earn the win. The Canadian battler even beating back yet another sublime 3rd round from Ooops (who came 3 of his strongest, punch-heavy, consistently-spicy and righteous rounds ever) with a scathing, highly personal (he even brought out the paperwork) and punch-lit final round that capped a 1st and 2nd round filled to the rim with a boatload of fiery name flips, some stellar wrodplay, more scorching personals and hard-hitting/witty punchlines that with its ability to score one or two more haymakers in both of the latter rounds (score round 1 debatable) allowed Charron to get the vic.
Verdict: Charron (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Charron – “You beat cancer? I’ll murder ya crew, now we battling at the airport, your death could be Terminal 2 [too]!”
Recap: A shortened (hey, don’t complain, at least he had one), but still punch-heavy 3rd round might be the only the blight on an all-around sterling performance from Tsu Surf here against an often-flow challenged Nu Jerzey Twork on URL’s Smack Volume 9 card. The Jersey vet, continuing to shine in 2021 after two superb showings versus John John Da Don and Calicoe, stayed consistent and in charge, using a variety of stunted lyrical wizardry, stinging name flips/schemes, action-packed mayhem, brazen set-ups/performance bars and fiery personals throughout (esp. in an epic round 2) his 3 rounds to 30 an opponent who might’ve came back too soon after his last rumble against Tay Roc a couple of months back. And while Twork, when he was focused (he did come with a crazy round 2), did entertain and score via a gang of hitting gun bars, wily personals and hardbody punches, overall his lack of preparation (probably not a good idea to get in petty Twitter beefs days before a big battle) which led to many a slip-up (esp. in round 1), would cost him again.
Verdict: Tsu Surf (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Tsu Surf – “I yell ‘Neighborhood!’ once then the locs around, it’ll look a concert outside if I scream ‘rolling loud!'”
Recap: Whether it’s superb written’s, rebuttals or freestyle’s, as he does again here in this Deathwish Battle League battle against Crash, Chef Trez can make it all look so easy. This time Trez using a variety of steely punchlines, stinging name flips, flashy gun bars and a boatload of nasty off-the-dome heat (esp. in the latter freestyle rounds) to handily (Chef took the first 5 rounds while the 6th was debatable) beat back a gritty throughout and solid punching, but unforced error prone and not nearly as freestyle-lit Crash.
Verdict: Chef Trez (W) 5-1
Favorite line: Chef Trez – “I never turned down any pressure, nigga’s know I’m extra, I’m like the homie that never got weed…I’m willing to smoke whatever!”
Recap: A fiery battle that featured two classic rounds (Charlie Clips’ round 1 and B. Dot’s 3rd), a rare display of wit from the usually aggressive and righteous Dot and Clips once again using his freestyle ability and ring vet experience to save him from a loss (thanks as well to Dot’s trio of slip-ups in the middle round), after taking round 1 with a roundhouse, versatile, punch/scheme-heavy and personally-lit turn that was flawless in its execution, Clips (who despite his opponent’s unforced errors, almost lost round 2 by nearly choking) dials up just enough blistering off-the-dome heat at Dot (and a heckling spectator in the crowd) to edge round 2 for the win, before a personal/politically-bent, angle-lit and consistently hard-hitting Dot edged a crazy final round to avoid getting shutout.
Verdict: Charlie Clips (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Charlie Clips – “A nigga that was Avocado best friend can’t tell me about no black power!”
Recap: From Capitol Rap Battles, KOTD vets Charron and poRICH meet up for a rematch from their last battle that took place nearly a decade ago and tho for rhe most part it’s competitive, the same outcome is produced as despite Rich using his strong wit and punch prowess to get stronger with each passing round, a consistently hitting throughout Charron, via a gang of spicy rebuttals/name flips, witty/rigid personals, piercing similes and fiery punchlines/schemes, still manages to take each round for the 30.
Verdict: Charron (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Charron – “Fuck that I’m the Joker, I’ll kill you on your own show, I been Wildin’ Out, this is Charron Show!”
Recap: After a year of seeing the two go at it back-n-forth online and in person, Viixen The Assassin versus Casey Jay on URL’s Volume 8 more than lives up to the hype. A fierce, aggressive-on-both-sides, close and competitive battle throughout, this match was lit from the start with Casey Jay using a barrage of stifling gun bars, hardbody personals, feelgood racial darts and a gang of stellar punchlines to keep her in the mix, while a loud and performance-bent Viixen unloaded a steady stream of spicy set-ups/punches/similes, witty barbs, head-ringing gun lines and stinging personals on Casey and her Bardashian crew from start to finish. A well fought match with plenty of mayhem to spare, sexual innuendos and some dope movie references mixed in from both battlers, it’s a slightly more intricate and haymaker-lit Viixen who takes rounds 1 and 3 (call the 2nd debatable) for the win.
Verdict: Viixen The Assassin (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Viixen The Assassin – “Stop testing me, saying that you better, I done had it with that, the State vs. Tsu Surf, I’m dropping Case faster than that!”
Recap: Fire battle from URL’s Smack Volume 9 card between the vet DNA and popping newbie Real Sikh saw the former lighting up the room with an aggressive and versatile performance that featured a shitload of fiery name flips, stinging 4-bar set-ups/punches, flexing wordplay/mayhem, spicy schemes, hard-hitting personals (esp. in an elongated, but righteous 3rd round) and rich similes. As for Real Sikh? Yet, another dope showing. The Jersey star staying competitive throughout with a gang of rousing punches when he wasn’t going at his opponent with a bunch of piercing personals and roundhouse lyrical stunting. Still, with a handful of more haymakers in a slightly more steady rounds 1 & 2 DNA gets the win before Sikh gets the edge in round 3, thanks to a more condensed turn that was just as quantitative in over-the-top heaters as his opponent.
Verdict: DNA (W) 2-1
Favorite line: DNA – “You see I’m the best at this, you peep that whole connection Sikh?, human centipede!”
Recap: Eazy the Block Captain versus K-Shine on the Smack Volume 9 card deserves all its praises as the two put on a fire and competitive show throughout their 3 rounds. A cesspool of hard street rhymes, feening (Eazy: “I’ll get close to Shine, I got insight!”) wordplay, stinging punchlines, charismatic machismo, gripping gun bars, piercing personals and greasy name flips on both sides that coupled with Shine’s rich performance bars and Eazy’s instructional gutta talk made for a crowd-pleasing draw, this close battle comes down to a more condensed Shine edging round 1 before a more steady pounding Block Captain took round 2. The deciding 3rd round, equal on straight-laced heat and quantitative haymakers (with Eazy going a minute or so longer longer than Shine), makes this one debatable.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: K-Shine – “Before I had a gun, I had to be in the streets with just a star and a flag liek I’m Vietnamese!”
Recap: I’m guessing that Geechi Gotti’s gets a lot of win’s from fans of battle rap due to the ‘believability’ factor. That is, when he talks that real street shit and gripping gang talk, never once do you think it’s on some make-believe shit ‘cuz he carries himself like he lives it (and well, I’m sure it doesn’t hurt that Gotti’s also a notorious Compton Crip). Still, too busy in these parts to find out who really does what outside of battle rap, from the moment the coin hits the floor, it’s all about bars and execution here. And that said, in this Gates of the Garden 1-rounder, while Dre Dennis kicked his usual assortment of spirited gun bars, hitting personals (tho nothing too out there, esp. when to comes to Gotti ‘tree’ jokes) and raucous punchlines that almost always makes him competitive in battles, a turned-up Gotti would take out his opponent’s soul, using a gang of extra-hard hitting personals bent towards exposing Dre’s alleged league dealings as well as the difference in each battler’s rap stature. Add to that a couple of spicy rebuttals in addition to some gritty punchlines/name flips and it’s the more haymaker-lit Gotti who gets the win here.
Verdict: Geechi Gotti (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Geechi Gotti – “Them nigga’s gonna be paying for hsi vacatiosn all fucking summer, that’s what happens when you got a league owner with over a hundred-something battles, but he still an up-n-comer!”
Recap: In this app exclusive 3-rounder from URL, a highly versatile and even vexed at times Loso uses a bunch of hard-hitting/witty personals, rigid, set-up lit punchlines, righteous heaters/name flips, rich metaphors and rigid schemes/fiery Christian-laced darts to score a 30 over the moody stylinsg of the Mad King, who after a strong start in round 1, struggled with his flow to point of choking away his 3rd.
Verdict: Loso (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Loso – “You some logic, we ain’t battling ‘cuz you popping, I only took this plate for the chicken, Wing stop it, you nodded, your stock started dropping, fans dying for you to stop, but you rather Travis Scott it!”
Recap: From URL’s Traffic 4 card, after a somewhat flat showing against Fonz, Lu Castro comes back with a strong and entertaining showing here against Rum Nitty. The Bronx, NY emcee delighting the crowd (and Nitty) with a bunch of witty ancedotes, fierce/aggressive punchlines, and brazen darts/name flips throughout the battle to keep him competitive. But add in some filler here and there along with a few reaches in the battle by Lu to a Nitty who just almost never let up, scoring with stifling punchline after punchline, mocking personals, graphic set-ups and fiery gun bars/name flips/wordplay in 3 slightly more condensed turns to earn the 30.
Verdict: Rum Nitty (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Rum Nitty – “You think you equal but you not fam, I’m a hundred steps ahead…like a Travis Scott fan!”
Recap: From URL’s Traffic 4 card, outside of struggling a bit with his flow in round 2, Ace Amin gives a standout performance for 3 rounds here against Danny Myers. The Maryland gunner (esp. during a superlative round 1) delivering a boatload of hard-hitting punchlines, righteous but captivating street talk, wily/mocking personals, some killer wordplay and of course, a shoulder bump at Danny’s expense to make sure you’re paying attention. Besides his opponent tho, there was only one here for Ace: his longwinded rounds that not including the opening round, couldn’t consistently match his heat. And a more condensed Myers would take advantage of that, all the while dishing his usual array of thrifty mayhem, some stinging personals, fancy ‘parallell universe’ bars, sordid (“I’ll shoot him while he on the toilet, he finally got his ‘Holy shit!'”) punchlines/schemes, lofty personals and even a few spicy rebuttals to edge round 2 and tie things up before the two battlers had an equal proportion of syrupy raps in the 3rd to make this one debatable.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: Ace Amin – “You got all those muthafuckin’ kids…everyone in here know you don’t know how to use a Magnum!”
Recap: From jump, you could tell that Emerson Kennedy really wanted this one. The Utah-to-Cali battle rapper displaying a shitload of confidence and aggression while airing out a gang of fiery 4-bar-setups, witty/mocking personals, bruising wordplay, fierce street riddims, a spicy rebuttal or two and piercing punchlines/name flips to beat back a mostly solid and versatile, but slow-starting Chilla Jones (indeed, his best round was the 3rd) in rounds 1 and 2 of what was a pretty entertaining and competitive URL/Traffic 4 bout.
Verdict: Emerson Kennedy (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Emerson Kennedy – “Chill, the last time I stepped on eggshells is because the shoes was off-white!”
Recap: Admittedly, not the best visuals in this 1-rounder from IronKlad Battle League. Butthat’s negated by a competive show as Black Gemini and Chef Trez spill a bunch of graphic mayhem/punchlines and gritty gun bars onto the scene with the more versatile and spicy name flipping Trez taking the win at the end.
Verdict: Chef Trez (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Chef Trez – “I know it’s hard to think outside the box when there’s a casket!”
Recap: 3-rounder from Takeova Battle League finds a versatile JDY spouting a nice effort with plenty of gritty punches and some solid wordplay. However, when he wasn’t supplying a bunch of off-the-dome tutorials to show you how it’s really done, Chef Trez’s spicy mix of fiery gun lines, scheming punchlines and head-shaking set-ups/name flips are more than enough to earn the 3-0.
Verdict: Chef Trez (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Chef Trez – “Y’all gave a lame to me, this ain’t even something y’all could explain to me, only JD that put in work in Atlanta was Jermaine DuPri!”
Recap: In this dope 1-rounder from Bars Over Bricks, a strong, punch-heavy and gritty showing from Murdock gets edged by a more condensed, storytelling-rich, witty, name flip-lit and punch/personal-heavy Swamp.
Verdict: Swamp (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Swamp – “You play stupid and you’ll get can fried, then ya man dying, or you might wake up to a band on ya head…nigga, that’s a grand rising!”
Recap: The irony of Zay Smoove talking up Chef Trez’s rebuttal game so much in round 1 and Trez only utilizing one or two the entire battle shouldn’t be lost here. As in this 3-rounder from GOTG, Trez puts aside the off-the-dome zingers and instead dishes a steady barrage of fiery gun bars, festive name flips, graphic mayhem and rich set-ups/punchlines to, despite a solid showing from his sometimes longwinded opponent, earn the 30.
Verdict: Chef Trez (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Chef Trez – “They thought I was only a shooter when I had the dreds, but I’m cut for whatever [takes off hoody] you see I’m still willing to fade with you!”
Recap: A couple of dudes, King Los and DNA, who’ve been going at it online for a few years now, finally meet up on the URL/Smack Volume 8 stage and for the most part it was a goodie. ‘Industry rapper’ Los, in only his 3rd professional battle, did pretty well here (tho he still needs to work on his timing and performance), delivering three pretty solid rounds that contained fleeting moments of righteous gems, some lofty wordplay and bruisimg personals/punchlines. That said, this was all DNA. The Queens, NY, vet taking his opponent to task with an often sublime mixture intricate lyrical warfare, fire set-ups, brazen punchlines, fierce schemes, grandiose pontificating and to cap it all, a haymaker-rich, personal-lit, personal breakdown-heavy, hard-hitting and superbly-executed 3rd round that amounted to a classic. DNA with the 30.
Verdict: DNA (W) 3-0
Favorite line: DNA – “You do all this talking about Ancestry, but still need DNA to remind you where you from!”
Recap: Battling a fan of yours has got to be a little awkward, no? Still Alaskan battler Phonetic, an admitted admirer of his opponent Jey The Nitewing, puts on a strong showing in this Juneau Rap Battle League 3-rounder what with charismatic storytelling, solid name flips and witty/piercing personals throughout a run that outside some longwinded sermonizing kept him competitive. But despite a solid, yet somewhat lacksadaisical 2nd round (which forced a debatable there) and a near choke in round 3, Nitewing’s trip to The Last Frontier wouldn’t be a waste as the Mad King’s boatload of stinging punchlines/schemes, sharp wordplay, rigid name flips and witty barbs/personals would get him the win in rounds 1 and 3 for the vic.
Verdict: Jey The Nitewing (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Jey The Nitewing – “Being this far North, I bet you thought it was all milk and cookies when they locked us in, but if you that close to the Pole, use the whole Mag ‘netic, you can’t be too positive!”
Recap: Well, damn. Offering up scathing disses at everyone and everything from the Drake-lookalike in the crowd to battle rap in general to his opponent Ave joining EFB (that is, when he wasn’t going at the big man’s alleged health issues) an aggressive, versatile, righteous and pressure-cooking B. Dot also utilizes a barrage of stifling punches/schemes/wordplay to out-wit (going in a pretty solid altogether Ave had to know Dot would focus on his noted punching game, so why he didn’t do more with personals and wit as he did in the 3rd round is a bit mind-boggling) and out-flex his Norlfolk, VA, peer and score a 30 in this Smack Volume 8 battle from URL.
Verdict: B. Dot (W) 3-0
Favorite line: B. Dot – “‘I don’t know B. Dot Ave come with the punches!’, yeah but they all fake, fat Blood ain’t gonna raise nothing but his heart rate!”
Recap: A real goodie here between Mackk Myron and KashMoney from KOTD’s Season 1, Week 12 tournamnet as both battlers kept it competitive via a boatlaod of damning punchlines, fiery personals, witty/raunchy barbs (in Mackk’s case) and straightforward heat (in Money’s case). However, despite a consistently strong performance from his opponent (which edged him round 3), it’s the slightl;y more haymaker-lit Myron who takes each of the opening rounds for the win.
Verdict: Mackk Myron (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Macklk Myron – “You got no fans, no classics, no quotes, I’m hot cuz, yacht club, show boat!”
