Recap: After being caught out there stealing bars for her recent Ness Lee battle, Bonnie Godiva returns to the stage to battle former KOTD champ PoRich, spouts some earnest freestyles here and there to prove her rap mettle and delivers a gang of righteous/piercing punches to beat an opponent who seemed more bent on addressing Bonnie’s stolen bars/ghostwriting drama than actually winning the battle.
Verdict: Bonnie Godiva (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Bonnie Godiva – “Everybody wanna be black till they see that rope swinging!”
Recap: Deftly transitioning from ‘shooting his shot’ smooth playa linguistics to straight-up utter disrespect and mayhem, in this 1-rounder from We Go Hard, a way more versatile and hitting Mo Mula beats back a bedlam-ringing, but also flow-challenged and too cameo-friendly (tho Shoonie Da Rapper’s appearance was pretty banging) Phara Funeral.
Verdict: Mo Mula (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Mo Mula – “They only offer you carry catchers and Olive Garden dinners, we would’ve did a picnic…then I send you dick pics, hey you getting the larger picture?!”
Recap: “and tell the dda-dda-Don I don’t do rematches!” When you’re on record as having one of (and arguably the only) the few victories over the likes of Hollow da Don, yuu got every reason to not want to ever do a rematch. But 9 years after their infamous Fight Klub battle, here we are, Arsonal vs Hollwo on the URL/Smack stage and for the most part it’s a goodie with both battlers kicking a boatload of lyrical shiners, personal barbs and assorted gun bars/heaters to keep you nicely tuned to the screen. Intense throughout with a cameo appearance from the Yankee fitted and jacket that Hollow wore in their first battle, for all of Arsonal’s comeuppance bar-wise (surprisingly, da Rebel really didn’t get too disrespectful until round 3) overall, in each round Hollow just came one better. The dda-Don using his turns to show off an interchangeable flow, gritty wordplay, witty darts, potent schemes/personals, residual (“I’ll nail both of ya feet to the floor and slap-box you!”) mayhem and a fire rebuttal in the 3rd round to beat his longtime nemesis, who for the most part came with it, was consistently aggressive throughout and dropped some lofty (“When you scream ‘Loyalty over money’, nigga we know you bluffing, Math thought he was a nigga he could lean on, come to find out you just some Robitussin!”) haymakers of his own, but in the long run suffered from too many throwaway bars as well as an opponent for whom this battle probably meant a little more extra to.
Verdict: Hollow da Don (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Hollow da Don – “Didn’t you and your baby mom’s break up?, ain’t irony a bitch, this nigga done rapped about everybody’s kids, now he gotta get permission to see his!”
Recap: Even with the strapped, boisterous and consistent mayhem hurled by Fixx, Geechi Gotti’s more versatile mix of stinging name flips, potent punchlines, brazen braggadocio lines and even a couple of spicy off-the-dome freestyles are more than enough to take this fiery 1-rounder from the Riot Network.
Verdict: Geechi Gotti (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Geechi Gotti – “Now this, turning into a slaughter, it’s not a good look for you, Tuskegee experiment, just because I gave you the shot don’t mean it’s good for you!”,
Recap: Ty Law and Zay Smoove battle in this rare 3-rounder from Gates of the Garden. Competitive throughout, despite being out-punched Law’s opening freestyles forces a draw to round one, while too many dry spots along with a couple of slip-ups, give a more consistent and (“Put the knife all in him, bring it back out, put it back in, shit look like I’m at the credit card machine, but the chip just won’t work!”) aggressive Zay the 2nd. Behind going into the 3rd, Law gets back on his grind with his best round what with rapid punches that steadily hit. And despite another solid turn from Zay, Law’s more heavy-handed turn makes this one even in the end.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: Ty Law – “The fact you got all these battles, not one hot clip, it’s telling like that nigga crying in his mugshot pic!”
Recap: Utilizing frenzied name flips, rigid O.G. themes, fierce punchlines and some random wit, for two rounds Danny Myers goes ham with it enough to beat back a (the ‘Clayton Bigsby line in round 2 was fire!) strong, but not quite as sturdy Saint Mic. A pretty even 3rd round was only separated by Saint Mic struggling with his a flow a bit, thus handing Danny the 30.
Verdict: Danny Myers (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Danny Myers – “I know this bitch ain’t fighting, but I still keep the rubber on the handle so the grip stay tight, face shot at close range, his momma don’t call him by his rap name, but she gonna say ‘This ain’t Mic!'”
Recap: I can’t think of any way you can prepare for a haymaker that’s about your man getting knocked out before the battle…by your opponent. But hey Young Kannon certainly tried, addressing the matter within his first round here when he wasn’t spitting other scintillating (“Louie V put you to sleep recently, what was that fight ’bout?, how the fuck your name is Shine if nigga’s keep putting your lights out!?”) personals and back-breaking mayhem. Still, for all of K-Shine’s hot-headedness, the guy couldn’t have lasted this long in the game if he couldn’t rap and that made for the difference here as YK, for all his comeuppance, aggressive set-ups and sublime raps, overall just got out-barred. Indeed, after a dope 1st from YK, K-Shine, using some hitting performance (“Stomach shot, he get that gut [rubs his belly] feeling like something’s wrong!”) bars, nice crowd control and some ill (“You might as well call me Earl, this man a G.O.A.T. [Manigault]!”) wordplay, ends up edging the round. And another personal-tinged, punch-heavy and overall solid turn by YK in round 2 gets beat by a more eccentric, (“Hey, we ain’t the same, I’m nothing like you nigga’s, I’m a double shot of 1800, that’s twice the killer!”) punchline-spazzing and witty Shine. And while YK fell a little victim (again) to some redundant themes/personals used against Shine in the past, his 3rd was still pretty nice what with some flexing punches, fire (“I’ll put the K to K, k?, that’s white supremacy!”) gun bars and jaunty wordplay to salvage a round and match another comical, but potent, (“play it safe, or I’m tagging the Guerilla [gorilla] like Bathing Ape!”) punch-heavy, braggadocio and gritty turn from Shine
Verdict: K-Shine (W) 2-1
Favorite line: K-Since – “I’m good, when I got these hands out, shit 10 minutes ago I just knocked your man out!”
Recap: This one-rounder from Gates in the Garden sees a strong, punch-heavy performance from Monstar. However, a little too much filler versus a more condensed and gritty, if not a little esoteric showing from Xcel, ends up putting the Team Homi member over.
Verdict: Xcel (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Xcel – “What more is there left to say, I’m the God, I should be at rest today!”
Recap: Using a lit combo of fire schemes, heated punchlines, fiery sound effects and nicely researched personals, an animated and ‘generous’ Young Kannon makes quick work of a solid-to-start, but quickly diminished Poetik Genius in this 1-rounder from Body Bag Battles.
Verdict: Young Kannon (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Young Kannon – “Stomach shot…leave his belly hanging out like a QueenzFlip battle!”
Recap: Sticking to a gameplan of staying condensed with his bars as well as displaying fiery (“This shit trips me out, how can you hate on a fellow black man!”) wit throughout the battle, Glueazy survives Chess’ more potent (“He gonna talk about me choking nigga…till [puts hands up like a choke] I’m choking nigga’s!”) heat in the 1st, before edging round two with a more undiluted turn that featured a load of wicked (“Bitch, my heat will spark, I egt to dumping with the Smif’n, and make the Cakes fall like I’m jumping in the kitchen!”) punches and taking the deciding 3rd thanks in part to too many slip-ups from his otherwise pretty (“The plan was to duck-tape Glu [glue] and I’m a stick to it!”) solid opponent.
Verdict: Glueazy (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Glueazy – “Danny told y’all I had a black son, well won’t be the first time I raised something that wasn’t mine!”
Recap: A debatable 3rd round, but if Da Spot thought his nifty punchlines packed enough heat to spin haymaker after haymaker and get him the edge in a couple of consecutive, shortened rounds, he was wrong. As the Fonz’s more raucous punches, West-coast disses, daunting wordplay, mocking name flips and piercing guns bars did more than enough damage to take the aforementioned early rounds and get the win.
Verdict: Fonz (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Fonz – “Instead I’m matched up with Da Spot and I’m killing this bitch, all it takes is one shot and I ain’t missing the hit, it’s like watching Pornhub, after the [raises arm like gun] bust I don’t finish the clip!”
Recap: In this 3-rounder from Black Ice Cartel, Showstoppa uses some fiery gun bars and some nice (“Just give it up, Amber Alert, we got the message when you took a 16!”) set-ups to stay within close range of Prez Mafia. However, a struggle with his flow, a little too many pedestrian bars and Mafia’s more consistently gritty and relentless (“Nigga’s saying Prez gonna bleed?!, yo for the bread shit get lifted, like I said ‘No cheese!'”) punches, gives Prez the first two rounds along with the win.
Verdict: Prez Mafia (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Prez Mafia – “Green light for the dome shot…that’s go ahead!”
Recap: No doubt, an emphasis on flow and cadence during this rare battle over the beats between Big Hann and Haze Tha Gift, which sees both battlers spit some gritty rhymes at a more rapid pace (esp. on Hann’s part) than usual. Still, it’s Philly’s Hann who takes it in the end with a much more steadier flow along with slinging more noteworthy darts.
Verdict: Big Hann (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Big Hann – “He don’t wanna see Hann with a black Wesson, hit his leg, now he Big Daddy Kane…half-stepping!”
Recap: Mixing in a fiery performance with his string of stinging braggadocio quips, potent struggle bars and transparent gun lines, a pent-up J. Murda beats back the mostly standard punches of C Low.
Verdict: J Murda (W) 1-0
Favorite line: J Murda – “Fuck what you heard, ‘cuz y’all souped him and now that’s what the guy sip!”
Recap: Haze Tha Gift and Truth Watson trade some fire punchlines, fiery personals and gritty gun bars during this one-rounder from RBE. However, while Truth was a little more versatile with his, a slightly more condensed, direct, cleaner and wordplay-heavy Haze edges the win.
Verdict: Haze Tha Gift (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Haze Tha Gift – “I’ll let this True bitch talk to the arm, like a smart watch!”
Recap: The Joey Jihad haymakers stamp it, but even before that K. Walker’s usage of gritty hometown anecdotes, witty punchlines and flexing personals/name flips was working aggressively to beat back a solid, but too many dry-spots-having turn by Bill Collector in this 1-round battle from The Battle Academy.
Verdict: K. Walker (W) 1-0
Favorite line: K. Walker – “I’ll step in the scene, let it swing, chopper style, It’s in my jeans to let it ring…pocket dial!”
Recap: A well-prepared Nu Jerzey Twork is a lethal one. As shown again here, against some fire/aggressive (and [“I’ll fuck the blood out your bitch!”] questionable) punchlines from opponent Killahsiz, Twork’s more condensed roundhouses, utter mayhem, seismic wordplay and demonic (“Demons in my head they just rejoicing, Monsters Inc., they filled it up with little voices!”) lines are just enough to edge this spitfire 1-round battle.
Verdict: Nu Jerzey Twork (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Nu Jerzey Twork – “I’m in ya household [bwoh!], I let it off in your coofie, I just copped some stupid shit…Officer Doofy!”
Recap: Getting out-witted by a boatload of piercing/witty personals by Stevie P in round 3, still doesn’t stop a free-styling, intellectually-savvy, punch/scheme-heavy and performance stunting Real Deal from taking both of the opening rounds for the win in this competitive 3-rounder from Smoked Out Battles.
Verdict: Real Deal (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Real Deal – “Tonight is the biggest battle of your life, for me?, it’s just another Tuesday in November!”
Recap: It’s funny how often performance-leaning battle rappers get conflated with not having quality bars. As is the case for this PG matchup here with so many in the comments section concluding that Gunpowder Patt lost this battle to Skates because the latter had bars and Patt? Well, he’s nothing but a comedian. Like darts such as “Nigga’s wanna live like the movie till they lose a child…everybody wanna be Ace until the deuce is wild!” and “Bring me two extra quarters, I’ll bring you back double…overtime!” weren’t high-grade caliber. Of course, anyone who’s witnessed Skates perform before this battle, knows that he comes well-equipped with (“This is Chinese alchemy, ‘cuz discovering Gunpowder was an accident!”) gritty, sublime, hardbody bars and schemes for days. And a fiery, (“Gunpowder fuck around he gonna be on the dirt shaking, EMT saying ‘GP are you with me’ like Kirk Franklin!”) consistently on-point 2nd round here, proved that. But thanks, yes in part to a better overall performance, a more versatile palette, lofty/relatable bars that hit and Skates penchant for pedestrian bars to segue between angles, the consensus here is Gunpowder Patt taking rounds 1 and 3 for the win.
Verdict: Gunpowder Patt (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Gunpowder Patt – “I don’t like Uber Pool ‘cuz I might get in a car with a nigga that I got beef with!”
Recap: Helped by a handful of stumbles by Swave Sevah, but also scoring with a bunch of piercing punchlines, some fierce wordplay and delicious/consistent flow on the infamous “The Bridge Is Over” beat in the deciding 3rd round, Buttah From Da Block does enough to edge the latter two rounds and take this entertaining Verbal War Zone battle.
Verdict: Buttah From Da Block (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Buttah From Da Block – “Pistol in ya mouth, Akinyele how I pop the trunk!”
Recap: Bringing back classic scenes from Do The Right Thing! Shotgun Suge’s love for movies doesn’t get appreciated enough. And neither does his lyrical acumen, as Suge mightily proves when he’s on his A-game, including here against a pretty solid overall, set-up nice, thought-proving, aggressive and wordplay-heavy Mike P. A competitive battle throughout, for the first two rounds it’s Suge who manages to beat back a couple of hefty turns from his opponent, using a bastion of rapidly stinging punchlines/name flips, fierce gun bars/personals and fervent movie references for the win before a compelling, real life spectacle from Mike coupled with another bodacious turn from Suge makes for a tie in the 3rd.
Verdict: Shotgun Suge (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Shotgun Suge – “Offset and Cardi, he get the heavy ring, I let it sing, you know you can’t eat with this Ginny, he put Parmesan cheese on everything!”
Recap: When faced against the rapid name flips and wicked punchlines from Chilla Jones, the mostly passive punches from British rapper Mr Re are not only basic, but cost him the first couple of rounds as well as a win. Still, it’s not all bad as despite being vulnerable to a sweep, Re manages to turn it up with a punch-heavy, fire 3rd and avoid getting 30’d.
Verdict: Chilla Jones (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Chilla Jones – “I ain’t scared of dude, shit, I’ll even let him reach for his heater first, ‘cuz if he shoot, then I’m a give him bucks back, point it Reimbursed!”
Recap: Delivering a talking too towards her opponent via a handful of fire schemes, but also mixing in some nifty punchlines and well-dressed personals along the way, Nina Cruzae takes the 1st and 3rd rounds from a competitive throughout and punch/name flip-spazzing at times, but one-too-many dry spots having Viixen The Assassin to edge this 3-rounder from S.E.A.
Verdict: Nina Cruzae (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Nina Cruzae – “How you gonna out real life bar a bitch who mother birthed her in prison?!”
Recap: As surprising as it is to see GE still in the PG’s all these years later, at least his rhyme patterns and skill set haven’t faltered any. Here against the up-n-comer (“This ain’t about who’s older or who’s younger, this a has-been vs. pure hunger, kill them all, count up the bodies, R. Kelly, Aaliyah, A-G-E [Hey, GE] ain’t nuthin’ but a number!”) Quban, the Wisconsin vet does just enough to pull out a tough one, coming back after a round 1 loss to edge the latter two rounds with a rapid set of fire punchlines, fiery set-ups, some flinching personals and loud (“Nigga, don’t play with me, you ain’t gotta wait and see, these chopper’s come out first…like baby teeth!”) gun bars. Indeed, while the battle stayed close and competitive throughout, a few too many pedestrian bars by Quban and a more consistent and wordplay-heavy GE in the deciding 3rd also settled matters.
Verdict: GE (W) 2-1
Favorite line: GE – “Fuck all that, I came to get my shit back, and I don’t black, I O.J.!”
Recap: A solid performance by up-n-comer Bobby Lee, filled with plenty of fierce (“You wear clothes that are one cheeseburger away from you fitting them!”) wit and nice punches, is still edged by a better Nu Jerzey Twork, who shows up here with fiercer gun bars and some exquisite (“Watch your raps, or your mama clapped, the .9 extend, don’t let the reason she get clipsed [clips] to the back of her head, be Bobby pen [bobbypin]!”) wordplay to take this one-rounder brought to you from Body Bag Battles.
Verdict: Nu Jerzey Twork (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Nu Jerzey Twork – “I’ll push your grandmama down the stairs and holler ‘Life Alert’!”
Recap: Dishing enough mayhem, piercing name flips and heated punchlines/scemes to leave his mark, but also helped by an opponent who while solid and off-the-dome prolific for two rounds, wasn’t able to do much (not including tag-ins from both Prez Mafia and Q.P.) in the deciding 3rd, Bankhead edges this fiery battle from Black Ice Cartel.
Verdict: Bankhead (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Bankhead – “I watched you verse DNA…6 times, this bitch died, that shit made up wanna post in front of ya crib like a ‘For Rent’ sign!”
Recap: Despite a solid showing from his (“I’m a wind up, waving, the sparks flying..blickity-bloppity-boo!”) flying, unorthodox opponent Rich E. Rich, Double Bar Bill (aka Bill Collector) uses random off-the-dome spiel’s, witty (“How ya name Rich E. Rich and you brokie broke!?”) one-liners and flexing performance bars to take this one-rounder from Gates of the Garden.
Verdict: Bill Collector (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Bill Collector – “When we first walk in here, they gonna clown, till the mask start dropping like the plane going down!”
Recap: In this 3-rounder from Skytier Northwest, after a close 1st round, a confident, witty with the personals and scheme/punchline-heavy Danja Zone ends up with an easy bag upon Jey The Nitewing’s more pedestrian bars and slip-ups in the latter two rounds.
Verdict: Danja Zone (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Danja Zone – “Everything in your verse was dumb, wack, lot of dead waste. please tell me that that’s not your best Jey, ‘cuz if so, everything in your head was trash…Black China sex tape!”
Recap: A raucous even in a small room, steady with the heat and sharp with the punches Shotgun Suge does just enough to get by the solid set-ups and rich performance bars from LT, who if not for one too many dry spots, might’ve pulled off an upset.
Verdict: Shotgun Suge (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Shotgun Suge – “This broom choppa, a room rocka, first Smack gonna get ugly like Unkasa!”
Recap: Some crisp God/religious-angles and aggressive/solid wordplay here and there provides Ron Compton with enough juice to take round 2 here against Danny Myers. But a pretty medieval and more importantly condensed Myers, bent on boastful shiners, raucous punchlines and pent-up mayhem, was able to dish enough seismic heat to take the opening and final rounds for the win.
Verdict: Danny Myers (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Danny Myers – “Do you believe in a Parallel universe? I do, it’s insane patna, an OG said, ‘I can live life by diggin’ for jewels’, then he was killed by a grave robber!”
Recap: A punch-fest filled with a lot of history and brimming tension, K-Shine and Danny Myers is certainly worth the look. As for who won? The feeling here is Shine and that’s despite a pretty epic (“I’m better with the blade ‘cuz I cant miss, I get up close, give him 5 strikes on the side, now he’s K Swiss!”) 3rd round from Myers. However, before the final round, Shine’s ability to combine wit, fierce (“All that money you gave Rex, nigga, you could’ve been a sponsor for NOME!”) personals and heated punches with hardly any filler did a lot of damage to a less versatile, less adjoined and more prone to pedestrian bars (esp. when he attempted to get personal) that didn’t always match his aggression in Myers. Indeed, Shine’s verbal repertoire, stirred with just enough set-up rich dishes, gets him the 1st and 2nd rounds here.
Verdict: K-Shine (W) 2-1
Favorite line: K-Shine – “Your next birthday, I ain’t gonna slide up like a dancer, I crept through, you 37, we gonna make .38…special!”
Recap: Funny how much you can tell from a battle rapper by just listening to his flow. That’s especially the case here when taking in Rush Tyg’s bars, which for the most part are hardcore, but also lacking intricacy, that is when he’s not being unintentionally funny. Not that spending significant time locked up can’t make you a dope battle rapper (Snake Eyez is proof of that), but the unsportsmanlike veil threats in the battle, half mask on face and an unnecessary pocket check, kind of show that Rush may not quite be ready to be a professional at his craft. That said, this one-rounder was pretty much all Dre Dennis, scoring left and right with fiery punchlines, buoyant gun bars and rigid name flips throughout his turn, no matter what Rush came with, he wouldn’t have stood much of a chance.
Verdict: Dre Dennis (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Dre Dennis – “I dropped a 100 pounds, but I pick one up quicker!”
Recap: Normally not one to rely too much on the personals, Chef Trez gets busy with plenty of them here and that along with a gang of stinging name flips, fiery punchlines and scattered street missives allows the Chef to score a 30 on a hard-punching at times, but wildly inconsistent Rashaad Miller in this 3-rounder from Houston Underground Rap Battles.
Verdict: Chef Trez (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Chef Trez – “You fake brother, like your first cousin!”
Recap: In this one-rounder from Gates of the Garden, Drugz runs with a witty ‘light-skin lookalike’ theme that’s exemplified by his usual high energy and fanatical punchlines. However, with a couple of dry spots and a slightly shorter turn than his opponent, leave it to Bonus, consistently scoring with fiery set-ups and rigid gun bars, to take advantage of Drugz’ more sluggish bars.
Verdict: Bonus (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Bonus – “Nigga, my pen hot too, but it’s some different that I’m a send by you, I don’t even need a 3rd, it’s like playing basketball in the street…I gotta win by 2!”
Recap: In this performance-heavy battle between Mr. Wavy and Nu Jerzey Twork, an unforced error by Twork, cutting off Wavy’s 2nd round due to time limits and allowing him the opportunity to start his 3rd with hilarious barbs (that were intended for Wavy’s 2nd) on Twork’s hairline encapsulates the entire battle that saw Wavy (after getting edged in round one by a more condensed and [“Damn the zombie, I’ll stitch a bird across Wave chest…Abercrombie!”] potent Twork) use consistently fire punchlines/schemes, fierce personals, ‘nasty’ (“Your squad gassed, the clip longer than the fro that Marge had!”) gun bars and a altogether witty, crowd-pleasing performance (that Twork himself said caused him to choke away his 2nd round) to earn the win and put his name back in the mix when it comes to the big stage.
Verdict: Mr. Wavy (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Mr. Wavy – “You look like if you go to the club without an I.D. then take your hoodie off, they be like ‘Aight, go ahead nigga!'”
Recap: A bit shorter with the clip, but still more condensed, Cold Play Wu gets smoothly personal with it to take out a hyped, but a little too sporadic Bill Collector in this one-rounder from Traphouse Battle League.
Verdict: Cold Play Wu (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Cold Play Wu – “You claim you most hated, but dog, you gotta be relevant in Philly first to be hated at all!”
Recap: Overall fire and competitive PG battle between a wordplay/punchline-heavy Real Name Brandon and and a gun line feening Fixx is split going into the deciding 3rd round which sees both battlers put forth plenty of righteous heat, but it’s Brandon flexing with more crafty punches as well as a displaying a nice research game, that edges the final round for the win.
Verdict: Real Name Brandon (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Real Name Brandon – “This bitch is ready to bust, I let my .4 play [foreplay], I lean in without touching the ground, like ‘Eddie, are you ok?'”
Recap: Mexican bars are something you gotta deal with. And if you’re vet like Chess, while you probably wasn’t expecting much from a relative newbie, for a versatile Don Marino, hitting on all cylinders, from righteous (“We used to fuck with you ‘cuz we heard the struggle in your bars, now we don’t fuck with you ‘cuz we hear you struggle with your bars!”) personals to potent punches, it’s a worthy chance to prove yourself against a stalwart opponent. Which he certainly did throughout his one round to pull off the upset. On the other hand, for Chess, even with the loss, coming off a long bout with Earl, a solid (“Who gonna play the field for you when I pick up 9’s and bag your bitch like pick-up lines!”) showing with no unforced errors here, lets us know that he’s not done just yet.
Verdict: Don Marino (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Don Marino – “Let me guess, you used to ride around with something illegal, I ride around with someone illegal!”
Recap: In what amounted to a dope punchfest with an unexpected appearance from a drunk Real Deal, a consistently hardbody-punching and performance-lit, versatile, wordplay spicy and witty/personal-bent Math Hoffa is able to land a couple of more haymakers (esp. during a crazy round 1) in both of the opening rounds of this KOTD battle for the win, before opponent Shotti P edges the final round with a hitting, steadier-flowing/punching and condensed turn to avoid the shutout.
Verdict: Math Hoffa (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Math Hoffa – “The can on ya, I squeeze the heat like a hand warmer, double-tap P and open up playa like Pandora!”
Recap: Here in this Smack Volume One battle, it’s a punch-heavy battery along with a lyrical assault for a consistently fire O-Red, who once again proves his mettle against an overall (“You washed up, bitch I’m black on bars like African soap!”) solid and performance bar steady, but too often average Brizz Rawsteen. Indeed, a clearly-did-his-research-on-his-opponent O-Red, finessing with hard (“You let more bull come out your mouth than a Philly nigger!”) punches, steady wordplay, rich metaphors and hitting personals throughout all 3 rounds, conducts enough of a bar session to edge all 3 rounds, while at the same time giving Brizz a friendly reminder on why even without the dreads, he’s still one of Jersey’s finest.
Verdict: O-Red (W) 3-0
Favorite line: O-Red – “Brizz know better, this old heckler a hoe stretcher, leave a nigga from Raleigh [rally] in the street like a protestor!”
Recap: Competitive 3-rounder between Zig Zag and Kid Chaos showcased, amongst other things, the latter’s conversational and unorthodox style of rap which lit the scoreboard when it came to piercing schemes and head-ringing personals/set-ups. But after a debatable 1st round, Zig Zag’s haughty linguistics would suddenly become enamored via a spitfire, wordplay-nice, gun bar-heavy and punch-lit 2nd round (that Chaos spiritually challenged and might’ve edged if not for one too many bars directed at one of his peers in the crowd), before Zag also takes a 3rd round, that while equal on haymakers goes Zig’s way thanks to less filler.
Verdict: Zig Zag (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Zig Zag – “I know you wrote over the time limit, me too nigga, we going minute for minute, so for 3 rounds you can watch a Kid [called] Chaos Dennis the Menace!”
Recap: Undeterred by Drugz jumping in for a 3rd of Nu Jerzey Twork’s round, in this 1-rounder from Bloody Scene, Stack Almighty uses a barrage of boisterous bully bars, some piercing punchlines, candid O.G. talk and some witty/hardbody personals to beat back his hitting at times, but mostly one-dimensional opponent.
Verdict: Stack Almighty (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Stack Almighty – “You ever a man get buried where he standing?…well, that’s a grave sight [grave site]!”
Recap: Is Nu Jerzey Twork at the point in his battle rap career where he can do side battles just ‘for a check’? Who knows. But with Twork’s name steady rising, why should he turn down battles against no-names if the call arises? That said, other than dudes arguing over time limits, the performance-enhanced Twork being at somewhat of a disadvantage on a small stage and a guest appearance from….who knows on Twork’s side, nothing much to see here besides Twork, thanks to a couple of slip-ups to start his round, losing to a pretty pedestrian guy named Apollo, whoill probably need to step his overall bar game up i f he ever wants to get a PG.
Verdict: Apollo (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Apollo – “Go on the hunt for him, got my grip on the .9 tight, he try running, that’s when the scope catch up to him…man, I’m shooting nigga’s in hindsight!”
Recap: Call this a tale of two halves as Steams’ potent punches and sizzling name flips easily gets him round one over a more bark than his bite Coach Corleone. 2nd round sees the story begin to flip however as the N.Y. rapper, while still delivering more fire lines, struggles with his flow, leaving his opponent with enough room to take the round with less intricate, but still dramatic bully bars, fiery (“You like Lebron wife, sleeping on a nigger with all of them skills!”; “Fuck your team, I’ll have .25 sent [cent] for the Cake!”) wit and dogmatic street theater. Going into the last tied, a still stumbling Steams needs an able assist from Prep to complete his round, giving an admittedly better as the battle progressed and consistently solid Coach Corleone the come-from-behind-win.
Verdict: Coach Corleone (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Steams – “I’m not worried about you aggress-ing me nigger, LeBron James and Ty Lue, this Coach can only talk to the rest of these nigger’s!”
Recap: Solid, highly-personal themed battle between Teewhy and Trey 30 sees the former, even while getting laced with some fiery schemes and in-your-face blunt (“I mean, they even took you to the PG’s like you would really lay it down, but it was more like you only stuck arm out the window before we made our way to town, we went out convinced T would be enough heat since Breezy ain’t around!”) Breeze speak from his a-little-filler-prone opponent, get in his bag with a more consistent and aggressive palette of potent (“Who next trip?, I’ll murk your family, your pop pop, then 30 grams in a bag like I blessed the zip!”) gun bars, witty one-liners and his own lot of formidable personals to take round 1 and edge round 3 for the win.
Verdict: Teewhy (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Teewhy – “Tool rage, .38 pointing at the Trey like the Flu game!”
Recap: A confident, versatile and punchline-heavy Jerry Wess makes his presence felt in readily beating back a pretty solid and aggressive, but not-quite-as-nice-with-the-pen Kadaphi in this 3-rounder from WeGoHard. Wess, who was consistently spitfire with his bars, angles, performance and set-ups throughout the battle, shined best when he walked Kadaphi’s salty crew member right into that fire “Y’all really got me battling Bedaffi [It’s Kadaphi!]…the Bizzaro version!” line.
Verdict: Jerry Wess (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Jerry Wess – “Niggers taught he had me cornered until they saw the beam flash, me lacking?, I got the ratchet always like she needs pads!”
Recap: Highly entertaining and performance-heavy 1-rounder between Your Honor and Ralphy Gabbana goes the latter’s way thanks in part to Y.H.s elongated turn that while laced with plenty of humorous barbs and piercing personals, also sported way too much filler. Gabbana, on the other hand, hyper but condensed with his raps, while also scoring left and right with ringing gun bars, gritty name flips, lofty punchlines, well-research personals and animated schemes, put on such a crowd-pleasing show that he’d literally run off the stage, game-winning, buzzer-beater style at the end of his round.
Verdict: Ralphy Gabbana (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Ralphy Gabbana – “Hyperventilating, the streets was cold, and we live by the Honor system and by the code, I had shitty grades in school, never seen a 3.0,, but if he don’t have that 3.5…[Bow!] you still gonna see that Honor roll!”
Recap: Krucial Ken may want to stay away from the rebuttals, but other than that he does fine here, mixing graphic personals, bully bars and rampant gun bars to ill effect, all the while stunting on a mostly pedestrian D Tay in this one-round battle from iBattleWorldWide.
Verdict: Krucial Ken (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Krucial Ken – “If he see stacks, I’ll snatch the paper right off this pussy, that’s a bikini wax!”
Recap: Well, I guess that no one could say that Nu Jerzey Twork isn’t an ‘open-minded’ kind of guy, taking on a low tier, gay battle rapper in the prime of his career. Still, for whatever significance comes out (no pun intended) of this one-round battle, bar for bar, it was a wrap early as Twork’s spontaneous combustion’s combined with some fiery wordplay and steely wit, more than overcame a solid, but unmoving and a bit flow-challenged turn by Cali Mackavelli.
Verdict: Nu Jerzey Twork (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Nu Jerzey Twork – “Look at this nigga grin….you know it’s bad when you tell a nigga ‘suck a dick’ and he don’t even get offended!”
Recap: Entertaining battle between ShowOff and Loso features costume changes, high-energy faith-based raps, disrespectful Christian rebukes, fiery personals, lofty punchlines and aggressive testimonials on everyday struggles. All said, a competitive battle that saw a more well-versed and more consistent Loso take the 1st round, before ShowOff comes back with a high-grade, fanatical round that beat a less effective turn by Loso while earning Show a split going into the 3rd. That final round saw ShowOff literally go bad preacher mode, while staying downright disrespectful with a slew of otherworldly darts and unkind (“I’m killing you, and I don’t care if nobody care, ‘cuz on some real shit, I don’t even believe nobody there!”) pontifications that would make an atheist proud. On the other hand, a more personal-driven and punch-heavy Loso, confident in his raps throughout the battle, would, despite a few pedestrian bars here and there, match ShowOff’s efficacy with a pretty solid enough round to make this one a debatable.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: Loso – “[He] the type to be like ‘Where was God at 9/11?’, nigga the same place ya left him on 9/10 and 9/12!”
Recap: Showing off her versatility with some flippant schemes, that when added to an already winsome collection of fiery punchlines, gripping mayhem and piercing name flips makes her almost unbeatable, E-Hart easily beats back the bullish, but inconsistent stylings of Panic in this gritty 1-rounder from Bar4Bar Rap Battles.
Verdict: E-Hart (W) 1-0
Favorite line: E-Hart -“Y’all thinking I’m a need a gun for Panic? that’s just wrong, the blade is not a missed shell [Michelle], I’m Michonne!”
Recap: A revamped Prep, not so long-winded with his rounds, better rebuttals/freestyles and spazzing with the fiery set-ups, whether they’re rapid one-off’s or multiple shots from a cannon that is his newfound ‘Baltimore’ chant, uses fiery personals, intense performance bars and some sizzling wordplay to beat back a solid at times, but way too elongated and filler-prone Mannor Boy.
Verdict: Prep (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Prep – “Drive-by, hand out, like I’m asking for help!”
Recap: Doesn’t get much more confident, raucous and sublime then the Cortez we see here as the Brooklyn rhyme-slinger brings 3 rounds of persistent heat, performance-rich semantics, sizzling name flips and spicy punchlines/personals/wordplay to a pretty solid, but not as proficient or as captivating Patron in what was still a competitive battle from F-Klan Visuals.
Verdict: Cortez (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Cortez – “This what I’m pout here for?, one swing crack his jaw, one swing…raquetball, I’m out here, by myself, bring a Tag a long [Tagalog]!”
Recap: Consistently fire with the (“I came from the trenches, we was a bunch of little grimy son-of-a-bitches, [but] Dre ain’t never ‘Set It Off’, he just handed the gun’s to the bitches!”) wordplay. spouting fierce gun bars throughout and mixing in some sporadic wit, Fettuccine20 gets the win by taking the first couple of rounds here against a Dre Vishiss, who was solid throughout (esp. when he was kicking that real [“Bitch nigga, if this was a scene outta ‘Boyz in Da Hood’, you’d be ready to let Trey out the car, bitch nigga, before I even seen that shit I was a kid letting the .3 out the car…really living that life for you rap nigga’s to make it a bar!”] shit in a spitfire 3rd), but suffered from too much filler and a slow start to his 1st to have any chance of withstanding his opponent’s early heat.
Verdict: Fettuccine20 (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Fettuccine20 -“No big brothers, I had to fight for mine when I was hitting the block, I played basketball and baseball, till I start pitching the rock!”
Recap: After edging round one with better punchlines and some gritty visuals with the bars, Wise gets a little less potent and predictable with his bars/schemes in the latter rounds, thus leaving more than enough room for Big Hann to edge round 2 with steadier hardbody barbs and easily take the deciding round 3 with a nice mix of lucid personals and rambunctious punches.
Verdict: Big Hann (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Big Hann – “You’ll get [bwoh!] without me even looking….crock pot!”
Recap: Too much wit and too many (“They only like you ‘cuz you the fake me and they don’t see me as much!”) fly personals/tru-isms from Goodz along with too many unforced errors (bragging about beating Tony D, spitting too many non-direct bars, etc.) from an otherwise solid (“You lost all this weight and still got a fat girl face!”) Jimz, gives the former the first couple of rounds and the win in a battle that wasn’t as dry as the seemingly listless crowd let on.
Verdict: Goodz (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Goodz – “When that nigger knocked you out, why you ain’t call me?,…instead you was watching him from the ground, gave us the real definition of floor seats!”
Recap: In this 3-rounder from KOTD, a (“The .45 bullet a big rocket, arm extended, shit’s brolic, but he ain’t see me reach for it like a pick-pocket!”) punch-heavy and a little more consistent Krome takes round 1, before Chilla Jones wakes up and styles on his opponent, using solid schemes, jaunty punchlines, vet mode (“How is your crew ahead of us, when we’re the designated drivers, I mean we brought you to this party so you could get a buzz!”) set-ups, salacious name flips and even a few freestyles/rebuttals to turn things around. take the latter two rounds and garner the win.
Verdict: Chilla Jones (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Chilla Jones – “I’m foul and I’m flagrant too, so let your team know, you’ll get smacked after the battle, bitch I’m in beast mode!”
Recap: Nice one-rounder between Geechi Gotti and Diesel is served up by Geechi’s more brutal personals, some ill gun bars, fly punchlines and storied street tales to flex his authenticity. And while the always punch-heavy Diesel doesn’t waver of the face of Gotti’s gritty bars, a few too many dry spots during what was a pretty solid round leaves Gotti with his hand raised.
Verdict: Geechi Gotti (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Geechi Gotti – “Fuck it tho, I got a new gun, and it’s a nice weapon, put the laser on the Barcode, I’m just price checking!”
Recap: Rare 1-rounder for Arsonal, but the disrespect is still there as da Rebel uses a slew of boastful shiners, some fiery wordplay, piercing gun bars and of course, a boatload of discourteous barbs to beat back a gritty and West-coast stunting, but not quite as consistent Hipnosis.
Verdict: Arsonal (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Arsonal – “Let me tell you the difference between you and I, your bitch pussy like my entire sweatsuit nigga…superdry!”
