No Bias. No Narratives.
Recap: ‘Mister Top Tier from the Proving Grounds,’ Chilla Jones, makes quick work of a versatile, but not spectacular Qpacalypsem who when he wasn’t making up for dry spots with nice anecdotes along with some spiffy wordplay, couldn’t withstand the steady heat, witty puns and polemic dispensary from Mr. Jones’ kitchen.
Verdict: Chilla Jones (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Chilla Jones – “This deuce, deuce, clear shit out, the same as prune juice!”
Recap: Good shit between Mr. Mills and Ill Will in this lively one-rounder from Midwest Alliance that featured plenty of heated gun bars from both battlers. But with the ability to display more personals, some funny jokes and a plethora of fiery punchlines, a more versatile Ill Will, who apparently ran into some drama with po-po on the way to this battle, at the very least leaves with a victory under his belt.
Verdict: Ill Will (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Ill Will – “…let him owe me, I’ll fire a shot in the middle of Mills [meals] like Frank Lucas at lunch!”
Recap: One wouldn’t be remissed for feeling that a clearly-on-his-way-to-winning Dougy choked in this one-rounder against GP. But the feeling here is that Dougy didn’t stop his round to find his lines, but rather free-styled a bit and then had the wherewithal to stop his round short knowing that he was ahead (GP scored with some witty lines here and there, but had too many dry spots and average bars), rather than almost assuredly losing the battle with a choke.
Verdict: Dougy (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Dougy – “Up the strap. matter-of-fact, I gotta stand back, for the powder open up on this male [mail]…that’s Anthrax!”
Recap: KOTD hosts s long anticipated battle between B. Dot and Aye Verb that after a somewhat dry 1st round, oddly got better as the match proceeded. And while Verb, for the most part, put on a solid show, it just seemed that his opponent had an answer for everything the St. Louis legend had for him. Styling on B. Dot’s propensity to pontificate? So what, if he’s dropping jewel after jewel and crowd eats every bit of it. Dishing on B. Dot biting his style from Lux? So what, if he not only owns it, but if he can throw it (“How you disrespect Smack, bite the hand that was feeding you, even disrespect Loaded, but you wouldn’t have been noticed if it wasn’t something he seen in you!”) back at you with dizzying personals and lofty schemes? Then you wanna (“Get this Doctor Phil ass flow the fuck outta here, all this sucker shit, before you write rhymes for Aye Verb, put on over mitts!”) talk about who keeps it real in their raps and who doesn’t? Well, be extra careful with that one, especially when the other guy has clearly (“You died that night verse K, now the guy’s never mention you, I mean you gave up you heart to son Shine like a Mayan ritual!”) done his research and can return your heat with straight-up fire, dizzying haymakers and an ill performance.
Verdict: B. Dot (W) 2-1
Favorite line: B. Dot – “Don’t even mention comparisons, I’m from where taking sharks, you got sugar in yours…two different aquariums!”
Recap: After a hot start by Ill Will in the 1st round that edged a (“If you heard I don’t play, you better believe that shit, my nigga will break ya neck for a dime like [turns head]…’Bra, did you see that bitch!'”) haymaker-drenched, but dry spot-littered turn by Nu Jerzey Twork, the latter gets in his bag of fiery unorthodox polemics rich with finite (“[throws punches in air at Will] You see these get Ill-lit-er-ate [bwoh!] couldn’t read or write!”) performance bars and jaunty wordplay to spark a ferocious comeback. Indeed, Twork’s comeuppance would equate to a salacious round two that was made even more dominant by a stunning 2nd-round choke by Will. Tied going into the 3rd, a slow start by the Yaktown rapper, despite a load of steely histrionics later on in his round, would allow for a more consistent and frenzied Twork to do just enough for the win in what some could call an upset.
Verdict: Nu Jerzey Twork (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Nu Jerzey Twork – “Restless, I guess that gives your name less significance, well you can rap with God, I hear he got the best deliverance!”
Recap: Dishing a load of dope (“Your bill’s due nigga, looking like real food, health inspector, shut the Chef down when he see what the mill [meal] do!”) name flips and punchlines, Jo Cool proves that he can hang with Chef Trez…for a couple of rounds anyway. Still, not to be intimidated by a nice up-n-comer, a confident Trez stays on his grind, dispensing speakeasy (“Long rifle, I’ll put a sniper to Kool, I got him reminiscing!”) gun bars, steady punches that scored with ease, a nice rebuttal or two and a handful of righteous haymakers to edge the first two rounds before easily overmatching his opponent in the 3rd.
Verdict: Chef Trez (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Chef Trez – “You have no supporters or a brand, but think you the truth, but on the ceiling spinning, what I’m staying is my fanbase is through the roof!”
Recap: When a couple of longstanding vets, in this case DNA and Big Kannon, get on the stage, you should expect a good fight and get one here. Freestyle’s, rebuttals, rebuttals on top of rebuttals and par the course: fire bars, they’re all on display. 1st round has a rapidly punching BK hitting hard with nice (“Dog, you just mimic K-Shine whole cadence and think that you’re so original, well, both of y’all bitches period, ‘cuz your flow is so predictable!”) but set-ups and spiffy personals that altogether made for a solid start. However a motivated DNA, apparently holding a grudge against his opponent for being jealous of his career, upped the ante with fierce personals, buzz-worthy (“It’ll be blood when I draw on Wilson, or the Tom will put that cast away!”) wordplay and dope punchlines to edge the round. Middle round saw BK turn it up with a nice rebuttal to start it off, before going off on DNA with spitfire personals and crazy name flips in a condensed round that just managed to edge a witty and haymaker-drenched, but elongated turn from DNA. The deciding 3rd round kept the competitive heat going, what with both battlers delivering fire bars and heavy-stacked punches. But with less dry spots, another dope rebuttal, a potent career vs. career scheme and one more haymaker than his opponent, it’s DNA who convincingly takes this battle of two top tier’s.
Verdict: DNA (W) 2-1
Favorite line: DNA – “Nigga told me Kannon wanna scrap, I said ‘fight who?’, nigga’s diabetic, I’ll just give this prick the finger, I know he ain’t the Type 2 [too]!”
Recap: Much credit to Punchline for living up to his moniker, what with a handful of fiery (“He say he want to quit tobacco, but the cig I got ain’t peer pressure!”; “This .45 I call special, by far, even tho it’s next to Nunn [none]!”) punches that made this one-rounder versus Nunn Nunn competitive. However, an elongated round filled with too many standard jabs by Punchline, along with a couple of crazy rebuttals by Nunn Nunn, who when he wasn’t spitting winsome (“Bitch, you winning?, disrespect, you just talking out of ass, like Eddie Murphy on Shrek!”) heat and witty personals, kept the crowd hyped with some potent (“I’m a ticket scalper with bad seats, I give out cheap nose-bleeds!”) wordplay, would give the URL vet an impressive win.
Verdict: Nunn Nunn (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Nunn Nunn – “We smell the doep on your breathe, you’ll hit a quarter on the glass, you’re Manigault with the meth!”
Recap: ZigZag’s frenetic (“Give him that rip, and then snatch his drive, I’ll Repo Lexx!”) shots at mayhem wreck havoc at times, but in the long run can’t keep up with Lexx Luthor’s witty (“Listen, travel-size Jadakiss!”) personals, unique wordplay stylings and astute Pokeman shiners in this PG matchup from Smack..
Verdict: Lexx Luthor (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Lexx Luthor – “Y’all seen Small Soldiers?, I’m about action, figures I’d be punching out the box!”
Recap: A bit of a weird and a bit of an underwhelming battle here between Prep and Chef Trez. A few rebuttals here and there, but no ‘3 of them things’ from Chef. Prep, despite losing the battle, arguably dishing the best round in a (“…they don’t get why I call them that, man y’all be bugging, Th3 Saga will leave ’em holy, but Jaz just started busting!”) turned-up 3rd. Etc. Etc. Like Prep, once again, just doing too much in round 1 (and even a bit in round 3) and Trez, tho dispensing enough (“Talking about you ain’t trying to go back to where Rich Dollarz at…bitch, you never left!”) room-shakers and rapid punches to edge both round 1 and 2, overall, just seeming like he couldn’t wait to get this battle over with.
Verdict: Chef Trez (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Chef Trez – “Gun to the back of his head, put the machine behind him…like a record deal!”
Recap: Jimz, who’s long talked about wanting to battle Math Hoffa, finally gets his shot on the KOTD stage and for the most part, fails to take advantage of the opportunity. The first couple of rounds are all Math, back on his bully shit, but also mixing in some clever schemes, witty bars and a hilarious 2nd round centered on flipping Jimz’ ‘Stop Being Dirty’ slogan for funny storytelling/performance bars on him working at a laundry cleaner (which when you consider what he did at the DNA battle, made a lot of sense) part-time. On the other hand, while the effort was there, Jimz’ first two rounds just seemed to be all over the map, incohesively spitting bars on random subjects with little to connect them with, before literally going into his backpack to pull out a gang of chicken nuggets that made for a major reach (and a messy stage) regarding an incident Hoffa had with Serius Jones years ago. With a chance for a 30 going into the last round, Math being Math as well as being back on the KOTD platform, couldn’t help himself but to bring up, yet again, Dizaster and other stuff that had nothing to do with his opponent–an alright, but beatable round that Jimz slayed with some wicked personals of his own and a couple of hot punchlines that allowed the Queens, NY, rapper to avoid getting shut out.
Verdict: Math Hoffa (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Math Hoffa -“You should battle Surf, I’m telling you, that’ll be a heavy body, ‘cuz you knwo more about Tide…than everybody!”
Recap: Cable Guy and Stylez go at it in this PG matchup that featured plenty of fiery gun bars as well as some nice wordplay here and there to make the match competitive throughout. However, with a boatload of very average lines and pedestrian bars/schemes from both battlers, this battle turns out to be less than satisfying when compared to the hunger you’re used to seeing in most PG battles. So despite a pretty-basic-in the-first and taking-too-long-to-get-to-the-punch Cable Guy getting reduced to toast by his opponent’s ill stream of frenzied (“Glock 40 by the waistline with the beam, I got a laser disc, shit it shocked me when I shoot, it got a taser grip!”) gun bars in the first, before Styles delivers a huge miscue with his ‘Bret Hart died in the ring’ line and cutting his 2nd round short to defeat any chance of winning that round to a more wordplay and scheme-heavy Cable Guy. 3rd round exemplified the entire battle with Stylez dishing just enough of that gritty, street shit to even the score against what was a hot-n-cold turn by Cable Guy.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: Cable Guy – “You running around, think you tough with some camera crew?!, well nigga I got news for you!”
Recap: Braggadocios bangers, nifty wordplay, svelte personals, plenty of mayhem and fiery punchlines highlight this close PG matchup between Pop and Lu Castro. But after getting behind and surviving a spitfire, punch-fest from Lu in the 1st round, a consistently gritty and aggressive Pop, helped in part by Castro’s less potent raps and struggles with his flows, comes back and takes the latter two rounds for the win.
Verdict: Pop (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Pop – “I’ll pull up with mad Mac’s, he’ll be plaguing on the floor, getting stepped on and getting clapped at, now he’s a lame contradiction, ‘cuz now he a deadbeat in a dad hat!”
Recap: Well, that was…weird, entertaining and I guess highly appropriate for a Halloween match. In a one-round battle of face-paint battlers that kind of reminded you of 80’s wrestling bouts, Reepah Rell and The Joker competitively go at it and bring the whole deck out. Reepah, while struggling with his flow a little bit here and there, still manages to impress what with salacious (“Let me change the pace, big gun, arrange his face, the Nina singing at Funeral…that’s Amazing Grace!”) wordplay, intricate set-ups and witty set-ups with stealth abandon. While Joker (coupled with a cameo appearance from his homie The Riddler) kept your attention with not only his colorful mask, but sporadic, yet heated (“Blow your face on the opposite side of Gwitty face, now you’re mismatched!”) punchlines along with a handful of hilarious “deadbeat bars” towards the end. All in all, a pretty good battle, with a way more consistent Reepah earning the win.
Verdict: Reepah Rell (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Reepah Rell – “I’m talking facelifts, all my nigga’s shoot, even my brother Drew [drew]…Everybody Hates Chris!”
Recap: Not really feeling all this tag-team, dudes jumping in battles, 2-on-1 shit going on in battle rap these days. But in this case, even with surprise guest appearances by Snake Eyez and Pep in the 3rd round, with harder wordplay and more spitfire bars, despite all the antics in a final round that he barely rapped in, Fettuccine20 had already soundly beaten Swift Millie anyway.
Verdict: Fettuccine20 (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Fettuccine20 – “Low carbs, no sodium, the gat be fat free, ‘cuz Mills [meals] light!”
Recap: Niftly freestyling for like a 3rd of the battle and scoring left and right with defiant (“A hard New Yorker giving Bras, my birth certificate says ‘RIKERS!’!”) punches, Charlie Clips scores an easy win over the aggressive, but topsy-turvy newbie So Severe.
Verdict: Charlie (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Charlie Clips -“I’ll SmACK you so hard, Beasley gotta call to make sure the coast is clear, and if my Math serve me right then these 5 fingers will you Dose career!”
Recap: Long in time, but consistently potent and entertaining, T Top and Ave put on a dope battle on URL that consisted of a variety of stinging name flips, witty personals, fierce punchlines/wordplay, righteous gun bars/trap talk and mostly solid schemes. Close throughout with a more versatile, hitting (“Fuck that, I’ll put your daughter in a bag, by her ponytail, then I’ll dump the bitch on Ave., we got coke for sale, you ain’t even plugged in Virginia, who you know for real?, talking about you Grinding…you don’t even know Pharrell
Verdict: Ave (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Ave – “What you reppin’, Parklife?, y’all ass, who cares, you the star on that garbage squad?, well that’s Bad News Bear!
Recap: Kind of a weird battle between Jai 400 Block and Danja Zone in the fact that despite going into the final split, none of the 3 rounds here was even close. 1st round saw Jai stumble a couple of times before dishing a pretty standard turn that Danja easily beat back with spitfire (“They just here for Jai to [Jada] die early, that’s the beginning of Scream 2!”) bars that brought with them all sorts of mayhem. However, the 2nd round saw both battlers do a 180 what with Jai stepping up his aggression while dispensing a stirring mix of dope (“All these nigga’s talk about weapons that they’ll shoot off, till I pull a Wesson they get to stepping like Q-dogs!”) gun lines and fiery punchlines that left you no doubt who won that round when put against what a ubiquitous bore-fest of bars from his opponent. So with the momentum on Mr. 400 Block’s side and Danja Zone seemingly losing traction, Jai spits a shortened and ordinary 3rd, which in turn allows Danja to effortlessly take this one by means of a nice mix of hard punches and dope set-ups. Again, just weird, especially for what was an apparent grudge mtach.
Verdict: Danja Zone (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Danja Zone – “I’ll put lead in a caliber, then put a hole in his head like Kevin McCallister!”
Recap: Dispensing a variety of (“I caught the BART with a Maggie, word to Homer Simpson!”) robust punchlines at will, Bigg K proceeds to out-punch a solid, but not as potent Pass for two rounds, before a wordplay-heavy, (“Bitch, you racist, I’ll hit in the face with the K, k, K?!”) personal-leaning and a little more consistent Pass edges round 3 to avoid getting shut out in this fire battle from KOTD.
Verdict: Bigg K (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Bigg K – “You 50 percent clown, but that ain’t the half of it!”
Recap: Punch-heavy throughout, bodacious with the name flips/gun bars/braggadocio lines, extra funny (Bigg K’s CVS security line, “You control the parking lot, all mad and upset, trying to tackle a skateboarder like ‘Get back from the steps!'” was hilarious) at times, competitive, peculiar (O-Red’s strange wardrobe choice and K’s choice to dedicate his entire 3rd round to a scheme on bathroom usage) and delicious with the wordplay, except for a few reaches and some pretty basic punches here and there, O-Red versus Bigg K delivers on all fronts. However, when it comes to picking a winner, after a debatable 1st (even with Red’s fire ‘translation’ rebuttal, K’s punchlines were pretty vicious throughout), a condensed and more consistent O-Red takes the 2nd and with some seismic set-ups, better sauce on the bars and his own display of pointed (“You dropped your arms quicker than dude who told Ace ‘I ain’t eating!'”) personals that flexed his versatility, it’s O-Red who takes the 3rd as well for the win.
Verdict: O-Red (W) 2-1
Favorite line: O-Red – “I’ll muzzle him, you won’t hear shit when the Uzi bang, that silnecer make it sound like a hit song….from Pootie Tang!”
Recap: Zig Zag deserves props for a very solid performance here, spitting a load of mean bars with some delicious (“I’ll grab ya bitch, poke her, then use ya baby as the bargaining chip!”) gun lines/wordplay that was matched by his aggressive showing. But just as fierce with his bars and a little better overall with his wordplay and (“Fuck Zig Zag, get left in the backwoods for the raw paper!”) name flips, the always reliable Young Kannon was also a bit more consistent with his darts, thus managing to edge thsi one-rounder from Body Bag Battle League.
Verdict: Young Kannon (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Young Kannon – “Cuz in Chicago you gotta be thoro, fuck if you a legend, they’ll still paint ya face like the Prodigy mural!”
Recap: Here in this one-rounder from No Ransom Battle League, an aggressive and performance-heavy Geda Dot uses some fiery punches and nice flips to make things competitive. But a few too many dry spots along with Fettuccine 20’s stylistic wordplay, fly schemes and sanguine heaters put away any chance of Dot pulling off the upset.
Verdict: Fettuccine 20 (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Fettuccine 20 – “I’ll put a round on Dot like the Target logo!”
Recap: A gritty, competitive matchup with plenty of mayhem and hardbody street rhymes to get your temperatue boiling, the more rigid, succinct, witty at times, storytelling and name flip spicy Swave Sevah manages to edge both of the opeing rounds for the win before a fire turn by Iam Marz in the 3rd allows him to void the shutout.
Verdict: Swave Sevah (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Swave Sevah – “You a candy rapper, ain’t nobody buying Marz bars!”
Recap: ‘Who Got Bars’, an interactive pay-per-view series, comes off as a dope concept, but one, 2-minute round? That’s just utterly way too short. Still, a solid showing from Geechi Gotti and Beatz Gatlin, featuring plenty of potent heat/personals, sees Geechi edge it with a little more versatility and a couple of more haymakers.
Verdict: Geechi Gotti (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Geechi Gotti – “The chopper will sit a hyphy nigger down like Adderall!”
Recap: Loud, witty, highly entertaining and (Jerry Wess with the arguable Bar of the Year during what was a flawless turn: ‘…the bullet will spill out Tee [tea] like ‘Ain’t no sugar in this shit!’ haymaker and Teewhy with the superlative ‘Rap like Jerry Wess’ impression in round 2) sublime battle between Teewhy and Wess certainly got the crowd reaction’s it deserved and the competitive stamp it warranted. Indeed, for all of Teewhy’s fiery punches, aggressive (“Tool draw, snap shot, I’ll do a burger sloppy like food porn!”) gun lines and nifty wordplay, on this particular day his opponent just has as dope a gameplan. Wess going performance bar-heavy and coming over-the-top with the (“Every game I had, I never been ejected, somebody should recognize, they just gave me a tech [Tec], I gotta stop fucking with the ref [points at Teewhy] I got T’d up a second time!”) set-ups/name flips to overtake a pretty solid turn in its own right by Teewhy in round 1, before a nice rebuttal to the start of his turn along with a little less filer gives (“For even thinking he on my level, Y know he must be drunk!”) Jerry the 2nd as well. And while Teewhy would pull out a sorta embarrassing picture prop and attempt to get extra personal, the 3rd round was still the least eventful round of the battle. Yet, with Wess firing off more consistently spicy shiners, the Brooklyn battler gets the final round too and earns the 30.
Verdict: Jerry Wess (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Jerry Wess – “Bang!, bang!, bang!, I lost count, I put a lot in the grave, I just killed everybody in the Colosseum…are you not entertained!”
Recap: Flexing left and right with elite gun bars, some fierce wordplay, rigid punchlines and a couple of nice rebuttals, except for a close 2nd round, Coffee Brown takes this 3-rounder easy from a witty and scheme-heavy, but too oft-pontificating and pedestrian Phillip 4:13.
Verdict: Coffee Brown (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Coffee Brown – “I’ll step up and let it raise your daughter like your mama a deadbeat or take him back to the first day of school…arms wave from across the street!”
Recap: Make every bar count. In a one-round punchfest between Quban and Chris Dubbs, the former’s ability to dish more consistent and versatile heat serves as the difference, as despite Dubbs’ handful of sublime moments, way too many pedestrian bars cost him any chance in the end.
Verdict: Quban (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Quban – “What a hoax, a fucking joke, you look you preach for Black rights, sleepwalker, fake woke!”
Recap: Gotta roll with the crowd on this one as the seeming lack of excitement during this KOTD title match between Cortez and Head I.C.E. was totally understandable in what was mostly a snoozefest. Indeed, as lengthy as pretty much each round was here, while one can appreciate the effort put in from both battlers, judging from all the dry spots and filler, neither emcee was on their A-game. Still, considering it was a rematch from their controversial bout way back in the days of the Lionz Den, the irony of Cortez receiving another loss to I.C.E. when the opinion here is that he hit with enough hard punches, personals, angles and rugged heat to easily take the first two rounds against an opponent who was all over the place with his rhymes, super long-winded and too often lacked any spice with his punches, shouldn’t be loss on anyone, especially the hosts.
Verdict: Cortez (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Cortez – “I told y’all I ain’t playing with I.C.E, if I air [ear] one then it go one out the other, I ain’t take his advice!”
Recap: Despite a mid-round slip-up, Steams’ boatload of slick wordplay and fire set-ups/name flips are more than enough to beat the mostly standard punches of Black Gemini in this one-rounder from Bar4Bar Battle League.
Verdict: Steams (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Steams – “The gauge hit him, since all you Cleveland nigga’s want to be Lebron, I’m just another PG who won’t play with him!”
Recap: The Trap NY 1-rounder between Young Bmore and E-Hart sees the former deliver a solid trilogy of pent-up pontifications/schemes, fiery punchlines and stinging personals/name flips to make things competitive despite a couple of slip-ups and some pedestrian bars here and there. But flexing throughout the battle with a fire punchline game, stifling gun bars, gritty name flips and a rare, but hilarious roasting session on her opponent’s hairline (or lack thereof), a more condensed and spitfire E-Hart takes this one.
Verdict: E-Hart (W) 1-0
Favorite line: E-Hart – “Pass the 5th, I dumb out like I ain’t pass the 5th!”
Recap: Here against Nu Jerzey Twork, Cortez finally gets his long-deserved Summer Madness battle and overall, whiel it’s a solid showing from both battlers, you wouldn’t be unfair if you wanted and expected more. That said, a more consistent, trap-themed and versatile Cortez edged the first round, using some dope performance bars along with some exquisite (“I need to know, they call you Twork why?, ‘cuz you shaving them grams?!, lies, they call you Twork ‘cuz you shaky on cam!”) wordplay to beat back a menacing and gun-heavy turn by the always eccentric (“I let it clap on Cor, [claps 3 times]. then again…clap..on. Cor…the gat drann!”) Twork. Second round had Twork winning pretty easy as Tez’s aggressive bars, while loaded with a few (“.357 in your face, the nose ring different!”) shiners here and there, missed the mark too often with a couple of reaches and wayward themes/lines that seemed a little redundant, when they weren’t pedestrian. In turn, Twork came through with a spitfire round that spoke to the potency (“I get it popping when it bang, silencio, sound like nada when it bang!”) of his pen as well his ability to spout an expansive range of fire set-ups. Going into the last round tied, Cortez’s earlier promises of having something to talk about, turned into a bit of a disappointment, what with little on the personal side. And while you got a competitive round filled with plenty of heat and sanguine wordplay, a few dry spots along with bars that would’ve worked against a lesser tier opponent, would end up costing Cortez a win. In turn, with momentum on his side after spitting his best round, Twork’s 3rd, while not his best, still was enough to rise to the occasion, what with some witty (“You managed to beat Daylyt, but most of your footage ain’t seen the light of day!”) personals and fiery gun bars that slayed their mark. Overall, enough to catch up to Cort and call this one even at the end.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: Nu Jerzey Twork – “Fuck your battles, you hear me talking about your vault, it’s the one behind the portrait!”
Recap: With Prez Mafia spazzing in the first round with a healthy mix of stinging wordplay and potent (“Nigga, get at me kid and get a nasty cig…it’s a Marlboro!”) punchline that were backed by an ill performance to edge a loaded pound-for-pound repertoire of fierce gun bars by his opponent LL Coogi, you couldn’t help but think that Mr. Woosah was on his way to an easy win over the aggressive up-n-comer. But then things got shaky…literally. As after an elongated 2nd round from Coogi that contained a few (“Nigga, you had the Space to Jam, but decided to be a Monstar!”) shiners here and there, it was midway through the middle round that Prez just started stumbling, eventually losing the round after a couple of weak attempts to freestyle. The last and deciding round saw a more versatile Coogi continue to dish mayhem, displaying some nice resiliency by scoring with more and more lofty gun lines before Mafia, whose experience alone gave him a decent chance at still winning, surprisingly choked his round away midway through the round and cost himself the battle.
Verdict: LL Coogi (W) 2-1
Favorite line: LL Coogi – “Nigga, a brand new serial on the strap, I scratched the code off, wait for your ass to take a seat, then take the load off!”
Recap: Fire match between Jakkboy Maine and Young Kannon ends with a win for YK, who overcame Jakkboy’s stinging performance bars and salient sound effects with a more spitfire turn of fiery (“Call a spade a spade, they threw Jakk on the table knowing the King will cut him!”) punches, rich personals, frenzied set-ups and witty, yet hitting gun (“Weapons signing, second-stringer, I don’t play till a nigga get hurt!”) bars to edge the first two rounds. Jakkboy, who wasn’t helped by a bit of a struggle with his flow in round 2 and one too many darts spent on the likes of Tay Roc and JJDD during the bout, still held his own throughout the battle, even doing enough to avoid a sweep and salvage a dope round 3 from both battlers, with a more condensed turn than his opponent.
Verdict: Young Kannon (W) 2-1
Favorite line: -Jakkboy Maine – “Have you ever seen a nigga, see his nigga’s, fucking eyes closed [bwah!] then make sure that nigga see you before his fucking eye’s close!”
Recap: There’s lopsided and just a plain old bodybag in this rematch from a battle that took place 10 years before this one. Indeed, a Pat Stay that wasn’t even on his A-game uses proverbial wit, witty personals and fierce punchlines/schemes to easily take out a very basic with the bars and awkwardly ‘pause’-worthy G Duble. The latter of whom making his mark with the unique inability to drop a single haymaker in the entire battle, thus showing that he really had no business sharing the stage with the likes of Pat Stay regardless of what happened in their previous battle.
Verdict: Pat Stay (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Pat Stay – “Heard you just put a ring on that bitch, poor girl, if she leaves with half, she’ll get garlic fingers and some cinnamon sticks!”
Recap: When he wasn’t giving a serious talking too to Bonnie Godiva’s ass, a smooth as ever Ness Less combines some shrewd personals, boastful barbs, piercing punchlines, witty darts and sizzling 4-bar set-ups to beat back a pretty solid, but not as versatile or consistently hitting turn from Bonnie in this 1-rounder from Rap Grid.
Verdict: Ness Lee (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Ness Lee – “You ’bout your little women’s independnce hard until you gotta come to a nigga for a pickle jar you can’t open!”
Recap: Dope battle between Swamp and Gwitty, sees them both packed with heated bars, rich set-ups, witty lines and various methods of destruction. Still, while Gwitty for the most part came (“I’m mad skinny, I need a country girl to get with me, I beat all in her face, I heard y’all eat good in the country…I expected more on my plate!”) nice with his despite struggling with his flow here and there, a slightly more consistent with the punches and more (“‘I said ‘cuz this is not an act, I’ll pull up where you popping at and pop a gat, have the cig tucked behind a nigga ear like its the last one from out the pack!”) haymaker dropping Swamp ends up taking this one-rounder from No Ransom BL.
Verdict: Swamp (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Swamp – “I hope you came on your A-1 shit, no slip-ups or stumbles, I hope you came with balance, ‘cuz I got beams, machines, bars, schemes, set-ups…this shit look like the ‘You Name It’ challange!”
Recap: League hopping seems to be suiting J Murda, who takes his aggressive and fiery show on the road again to battle TruFoe in Chicago. And what ensues here is a spitfire match with the Chi-Town spitter almost matching his opponent in intensity along with ready-to-fire gun bars. Still, while Murda always seems to be ready for action, it’s his ability to be consistent that usually makes the difference between winning and losing. And in this case the fortitude us there, especially during the first two rounds, which sees Murda spazzing with heated performance bars and dope (“It’s like break-ups on the phone, I’m dumping texts!”) punchlines/set-ups all laced with authentic street themes that more than backed his flossing. For TruFoe, while shining with potent punches and a couple of righteous personals (one of which Murda just couldn’t help but respond to with a burp), a few dry spots here and there cost him in the early rounds, credit his (“Fuck a Homi, I ain’t trying to knock y’all movement, but if it’s labeled a homicide, you probably got caught doing it!”) resiliency for edging the 3rd and avoiding getting 30’d.
Verdict: J Murda (W) 2-1
Favorite line: J Murda – “A headshot [BOOM!}, his knee [Neil] will land on the moon, I swear that this arm strong [Armstrong}!”
Recap: Mackk Mtyron uses a ferocious 1st round, littered with (“In the trap, I seen more birds fly than ‘Fuck you!'”) haymaker after haymaker, to end this one early versus Real Deal, who while solid in the first, sputtered badly in the 2nd before choking. And while Real got his mojo back to spit an okay 3rd, he still couldn’t withstand Mackk’s potent race-themed bars/impressions and continually heated punchlines in the final round.
Verdict: Mackk Myron (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Mackk Myron – “I hit his mama last week on the mini-sofa, I pulled out and left one on the wall like a penny poster!”
Recap: They put the vet E-Hart in the ring with a rookie, Uneek Fatal, and the results, surprisingly, turned out to be a mixed bag. As for the first two rounds, the newbie impressed with some consistently hot bars that were only set back by Hart’s more versatile palette of fiery personals, rigid gun lines and charming wordplay. Still, competitive entering the 3rd despite being edged in the early rounds, Fatal would falter under her own bravado, choking mid-round to warrant the 30, but overall still showing enough potential to get another looksee.
Verdict: E-Hart (W) 3-0
Favorite line: E-Hart -“Long rams, you’ll get blocked, you should’ve never tried to shoot ya shot!”
Recap: Nifty punchlines and rabid gun bars highlight this URL battle between Joe and Franchise, with a more consistent and fiery (“This ratchet will fuck a Franchise up, it’s a Kardashian!”) Joe taking the 1st round, while (“You talking shit, till your whole squad get lit, it was all Love and Hip-Hop till Joe got a sucker punch and that’s just a Consequence!”) Franchise turned up enough in the 2nd to edge that round and have it 1-1 going into the 3rd. And while neither battler was spectacular in the deciding round, Franchise’s angle to get personal and (predictably) racial with a barrage of struggle life bars could’ve been a lot better, esp when you consider that his bars were more about his battle rap career than his life outside of it. With that, Joe, continuing to bring it with aggressive punches and nicer set-ups, makes it to the finish line ahead with a turn that was more solid overall despite a few dry spots here and there.
Verdict: Joe (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Joe – “He talking about White Men can’t Jump…now I got this bitch in Jeopardy!”
Recap: From Midwest Alliance, a turned up Sammy Wild 100’s uses a mostly consistent barrage of versatile/hard-hitting punchlines to beat back a somewhat shortened and gritty, but unsteady showing from O’fficial in this altogether fiery 1-rounder.
Verdict: Sammy Wild 100’s (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Sammy Wild 100’s – “Your top half big as hell, bottom half small, that’s something we can see clear, this bitch back long as a leap year!”
Recap: In an at-times surprisingly one-sided battle from URL’s Summer Madness 6, a punchline-spazzing, fiery-personal dishing and heavy with the mayhem Hitman Holla dominates a mostly subpar and sometimes listless-with-the-pen K-Shine. Not that a confident Holla needed any assistance from his opponent as the St. Louis vet set the tone out the gate with combative (“You told T-Rex you gonna knock him out if he disrespect your baby mama or your daughter nigga…man I’ll fuck your baby mama in front of your daughter, nigga!”) shiners and continuously cutthroat aggression mixed in some feelgood wordplay to easily take the first two rounds with little on the performance end. And while the lyrically sizzling Holla, already with the win in hand, came through with a solid 3rd round, Shine (who was so pedestrian with his bars during the early rounds that he started to get booed in the 2nd) finally found his bag, got in and did enough with stinging performance bars, witty (“You on TV, you supposed to be lit for the cameras, glitz wit’ the glamour, talkin’ to the Wild N Out strippers and dancers, instead, he up there showing his temper with tantrums, all aggressive, talking ’bout gripping his hammer, walking up gettin’ the [EEEEEH!] before he get to the answer!”) barbs as well as some gritty punchlines/personals in a slightly more condensed turn that allowed him to salvage the final round and avoid getting 30’d on battle rap’s biggest event.
Verdict: Hitman Holla (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Hitman Holla – “You un-loyal ass bitch, I can’t believe you, you had the nerve to give a fake five to the nigga that used to feed you!”
Recap: Charlie Clips at his finest: a 1st round containing a gang of spitfire schemes and fiery 4-bar set-ups to take that one easy. Then a 2nd round dripped in crazy, versatile name flips to add another point to the scoreboard before opponent Rad B (solid but a tad inconsistent and pedestrian throughout the battle, not including a consistently hard-punching 3rd round that was easily his best of the night) made him earn the 30, which Clips did via a string of hilarious jokes, some sublime wordplay, piercing punches/personals/schemes and a couple of dope freestyles.
Verdict: Charlie Clips (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Charlie Clips – “You don’t hang put with bad people, nigga your braces get orange when you eat mad Cheetos!”
Recap: Turns out that Charlie Clips and Chilla Jones had a battle like 4 years ago on KOTD that never made YouTube thanks to Clips being sick throughout the battle, presumably choking twice, but thanks to a biased crowd, Clips was awarded with the win (at least, that’s Chilla Jones’ version). Well, whatever you want to believe happened back then, it’s a godo thing they decided to try again as the two meet here on Black Ice and for the most part put on a quality, 3-round show that met the crowd’s expectations. First round was close and filled with hardbody (Jones: “I see everybody talking, well you can get the truth from me, no fronting, too many ego’s bumping, so I had to clear the block like Debo coming!”) punches and dope (Clips: “…since you got it in for Mills, now about the .9 back up whatever the semi lack?!”) schemes from both battles, but a more cohesive and versatile Jones edged would could’ve been a debatable round. 2nd round, which ironically turned out to be the worse, saw Jones score with a personal/mocking-themed turn that kept the match buzzing, but a couple of nice rebuttals, potent (“I’ll bang his head against the handle, till I unlock it with his face like an iPhone X!”) bars and a pretty pedestrian (for him anyway) and predictable round from Clips, got Jones another round. Some more nice personals and rich set-ups from Chilla kept things competitive in the final round before he floundered a bit towards the end. But with apparently plenty of gas left in his tank, Clips was able to turn it up, getting busy with charismatic haymakers, a couple dope (“Two leg shots, you’ll have to [points to guy in crowd in a wheelchair] ask him to his wheelchair!”) freestyle’s and rebuttals as well as intense storytelling bars and witty schemes, to take the final round and avoid getting 3-0’d.
Verdict: Chilla Jones (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Chilla Jones – “Your mind different?, well, here’s an Atlanta hawk for thinking unique!”
Recap: Washington rapper D’Mon displays moxie, versatility and steady aggression, but besides the aesthetics on the ‘bust the bottle’ line, little in the way of haymakers on his way to a loss against a more consistently nice and heavy punching Real Deal in this one-rounder from Skytier Northwest.
Verdict: Real Deal (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Real Deal – “Your wife is a slore and you let her skate despite getting hit, you hope she’ll care again [Kerrigan]!”
Recap: It’s a layup for Dre Dennis as his hardbody rhymes and vociferous punches easily take down the very average gun bars and schemes of Pittsburgh battler Swagga Staccs in this one-rounder from TrapNY..
Verdict: Dre Dennis (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Dre Dennis – “If you try to get up after I blaze gun’s nigga…[BOW!!!], now you’ll stay down like day one nigga’s!”
Recap: After getting flamed in the first round, a personal and punch-heavy (“You want beef with a nigger who keep metal in hand, but you ain’t Sabretooth!”) Da Kid Clutch manages to comeback and edge the 2nd for a split with the fiery (“I think Klutch [clutch] is soft, that’s a rubber grip, I’m holding heat!; “I’ll crack baby face with a crack baby, that’s a 4-pound!”) pen of Yung Griz. The deciding 3rd however, was basically a repeat of the 1st, with Gruz once again pouncing with steady heat and some dizzying haymakers, including an endearing tale towards the end of his turn that even his opponent had to give dap to. Altogether, a solid showing from Clutch, but a way more flexing performance from Griz in this dope West-coast PG match.
Verdict: Yung Griz (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Yung Griz – “I got the shit the PG’s wish they had…this is Smack’s number!”
Recap: Fierce 1-rounder from IBattle has Bubba Forde providing plenty of rambunctious heat that was reinforced by a steady stream of animated aggression. But Bubba’s lack of a consistent punch-game along with a Ru Bando who came equipped with plenty of piercing mayhem as well as rapid-fire punchlines that rarely missed their mark, would prove to be too formidable for Bubba in the end.
Verdict: Ru Bando (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Ru Bando – “I’ll catch him on the corner…you a rook!”
Recap: It terms of a gritty bar-fest, it doesn’t get much better than this one as Chetta and 40 B.A.R.R.S. go toe-for-toe on the Queen of the Ring stage, dish the personals for the most part and go hardbody for 3 rounds with plenty of fiery gun bars, intoxicating punchlines, boastful barbs and rigid wordplay to boot. Aggressive on both sides with a little wit mixed in, this close and competitive bout, after draws in both of the latter rounds, comes down to the 1st, which a more haymaker-lit 40 took for the win.
Verdict: 40 B.A.R.R.S. (W) 2-1
Favorite line: 40 B.A.R.R.S. – “Find out where you stay in New York, I’m a clear the hotel-e out, this bitch won’t make it home like she came to R. Kelly’s house!”
Recap: Without the chokes, this one might’ve been up there for Battle of the Year as both Shotgun Suge and Shotti P came with their A-games in this 3-rounder from KOTD. First round saw Shotti P get off to nice start with frenzied (“You wanna talk guns, my nigga’s strapped ready to shoot the breeze, you try to run, that toy airing his back like Scuba Steve!”) gun lines and witty personals that scored with the crowd. But Suge wasn’t having it, coming right back with one his best rounds we’ev seen in awhile, what with intense performance bars and aggressive (“Oh, you wanna spar? I’ll put you under the car like an oil change!”) punches that landed hard and edged him the round. Intent on even things up, Shotti P turned it up in the second with wittier (“If this fat fuck ask me what my life like, then Lord help me….What my life like? Nigga, more healthy!”) punches and potent (“I’m killing purple niggers like San Andreas!”) wordplay that beat back what started to be a pretty solid turn by Suge, before he lost his way and had to spout ‘Jersey!’ at the end. The deciding 3rd round saw Shotti ably continue with the jokes before surprising choking at the round and the battle as all Suge had to do was get through his round without stumbling/choking, which he (“Me and mt team play in the D, we’ll come through and fuck his Place up like we the Pacers!”) aggressively gamely did, pardon the background chatter around the stage
Verdict: Shotgun Suge (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Shotgun Suge – “You look mad, [but] this the thug way pussy, man I got this round in a bag like a Subway cookie!”.
Recap: Not too long after a poor showing against Jai 400 Block on the URL stage, Dougy goes back to his home league, WeGoHard, and gets his grind back, dishing potent name flips, wicked (“I got paid for this faggot, I feel like Black Chyna side nigga, Versace robe on and I ain’t taking it off, this fat nigga must be Rob, ‘cuz you paid for the cloth!”) punchlines, sports bars that hit well and ridiculous guns lines at a solid overall, but (“You wear on your left, nigga, my flag stay on my face…the cloth different!”) bully themed and gun bar drenched Luck Dollaz–in effect, giving Dougy the well-earned win.
Verdict: Dougy (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Dougy – “I was born in WeGoHard, that mean I’m armed and crazy, these Pocket Rockers like fresh abortions..I could palm these babies!”
Recap: After a debatable 1st round here in this QOTR/Bullpen battle against C3, Riggz’s more animated/spicy punchlines, swerving gun bars and piercing schemes in the latter rounds do enough damage to take rounds 1 and 3 from an opponent, who while dishing a punch-heavy and oft-witty pen throughout the match, when she wasn’t struggling with her flow, couldn’t muster the amount of heat in the following rounds as she brought in round 1.
Verdict: Riggz (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Riggz – “This ratchet do numbers out this world…it got Hidden Figures!”
Recap: In this 3-rounder from Smack/URL, a plethora of weak rebuttals/personals, inconsistent with the heat, a handful of reaches and elongated with his turns, despite a solid (“For his style you just gotta watch movies, to get my shit, you gotta go through something!”) showing overall, a Chef Trez that wasn’t on his A-game throughout the battle makes for an easy vic for a seemingly way more confident, consistent and over-the-top with the punches Rum Nitty. The Arizona spitter flexing hard for 3 well-crafted rounds with sterling name flips, eccentric (“Raise the arm on a Chef if he throwing salt, who the fuck want it!”) gun bars, ill wordplay, fiery personals, a fire rebuttal and spitfire, often back-to-back punchlines to beat back his former Writer’s Bloque brethren and score a well-earned 30.
Verdict: Rum Nitty (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Rum Nitty – “I barely gotta squeeze to let it off on ya set, ‘cuz the trigger like a hair on a meal…let me talk to the Chef!”
Recap: A spitfire, punch-heavy 2nd round by Rosenberg Raw and Big Hann’s choice to pontificate and go postal on everybody but his opponent in the deciding 3rd round, add up to give Raw the win here.
Verdict: Rosenberg Raw (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Rosenberg Raw – “Now he got game, I got game, but he ain’t half as skilled, so when he act live, we don’t believe it, because we don’t think the graphic’s real!”
Recap: Dizaster versus Russian hip-hop artist/battler Oxxxymiron on KOTD gives us, amongst other things, something you rarely see: a battle rapper rapping longer than Diz. Nonetheless, this one is still a goodie with a pretty electric crowd that was treated to a gang of hard-hitting punchlines, spicy personals, impressive 2nd-language polemics, political waverings and witty barbs from both Oxxxymiron and Dizaster. However with the surprisingly more condensed Diz also mixing in some strong wordplay, mayhem, cadence switching and cultural references related to Russia within his raps, while opponent Oxxxymiron was often at times mired in filler and longwinded pontifications, tho the 2nd round was relatively close, it’s Diz who still earns the 3-0 here.
Verdict: Dizaster (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Dizaster – “Don’t get me wrong, I’m trying to be Putin’s friend, ‘cuz I know if I ever had a chance to be president, he gets to choose who wins!”
Recap: Two battle vets who should arguably be in everyone’s Top 5, Hollow Da Don and Tay Roc, come together for a fire, competitive and highly entertaining matchup at URL’s Summer Madness 6. Roc, the self-proclaimed ‘Gun Bar King’, lets his whole arsenal off in the 1st round, a blazing and more condensed turn littered with armored (“Once they paid me my dough, this problem was all yours, Black mask, I’m flashing sticks, that’s Star Wars, sawed off, try to run, I’m all for it, I’ll chase you with it, runnin’ with the Thunder, I’m Paul George!”) mayhem. Still, Hollow would come right back with a more versatile turn that featured a host of eccentric, metaphorical and unorthodox stylings. And tho the di-da Don was able back come right back and land a gang of haymakers with a boatload of stinging punchlines, name flips and personals along with some added wit, despite being more one-dimensional, a more consistent Roc earns a draw in the opener.
Roc would get more resourceful in round 2, using some over-the-top performance bars, more uplifting gun heat, lofty personals and righteous schemes/punches to edge a turn by Hollow that after a slow start and thanks in part to a late flurry of braggadocio bangers, almost got the L.O.M. honcho the round. 3rd round produced yet another aggressive, exhilarating and punch-heavy turn from both battlers with Roc going back to ringing (“My left hook will wobble your shit, it’s a leg shaker, then my right hook? A farmer’s tool, it’s a haymaker!”) mayhem with some piercing personals mixed in. But still behind one round, it’d be Hollow who would turn it up even more, using a plethora of searing rebuttals, hardbody schemes and agile (“I drive different, like a Tesla car engine, I’m the reason the line outside longer than an Escobar sentence!”) punchlines/personals to take the round and gain a draw.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: Hollow Da Don – “You act tough in blogs but when I see you, you change instantly, take the fatigues off in 2K, I want to see the same energy!”
Recap: When you rap for about twice as long as your opponent as Young Bmore does here, you should be able to score with some shiners here and there, which he certainly does. However, a way more punchline-proficient, consistent as well as condensed Nunn Nunn manages to take this one-rounder brought to you from the TrapNY.
Verdict: Nunn Nunn (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Nunn Nunn – “I’ll hit ya dame, running old game…Dreamcast, sleazebag, I’ll use her face as a skeet rag, she sucks so much she go on dates wearing kneepads!”
Recap: A lame move by Q.P., distracting Craig Lamar while he was rapping into slipping up by pulling out a stack of $$$ in the middle of the 3rd round, is the only thing that prevents Craig from an flawless 3 rounds here. Indeed, that’s how bullish and multi-functional Craig’s punches were, gaining steam with each passing round, while his unnerved opponent became less and less caustic. With that, besides a too-close-to-call round 1, this one was pretty much all Craig.
Verdict: Craig Lamar (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Craig Lamar – “Special kids on a field trip, the whip short, but the bus[t] retarded!”
Recap: It’s Habeeb versus Madface in this spirited 1-rounder from League of Champions. And while both battlers flex hard when it comes to wordplay and unorthodox punchlines, even while rapping almost twice as longer as his opponent, it’s a more consistent, intricate and gem-dropping Madface who earns the win.
Verdict: Madface (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Madface – “Then a suppressor in your bitch, they both making less noise, rubber grip, shit dishwasher safe like her sex toys!”
