Recap: Confidence is one thing, but name-dropping and laughing at your own jokes are another. Still, for all of Cali Smoov’s pompousness throughout this battle, a pretty lackluster Profecy didn’t do much to abate his opponent’s arrogance. Still, after easily losing the 1st round to a more punch-heavy (“You Profecy [prophecy], you should no a [Noah] nigga split with the staff!”) Smoov and waking up during the middle of the 2nd round to force a tie, the condensed, yet usually wordplay and punchline-centric Profecy fully gets his groove back to take the 3rd and gain a draw over an opponent whose bars weren’t as hot as he’d like you to think.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: Profecy – “And y’all gonna thank me after, Krack City done got it backwards, Dizaster don’t know who he facing in Cali…Cali don’t know he facing a disaster!”
Recap: Against the Grind Time Cortez, Franchise’s almost exclusive, one-themed braggadocio quips and guns (“Big scope, best view of court [Cort], that’s floor seats!”) bars (during the first couple of rounds at least) might’ve worked in the sense that that version of Cortez was pretty much made from the same cloth. But in 2016, a more diversified Cortez is much harder to beat, especially when he’s spitting repeated (“We could scrap, ‘cuz with these hands, I’ll lay ya, but if he lack, he’ll get the Mac’s, since you want to be the Franchise player!”) heat, delicious wordplay and name flips as he does here. Thankfully, for battle rap future anyway, Franchise displayed a better assortment of bars in the last round, but by then, what with Tez’s continuous brazenness, it was way too late.
Verdict: Cortez (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Cortez – “It’s crazy, this guppy, one hook will have him scaling back, spine shot Baah!, where he at?, nah he can’t walk, he paralyzed, aw fuck it, they got chairs for that!”
Recap: No excuses here as (“Y’all go harder, but I troll smarter, in teh net I get nigga’s goin’ from a distance…remote starter”) Aye Verb, seemingly here just to collect a paycheck, stumbles through his short turn and delivers little on the performance tip against a way more versatile and (“I’m just trying to get it for all the nigga’s that know me best. took the whole weight of the world and did a shoulder press!”) fiery D.I. Da Hennyman in this one-rounder from Do or Die Battle League.
Verdict: D.I. Da Hennyman (W) 1-0
Favorite line: D.I. Da Hennyman – “And you still chasing Loaded, [but] he don’t like you neither, he battle niggas like Mook, you battle niggas like me bruh”
Recap: Slow-strutting with fiery punchline after punchline while mixing in some straight-ahead/measured personals and flashy local-isms to let you know that he did his research, a visiting Yung Griz edges the first couple of rounds here over smiley and less consistent local Federal Way, WA, hero Jey The Nitewing to get the win before suffering from a few hiccups in the 3rd, thus allowing his cleaner opponent to avoid the 30.
Verdict: Yung Griz (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Yung Griz – “I stunt wherever, that’s par core, one shot from the eagle, that’s a par 4!”
Recap: If Bill Collector’s really trying to find a new home outside of Smack/URL, he’s going to have to stay focused and do way better than this. As an erratic and too-often subdued (for him anyway) performance makes way for a sometimes lowkey funny, but often times inconsistent showing from opponent J Pro, who still does enough to take the first two rounds over BC and hold on for the win.
Verdict: J Pro (W) 2-1
Favorite line: J Pro – “You don’t know who ya fucking with…sex on Tinder!”
Recap: An aggressive, (“You’re 22, a grown man, your mother want you out of her home!”) scheme-heavy Haixian splits the first two rounds with (“Keg stand, this bitch get lifted upside down with a barrel in a mouth!”; “All the DMV good for is taking head shits when they giving you plates!”) rapid puncher/performance-feen Teewhy in this PG battle from URL/Smack. Leaving it to the 3rd to decide matters, while Teewhy’s educational-themed bars made their points, it’s Haixian who switches up with a more consistently (“Head wound, what you ain’t peep the line?, this fake cake getting his ass shot for being a week behind!”) nice bar/punch-fest to take it in the end.
Verdict: Haixian (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Haixian – “We set him up, told this nigga to get in the ride, my partner told don’t kill him, we letting him slide, he got out, then I got out, Tee mind is two seconds behind…[BOW!!!], he don’t know he dead, Tee mind is two seconds behind!”
Recap: A more consistent, comedic (“Look, bloated Lux!”) and versatile The Deadman takes the first two rounds easy from a nice (“Nigga, if I’m fat because God hates me, it’s only right that I baptize you in a pool of blood!”) at times, but sometimes lackadaisical Big Kannon and wins this 3-rounder from KOTD.
Verdict: The Deadman (W) 2-1
Favorite line: The Deadman – “We pop them things, for in Eur [foreigner] like we strangers, the second round?, pops in the face like a teenager, the 3rd round?…forget about it, Qleen Paper!”
Recap: Shotgun Suge takes advantage of time limits (hey, if that’s what they agreed to beforehand then it is what it is) an elongated, but (“I got a new .40, the clip hanging out the butt like a tampon string!”; “Even though I still got the steel cocked, sometimes I just let it run across your mind like Jill Scott!”) sizzling a times (yet too one-dimensional) Brizz Rawsteen, makes more efficient use of his time with some wild (“He get this biscuit for free, it’s complimentary, I’ll follow him around, I’m shooting a documentary!”) haymakers throughout his three rounds that coupled with more consistently fiery bars and a versatile approach, gets Jersey the win.
Verdict: Shotgun Suge (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Shotgun Suge – “Where I’m from this shit Afghani, Iraq, this shit Baghdad…bye Brizz [points finger like gun under Brizz’s chin] you a shot away from being a hashtag!”
Recap: A little on the long side time-wise, but still a mostly fiery and definitely entertaining battle between Serius Jones and Jimz on the RBE stage comes down to who ends up running out of gas at the finish line. In this case, it’s Jones, who after a braggadocios and a little preachy, but still pretty solid 1st round that rocked with a few (“‘Cuz fans be blowing, so even when you hot, they can’t feel it ‘cuz they ears conditioned!”) haymakers, managing to beat a solid and sometimes witty, but at times reaching and not always directed at his opponent turn by Jimz, simply couldn’t match his opening round theatrics, while Jimz would up his verbal ante. That would start in the 2nd round, where Mr. Stop Being Dirty would continuously flex with gritty (“Just ‘cuz he got a razor it don’t mean he out scarring on the block, we ain’t never seen you cut nobody, you the new barber in the shop!”) punchlines, some fire wordplay and heated personals/schemes. On the other hand, while the effort was there, Jones’ lack of consistency, intricacy with his punches, over-the-top sermonizing and usage of too many dated bars/filler would hurt him in both the 2nd and 3rd rounds. All the while with Jimz keeping his foot on his opponent’s neck via a boatload of mocking personals, solid schemes and hitting punches, even if his angles weren’t always on point, altogether it was still enough to edge the battle.
Verdict: Jimz (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Jimz – “Jimz is dispenseful and right now I’m sitting on something special…thanks Oprah!”
Recap: A typically hyped Xcel uses a barrage of heated systematic punchlines and wordplay to remind a light-bar-heavy Drastik of ‘who he’s rhyming with’ in this one-sided, one-rounder from TrapHouseNY.
Verdict: Xcel (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Xcel – “I feel friction, you think Fresh Prince, we will air you, one round Will move your whole landscape…don’t make me give Will barrels [wheelbarrows]!”
Recap: Brooklyn Carter gets a nice road win, stealing on opponent Fliiko L with a steady stream of righteous punchlines and vociferous (“Oh I get it, he more like a leprechaun in a drought…out of luck!”) set-ups throughout his 3 rounds. That’s a well-earned win in this book as for all of Fliiko L’s confidence, after a close 1st, the few (“You could die from the set-up, it’s a conspiracy!”) shiners he managed to spit were surrounded by way too many basic bars in an elongated 2nd and 3rd.
Verdict: Brooklyn Carter (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Brooklyn Carter – “No Saga, I keep my palm greased!”
Recap: Plenty of righteous punches, flinging mayhem, esoteric zingers and nifty wordplay in this 3-rounder from For MC’s By MC’s between Jey The Nitewing and Blasphem-E (aka ‘Red Shirt Mike’). And while Mike held his own with a consistently solid showing, the more intricate and punch-heavy Nitewing takes all 3 rounds for the win.
Verdict: Jey The Nitewing (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Jey The Nitewing – “Dude’s a muffin, said he was gonna black-eye, we knew you was bluffing, lying about how he fell like he got an abusive husband!”
Recap: Missy Elliott flips, stifling performance bars, witty personals and megalomaniac gun bars, for Mack Mel it’s all there in this one-rounder versus a solid and gritty, but not quite as potent and less versatile Al 40 Cal.
Verdict: Mack Mel (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Mack Mel – “The king of Queens, fucking with the God will be your worst day bitch, ‘cuz all you’ll see is the pound on the arm, like birthday hits!”
Recap: A somewhat surprising Math Hoffa choke and T Top’s relentless personals and hard-hitting punches in rounds 2 and 3 gives the Parklife colonel a victory in this quasi-dope 3-rounder from Smack/URL. Math, who still showed up and can’t be knocked for being a little distracted considering he had a baby that same morning, edged round one with a more condensed and (“4 glocks, catch this fat nigga in the coke spot, twist him with all 4 burners, that’s how you stove Top!”) hard barfest that hit at a higher ratio than Top’s (“They called me, say Math trying to get back on Smack, I said ‘cool’, I’m used to putting nigga’s back on smack!”) storytelling-drenched, but elongated and laborious 1st round. Round two was a clear body for Top, who while continuing to dish hard on old themes/name flips associated with his opponent, mixed in some more recent drama surrounding Math (i.e. Chris Unbias and Taxstone beef) and niftly threw in his renowned drug talk with urban (“Glock 40, can you read the serial Math?, if not I’ll jam the numbers in ya head, that’s Miracle Math!”) street flair to easily even things up (the aforementioned Math choke non-withstanding). With momentum on his side going into the last round, Top went for the kill and more than delivered, spouting a brutal, edgy and classic turn via seismic (“I bet he ain’t been the same since the Arabs whooped him, now when he in all the corner stores, it feel like the all the Arabs looking, hey the bitch won’t even order a sandwich if the Arabs cooking, he go to the Popi store and say the Arabs crooked!”) haymakers, aggressive (“You went to Cali without your gun?, that’s a bad move, you always supposed to carry your one, that’s a Math rule!”) personals and fiery (“…BOW! That’s for getting stole in the mouth!”) performance bars to beat what was an at times funny and (“Nigga, suck a dick, just like your mother used to do, to get another hit!”) solid, but ultimately a little too laborious turn by Hoffa. Hopefully Hoffa, who seemed to be hinting at quitting battle rap at the end of this battle, can come back less distracted while getting the match-ups he really wants/deserves, if he chooses to return.
Verdict: T Top (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Math Hoffa – “I told NuNu I wanted Top, she ain’t understand!”
Recap: Dope 1-rounder from Montreal’s DMS Battle League sees the slightly more haymaker-lit DNA use a gang of spicy name flips and hard-hitting punchlines to get by a pretty solid punching effort from local battler Krome.
Verdict: DNA (W) 1-0
Favorite line: DNA – “See, Krome his own man, but I’m a spank him either way, you think you could beat a nigger from the X, why when you was made by DNA!”
Recap: Close and mostly fire battle between QB and O’fficial hits on a variety of cylinders including some nice schemes, downright (QB: “You old q whore slut, type of bitch that let Nuborn fuck!”) mean and witty personals, feisty (O’fficial: “So go ahead and grab a stick, I wish this bitch would, [points arm extended like a gun] shotgun in her mouth like she trying to kiss Suge!”) gun bars, fierce punchlines and salacious wordplay. However, tied going into the 3rd with QB dropping more haymakers to take round one, before a more condensed and potent overall O’fficial takes the 2nd round, even with an elongated turn and a solid run by her opponent, it’s QB (who overall in this battle wasn’t as disrespectful as we’re usually used to seeing) who drops a couple of spicy rebuttals to edge the round and gain the win.
Verdict: QB (W) 2-1
Favorite line: QB – “You talk about when I ain’t got the strap, I used the pickle, bitch I’d rather use a banana!”
Recap: Both Born and Craig Lamar drop deliciously hot bars throughout this one-rounder from Enter the Dungeon Battle Rap League. Born’s use of exquisite (“Bullets embark on temples like a pilgrimage!”; “I could see the ‘lil bitch in nigga’s genes [jeans]..Dej Loaf!”) punchlines, rich set-ups/wordplay and fiery name flips stayed consistently nice, while Lamar’s penchant for hard (“I’ll set these banger’s up in ya crib, you’ll get the surround sound by me, if you’re around town try me, I’mma set up at the back of ya whip, so when I get them pound rounds flying…bullets will do a number, on ya bumper, like ‘how’s my driving?!'”) schemes and stupendous (“You the colonel of ya crew?, well nigga I will pop corn b— you, and even when you die, I’ll still be waving at the ground…let’s make snow angels!”) anecdotes kept the match competitive. However, it’s Born who takes it in the end with a more consistent flow, more haymakers and less filler.
Verdict: Born (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Born – “I’m squeezing, leave him where I seen him at, Chinese food, you thought it was beef until it gave you a seasoned cat!”
Recap: Dope 1-round, style clash here as Free Murda’s straightforward, but also lyrical and hardbody lines take on the fiery, but also extra witty and enriched gun bars from Your Honor. A competitive battle that kept the crowd in tune throughout, flexing with more versatility, storylines and performance, Your Honor gets the edge here.
Verdict: Your Honor (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Your Honor – “I’ll take your banger, smack you with it, give it back and dare you to pull it!”
Recap: Was that a white flag thrown in there during the 3rd? Narrating on real street shit with extra flare and aggression, flexing with a host of elite gun bars, well lit with the fiery name flips and still nasty with the punchlines during a spitfire 3rd round what with a win already in hand, Geechi Gotti’s altogether hardbody bars make for an easy 30 over a solid at times, but overall clearly over-matched Yak da Rippa.
Verdict: Geechi Gotti (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Geechi Gotti – “When you die, in real life there’s no restart, head shot, put his brains in the road…the code word was ‘street smarts’!”
Recap: From KLBL, dope 1-rounder between DNA and battle vet Philly Swain, with the latter spitting a gang of those performance-heavy, rambunctious (“My flow colder than the foot that ain’t under the blanket!”) punches he’s long been known for only to get beat by the NWX capo’s consistently-lit 4-bar setups, mocking personals (that included a fire Philly-flow impression/sequence) and gritty wordplay.
Verdict: DNA (W) 1-0
Favorite line: DNA – “If I shoot hope your bitch beside you, get hype man, you gonna get the extra Oooh’s like Gwitty by you!”
Recap: Coming off a strong Proving Grounds performance against Jerry West, Bangz takes on DNA on the KOTD stage and unfortunately takes a step back battle-wise, literally getting schooled in wordplay, freestyles and most of all showmanship. Not that Bangz didn’t show up, as his requisite unorthodox style and delivery at times (“And you done walked into the lion’s den, I’ll fire, then put knives in him faggot, that is not a chink in your armor… you just have the chest of a chinaman!”) glistened. But in front of a crowd that often had a hard time catching up to his unique presentation, the newcomer let the hecklers get to him and thus, wasn’t able to perform at his best. And as veterans are apt to do, DNA with a solid flow, dope (“You wanted the old DNA, [well] I’m a different version, he died as soon as I shoulder straps, Mr. Perfect!”; “Since you ain’t want to put Respek on my name, it’s about time you see the God! [Charlamagne tha God]”) punchlines/jokes and crazy versatility with the bars throughout all 3 rounds, more than took advantage of his opponent’s subpar showing to score an easy 3-0.
Verdict: DNA (W) 3-0
Favorite line: DNA – “You’ll hear two bangs after Bangz soon as the Tek pop, they don’t know if the shooter was Don DeMarco or Craig’s pops!”
Recap: Here we see the always competitive Showoff impressing with his usual (“Yo Bigg K?, just a bitch that be acting, he Gwyneth Paltrow, one thing y’all need to know about Show I only aim for the head, either put a bullet where his scalp go or face shot, that boy gonna whistle with his mouth close!”; “You a bitch that fear eye contact, you floor watcher!”) vigor, thematic aggression and urban flair–all the while staying away from lazy race angles. But too much filler and the combo of Bigg K, even at an ‘away game’ (when you consider that RBE is his opponent’s main stage), with a steady stream of prideful punchlines, witty (“When you out here it’s ‘Yo son!’, when you go home it’s ‘Yo diirrty!”) jokes/personals, festive (“I’ll [points hand like gun at Show’s head] shoot Show in the basement, Wayne’s World!”) name flips and scheming wordplay proves more than enough to take rounds 1 and 3 along with the win.
Verdict: Bigg K (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Bigg K – “Call me a white devil, say y’all the original man like that’s scaring me, I’ll run you over with a jeep…now your ass half Cherokee!”
Recap: A little more consistent overall, Holmzie da God also uses some fiery gun lines, potent wordplay/schemes and steely name flips to survive the frequent and aggressive stylings of Hilife, who also kept things close and impressed with a couple of dope rebuttals.
Verdict: Holmzie da God (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Holmzie da God – “That’s how I handle mine’s, he could get the whole damn Smith and wherever he lays he won’t get up…he got no ambition!”
Recap: A rematch from their classic battle a handful of years back, Dizaster and DNA go at it again for one round here on KOTD with the added surprise of Diz being unaware of who he’d be facing pre-battle. And with one battler coming in prepared for who he’d face and the other having no such knowledge, the advantage would clearly go to DNA, right? Well, think again as after DNA resorts to a plethora of redundant name flips and even some pedestrian bars when he wasn’t spouting some solid punches along with an amiable Dizaster impression during his turn, Diz just showed off his repertoire. The always boisterous and combative West-coast legend loading up with a consistent gang of potent freestyles, witty personals, gritty rap tutprials and hard-hitting punchlines to take this one pretty easy.
Verdict: Dizaster (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Dizaster – “Fucking weirdo, now that it’s you I have to devise a new game plan, ‘cuz I’m a battling a dude with a IQ of a fucking Geicco Cave man!”
Recap: Putting aside an inconsistent Al 40 Cal’s gritty and sometimes unintentionally (“Loyalty is when a nigger take a bullet for you…and die!”) funny bars, Brooklyn Carter, consistent with the heat throughout and dropping caustic mayhem along with aggressive name flips/schemes during a slow-to-build-up, but inevitably fire turn, easily takes this 1-rounder from WeGoHardTV.
Verdict: Brooklyn Carter (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Brooklyn Carter – “You know your Math, you know how to subtract and add?, well if I let off a round off this .38, it’s still hitting 40!”
Recap: After just getting edged via some hard (“The smif coming out of the shirt more than J.R. after the Finals!”) punches/schemes, crafty wit and nice rebuttals by Charlie Clips in the 1st round, an aggressively shining Rum Nitty not only steps up his punchline (“Chuck’s getting laced up by a West-coast nigga…it’s nothing new!”) game, but also flexes with heated gun bars and some spirited wordplay in a spitfire 2nd that beat back a hit-n-miss turn by Clips. Already on his opponent’s neck with spicy bar after bar, Nitty continued with more of the same stinging punches/set-ups/personals/gun lines in the deciding 3rd round and while his final round wasn’t quite as potent as his previous turn, Rum still delivered with more than enough vigor to easily back a often solid, but a little less prepared and too-redundant-with-the-freestyles/name flips turn by Clips.
Verdict: Rum Nitty (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Rum Nitty – “Flavor of Love, this pump can [Pumpkin] spit on this New York bitch!”
Recap: 1-rounder from Body Bag Battle League finds an elongated, but gritty Alias delivering a pretty solid mix of fiery gun lines, stunted performance heat and some piercing punchlines/personals. But after a long wait, a confident Bonnie goes in and gets busy with it, spouting a ridiculous and steady mix of stifling personals, hard-hitting braggadocios darts, stinging wordplay and piercing punchlines to earn the win.
Verdict: Bonnie Godiva (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Bonnie Godiva – “Your name is Alias The Unknown, I heard of getting caught with a bad name, but to me you got the worst case, why the fuck you got an Alias for if you was unknown in the first place?!”
Recap: Competitive and close throughout, both Bonus and Yaboy Clip make quick work with steady punchlines, raging gun bars and fiery personals to keep all the light-skin lovers out there tuned in. Still, for all of Clip’s drawn-out punches and the fortitude to highlight the battle on live video, a stronger overall and more condensed turn by Bonus in the deciding 3rd round gives the Loud Boy the vic.
Verdict: Bonus (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Bonus – “Fuck an emergency exit, I don’t need to see fire to pull the handle!”
Recap: It’s pretty much an easy lay up for the veteran Charlie Clips versus rookie spitter Awthentic here in this one-rounder from UDubb. Going first, Awthentic remains solid throughout with repeated (“Gun bar God, so I gotta put a rest to Tay Rock, he’ll get shot running on the beach while his Baywatch [bae watch]”!) punches that often land. However, his lack of versatility with the bars and any haymakers stands out and against a vet like Clips, that’s a huge no-no. Thus dishing a nice combo of nimble (“My work is Ivy league schools, y’all don’t get it till I shake it well, I got the Brown from Columbia, one sniff will make him Yale [yell]”!) schemes, charismatic name flips and righteous gun raps, it’s another day at the office for Clips.
Verdict: Charlie Clips (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Charlie Clips – “Al Bundy, I got my dog getting bucks, ‘cuz he watching the Bud until it’s overgrown, I’m in the hood charging 3 for the white because of Post Malone”
Recap: Mostly making use of (“You mad sweet, only time Chef peel off with the burners is [for] banana souffle!”) jokes, it’s an oft-solid turn by UK rapper Magz, but Chef Trez’s stifling barrage of rich jokes, delicious set-ups, aggressive (“I got a Mag and a mag for ya bitch, either I’m fucking something or I’m clutching something!”), name flips and fiending wordplay prove to be too much in this one-rounder from Don’t Flop.
Verdict: Chef Trez (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Chef Trez – “Your sister a thot, she could suck the evil out of Ouija boards!”
Recap: Legendary Battle League 1-rounder between a gun bar-heavy K Smoove and Bill Collector goes the Collector’s way as the PA vet’s consistently spicy punchlines score with just enough grit and variety to beat back a pretty solid and oft-piercing effort from Smoove.
Verdict: Bill Collector (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Bill Collector – “You lukewarm, I been scorching, this kid not touching the pen like informants!”
Recap: Pretty sure Loso could’ve made whatever point he was trying to make in the 3rd round without bringing up his opponent’s dead kid. But other than that minor misstep, via a gang of fiery punchlines, rousing name flips/personals, robust schemes/wordplay and some righteous sermonizing, the rising Christian battle rapper displays nary a flaw while easily scoring a 30 over the mostly mediocre punches of Barry Bandz.
Verdict: Loso (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Loso – “Oh, but wait, Loso turned down a Proving Ground, that was true, that was facts in a manner, I just figured why got to New York for a PG when I could Smack you in Atlanta!”
Recap: Round one turns out to be the difference maker in this entertaining matchup between Cyssero and Bill Collector. Prone to slip-ups in his most recent battles, Cyssero not only gets more pronounced and refined here, but along with dishing some nice animated bars, it’s the righteous (“Stop being Bill Collector, who’s a clown, and be Eric who’s more of a respectable nigga and you won’t have bitch-nigga problems, ‘cuz the real one’s will have more respect for ya nigga!”) ‘talking to’ that he puts on his opponent that edges him the opening round, despite a hot (“Battle rap Snapple fact, from the upper council, you Black Wallstreet and The Game don’t give a fact about you!”) turn from Bill. And Cys wasn’t done hyping the crowd there either as his second round, an elongated but steady stream of winsome punches and gritty (“So go head, play animal, I’ll bang it out and spark, he’ll go to sleep right after the shot…that’s a tranquilizer dart!”) gun bars that continuously landed, turned out to be Cyssero’s best round since his return to battle rap. With two straight rounds of consistent fire, by the time Bill (who pretty much took round two off) returned with repeated (“If you swing…[ducks down] wait a minute, if I swing…[points down] pavement!”) heat to take the latter round, it turned out to be a little too late.
Verdict: Cyssero (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Cyssero – “I’ll bless you with so many bullets in ya neck region, you’ll belch and drop ya head in ya chest, now ya breastfeeding…”
Recap: Call this one a snap-fest, which doesn’t necessitate that it always get personal. Just Pnut and Bonnie Godiva going back-to-back-to-back with the punches (tho some fiery schemes wer also mixed in) for 3 rounds then taking it to the scoreboard to see who wins. In this case it’s the more consistently hard-hitting Pnut, who despite a pretty solid effort from Bonnie, used some sick wordplay and extra spicy/righteous personals to take the (1st round debatable) latter two rounds of this KOTD 3-rounder for the win.
Verdict: Pnut (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Pnut – “I came here to wig on Bonnie…like that fucking wig on Bonnie!”
Recap: After splitting (Mic took the 1st while Ward got the 2nd) two rambunctious, lyrically heated and competitive rounds littered with plenty of dope punchlines, righteous schemes/boasts, fiery theological pontifications and piercing name flips, A. Ward and Saint Mic are left to settle things in a 3rd round that while punch-heavy on both sides, is won by a more condensed Mic’s more finessed wordplay and banging personals.
Verdict: Saint Mic (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Saint Mic – “Look at his face, he gonna try and say he isn’t bothered, but he is, he starting to see the difference between his Creator and [slaps himself on the chest] his father!”
Recap: A confident Bonus uses piercing name flips, witty personals and steely gun bars to push past a mostly average Dubb MG in this one-round, apparent grudge match from TrapNY.
Verdict: Bonus (W) 1-0
Favorite lien: Bonus – “How you say you keep it real when we all know a Dubb is only 20 percent of a hundred?!”
Recap: From Don’t Flop, a bunch of nice rebuttals on both sides on this Skype battle (which strangely had DNA battling remotely), but after a debatable round 1, a spicier-punching, more consistently hitting and more direct DNA edges each of the latter rounds for the win over Troy Brown.
Verdict: DNA (W) 2-1
Favorite line: DNA – “These 5 rounds will put him to sleep…that’s Mook and Iron!”
Recap: Versus a boisterous crowd and a solid, but spitfire-bar deficient opponent in Philly Haze, Dougy uses fiery name flips and a barrage of jaunty gun bars to take the win in this one-rounder from Bar Warz NY.
Verdict: Dougy (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Dougy – “Act foul, I’m a pull up the K then spark it, I’m in front of his crib like ‘Coming out?’…it’s like I’m waiting for parking!”
Recap: Heavy wordplay and jaunty thematic bars on both sides of this URL battle between the underrated Ha Double and newcomer Profecy. Stayed close throughout and I had them splitting the first couple of rounds. But it’s Profecy who pulls it out in the end as Ha’s elongated rounds had him reaching a bit and stumbling towards the end of the 3rd, while Profecy stayed consistent with his flow, punches and rich performance bars.
Verdict: Profecy (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Profecy – “I got a big strap, the kickback will knock a bone loose, so now I’m just calling shots…Kiefer Sutherland in Phone Booth!”
Recap: Tho he could work on relaxing on the theatrics a bit while his opponent is rapping, with a sweet combo of syrupy ‘God bars’, piercing schemes, a stretched-out but magnetic flow that adds spices to his punches and some fierce punches/wordplay gets Progrest rounds 1 and 3 (call round 2 debatable) for the win in this 3-round Body Bag Battle League bout over a condensed, but topsy-turvy Bill Collector who despite the potent skill set, still needs to work on taking battles more seriously.
Verdict: Progrest (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Progrest – “I’m God, address the man, then cover the body…like iZod!”
Recap: After a deliciously (“My left trigger left nigga’s with the bull motion, the best player in the game, still used it probably, will move through ‘yond the, this is when I try angles [triangles] and they was trying to tell me Ill yuma?, not he [Illuminati]!”) abstract, scheme-heavy and wordplay-fiending (“Let me tell you, I done seen you take too many losses in a row Ill, I guess ‘I’ can give you an ‘L’ too [two]!”) Daylyt manages to still edge a highly (“If it’s beef, I’m at his driver’s side door, ready to buck a mag, wait toll he crack his window….swish, this shot won’t even touch the glass!”) potent Yung Ill in round 1, it’s pretty much all Ill after that. Tho Daylyt delivered a nice (“War spaceship, I bug out in formation, nigga it’s Galaga!”) 2nd round, whether finessing and consistently punching with systematically aggressive punchlines or (“This sacrifice sacrilegious, tho this crucifix may look Catholic-like..you came with a couple of thieves, they’ll die besides you, feel his passing Christ!”; “Quiet director, you about as dangerous as the pastor’s wife, a referee in a belly shirt, you ain’t got half the stripes!”) blessing the crowd with a steady diet of rich set-ups and performance bars in both the latter rounds, Ill’s come-from-behind win here and comeback in general continues to warrant everyone to pay close attention.
Verdict: Yung Ill (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Yung Ill – “Ever since that run-in with Smack, you been viewing URL backwards, you ain’t ready to see this L, R [are] U [you]?”
Recap: Here’s another in a long list of one-round battles that probably would’ve better off going the full distance with three. As while both Kaboom and K-Shine went in, each showed enough holes in their armor that a 3-rounder would’ve been a better revelation of who was the better battle rapper. . For Shine, while failing to take advantage of his full time limit and mostly relying on righteous name flips and wicked (“Beef with them burgers, I ground that shit, keep ’em sticking around like a down-ass bitch!”) punches, it left for a more condensed round. On the hand, while Kaboom hit hard with some gritty punchlines and showed a little more versatility (that included some delicious personals with his bars), his elongated round clearly showcased some filler that got overlooked/gassed by the hometown crowd. That being said, taking in both battlers bar quotient, the consensus here is a debatable.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: Kaboom – “He say I’m washed up?!, that just mean I was getting dirty first!”
Recap: A pretty solid effort backed by a boatload of witty personals and stinging punches/mayhem from Pass would probably give the Oakland Vet a win on most occasions. But in this fiery 3-rounder from KOTD, a versatile and consistently spicy Money Bagz, banging out sizzling punchline after punchline to go along with some piercing wordplay and name flips, takes the first two rounds for the win before a debatable 3rd.
Verdict: Money Bagz (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Money Bagz – “Nah, fuck that, I’ll wait till he in the hospital and then walk up to the respirator and press every button like a bad-ass kid on the elevator!”
Recap: Some suspenseful punches and nice (“Mills, you way too big to have glitter on your shirt!”) freestyles by Tone Montana keeps him in this battle with the uber-aggressive Mr. Mills, But after breaking down (“What good is having great credentials, when the fans put you in the category of wasted potential?!”) Montana with hitting personals in round one, Mills totally switches it up, dishing random punches from every which way, that for the most part landed hard and got him a well-earned win.
Verdict: Mr. Mills (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Mr. Mills – “I ain’t gotta go get a gun, I’ll pull up with an old ratchet in the back seat, that’s Stifler’s mom!”
Recap: Fiery, competitive 1-rounder from Go-Rilla Warfare sees the ever-reliable Young Kannon display yet another dope effort spouting raucous punches and head-ringing mayhem with little on the filler side. Still, for all of his opponent’s righteous bedlam, an aggressive and biting Charlie Clips equipped with a load of potent schemes, flexing punchlines/name flips, feelgood rebuttals/freestyles and scathing wordplay/personals proves to be too much for even Y.K. in the end.
Verdict: Charlie Clips (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Charlie Clips – “Let me find out you gonna shower me and leave me slumped in the tub, when the last time you showed your strap?, exactly, you an uncomfortable stud!”
Recap: Showing off a sense of humor, a little more finesse with the (“Get your whole nation rocked, I keep a Khaled!”) bars and definitely more duplicitous with his wordplay, Brooklyn Carter slays a (“If he saying my name, I’m not fisting him, just a bullet in one ear and out the other, he’s not listening!”) solid, but took-too-long-to-heat-up Young Steady in this one-rounder from HomegrownBGCT.
Verdict: Brooklyn Carter (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Brooklyn Carter – “It’s time to teach nigga’s like you not to be spitting, ya gotta be kidding, wouldn’t possibly listen, like the time my mama tried to convince me broccoli’s chicken!”
Recap: A few too many dry spots in the 1st round allowed the freestyle-leaning, basketball reference utilizing and unorthodox stylings of a more consistent (and ever confident) Bangz to edge the first round. But afterwards, Jerry Wess was pretty much in total control here, using aggressive performance bars, fierce punchlines, some lofty name flips and witty/potent wordplay to beat back an inconsistent and elongated Bangz in the 2nd and 3rd rounds and take this entertaining Born Legacy battle from Smack/URL.
Verdict: Jerry Wess (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Jerry Wess – “This ain’t the same Wess, straight bars, and it isn’t filler, this a slave trade homie and you getting a different nigga!”
Recap: From Philly’s Krack City Battle League, relative unknown Robyn Bankz uses a biting fleet of hardbody punchlines, witty/piercing personals, racial burners and rigid name flips to take the opening rounds of this 3-rounder and pull off a minor upset over a mostly modest punching Viixen The Assassin.
Verdict: Robyn Bankz (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Robyn Bankz – “What you gonna say? I’m just another bird from Jersey or question whether I’m tough, like your words could hurt me?, well I’ll drive to Wisconsin with two birds from Jersey, couple of ratchets in Milwaukee…Laverne and Shirley!”
Recap: In what was a rousing and very close 3-rounder from KOTD, Gjonaj uses some filthy wordplay, intensely dramatic but also shrewd schemes and some fiery personals/punchlines/4-bar set-ups to beat back a Danny Myers who while providing another cold display of stinging punches and wild imagery with the mayhem, couldn’t quite keep up with his opponent’s more condensed efficiency in rounds 1 and 3.
Verdict: Gjonaj (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Gjonaj – “You’re Morgan Freeman, you narrate a story that is not yours!”
Recap: Scintillating, last-minute, one-rounder between Ty Law and Qleen Paper has both rappers going full tilt with what they’re readily known for. In Law’s case, hard-hitting (“That gay shit you shout dawg!, make country nigga’s say ‘no homo!’, like left-hand fighters, he make the South pause [southpaws]”) punchlines and crazy (“He knows that was dope, that barrel scary, [points hands like gun towards Qleen] I bet you can’t look straight in that, like Verb in that plastic coat!”) wordplay, while a somewhat surprisingly well-prepared Qleen’s consistently whimsical (“I mean your bars cool, but mines hard stool, I got my shit together!”) bars and gritty street talk reminded of what he’s capable of when he brings his A-game. In fact, with little on the personals side and both dishing out an equal amount of haymakers, it’s Qleen’s slightly more consistent delivery and slightly higher bar quotient that ends up getting this one in the end.
Verdict: QP (Qleen Paper) (W) 1-0
Favorite line: QP – “He gonna talk about somethin’ ‘Yeah I hope you got some hands to go with those loose lips’…boy yeah, I got them hands, fuck you thunk I’mma shoot with?!”
Recap: Put aside the jokes as Big Hann and Snake Eyez kick that struggle rap, real street talk, prison semantics and other assorted high crimes and misdemeanors throughout this URL/PG battle from Smack. Indeed, both (“Old pistol with the duct tape, so it’s either you dead or your family in ICU waiting on the update!”) Snake and (“Nigga, I’ll even draw on ya kids, that’s face-painting!”) Hann, competing to the tee on who can spit the most genuine urban ethos, let you know early on that they ain’t here to play games. But it’s an elongated, but more consistently fiery Snake who edges round 1 with more steely haymakers that were backed by consistent aggression and moxey. Round 2 was more of the same with Snake Eyez again going slightly longer than his opponent and taking the round (and the win) with more gripping punchlines, fiending (“Nigga, I’ve been nice since we was using aluminum foil from the gum to make the grills with it!”) braggadocio bars and less filler before Hann salvages the 3rd round and avoids a 3-0 loss with tight storytelling bars and straight-fire (“Nigga, you ain’t no cobra, you a garden snake that probably Harlem shake!”) punches.
Verdict: Snake Eyez (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Snake Eyez – “You know the drill, no games, this pain, come from the soul, you could feel the hunger, I’m on parole, so I’m still a number!”
Recap: Delivery and composition. That’s the main difference here as both Cortez (“Lyrically, I feel like I’m Drake when I’m inside booths, ‘cuz no matter what Quentin writes, I’m still gonna be cakin’ off my Views!”; “You told you the plug G, I said I wanted smoke, and this here is what you front me?!, a QP from Cali that’s homegrown and it comes cheap!”) and QP (“Cross me and get beat [bead] up on some rosary shit!”) brought some hot bars and excellent wordplay to this one-round battle from HomegrownBGCT. However, it’s QP’s lack of preparation–at least 3 slip-ups, substandard interchanges from Qleen Paper and some other dude and a hit-or-miss freestyle game–and Tez’s steady flow structure that hands the kid from Brooklyn an easy win. Verdict: Cortez (W) 1-0 Favorite line: QP – “I said how you say Cortez in Spanish, nigga?…Uno Lavos!”
Recap: Not that UDubb emcee Amp didn’t provide him with any (“I keep a clip full of bald heads, but that’s Common!”) comp, but my guess is that at this stage in his career a veteran like John John da Don would only take a match against a relative unknown for the bread and for practice before his big match coming up versus Big T. Still, JJDD has been known for making plenty of ‘bad decisions’ in the past, but thanks to some nice (“I’ll hop up on ya block like who want it, with tools dumping, you’ll get your whole strip blown [blue] money, like them new hundreds!”) wordplay throughout and a more consistently hot bar quotient, John John can feel good about this commitment.
Verdict: John John da Don (W) 1-0
Favorite line: John John da Don – “Y’all gonna get this fag robbed, this nigga wouldn’t let the hammer fly if he was Thor…cuz lo-key [Loki] you ass God [Asgard]!”
Recap: A super on-point and witty Head Ice impression in the 3rd round coupled with a continuous stream of sublime punchlines and fierce set-ups/personals that went as far back as the 1st round (which he only lost after Ice came through with one of his most steadiest, punch-heavy, cogent and gritty turns we’ve ever seen from the Harlem vet) allows Bigg K to take the latter two rounds and get the win in this fiery and competitive 3-rounder from KOTD.
Verdict: Bigg K (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Bigg K – “You a champ, he ain’t say nothing nice the whole round, your first record deal?, 65 with Motown!”
Recap: Stuey Newton uses stifling gun bars, flexing (“Tell ya folks, if you flex, you next, you’ll get back to back crosses…UTech, two-step!”) punchlines and dope name flips to edge the first two rounds and survive what was a crazy (“So you named yourself after a revolutionary black activist, you gotta be joking, so I get to blacking with these pounds in the air like a rally in motion!”) 3rd round from slick/gun bar aficionado Dre Vishiss in this West-coast PG battle.
Verdict: Stuey Newton (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Stuey Newton – “But the feeling from killing is no longer thrilling, the rubber grip make around get a kick out it!”
Recap: Big T does The Calcium Kid greasy, using a bunch of daunting punchlines/storytelling, mocking personals, rigid name flips and descriptive gun bars/mayhem to beat back an opponent seemingly more interested in scoring laughs from the crowd than actually winning the battle.
Verdict: Big T (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Big T – “This little bitch, getting on my nerves…na na boo boo…nah nah [boo! boo!]!”
Recap: Longtime Philly vet Reed Dollaz doesn’t battle often, so when he does, at the very least, it’s intriguing. At worst, there’s the John John battle. However, here against the always (“And you ain’t gotta pay me back, that’s on the house Reed, 5 leg shots will have him looking for his house keys!”) bully-centric Rosenberg Raw, an inspired Reed puts on a quality show in front of a hometown crowd that anticipated every bar. Indeed, spitting raw heaters, fierce neighborhood shiners, dope personals and expansive (“50-shot clip, that’s a bullet for every freckle!”) gun bars at random, a feverishly explosive Reed manages to edge the first two rounds, before Rosenberg’s 3 slip-ups in the final round, gives way to a 30.
Verdict: Reed Dollaz (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Reed Dollaz – “Running with a style I made, I’m getting pissed off, head shot before the game even start…like fuck the tip-off!”
Recap: 3-rounder from The Riot Rap Battles sees a solid, punch-heavy and set-up/scheme-friendly effort from Plex only getting beaten by a gun-lit, punchline-heavy, sometimes witty and more consistently flexing turn from Geechi Gotti in each round to earn the 30.
Verdict: Geechi Gotti (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Geechi Gotti – “Punk shit?, I don’t tolerate, my hood like a shooting range, what I pull off the waste do more damage than Pootie Tang!”
Recap: Fire battle between B. Magic and Iron Solomon with a load of hefty (B. Magic: “You get bombed on in Boston, no matter the race!”) punchlines, witty (Iron Solomon: “I mean we done got so used to you choking, we thought ‘Fuck!’…was your new slogan!”) personals, fire name flips and some creative wordplay by both battlers. Competitive throughout with a couple of debatable rounds (1st and 3rd) that produced a lot of daps and and cheers from the crowd, this KOTD battle came down to the 2nd, which while littered with visceral haymakers from both sides and some versatile synergy by Iron, is edged by Magic here due to more consistency with his pen when compared to an opponent who while dropping a load of gems, too often struggled with filler during his turn.
Verdict: B. Magic (W) 2-1
Favorite line: B. Magic – “Slit his throat, I’m trying to cut out what he was just fitting to tell me!”
