No Bias. No Narratives.
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!”
Recap: Despite scoring with some gritty punches (“These shots, go behind ya back, like a bad friend!”) here and there, once again Gwitty’s laidback, oft-monotone delivery belies an undercurrent that probably holds back the Reaction King’s battle career. In addition, a lazy 3rd round that saw him step aside and let a crew member deliver half the bars?!? All that to say, another 3-0 for the altogether (“A hypeman couldn’t react to a silencer!”) solid Presidential Dubz.
Verdict: Presidential Dubz (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Presidential Dubz – “Hypeman reaction?, you get the throne for, Dammit Scotty!, That Boy Good, but what else! is he known for?”
Recap: “Reach Gawd, that’s what the haters gave me!” Apparently settled on the idea that he had a point to prove in this battle rap game, a determined D.O.T. ditches, for the most part his noted performance acumen for tedious bar-thirsty polemics and elongated schems that defied logic when you consider the notable run he’s been on of late. Too bad too as outside of an elongated, but pretty fiery, name flip (“Stop playing with me, I ain’t wit’ them X games!”; “I got the aim of an eXpert, baretta’s llama’s semi’s ruger’s, I could show him eXcellence, I been killing shit, I got eXperience!”) doused 2nd round, too many average lines (Rd. 1) and a lil too much pontificating (Rd. 3) spoiled what could’ve been a win over a versatile and funny, but not always consistent Young X. Nonetheless, with a fiery X kicking steady (“D.O.T. could get it any day, nigga I let them semi’s spray, no guns in New York?, fuck you talking to nigga, we brought pistols anyway!”; “Picture X going at D.O.T. and me not winning, when I’ll fuck DNA up and that name got 3 dots in it!”) haymakers and dope guns bars while mocking D.O.T.’s style in the first round and edging out the 3rd with a better bar quotient as well as comical multi-faceted (including another rousing “Get ’em” rant: “You, when it comes to brushing my teeth, I hate reaching-ass nigga!”) verbiage in the last round…on paper it’s a win for Young X. But as far as D.O.T.’s most likely concerned, as long as he got his point across it’s a win for him too.
Verdict: Young X (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Young X – “I said Smack ain’t pay me, this three rounds of community service!”)
Recap: A raucous, punch/wordplay-heavy, gun bar-friendly and perfectly executed 1st round from Riggz makes the difference here in this competitive and fiery 3-rounder from Bullpen Battle League. Indeed, while Brixx Belvy upped the ante and delivered a couple of consistently spicy, witty at times, personal-savvy and punchline-lit turns in the latter rounds, his Team Wordplay opponent kept it just as tight with a gang of gritty barbs, fire set-ups and stinging mayhem/punches of his own, making for two debatable rounds while allowing Riggz to hold onto his lead for the win.
Verdict: Riggz (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Riggz – “You hustle, Brixx”, let me find out that you did squeal, I’ll give you 20 from this .16…that’s my New Years deal!”
Recap: According to the host of this battle, both Teewhy and Serius Jones still wanted this battle put out despite the bad editing (which happens, suspiciously, mostly during Teewhy’s rounds) and lost footage, therefore a recap. Overall, neither battler particularly shined here esp. with a personal-leaning but (“Nigga, you look like Pinocchio just became a real boy!”) oft-witty Jones’ often (“Pistola”?!?) reaching with his punches and Teewhy, while more consistent with his flow, engaging in a lot of filler throughout his turns. Still, from what you see here, it’s hard not to call this for Jones as after getting edged in the first round, it looked like he easily took the 2nd, before edging the 3rd with more fiery punchlines, personals and wordplay. But it wouldn’t be fair to make a call a winner what with the aforementioned technical difficulties, missing bars from Teewhy and the allegation that a huge Jones slip-up got edited out. Of course, how you put on a battle with only one cameraman, much less no backup batteries is another story.
Verdict: No Contest
Favorite line: Teewhy – “Y’all got me really mad at him, Billy Madison, old nigga getting schooled by them young boy’s!”
Recap: Already down one round that wasn’t helped by a slow start and Yung Griz’s slick (“Kill a pen, fill it with Murder ink [Inc.], I’m about to Irv Gotti!”) wordplay and fierce schemes, Geechi Gotti turns it up in round two, solidifying his street/battle cred with standing (“I’m standing over him, shooting with both hands, I’m looking like Rick Barry on the line!”) haymakers and graphic urban street tales that you had to be there to witness. All said, it makes for a deciding 3rd round, which Gotti, thanks in part to slow start to his 3rd by his opponent and a pedigree of dizzying punches, edges with enough heaters to complete the comeback.
Verdict: Geechi Gotti (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Geechi Gotti – “I know you frail, you wouldn’t fight if you was getting paid [pow!} knock his homie head in his arms, that’s the only way you’ll make him catch a fade!”
Recap: Krillz had some hot (“Unlike you, I ain’t a singer or a dancer, I’m a rapper nigga, but I will hit the milly rock…and then slap a nigga!”) lines, especially in a fiery 2nd round that allowed him to come from behind and gain a split going into the 3rd. But too many predictable bars from the light-skin dude in the deciding round, along with a way more wordplay-heavy and resilient (“It’s 2016 nigga, who fighting?, fuck punch drunk, I’ll dump him with a K, the K that I’m throwing up, lick a shot, buck it in his face, Punch. Drunk. Throw-up Lick a Shot. Bucket in his Face!”) Showoff allowed for Brooklyn to one-up Jersey here.
Verdict: Showoff (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Showoff- “Oh, you thought I’d take you light, here’s bars that you don’t deserve, poetry, watch I get to snapping after these spoken words!”
Recap: AHAT Washington 3-rounder between Jey The Nitewing and D’mon features a beautiful view outside, a gang of flashy/mocking personals, rich punchlines, a couple of solid rebuttals from Nitewing and a battler with the unique ability of ‘talking to himself’ while he rapped (D’mon). A close and competitive one all the way through, it’s a punch-heavier and standout turn by Nitewing (who seemed at times like he was in a handicap match the way he taking on his opponent and his friend) in the opening round that gets him the win in light of two debatable rounds afterward.
Verdict: Jey The Nitewing (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Jey The Nitewing – “It hurts me to hurt you nigga’s, but y’all already know how J be, big fish, small pond, hell yeah I’m a get wavy!”
Recap: Wordplay beats comedy in this one as while E Ness kept the Philly crowd hype with animated (“You don’t live the savage life, I’m working up an appetite, gun so big I gotta shoot it via satellite!”) bars and amusing (“See, I’m from Philly, my whole life is like a coin toss, I done seen blood splatter like soy sauce!”) anecdotes throughout, when attempting to go blow-for-blow with Cortez’s repeated (“I’m direct, you get the message with the Tek’s [texts], I let that Auto correct!”) heat, an inconsistent (“This a mismatch, a Butterfinger to a KitKat”) bar quotient and very little variety to his lines eventually did him in. Consider too that ‘Tez certainly did do his research with ill Philly (“Your career, you been here, and you still lonely son? he get love…in Yagon and lower Marion, like where Kobe’s from!”) hometown bars and stayed completely away from the standard E-Ness Making the Band jokes, and it’s easy to call this one 2-1 for the kid from Brooklyn.
Verdict: Cortez (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Cortez – “You and your mans, they can die for less…so worthless, both of y’all sharing cig…like co-workers!”
Recap: Tight, nice and highly intensified contest between Harlem’s Fettuccine 20 and Chicago’s Sammy Wild 100’s comes down to the 3rd round after they (Fetty: “I know I’m from New York, but sometimes my mind be in a New England state, I’m be airing [Aaron], I’m Bolden? but I’ll still heat ya face…nah, I’m more like Tom Brady, I got the balls to air out, them I beat the case!”; Sammy: “You been pussy since birth, they pulled you out like ‘It’s a bitch!'”) split the first two. And despite an ill (“Y’all heard him in the second round, he said I look like a dyke, so I keep different straps for a bitch!”) rebuttal in the middle of his round and equally ill freestyle by Sammy that had the crowd go nuts, Fetty’shigher consistency with the hot bars, along with a handful of (“They say Sammy be balling, copping all the bottles and Adriano’s on Thursday, that’s great, ‘cuz I’ll come clapping at his table like he at a restaurant on his birthday!”) haymakers edges it for him at the end.
Verdict: Fettuccine 20 (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Fettuccine 20 – “That .40, the Tek and the trey, they all in the backpack, I’m that strapped, this one leaning to the voicemail, this one calling his ass back!”
Recap: Here in this KOTD 3-rounder vs. T-Rex, after getting edged in the first round to some more pertinent heat from his wily opponent, Caustic’s witty barbs, hitting personals/punchlines and fiery wordplay combine to easily take the latter two rounds and gain the win over a by then pretty redundant Rex.
Verdict: Caustic (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Caustic – “The last few years we haven’t really seen improvement, they should call you Tomb Raider Rex, this bitch’s career is in ruins!”
Recap: From RBE, after a gritty, personal-lit and condensed Melato Black edged the 1st round, this one was all Bonnie Godiva as the Yonkers heroine came back with a blistering barrage of hard-hitting punchlines, salacious/witty personals, fierce name flips, a fire rebuttal and stringent mayhem that with an able assist from Melato’s flow-challenged 2nd round, easily gave Bonnie the latter two rounds and the win.
Verdict: Bonnie Godiva (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Bonnie Godiva – “Know why you attract big-ass nigga’s?, you been food!”
Recap: The Philly battle rapper’s need for more intricacy within their bars displays itself again as while Cyssero spouted more consistency and a better flow here against Ty Law than he did a few months earlier against Cortez, his mostly hard lines and straightforward delivery just couldn’t hang with a more elaborate punchline (“Your pen game like Rogue off X-men, feel her [filler] is hurting you!”) feen, personals (“Me and Cortez ruined ya buzz, my question is who killed him more, Court or Law?…YOU be the judge!”) stalwart and jaunty (“You got frail hands, you ain’t poppin’ no gun, it’s gonna be a nasty sight, tell Th3Saga don’t run!”) wordsmith in Law. So while Cyss’ penchant for guns bars were drenched in cinematic sound bites (and he did manage to spit some (“If I don’t give him a shot, I still Set It Off, you Vivica Fox, eat the butt of the 50!”) fire at times) too often they lacked the adroitness, bite and animated pizzazz of a Big T. So indeed, while the (“I throw lead, go ‘head with the hype shit, AR hit ya car and make it do bike tricks!”) talent is certainly there, if Philly’s best are going to continue to take on the URL’s best, they’re not going to have to catch up to the slick proficiency of battle rapper’s more elite, but come more consistent and even look into drafting a different game plan.
Verdict: Ty Law (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Ty Law – “Your time to blow done, your chances like Daylyt [daylight] vs O Red battle, because Day died and [in] ’01 [O won]”
Recap: Scintillating, punch-heavy and aggressive rematch between Hollow da Don and Pat Stay gets decided by the only round that wasn’t a debatable: the 1st, as Hollow’s showmanship, fly performance bars (even if there’s some controversy over the originality of the ‘look like I’m backstroking’ haymaker), rich (“I’m just wondering, how the fuck you let me 3-0 you in a one-round battle?”) anecdotes and fire set-ups make hay of a mostly indirect/pedestrian round from Pat. So while Pat’s rebuttal game, exquisite (“I ain’t racist, nah, but my shank is, ‘cuz the blade tip brown from all the dried up blood that it’s stained with!”) bully bars and witty shiners would get him a tie with Hollow’s (“I could’ve said ‘deuces’, me getting back on this card is just pity Pat!”) well-rounded, personal-drenched 2nd and a pontificating, but (“But bro, we are your peers, we’re all we have in this business, you are the exact definition of everything you used to stand up against, man, listen!”) hitting with the personals Pat would do the same versus a slightly less fiery, but still solid 3rd by Hollow, it’s the aforementioned 1st round that gets Hollow yet another win over his always formidable opponent in this one.
Verdict: Hollow da Don (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Hollow da Don – “I live for this shit, nigga, I die for my ‘respeck’, I’m talking to all ‘tree’ of y’all!”
Recap: Syah stays competitive with some nice name flips, (“They ain’t really want me to Black here, this some Oscar shit!”; “You should hire a new manager and stop staring at me for real, matter fact hire Norbes, at least he can tell you what can happen over a grill!”) punches and winsome (“Any thoughts of running up on me, just dead it now, I sleep with more .45’s [4, 5’s] and .9’s [9’s] than a pedophile!”) gun bars throughout his three rounds. But other than a close 2nd, none of Syah’s turns could stand up to Chef Trez’s ever-flowing (“Your mom’s mom dead, for grams of 40…moon rocks!”) heat and rich performance. Indeed, a constant barrage of fiery personals, frenzied (“You only talk, you ain’t about action, I know what dog ’bout, like a freak bitch on her period, you all mouth!”) haymakers, dope set-ups and fluorescent (“The gat spitting, but when this bitch touch you, you won’t catch feelings, I told him I’mma hit you with a clean nina, but gave him a dirty .40…I’m cat-fishing!”) wordplay that reminded us all that Trez more than belongs on the big stage–and that’s no gassin’.
Verdict: Chef Trez (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Chef Trez – “You been battling for how long and still got no fame?!, you John John Homeboy nigga…that’s your name!”
Recap: Gotta love these intense, upclose, small-room battles. Yet, despite a consistently aggressive Al 40 Cal showing some potential (“I’ll hop out the whip and clap him, fuck a drive-by, upload the body on Facebook, he gonna die live!”) here and there, mostly standard bars and a lack of creativity gave him little chance of beating Dougy’s more intricate (“…or I could get a knife and leave something open son, with a Jamaican blade, I’ll poke he mon [Pokemon]!”) lines, feelgood gun bars and scintillating name flips.
Verdict: Dougy (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Dougy – “My cousin, he showed me how to boil crack, then he told me how to get those rocks in, I watched him cook with the jar, pointing at the glass like he window shopping!”
Recap: Back on a solo mission, Yung Ill proves himself to be up for the task, delivering a stellar dish of fiery performance bars in the 1st and (“Y’all gave his battery in his back a charge and he still can’t match my practice bars!”) 3rd rounds to edge punchline-fiend Heartless. Indeed, while the SONS captain spouted steady rich (“You oughtta be ashamed now, your career like the Mario brothers, soon as it got on the pipe it went straight down!”) personals and phenomenal (“Lick a shot, they get nuts with it like bar food!”) wordplay at times, he would fell victim to not only Ill’s penchant for hard rhymes, but his own slip-up in round 1 and way-too-short 3rd.
Verdict: Yung Ill (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Yung Ill – “This perfect, the SONS left you in the Lou deserted to face the Sandman, nigga I’ll ask a bitch where you stay, throw a clip in the K and take a trip to L.A., I’m a Rams fan!”
Recap: Like DNA choosing to rap over a beat in the 3rd round versus K-Shine or John John da Don choosing to go on BET’s Rap City and get beat by a no-name, white kid…you can file this one under
‘Worst Life Decisions’. How else to explain Math Hoffa, co-headlining a much-anticipated and long-awaited matchup versus Head Ice, choosing to show up in a robe, set up a DJ to provide lame horror film sound effects while he rapped, all the while spitting what amounted to mostly pedestrian bars that lacked any sort of spark or ingenuity? To think, throughout this battle, what with a bunch of nonsensical blather and that took away from some lowkey funny and gritty shit that landed, Head Ice clearly wasn’t on his A-game either. But damn if Hoffa even cared about winning this battle in the first place, he was that bad.
Verdict: Head Ice (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Head Ice -“You a one-way ticket, if tables ever turned you’ll get gunplay with it, nigga’s will have trays all over your head like this Riker’s Island and we want your Sunday chicken!”
Recap: Dizaster gives local magician IE Reign a shot in this freestyle battle that took place outside a KOTD event in L.A. and the battle goes well as Reign held his own with some nifty punches and flips here and there. But the way more experienced Diz, combining off-the-dome theatrics with local references and sheer wit/personals, still gets the easy 30.
Verdict: Dizaster (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Dizaster – “Well, I’m gonna give you a concept that might be hard for you to grasp, when you step to a battle never tell them that you’re gonna shove shit up their ass!”
Recap: To let Bangz tell it, a lot of effortless wordplay and punches in this iBattle matchup between him and Q.P. Close throughout and clearly none-too-serious what with both battlers being a part of the camp R# squad, after Bangz edges the 1st round with overall filthier (“Get smacked with the heat, till this guy’s teeth smashed, Chinese ass, the butt was ugly!”; “…I don’t mean scrapping nigga, action figures, I fight with grit!”) punchlines, before Q.P. easily takes the second round with an exquisite turn of stirring metaphors along with a string of fiery (“The blade like, delayed flights, you’ll get stuck plane [plain]!”; “Your intuition leaking out, you’ll be stuck with that gut feeling!”) setups, a close 3rd round is separated by a fire rebuttal, an opening freestyle and more unorthodox (“Whoever on the side line can catch bullets like 3rd-string receivers!”) styling’s from Bangz.
Verdict: Bnagz (W) 2-1
Favorite line: QP – “When Q toy around with them guns, you’ll see [Bangs] pop out with that white flag!”
Recap: Tre Mega displays some talent (that scheme of Rosenberg Raw was in high school was actually funny at the beginning) but with angles that were literally all over the place, a couple of slip-ups and jokes that were hit and miss, he stood zero chance of winning against Rosenberg Raw’s way more gritty (“And I keep the steel, call me Metal Man, red dots all on you, you the Freckle Man!”) bully bars and potent sport flips.
Verdict: Rosenberg Raw (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Rosenberg Raw – “I gave you this battle for cheap, that’s what I’m angry for, y’all got True Religion jeans versus this Bret Favre Wrangler boy!”
Recap: Despite a lazy stumble, using a litany of raucous punchlines and piercing (“I’ll punch this nigga dead in his stomach till his lungs touch, I mean I would swing on these chains [D Chain’s] like nunchucks!”) name flips, B Magic literally makes the AHAT crowd go bananas throughout his one round against D Chain. Indeed, it was an easy win for Magic as D Chain, besides a Trayvon Martin shock value bar, clearly didn’t have much in his tank and failed to take advantage of a ‘white dudes winning over Magic’ angle that could’ve worked when considering his opponent’s history of losses to Caucasian battle battle rappers.
Verdict: B Magic (W) 1-0
Favorite line: B Magic – “I’ll split a nigga’s brains with a scalpel, get your Adam’s apple cut,
cuz I’m trying to gas him up, bag him up, dag??? a clutch, then he hear a Magnum bust, these Tek’s [Texas] gonna make sure Chain saw [Chainsaw] a massacre!”
Recap: Not always consistent with his pronounced and unorthodox punch game (which allowed for a debatable 2nd round), but here in this 3-rounder from Alpha League against a spirited and hard-hitting at times Times, Ty Law still brought enough frenzied name flips, piercing punchlines, witty barbs and lofty wordplay to take the 1st and 3rd rounds and earn the win.
Verdict: Ty Law (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Ty Law – “He be talking drive-bys and shit, you like a salve that’s already an Uncle Tom…nigga, you ain’t got a whip!”
Recap: Dope PG battle between J. Murda and newcomer Big Hann with plenty of street chatter, ringing gun bars and some crazy nice wordplay from both battlers. I got Murda edging round one, after Hann’s put on a worthy (“Everybody wanna be in the spotlight, till we tell ’em to reach…and [reaches hand out like gun] put a dot in they face!”) display of sizzling (“Y’all let a lad in [Aladdin] , but got mad when he stole the bread!”) bars during his turn, Murda brought his own palette of steady heat with a richer (“Automatic and an automatic, I’m steering with an armload….[puts hands like’s driving and holding gun] it look like I’m stick-shifting!”}performance bars and a slightly better bar quotient. But credit Hann’s for sticking in there and stepping it up in round two with nicer wordplay, real (“My life consist of scrapping and clapping, a bunch of one-night stands…how I kept resorting back to the magnum!”) rap shit and aggressive (“This how you kill a nigga, I keep the silver by my back, you dealing with a gorilla nigga, but try to run and that wild shit will cover ya back like a chinchilla, nigga!”) haymakers that landed hard. And while Murda stayed consistent with righteous (“Relax chump, got mad guns, the impact make a tin can out of a Mack truck!”) lines that for the most part hit their mark, it just wasn’t enough to take the round. Continuing to impress for his hometown of Philly, Hann’s stayed solid in the last round with gritty braggadocio (“You a fan and you been one before you got a wave, spoiled kid first day of school…nigga I’m rocking J’s!”; “I only gave a [points hand like shank] tip, because I knew there was a stab behind it!”) bars and seering street tales. But just when you might’ve counted Murda out, he whips out an assortment of goodies including convincing (“A head shot, he fall asleep forever…and dream nuthin!”; “Stop being a bozo Daffy, but if I shoot you better duck clown or get the cal popping on you like Kung Pow”) urban theatrics, fiery punchlines and vibrant (“Ain’t no Love in Hip-Hop, if you butt in [Budden], you gotta deal with the Consequence!”) wordplay–a more versatile turn that got him the win in what was a very close and exciting battle throughout.
Verdict: J. Murda (W) 2-1
Favorite line: J. Murda – “I got too many fucking demons boy, I talk to them on the regular, that shit happens often…only nigga with more monsters in his head than me, is Magic Johnson!”)
Recap: From KOTD, a fire freestyle/rebuttal in round 3 caps off a sterling performance from Bonnie Godiva, who on 1-week prep still makes it look easy via stinging personals, witty barbs, a gang of dope punchlines and some steely wordplay to easily beat back a pretty solid (that is, outside of a mediocre round 2) effort from Realiztic.
Verdict: Bonnie Godiva (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Bonnie Godiva – “Your repertoire is less than par, you only type fire like a flame emoji, I mean do you even know Patois?, he like yeah that’s my favorite goalie!”
Recap: Apparently already impressing the battle rap community by securing his 1st URL PG battle after only one bout, a raw at times NXT still manages to shine here vs. Kristofire. The fledging Sacramento, CA, battler using a gang of solid punchlines, potent gun bars and some spicy wordplay/lyricism to beat back his gritty, but less consistently hitting and slip-up prone opponent.
Verdict: NXT (W) 3-0
Favorite line: NXT – “I keep clicking Chrome like the wifi down!”
Recap: Scoring better with the witty barbs than the gritty street drama, in this 3-round battle from Skytier NorthWest, Blue Jaccet still keeps things interesting until a 3rd round choke gives more room for Jey The Nitewing’s more consistently spicy punchlines, ill 4-bar set-ups/pontifications and hitting personals over the course of the battle to do Jaccet in.
Verdict: Jey The Nitewing (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Jey The Nietwing – “He said ya homie gonna punch me in my face, if I was ya homie I’d punch myself!”
Recap: In a battle that’s pretty evenly replete with fiery and aggressive gun bars, Luck Dollaz’s more consistent flow outlasts a slip-up prone Tink Tha Demon’s.
Verdict: Luck Dollaz (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Luck Dollaz – “Nigga you wants no part of the cannon [Canon], like you camera shy!”
Recap: Knamelis’ hard (“You’re a bad father with fat daughter, you probably shower with the plug in and make her re-use the pipe water”) personals and requisite fat jokes combine to put a hurting on Big T, who despite displaying more (“They say he’s Knamelis, I know he’s nameless, but who is he?”) versatility with his bars, for the most part left the electric gun sounds at the border and ultimately beat himself with a 3rd round choke.
Verdict: Knamelis (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Knamelis – “So now there’s T-Rex and there’s T-Top, you’re not even the top T, if Tall T didn’t get shot, you wouldn’t even be in the top 3!”
Recap: After edging the first round here against K.O. with overall more potent (“I’m cooking raw, well done, cans rung, stupid bullets out of nowhere…he ran dumb [random]!”) bars, Gwitty’s unorthodox flow and shout-rap style reaches overwhelming heights in a stellar round two that sees bar after bar dished with pointed (“Another pussy eating a big ratchet…get Ya Boy Clipped!”) flair and rich (“Buck 50 ya jawline, that change hang low from ya jibs, ya dig?!”) pedigree. And it’s needed too as after an inconsistent 1st round, a consistently hyper and swiftly snapping K.O. gets better (“I’ve been hood all my life, my mom’s showed me how to rip the top off the Chinese tray to make an extra plate!”) and better as the battle goes along, taking the 3rd round (“You and your homies, the dot’s will find a way to stitch up his face…you gonna be the newest emoji!”) easily after a solid turn by Gwitty–but by then it’s too late.
Verdict: Gwitty (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Gwitty – “URL give me all bread, get shot with a Norbes, a bald head, Smack got more in the vault…like Cortez!”
Recap: Sizzling Proving Grounds battle between Bedaffi Green and Profecy comes down to the 3rd round after Green handily takes the first with killer, aggressive (“Put him down, I won’t blast or steal, this bitch will drop from the Roc, get it? that’s Amil!”; “For any wrong reason, I’m palm-reading, meaning I’m gonna see Profecy [prophecy] in the hands!”; “It’s sick one’s ’round here, these peoples seek terror, this West coast nigga ain’t come strapped up? that’s that Eazy-E era!”) gun bars that landed with ease. While Profecy edged the 2nd stepping up after a (“You get a bright idea, I’m putting tips to ya head, and ya frame on top of the casket, that’s for any body who can’t picture him dead!”) crazy at times, but somewhat slow start with rambunctious (“This stage is my house, you better choose ya words wisely, or I’ll go get the ratchet from out the room, I’m Ron Isley!”; “I hope you got yaself a gun, nah that was Ns tho, what I rep gp hard, we’ll bury Green by the mil like Pablo, that’s an Esco bar!”) haymakers that overstepped another very (“When it’s time to rhyme it’s homicide, I’m getting all these niggas clipped on cam…we shooting Amistad!”) solid round from Green. Left to the last round things, it’s Profecy who does a better job at staying on point, dropping melodramatic (“I’ll turn Bedaffi Green into Profecy, that’s a dred head into a red head and he gonna have as many dots as me!”) shiners and excellent wordplay to top another fiery, but filler-prone turn by Mr. Green.
Verdict: Profecy (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Profecy – “See every bar over the top, but I rhyme slow so it sound basic…you just hating and I’m Haiti 2010, that’s groundbreaking!”
Recap: They both rapped really well. A 50-minute PG battle between fellow East Harlem-nites Fettuccine 20 and Presidential Dubz is highlighted by a (“You in danger, running from the grip, we in different zones!”) haymaker-drenched, no filler, performance-stunting, wordplay Dubz easily taking the first round, before a little less condensed, yet punch and wordplay heavy (“I’m fucking this esay up, my grammar bad!”) as well as fiercely scheming Fetty edges the 2nd over a still fire, but not-quite-as-nice-as-his-1st Dubz. The deciding 3rd round saw both Fetty and Dubz continue their raucousness, with both battlers punching hard, getting a little personal and even throwing a couple of random shots at noted hypeman Gwitty, looking on from the crowd and enjoying the attention on himself. But it’s a slightly more versatile and a little more stronger with the bars Dubz who earns the vic at the end of this altogether competitive and fire battle.
Verdict: Presidential Dubz (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Presidential Dubz – “Nigga, I got Spanish nigga’s riding with Razors like we keep a scooter!”
Recap: Plenty of bully (Arsonal: “Like a new refrigerator, all it take is the click of a button for me to crush Ice!”) bars, street (Head Ice: “You only ride around one them hoverboards because real street dealers in the hood told you to watch your step!”) chatter, old man (“Why you ain’t tell me you and my grandma know each other?”) jokes and braggadocio quotables in this sizzling battle between two wily vets, Arsonal and Head Ice on the KOTD stage. Putiing on a dope show despite a readily known friendship outside the ring, while it’s ICE who edges the (“You the nigga that know a nigga that know a nigga that know a nigga that got the pistol…I’m the nigga that know the nigga that know the nigga that know the nigga that drove the nigga that got with you!”) haymaker count, altogether a more consistent with the delivery and versatile with the bars gives this one to da Rebel in the end.
Verdict: Arsonal (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Arsonal – “Them Top 5 combos?, you don’t ever get mentioned in, [so] I’mma melt Ice down and send him to Flint, Michigan!”
Recap: In this competitive 3-rounder from UDubb, hometown luminary Rad B delivers a strong performance with a host of gritty punchlines and boastful darts spread out thru his 3 rounds. But opponent Big T, verbally combative throughout the battle with a fiery mix of rich similes, stirring/witty vet talk, piercing wordplay and rugged storytelling bars/punches and personals, does more than enough to take the first two rounds for the win.
Verdict: Big T (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Big T – “I pull bitches and don’t say nuthin’ to ’em, I’m like Jason to these ho’s!”
Recap: After a 1st round choke to MyVerse here in this 3-rounder from Don’t Flop, Villun makes an impressive comeback, using a steady stream of nifty punchlines and piercing personals during a spitfire 2nd round and pretty solid 3rd to make this one competitive. But in the end with MyVerse (who incredibly was battling for the 2nd time in one day) handily taking the first round thanks in part to her versatile palette of hitting punches/personals/boasts and earning a tie in the 3rd with a more condensed turn that was highlighted by a spicy freestyle to start things off, Villun’s inability to win both of the latter rounds after his choke, ends up costing him here.
Verdict: MyVerse (W) 2-1
Favorite line: MyVerse – “Gas him then his grill will leak, if this pussy think’s to speak, that’s a soliloquy!”
Recap: Rarely wasting a bar, Nunn Nunn flows swiftly with impressive angles, righteous bully (“Bad employee, with these hands, I’ll fuck a Bonus up!”) bars and wide-eyed schemes to edge this Proving Grounds matchup over Bonus, who delivered just enough fiery (“That’s pride issues, and i keep two nina’s, i let them 9’s hit you, rubber grips on both of the hammers, like a bicycle”) wordplay/schemes and (“As far as your snow bunny?, shit I learned from Kobe, that all of ’em problems, but it’s hard, ‘cuz white girls fun, ‘cuz all of ’em swallow!”) personals to comeback and tie things in the 2nd, but moving on suffered from too filler to keep up with Nunn Nunn’s rambunctious (“I’ll put this twenty on two, your face feel Double Impact!”) 3rd round.
Verdict: Nunn Nunn (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Nunn Nunn – “You wanna play? with my bands, I don’t have time, tell ya new bitch get off my damn line, she my last year Yankee, I G’d her for the last time!”
