Recap: As expected, religious themes/bars dominate this fire matchup between Christian rapper Loso and 5% street theologist Xcel. First round sees both rappers spit an assortment of heat with Xcel going first and mixing in steely verbal hijinks with killjoy wordplay and fierce (“This a real fight, get too close I’m stabbing Loso, I drag him, mop the floor with this nigga…Fabuloso!”) schemes that spoke directly to Loso’s soul. But unmoved by his opponent’s hot start, an aggressive Loso came right back with own potent mix of fiery (“Well, let’s stop that, because that’s not why you got booked, but where you hearing that?, the only reason we got you on this card is because we got Xcel [a sale] for cheap like a clearance rack!”) personals and stinging name flips that let you know that he was here to win. Second round saw another (“But fuck it, since he thinks he a loud and tough dude, I got a loud ratchet, in the front, you can’t rebuttal!”) solid, but not-quite-as-nice-as-his-1st turn from Xecl. But Loso stepped it a notch, going ham with serene personals, lucid performance bars and some stylistic (“Wait, he’s a religious dude, he ain’t felt a gat, plus a 5-percenter’s highest goal is to obtain peace, [click click] well, I could help with that!”; “No matter the outcome of this battle, I’m a have his wig get removed, man you Anderson Varejão, you about to get a ring whether you win or you lose!”) haymakers that clearly got the second round after he was edged in the first for being slightly less consistent (not to mention a couple of reaches) with his bars. 1-1 going into the 3rd, Xcel went straight for the fences with hard-hitting personals in between earnest (“You close to God right, [well] tell that nigga we need his fucking help!”) pontification’s that were perfectly set-up by stiff-armed (“I know, I know, I shouldn’t care about ideologies, ‘cuz cops is profiling us and trying to ID all the G’s [ideologies]!”) spiritual postulations…no soapbox needed. That said, credit Loso for still coming prepared with a fire 3rd round that probably would’ve beaten most, all the while showcasing his durability and ability to turn his opponent’s strengths around on them. Still, with Xcel taking the 1st and 3rd rounds here, with a little too much filler mixed in with his harder bars, on thi day the Christian rapper’s fortitude wouldn’t quite be enough.
Verdict: Xcel: (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Xcel – “He had gun bars too, but I can’t say he can’t squeeze the thang, because Christians been killing nigga’s forever in Jesus’ name!”
