Recap: History says John John Da Don should know better. The longtime battle rap vet insinuating before this KOTD bout against Frak, that when it comes to bars ‘jokes’ aren’t as substantive as straight-up lyricism. And while that opinion may have worked at times against his opponent (indeed, based on JJDD’s ‘Jokes vs. lyricism’ stamp beforehand, during the battle Frak would admit to purposely fine-tuning his bars a bit away from usual comedic slants), when you consider that JJDD got his start in the backpack raps and jokes era of Grind Time, one would think that he of all people wouldn’t go there. Nonetheless a dope and highly competitive 3-rounder with plenty of fierce angles, stifling personals, fiendish Jew tropes, witty punches, solid wordplay and righteous darts comes down to (after the two split the first two rounds) to the 3rd round where JJDD unleashed an angle/punch-lit, witty at times, personal-drenched turn that was certainly substantive in its potency. While Frak came with a slightly more versatile round lit with more solid JJDD-isms, some racy political theater, ironic (“We control the King of the Dot, even got a couple of Rosenberg’s hosting too!”) puns and fierce punchlines/personals that altogether proved to be just as meaty as his opponent. Thus, making this one a debatable.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: John John Da Don – “You a struggling Jewish rapper, it got to be so few, ‘cuz shining should never be a problem for no jewels!”
