Recap: On a Grind Time stage, definitely. On a King of the Dot stage, perhaps. But on a URL stage two-minute rounds should never be agreed to again, especially considering the exposure granted on the “world’s biggest arena”, level of the platform given and the costs heads gotsa pay to see their favorite battle rappers perform on Smack’s main events. And hopefully, this matchup between Harlem’s Head Ice and K-Shine (who deserves props for having the gumption to apologize for his shortened round) will be the last we see of two-minute rounds on Smack. As for the battle, while Shine came more prepared then we’ve seen in a minute, consistent in his flow and diverse in his (“If you so much as jump or move your leg it’ll be an ASL challenge Ice, bucket on his head nigga”) raps, it wasn’t enough to beat Head Ice’s assortment of street lines, aggressive stage performance, witty bars and that slick (“How you rap ’bout guns but ain’t got no closet for that?, You mean to tell me if I thought you was rich and wanted to murder ya I ain’t got the option of running into ya crib and flip furniture?”) talk so-called “real” heads love so much, especially in rounds one and three to edge Shine and take the win here.
Verdict: Head Ice (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Head Ice – [BANG!] One in the head shot, real killers ain’t gotta give ’em a dead kick, we could tell by how they leg twitch”
