Recap: From URL’s “Nexus” card, in a pretty competitive and all-around dope 3-round battle between Jakkboy Maine and Arsonal, the former Goonie gets busy with a gang of wild, sonic-indused punches, spicy/nimble wordplay and boastful barbs. While da Rebel kept it gully with a boatload of witty/mocking personals, fiery anecdotes, piercing street darts and fiendish braggadocio lines. Close all the way through, it’s the slightly more haymaker-rich and condensed Arsonal who takes rounds 1 and 2 for the win before Jakkboy returned the favor in the 3rd to avoid the shutout.
Verdict: Arsonal (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Arsonal – “You are literally the illest nigga in the room and it’s all in your body language!”
Recap: From RBE, succinct and to the point, there’s nothing that pleases a recapper more than 3-round battles with 2-minute per round time limits. Appreciate it! That said, with plenty of gritty, braggadocious bars to go around on both sides, Rosenberg Raw and Arsonal make for a competitive bout. But despite a more animated and lyrically stunting Ars handily taking round 2, it’s the ever bullish, at times wordplay-crazy, often punch-lit and more consistently hitting Raw who edges rounds 1 and 3 for the win.
Verdict: Rosenberg Raw (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Rosenberg Raw – “I’ll jump in the crowd and punch on fans like I’m Stephen Jackson, you got a problem?, Froze got the Answer, I don’t need no practice!’
Recap: From Manslaughter Battle League, Arsonal and Minnesota battler (“This a homicide, I’ll come off the belt like Pootie Tang, wadata!”) Infrared Tha General go at it for one round and it’s a goodie. Both competitors serving up crowd-pleasing rhymes with no regard for tier status. And with the two battlers spitting their share of boastful barbs, gritty punchlines, witty darts and hard-hitting street rhymes with equal efficiency, this one makes for a tie.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: Arsonal – “See I just retired from banging on nigga’s, I think I’m Blake Griffin!”
Recap: Two things real quick about Arsonal: having heard that he’s considering giving up on it, because he’s one of the best at it, da Rebel needs to stick to the disrespectful shit (it also fits his brand and flow as well). Secondly, Ars has been in the game way too damn long to be slipping up as much as he has of late, much less choking as he does here against Coffee Brown. And in a battle that was otherwise pretty competitive, what with both emcees delivering the goods on cue via a gang of potent gun bars (esp. Coffee), gritty punches and wicked personals (esp. Ars) in an equally efficient rounds 1 and 3, it’s Arsonal’s struggles with recalling his lines and eventually giving the 2nd round up that helps Coffee get the win in this 3-rounder from URL.
Verdict: Coffee Brown (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Coffee Brown – “I don’t like you nigga’s, no it ain’t love, they call me Coffee ‘cuz their ain’t a nigga I can’t mug!”
Recap: From the New Udubb, in a 3-round battle littered with plenty of basic punches, but still competetive via a bunch of bold struggle bars, gritty street rhymes, aggressive trap talk, flexing gang lines and even an unnecessary (considering that he already had the round won) nifty tag-in from one of Kapo Bravado’s people’s in round 2. Yet on his way to a spirited comeback after losing round 1 and handily taking the middle round here versus Arsonal, Kapo (who also had some potent personals throughout the bout) somehow ventures into complete meltdown mode midway through his 3rd and with a trio of highly damaging slip-ups, ends up losing the deciding round and the battle.
Verdict: Arsonal (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Kapo Bravado – “My bars like a stripper real name, he gotta be a certain type of nigger to get it!”
Recap: From URL’s Redemption 2 card we see an Arsonal showing up in top form. Da Rebel unleashing a relentless barrage of lyrical prowess, especially during a fire 3rd round that saw Big Jersey weave intricate wordplay and clever jabs throughout. But it wasn’t just the finale that dazzled as from the outset, Arsonal delivered a relentless stream of gritty punches and witty barbs, proving once again that when he’s in a zone, he’s a force to be reckoned with. And while opponent Holmzie Da God came with an earnest effort, it was Arsonal who dominated, clearly taking the first and third rounds, with the second up for debate.
Verdict: Arsonal (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Arsonal – “Mac 11s, that’s the Trey Young’s we manuever with!”
Recap: From Last Second Sea, against a gritty and aggressive, but much less substantial Arsonal, Emerson Kennedy uses a consistent stream of hard-hitting righteous darts, stinging set-up/punchlines and flexing personals/wordplay to edge all 3 rounds for the win.
Verdict: Emerson Kennedy (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Emerson Kennedy – “You tried to push this funeral, you can’t escape the fate, dude running the snooze button, Ars you just delayed the wake!”
Recap: Credit to Ms. Hustle for pulling that vet move and essentially not allowing Arsonal much of a chance to remember his bars in round 1, after he surprisingly stopped short near the end of his turn. Because up to that point da Rebel was really cooking and that pretty much turned out to be the difference here. A URL ‘Homecoming 2’ battle that was loud, aggressive, punch-lit, disrespectful (esp. from Hustle’s side) and certainly entertaining on both sides (even when Ars was ‘going at it’ with his doppleganger in round 3) will also be remembered for a sublime 2nd round from Ars, a crowd that was lit from jump and Hustle (even tho some of her personals were pretty dated, something which ironically Arsonal would later address) flexing her versatility throughout the match. Nonetheless, it’s the more steady flowing and haymaker-crazy Hustle who would take the opener, before Arsonal came back with a killer 2nd to split things up. Round 3, which was easily the least explosive round, would get edged by the more direct and punch-lit Hustle for the win.
Verdict: Ms. Hustle (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Ms. Hustle – “Stop telling nigga’s you could fuck me, ‘cuz it ain’t true, truth is he sent me a dick pic…and I sent it to J2!”
Recap: From KOTD, taking a page from opponent Arsonal’s book of disrespect, Franchise utilizes a bunch of bad-mannered personals while also mixing in some sturdy gun bars, lofty trap talk and gritty punchlines that with a steadier effort flow-wise and a Rebel who while hitting at times, could never seem to approach his A-game when it came to punches, gave the Canadian battler the 30.
Verdict: Franchise (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Franchise – “We ain’t pussy at all hey, we had jux in the hallway, bitch, I seen a cross-eye nigga get shot because he kept looking the wrong way!”
Recap: Well, the rooftop scenery was really nice. Other than that nothing much to see here as in an RBE battle that apparently was supposed to happen awhile ago, Jag and Arsonal spout a lot of gang talk, aggressive braggadocious lines, uncomplicated gun bars and frankly speaking subpar punchlines that altogether makes this battle hard to watch more than once. However, add some solid personals by Ars to the mix during a couple of respectable turns in the 2nd and 3rd rounds that made up for a poor showing in the opener, and it’s Da Rebel who ends up taking this one over a very substandard opponent, who for some reason thought it’d be a good idea to try and go the ‘disrespectful’ route against a guy who’s mastered it.
Verdict: Arsonal (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Arsonal – “We just found out he ain’t even real Blood, just food coloring!”
Recap: From Black Ice Cartel, a fiery 3-rounder between Arsonal and Killa B that featured a bunch of gritty punchlines, brash personals, fierce gun bars, hard street shit, ill trap talk and a lesson for all those battlers who still wanna go at Arsonal (all these years later) for getting pressed by Trick Trick during his battle vs. Calicoe in Detroit: try to be more creative about it than Killa B does here. That said, despite a gang of subpar punching from both battlers at times, a competitive bout that saw them split (Ars edging round 1 before Killa B returned the favor in the 2nd) the opening rounds, sees the more haymaker-lit and efficient Rebel taking the deciding 3rd round for the win.
Verdict: Arsonal (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Arsonal – “Remy Ma is why you never hold a bitch down through a whole bid!”
Recap: The visual essence that comes with witnessing a sea of blue (yunno, 2 Crip’s, Arsonal and B. Magic battling in RBE’s ‘Blue Room’) aside. In what was a gritty, competitive, 4-bar punchfest, after the more haymaker-lit Rebel took round 1, it’s a slightly more consistently hitting, fly cadence-switching, set-up crazy and punch-tastic Magic who edges both of the latter rounds for the win.
Verdict: B. Magic (W) 2-1
Favorite line: B. Magic – “Why Big Jersey tripping?, I’m itching to bring proof, got ‘Ol Solo guns nigga, one of my nigga’s will bring two!”
Recap: A gritty and solid turn by Superblack, but in this 1-rounder from Bullpen Battle League Arsonal’s fiery combo of mean name flips/personals, stunting trap talk and hardbody punches are enough to edge the win.
Verdict: Arsonal (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Arsonal – “I litter on the highway so my nigga’s in prison get to go outside!”
Recap: Gotta admit, really expected Arsonal to be more disrespectful during this URL Homecoming battle, especially with so much to work with considering all the South Carolina ‘raccoon’ shit that’s been in the air of late after Swamp battled Tay Roc just a couple of months back. But perhaps da Rebel saw that battle and decided not to rehash things as instead he seemed more content with flipping it on vet mode and delivering a talking too to Swamp, while also sporting a bunch of witty lines, boastful barbs (the shot at Murda Mook in round 3 was pretty epic, but also fluky when you consier that his opponent dissed him earlier for still not getting a battle Ars has long clamored for) and hard aggressive raps that were mostly hit-n-miss. And for a Swamp who was pretty solid throughout, but not quite on his A-game, Arsonal’s chosen game plan would ironically work to his opp’s advantage. The newly self-proclaimed ‘King of the South’ mixing it up with a bag of highly disrespectful personals of his own, while adding a gang of gritty punches, mocking personals, steely pontifications and brash haymakers sauteed with a slice of Southern pride that got him rounds 1 and 3 (call the 2nd round a debatable) for the win.
Verdict: Swamp (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Swamp – “I got nigga’s in red, white and blue like a Patriot, if I pull up it’s with a ratchet, baretta blazing shit, he gonna see the light then fade to black like an atheist!”
Recap: Remnants of the Grind Time era here with URL’s new ‘Lite Work’ battles, that will still feature 3 rounds, but with a minute-and-a-half time limits per round. A fly concept without a doubt, it’s only right that a couple of GT graduates, in this case Arsonal and DNA, set it off. And this rematch from their infamous Don’t Flop battle almost a decade ago was just as competitive and fiery with a slightly more punch-heavy and trap-talking Arsonal taking the first, before a personal and set-up-lit DNA returned the favor in the 2nd. The 3rd round while also close, would get edged to Ars here as his opponent’s penchant for taking a little too long to get to the punch to go along with da Rebel’s more steady/rapid punching power ends up giving the Jersey capo the win.
Verdict: Arsonal (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Arsonal – “Even tho I don’t get nuthin’ but head, I like Beavis!”
Recap: After witnessing Bigg K and now Arsonal do a compliment battle, all I need to see is the ‘Queen of Disrespect’ QB, Rosenberg Raw, Shotgun Suge and Active do one of these and that’ll complete the curiousity factor for me. That being said, despite the lack of disrespect, it’s an easy vic for Da Rebel here as the way more versatile punching, storytelling-lit and witty Jersey vet handily takes all 3 rounds from a ‘thankful’, but too redundant with the bars and seemingly a bit lost in the objective Philly Swain.
Verdict: Arsonal (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Arsonal – “He got the juice, he could turn a grape into a raisin, and what he saying will fully open eyes on an Asian!”
Recap: Mostly abandoning the slew of disrespectful heat we’re used to seeing from him for a gang of sublime punchlines, real street talk and boastful bangers that impressed throughout, Arsonal handily beats back a gritty but topsy-turvy LL Coogi for the win in this 1-rounder from The Rap Committee.
Verdict: Arsonal (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Arsonal – “I be stepping stepping, lay him in Dawson’s Creek, see if his soul make it to 7th Heaven!”
Recap: From URL’s Smack Volume 8, after a so-so-round 1 that was easily beaten by an elongated, but versatile and piercing Arsonal, a camera-friendly and brazen (“Deep down I’m what nobody wants to see…like Cassidy and Freeway!”) at times Loso ups the ante with a gang of hard-hitting personals, righteous storytelling and pointed/stinging punchlines to take the 2nd round before a debatable 3rd. For Arsonal, a couple (when he wasn’t throwing shots at Murder Mook) of impressive showings in rounds 1 and 3 showed that there’s still plenty left in the tank as throughout the bout the NJ vet scored with a variety of spicy punchlines, stinging personals of his own, some fiery wordplay, pent up heat and mocking religious burners that stayed away from the gaslighting trap many rappers who go up against Christian battle rappers fall in
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: Arsonal – “Fuck a GoFundMe, after this they creating a GoFindYou!”
Recap: In a Summer Madness 11 battle that saw neither battler bring their A-game when it came to punches and consistency, with an aggressive supply of brazen punchlines, some stellar multi’s, performance-rich bars (esp. when it came to shoulder bumps), mocking personals, fiery wordplay and heated storytelling/gun bars, in both of the opening rounds Arsonal (outside of a lame alphabet scheme) also takes advantage of an inconsistent and elongated Lu Castro to edge the win, before the Bronx captain who was makimng his 1st SM appearance put forth a righteous and steadily fire turn to salvage the 3rd.
Verdict: Arsonal (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Arsonal – “Now this round gonna get real ugly, Seal ugly, bet you twety dollars, I’m talking Harriet Tubman on a bill ugly!”
Recap: Impressive victory by Arsonal here in what was altogether a dope and competitive battle against his fellow New Jerseyan Real Sikh on URL’s Super Fight 4 card. Da Rebel, after struggling a bit with his flow in round 1 while facing a punch/wordplay-heavy and brazen Sikh, would come back in round 2 (after getting edged in the opener) with a pair of versatile, well-angled, lyrically-sublime, trap-talking, highly personal when necessary and punch-lit to the point of even spitting a rare rebuttal to take round 2 and edge what was a scathing and personal-bent 3rd from his opponent, to get the come-from-behind win.
Verdict: Arsonal (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Arsonal – “I got about 30 on neck, I got a 30 on deck, you still red-shirting pussy, you ain’t put Jersey on yet!”
Recap: In this 1-rounder from South Carolina Battle League, Power Lines’ gritty, but highly subpar raps amount to a layup for the consistently brazen gun lines, rigid punchlines and braggadocios darts from Arsonal.
Verdict: Arsonal (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Arsonal – “My dope pure, my coke raw, so on and so forth, Power been off for four months we been relying on a Snowfall!”
Recap: A gang of steely wordplay to go along with some disrespectful/righteous name flips/punchlines by Arsonal combined with a more versatile flexing with heavy schemes, ill set-ups/punchlines, NJ battle rapper darts and witty/’disrespectful’ (“I will convert all your music to cassette tapes and only put the songs on side B!”) barbs equates to a debatable in this dope 1-rounder from The Rap Committee.
Verdict: Debatable
Favorite line: Arsonal – “You Kansas City crackers, I don’t get tho, your whole congregation anti gang bang, but all invested in some Crypto [Crip tho]!”
Recap: Things of note with this URL battle between Arsonal and Danny Myers. For starters, there’s no way Danny battling Drugz just a couple of weeks prior to this bout didn’t effect the overall quality of his pen game. I refuse to believe it. Secondly, are Arsonal and his right-hand man Ray Swagg really not fucking with each other anymore?!? That’s something I hadn’t even heard about on the gossip blogs. Lastly, while he still ended up losing the battle, Arsonal was really lyrical here. The disrespectful NJ vet only losing the deciding 3rd (got Danny taking the first and Ars edging the 2nd round) to Danny’s standard histrionics, wily punchlines and platform personals (tho that was a fire Jersey battle rapper scheme he delivered in round 2) because of an elongated turn in what was a pretty close battle throughout.
Verdict: Danny Myers (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Danny Myers – “I will drop an atomic bomb on your house, i support the nuclear family!”
Recap: In what was a close and competitive, but also gritty and highly personal at times 1-rounder from The Battle Academy, a performance-heavy Bill Collector’s mostly rambunctious punchlines along with a trio (1 crazy dope, 2 solid) of rebuttals edges what was a brazen and disrespectful, but also flow-challenged turn by Arsonal.
Verdict: Bill Collector (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Bill Collector – “I wanted to give you different pieces out of the magazine like a ranson note!”
Recap: Hopefully, while we can usually appreciate Jerry Wess’ loves for gimmicks, walkie-talkie recordings won’t become a staple when it comes to the future of battle rap. That said, a solid battle between the usually crazy punchline-spitting Wess and the ever-brash Arsonal comes down to a spitfire 3rd round from Wess (a flexing/performance-heavy comeback considering how mediocre his 2nd was) as well as a topsy-turvy and elongated 1st round from da Rebel (who also didn’t come as hard with the disrespectful bars as we’re used to seeing) which gave Jerry the edge there too for the win.
Verdict: Jerry Wess (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Jerry Wess – “The little .9 to his cranium, his wig gonna burst, I’ll put the baby [putts hand up like gun over Arsonal’s head] over this bitch like ‘my kids come first!'”
Recap: While the disrespect was certainly there (esp. in the latter rounds), for the most part Arsonal puts them aside and instead relies on a rugged combo of hardbody punchlines, stinging name flips, witty barbs, boastful darts and steely gun bars to beat back an overall solid, raucous and dicey with the personals at times, but intricacy-lacking and much less consistent O’fficial in this Kings vs Queens 3-rounder from URL.
Verdict: Arsonal (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Arsonal – “You the bitch nigga’s chill with when they ain’t got no money and no more weed to smoke!”
Recap: Gonna go out on a limb and guess that the only thing that stopped Danja Zone from rapping was a time limit. That said, even while Zone had a nice run near the end of his elongated turn, a lack of substance to most of his punches plus a more condensed, versatile, mayhem/disrespectful-rich and name flip/punch-lit easily gets the win in this 1-round Quarantined match from URL.
Verdict: Arsonal (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Arsonal – “I got a team full of Warriors, that’s a 30 and a Mac-11, Zone’s defense beter be able to stop more than one shooter!”
Recap: 1-round Quarantine battle from URL sees a floetic Emerson Kennedy score with some lyrical shiners that seasoned with some crispy wordplay/name flips, made for a pretty solid turn. But when he wasn’t making light of the idea of battling E.K. in person, the ever brazen Arsonal’s ability to get consistently nice with the wordplay, disrespectful personals, gritty punchlines and stinging gun bars, gets him the win.
Verdict: Arsonal (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Arsonal – “My business essential, but I still glorify gripping a pistol, I’m at WalMart with an AK when I’m getting my tissue!”
Recap: Outside of yet another elongated, but this time subpar 3rd round, in this 3-rounder from URL’s Genesis card, a versatile T-Top uses a gang of hard-hitting personals, witty barbs, fire set-ups, rich storytelling, fierce punchlines and hardcore street rhymes to get another win off of Arsonal who Top had just upped in a 1-roudner the year prior. This rematch, while entertaining at times with Arsonal nearly causing a melee in round 1 as one of T-Top’s boys didn’t seem to take kindly to some of Ars’ more disrespectful bars at Top, often lacked substance on both sides (which can probably be due to them battling again so quickly). But while Arsonal was solid throughout lyrically, disrespectfully and aggressively, way too many pedestrian bars by the Jersey capo would also hurt in the end.
Verdict: T-Top (W) 2-1
Favorite line: T-Top – “Grab a cig and put the loosie over the Grape like Ricky Ricardo wife!”
Recap: A bit of a surprise matchup between Arsonal and Drugz sees the Jersey vet captivate the small room crowd with a gang of fiery lyricism that coupled with plenty of witty personals/anecdotes, some solid name flips, stunted punchlines and fierce schemes, edged Ars the first couple of rounds over a nice-with-his and gun bar heavy, but less versatile and a bit long-winded opponent. A multifaceted and personal hitting Drugz easily takes the 3rd round over what was pretty much a throwaway turn from Da Rebel.
Verdict: Arsonal (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Arsonal – “I’m toe-tagging, double C on my sneaks, my closed [clothes] caption!”
Recap: Of course, hindsight is 20/20, but yunno, maybe if Cassidy broke his 1st round down and split them into 3 instead, he might’ve had a chance here. As this battle versus Arsonal wasn’t necessarily a compete one-sided affair, especially after seeing Cass compete with some fire punchlines and witty personals during a round 1 that while he still lost to Arsonal’s more consistently raucous boasts and righteous mayhem, at the very least gave one hope that this would be a decent battle. But damn if Cassidy didn’t fall off a cliff in the latter rounds. The Philly emcee succumbing to a very wide and basic load of 1995-2005-ish type punchlines when he wasn’t spitting pedestrian shit and corny ‘Da feet’ and ‘Pinnochio’ bars that had his own hometown booing him at random. All the while an always confident Arsonal got into his bag of disrespectful darts, ill breakdown’s of Cassidy’s recording artist career, mocking personals and random gun bars to go along with other fierce punchlines and fiery trap talk. And while to Cassidy’s credit, for all the grief he was getting from the crowd, he never wavered on completing his rounds. But after a loss like this, if Cass plans on battling again on the big stage, he may wanna lock himself in a room for a week, throw on some of the better 2020 battles and to quote Young Gattas ‘Get your bars up!'”
Verdict: Arsonal (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Arsonal – “Long hair don’t care, and I’m feelin’ like Rapunzel wit’ it, you got a new born in ya arms? I hit stick, make you fumble wit’ it, torture you while the children there, I hurt your youngest children yeah, I put the recordin’ of you beggin’ for your life up in his Build A Bear!”
Recap: In what might best be presented as yet another clutch performance, Arsonal dials down the filler and the pedestrian bars for 3 rounds of aggressive heat, disrespectful/mocking personals, rigid vet talk, fierce name flips, some witty barbs and piercing wordplay to edge both of the opening rounds and win what was a fire and competitive battle here versus Chess. Indeed, da Rebel’s consistently and versatility with the bars really shined here and he’d need all of it to hold his own against an opponent who brought his own barrage of fiery punches, intricate darts, flexing gun bars, lyrical stunting and hitting name flips/street chatter to the mix and might’ve taken round 1 if not for a slightly elongated turn that couldn’t match Ars’ bar efficiency..
Verdict: Arsonal (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Arsonal – “You live witcha mother and her mother, you never lived in no youth housing, Raekwon, you was born in 1998…I started fuckin’ in 2000!”
Recap: From URL’s NOME 9, versus a pretty solid and as-to-be-expected brazen/personal-lit 3 rounds from Arsonal, Ave was on 10 here. The Norfolk, VA, battler exquisitiely mixing up his punches throughout this battle with hard-hitting darts challenging his opponent’s street cred, stellar wordplay, mocking personals, fiery 4-bar set-ups, consistent mayhem and piercing name flips that while on overkill with his lengthiness, still amounted to comfortable 30.
Verdict: Ave (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Ave – “Listen homie, how is fake not an issue, when every time you in another nigga state, you getting chased out the venue?!”
Recap: From the top, let’s just call this one what it is: Geechi Gotti getting 3-0’d by the best Arsonal we’ve ever seen. Ummm yeah and that’s no knock to Gotti who came hard throughout this match with his usual and steady assortment of gritty punchlines, real-life gang narratives, feisty (“This bitch wit’ a beam, I’ll steam his face, nigga I’ll kill ya kid, now you a seedless Grape!”) gun lines and pointed personals (which included clowning on Ars’ fashion choice with the 1st round opening “Up here, dressed like a ‘How To Be A Crip Starter Kit!” line). But as hard-hitting as Gotti came with his pen, his opponent would just rise to another level here. Indeed, gamely conquering what are often his biggest hurdles: lack of consistent lyricism and a prone for filler, besides a bit of a slow start to his 1st round, this version of Arsonal didn’t have to rely on biggest strength, disrespect, to win. Instead, the Jersey legend got on his A+++ game and brought a steady stream of ringing haymakers with him via searing punchlines, aggressive bully bars, steely (“Nigga, you gonna meet karma, my hand speed fast and my reach longer, I never went to prison, I stayed free so who really been on these streets longer?!?”) pontifications, witty barbs and of course, a wide range of ill-mannered (“Show up to the funeral, reach in the casket and grab ya sister butt, ‘cuz my first name ‘I Don’t’, last name ‘Give a fuck'”!) shiners. All that and some dope wordplay and an over-the-top, crowd-pleasing, mid-2nd round freestyle along the way and you’re left with Ars edging each round for a shutout over Geechi Gotti.
Verdict: Arsonal (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Arsonal – “I’m from a city where mothers die for sets, I really live what’s in my notebook pussy, my life a Butterfly Effect!”
Recap: Overall, not the best Arsonal you’ll see. But when your elongated opponent is spitting mostly basic bars and dated personals that you’ve heard hundreds of times before, even if you are on your B-game, hit UK rapper Soul with enough wit, disrespectful shiners, fiery braggadocio lines and quality schemes/personals and in this case it’s enough to take the first two rounds and get out of there with a win.
Verdict: Arsonal (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Arsonal – “Nigga you look like they ordered you off Amazon!”
Recap: First, it’s a little weird that this battle between Arsonal and T Top got no promo since they’re both top tier dudes and there’s a bit of history with them what with Top once battling on Ars’ UDubb league back in the day before he made a name for himself on URL/Smack. But then upon watching this 1-round battle and seeing Arsonal (who was just coming off battling Geechi Gotti) slip-up so much midway through what was a pretty solid turn, before giving up on his written’s and free-styling his way through the rest of his round, one could understand why this battle git no buzz. Then too, with Top making the battle a cinch with his usual assortment of fiery trap talk and sizzling gun bars to enhance Ars losing on his own platform, makes it clear why this battle got the hush treatment.
Verdict: T Top (W) 1-0
Favorite line: T Top – “He say he retiring, leaving the game of battle rap, then realize this the only stage that he matter at!”
Recap: Putting aside all the queasy (but expected with these two) shots at their respective kids, Pat Stay and Arsonal put on another highly entertaining and competitive show in this rematch from their somewhat controversial 1st bout several years back. After splitting the first two rounds with the most steady, well-rounded and witty Pat edging the first round before a slightly punch-heavier and wordplay-bent Arsonal took the 2nd, despite a strong and at times gut-checking turn by Ars, an even more sublime, uber-funny and punchline/personal-lit turn by Pat gives the Nova Scotia superstar another win over his New Jersey rival.
Verdict: Pat Stay (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Pat Stay – “Arsonal, Arsonal, see I know the real Arsonal, vulnerable, depressed cause ya baby mama won’t talk to you, I heard it in that song from you, wasn’t worth cheatin’, aye?, lost custody of his daughter cause too, now he’s a seedless Grape!”
Recap: Never a dull moment in this one as the state of New Jersey receives the spotlight in of all places, the UK, for a highly raucous and entertaining Summer Madness matchup between Nu Jerzey Twork and Arsonal. No newbie when it comes to being on the big stage, the rising star that is Twork would live up to the hype with a fierce load of head-ringing 4-bar set-ups, aggressive gun bars, stifling/mocking personals and some excellent wordplay/storytelling bars throughout the battle. All the while, the veteran Arsonal, ever the showman with Jersey forever stamped on his back (no matter where he might actually be living at the time), would bring nothing but constant heat, using wily vet talk, stunting Twork-isms, plenty of boastful darts, witty barbs and fiery name flips/heat/mayhem to get his point across. A close battle for all 3 rounds, the edge here goes to Twork, who with an almost flawless 1st round and a more condensed and superbly executed 3rd, edged both those rounds for the win.
Verdict: Nu Jerzey Twork (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Nu Jerzey Twork – “I’m so for real, Errrrt! grip and I load the steel, ‘cuz before a nigga beat me with Squidward’s clarinet, I’m a do a drive-by in the Invisible Boatmobile!”
Recap: “and tell the dda-dda-Don I don’t do rematches!” When you’re on record as having one of (and arguably the only) the few victories over the likes of Hollow da Don, yuu got every reason to not want to ever do a rematch. But 9 years after their infamous Fight Klub battle, here we are, Arsonal vs Hollwo on the URL/Smack stage and for the most part it’s a goodie with both battlers kicking a boatload of lyrical shiners, personal barbs and assorted gun bars/heaters to keep you nicely tuned to the screen. Intense throughout with a cameo appearance from the Yankee fitted and jacket that Hollow wore in their first battle, for all of Arsonal’s comeuppance bar-wise (surprisingly, da Rebel really didn’t get too disrespectful until round 3) overall, in each round Hollow just came one better. The dda-Don using his turns to show off an interchangeable flow, gritty wordplay, witty darts, potent schemes/personals, residual (“I’ll nail both of ya feet to the floor and slap-box you!”) mayhem and a fire rebuttal in the 3rd round to beat his longtime nemesis, who for the most part came with it, was consistently aggressive throughout and dropped some lofty (“When you scream ‘Loyalty over money’, nigga we know you bluffing, Math thought he was a nigga he could lean on, come to find out you just some Robitussin!”) haymakers of his own, but in the long run suffered from too many throwaway bars as well as an opponent for whom this battle probably meant a little more extra to.
Verdict: Hollow da Don (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Hollow da Don – “Didn’t you and your baby mom’s break up?, ain’t irony a bitch, this nigga done rapped about everybody’s kids, now he gotta get permission to see his!”
Recap: Rare 1-rounder for Arsonal, but the disrespect is still there as da Rebel uses a slew of boastful shiners, some fiery wordplay, piercing gun bars and of course, a boatload of discourteous barbs to beat back a gritty and West-coast stunting, but not quite as consistent Hipnosis.
Verdict: Arsonal (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Arsonal – “Let me tell you the difference between you and I, your bitch pussy like my entire sweatsuit nigga…superdry!”
Recap: Tony D’s winsome wordplay and mocking personals (esp. during a hilarious 2nd round) keeps him neck-to-neck with Arsonal in this 3-rounder from Don’t Flop. But with the New Jersey native’s ability to stay sharp with a wide load of fiery punches, rambunctious multi’s, glistening gun bars and ill-mannered personals, a debatable 2nd and 3rd round forces one to make the 1st round, a turn that saw Ars clearly out-punch his opponent, the deciding factor here.
Verdict: Arsonal (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Arsonal – “I’m disrespectful, I’m the type of nigga that when you sneeze I say ‘Fuck you!’ instead of ‘Bless you!'”
Recap: Offhand, I think that Soul Khan is the last noted battle rapper to actually “retire” and really mean it. Still, when you’ve been in the game as long as he has, co-own a league and get the high-priced, legend that is Loaded Lux to come battle on your platform, if you’re Arsonal why not battle him yourself, call it your sendoff and go out on a high note? Then too, with battle rap being so unorganized what with fans caring way more about the here-n-now than the past, no one will care if you battle the likes of Da Uso Hipnosis and Hollow da Don less than a year after your “retirement” match anyway.
As for the battle itself? Elongated with a boatload of filler (esp. from Lux in the latter rounds, people can stop with that ‘over the head’ bar excuses) and even with the long history these two have… underwhelming, especially when it came to the personals and what with both battlers failing to bring their A-game. That said, Kung Fu Lux, with what was easily his strongest round, edges a (“Roscoe Jenkins in here, acting like he too good for the family reunion!”) boastful 1st with more haymakers before Arsonal (who had a pretty solid 1st), tho still beleaguered by a pen that constantly spouts pedestrian bars, takes the 2nd and 3rd with a nice combo of randomly impactful disrespect bars, fiery (“I shoot with one arm out, chin down, that’s a violin tactic!”) punchlines and deep-seated personals that brought down a bit his opponent’s Vanglorious chapter in battle rap.
Verdict: Arsonal (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Arsonal – “You Under Brother Polite, new covenant, where consciousness meets commerce, well right now you at Newark Symphony Hall nigga, where your conscious can meet Converse!”
Recap: Wack move by Arsonal, knocking Iron Solomon’s cap off at the end of the battle, is a bit ironic when you consider that this KOTD battle between two ‘legends’ was ‘ok’ at best what with Arsonal’s penchant for filler and uneven angles and Iron, who when he wasn’t dishing a load of subpar bars, made some pretty lame attempt’s to mimic his opponent’s ‘disrespectful’ palette. That said, in what was easily his best round, Arsonal uses a nice variety of flexing punchlines to take the 1st before Solomon dishes a load of witty/pointed personals and astute angles/punches/wordplay to even things and take the 2nd. Last round saw Arsonal deliver a load of disrespectful race lines and other real life struggle bars with his usual flair. But starting out with a fire rebuttal, Iron’s 3rd round, consistently nice with a mix of fire personals, nice self-deprecation bars and aggressive shiners were more than enough to take the round and the win.
Verdict: Iron Solomon (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Iron Solomon – “You see, Ars’s pen is average, that’s why everything you say is mean, you’re not nice!”
Recap: A hardbody, disrespectful and sometimes witty Arsonal versus a punch-heavy, wordplay-savvy, fiery scheme dishing and personal-leaning Chilla Jones makes for a competitive and dope 3-round battle on the UDubb stage. But after an aggressive-on-both-sides, but debatable 1st round, Chilla Jones just proves to be too much to handle in the latter rounds, spitting more consistently potent bars with rampant flair in the 2nd and 3rd to edge both against a pretty solid, but a bit filler-prone turns by Ars.
Verdict: Chilla Jones (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Chilla Jones – “My mind right, lyrically zoned, I’m too much of a monster for Red Bull, it’s in my energy homes!”
Recap: Much anticipated battle between “The Queen of Disrespect” (QB) and “The King of Disrespect” (Arsonal) for the most part lives up to its theme what with each battler literally (yes, there was plenty of ass-grabbing) and figuratively with some scathing disses towards Arsonal’s daughter by QB and some pretty hilarious rants by Arsonal towards QB’s sex life. That said, while both rappers were on their A-game with the personal scorn and contempt throughout the battle, each was also hurt by one too many pedestrian bars as well as a bit of overkill on their favorite go-to themes. And while Arsonal was a bit flow-challenged at times, not including a spitfire and fairly consistent 3rd round, QB’s elongated turns in both the 1st and 2nd rounds combined with a more condensed opponent who had more piercing haymakers allowed da Rebel to edge each of the opening rounds for the win.
Verdict: Arsonal da Rebel (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Arsonal da Rebel – “Little girls grow up dancing, yunno, trying to do the heel toe, you taking this being a guy shit way too far, you out here putting condoms on a dildo!”
Recap: Brizz Rawsteen versus Arsonal lives up to its top tier billing with both rappers putting forth a wide load of entertaining personals, fiery schemes, witty punchlines, solid wordplay, sizzling (Arsonal: “Take him paint-balling and load up my gun with live ammo!”) gun bars and some raucous haymakers. Not as disrespectful as you’re used to seeing him, Arsonal still made a competitive show of it with a wide array of heaters that even included plenty of jokes and freestyles, while keeping himself in the battle throughout. But after a debatable 1st round, a more consistent, aggressive and performance-heavy Brizz just proved to be too much for the Jersey vet, dishing rapidly fire shiners and his own mix of disrespectful (“I’ll fuck your mother in the ass and make her suck it off!”) bars with ease and steady confidence to the point of garnering a ‘3-0!’ chant the crowd, while decisively taking both of the latter rounds for the win.
Verdict: Brizz Rawsteen (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Brizz Rawsteen – “Smack, we gotta make a movie, first, I need to see how that Uzi…work [Vert], and paint them dreds another color..Little Uzi!”
Recap: One round of predominantly nasty gun bars because after all he is the ‘Gun Bar King’. Then a classic round 2nd of mostly mean, disrespectful zingers to show that, yunno, he could do what the other guy’s known to do and sometimes even better. And finally a 3rd round with a boatload of gritty punchlines and personals to remind you of his versatility and why he’s in everyone Top 10. And in an away game on a stage where his opponent also happened to be the co-league owner, for Tay Roc (while an aggressive and pretty solid Arsonal had his moments, esp. when he was taking shots at Tsu Surf and Shotgun Suge, during the battle), after a debatable 1st round, it doesn’t get much better than this.
Verdict: Tay Roc (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Tay Roc – “Nah, this ain’t no Tay Roc versus legend shit, this me vs. a bitch…look like we running for President!”
Recap: Jersey legend versus Jersey legend meet up for the 1st time in Cali of all places with longtime vets Arsonal and Serius Jones going at it for 3 rambunctious rounds. Edge the first round to Arsonal, who with a more well-rounded turn that featured his usual panache of extra-disrespectful bars and aggressive heaters, beat back a lofty, but less gripping turn by Jones. Highlighted by a well-thought-out freestyle that a seemingly bored Arsonal brought onto himself by literally doing push-ups in the middle of the round, a more polished Jones also turned it up a notch with some banging punches to even things up. Clearly more intent on winning than his opponent as the battle continued, Jones stayed proper and matched his ever-cocky swag with more consistently fiery darts, whether they were righteous pontifications or well-aimed personals that more than landed to get the edge over a albeit funny at times, but not as consistently nice turn from da Rebel.
Verdict: Serius Jones (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Serius Jones – “And you could do push-ups, but that ain’t gonna help you at all bro, what you need to do is pull-ups because you need to get in tune with your bars bro!”
Recap: How far back do battle vets Arsonal and Cortez go? Think Grind Time and Lionz Den days. So it’s a wonder that it took ’em this long to meet up. And that’s a good thing as with Arsonal recently announcing that he’s retiring soon, for true battle rap heads it’s only right that these two go head-to-head before one of them leaves the scene for good. Got Arsonal taking the first round easy as while Cortez had a solid (“Everybody play vic [Vick], till you give ‘rm that dog treatment”) turn, da Rebel just turned in a richer performance mixed with (“…they could’ve at least hired you as a cook nigga, the food was Mexican!”) jokes/personals, imitations and fiery (“I’m from the bottom, I made miracles off crackers and tuna fish!”) bars that had you doubling over. Stressing more (“I’m Brooklyn, we wouldn’t want to be y’all, you faker than an ass out of D.R.!”; “I ain’t racist, but I’m putting every last nigga [nigger] in the ER!”) wordplay and heavy on the angles in round two, Cortez comes back nicely to even things up over what was another disrespectful (“I ain’t like the usual, little dirty nigger, kill you then show up to your funeral, just to tell your mother she look beautiful!”–RIP Tupac), but not quite as consistent round from Arsonal. Last round sees Cortez go for the kill, staying aggressive and delivering righteous (“I’m in Jersey with the .8 on court, like the old Kobe!”) punches and fierce (“….this is for real…I was on the couch with the ratchet like Netflix and chill!”) personals that landed hard. However, it’s Ars who comes right back and outpunches his opponent with a litany of braggadocio (“You just another square that put on the map…you remind me of Wyoming!”) bars and dope (“I get my coke from south of the border, I do pay you, so my specialty is crossing you over…I 2K you!”) punchlines to take it in the end.
Verdict: Arsonal (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Arsonal -“Ain’t no such thing as loyalty nigga, even the Verizon nigga work for Sprint now!”
Recap: In a battle that was supposed to take place a couple of years ago, while neither Ill Will or Arsonal really brought their A-game, they still put on a spirited show and kept it close throughout. Granted, one can forgive Will for too many times attempting to simulate his opponent (and that was George Foreman, not Frazier that Ali fought in Africa), Ars while aggressive, (“It’s 2016, all Pontiac’s are hooptie’s now!”) solid and (“You talk for no reason, like putting tattoos on a bitch, black nigga!”) comical at times, just dished too many predictable/pedestrian bars to match Will’s intense (“Wars, that’s what we be ’bout, talk the trap, you lose your teeth…that’s Jeezy mouth!”; “I burned new jersey’s quicker than Cleveland when Lebron left!”; “How ironic, I had something in the arsenal for Calicoe, but now I got something in the calico for Arsonal!”) shiners in rounds 1 and 2. And that was essentially the difference here as Arsonal avoided a 30 in round 3 by getting more (“Your bitch had a long ass day, look how her booty hang!”) personal in what was other wise a matchup that failed to meet its potential.
Verdict: Ill Will (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Ill Will – “Your daughter look like a 54-year-old dad, nigga, when she was born she look like a scruffy little, funky shit…I bet one of your auntie’s nicknamed her ‘lil ugly bitch!”
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 one-rounder from Bullpen Battle League, Syahboy spits some hot (“Put him to sleep like a Cortez battle!”) bars (including a dope Olivia Pope scheme) and altogether delivers a solid and aggressive performance. But a couple of redundant personals (I mean, Arsonal’s been hearing about the ‘school bus’ since like ’09 versus Conceited), bars that could’ve been more creative, wasted bars on other battlers and a shoddy ending doesn’t hold up when matched against Arsonal’s more steady unabashed (“This like the 10th plague, I’ll bring death to Syah’s firstborn, open up her stomach for him, now he getting worked on, your organs all in the background like this a church song!”) heat, winning (“You got the face of a bigga who mother still put him on punishment, nigga”) personals, rich set-ups/performance and a more versatile round.
Verdict: Arsonal (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Arsonal – “Fuck Marcus, your name Randy, you won’t let your K shine [K-Shine], you got that Rex swag!”
Recap: Not to take anything away from Arsonal, who did pretty well here, using a plethora of fleeting (“I will stretch your mother pussy until it’s wider than Bonnie womb, then violate her like she off the pill and got left in Bill Cosby room”) personals, witty (“I kill niggas by the caseload, you just another asswipe to an a-hole!”) one-liners and bully bars to make this a competitive battle regardless. But in a battle with a couple of elite names that should’ve been staged on UDubb or Smack/URL in the first place, JC having gone on record to state that he ended his last two rounds early because of some alleged misfinances on the part of BOTB UK, should be taken into account here. Of course, that has nothing to do with Arsonal, much less showing up, being a professional and competing in full. Yet, the fact that JC almost never chokes, while edging a close 1st round with better wordplay and more consistent (“Well it’s cool because we creeping with the torch, got the ratchet looking for that joint, like Felecia on the porch!”) shiners, at the very least warrants a rematch…preferably in the States.
Verdict: Arsonal (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Arsonal – “I been a shooter, .30 on me, extended rugar, I got Edward scissors hand, knuckles sharp, I’m Nigga Kruger!”
Recap: In a battle filled with colloquial rhymes, scorching/witty personals, boastful darts, disrespectful punches (from Arsonal), some dope wordplay and telltale tests of manhood (from Pass), after the two split the first couple of rounds, a pretty righteous, Oscar Grant-elegiac and highly gripping turn by Pass in the 3rd gives the Bay-area vet the win in this competitive 3-rounder from KOTD.
Verdict: Pass (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Pass – “It’s a whole wave of nigger’s claiming to be Crip, but its just making us seasick [C sick]!”
Recap: In this highly contested and pretty tense 3-rounder, Arsonal somehow survives a trio of slip-ups (one in round 1 and a couple in round 2), a heated, but also hilarious back-n-forth with the RBE league owner ARP in the middle round and an aggressive and wordplay-friendly opponent in Showoff who clearly came to win. But while Showoff’s raucous street rhymes and often rapid-fire delivery raps scored here and there, overall his bar profiency was severely lacking, which in turn would benefit Arsonal. And while da Rebel struggled at times with his flow and had quite a bit of subpar bars himself, a spirited and multi-facated bag of disrespectful shiners, shrewd wordplay, righteous darts/punchlines and hard-hitting/witty personals would get him enough points/haymakers to edge rounds 1 and 3 for the win.
Verdict: Arsonal (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Arsonal – “Middle of the winter I’m on your porch with my coat off, ‘Knock Knock’ your mother open the door, I open-handed the bitch with a snowball!”
Recap: First off, here’s hoping Arsonal doesn’t make riding around on that annoying hoverboard during his opponent’s rounds a regular thing because it sure is distracting for viewers and possibly whoever he’s facing. As for this battle/rematch itself, well up until the 3rd round where he slipped up not once but twice, it was pretty much Arsonal all day as Shotty Horroh’s predominant (tho that ‘In our last battle you blamed me for 100 years of slavery bro, I felt like a Brit for that…but then I did my research and it was 400 years, so you need black history class’ line was fire) mix of speedy filler and basic bars were no match for da Rebel’s delivery, bully bars, personals and hitting (“We white girls in a scary movie, we be tripping for nothing”) punchlines.
Verdict: Arsonal (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Arsonal – “That’s your man’s? good, I’ll kick your dog off a bridge, now you feeling like Ron Burgundy!”
Recap: A lot of extracurricular shit in this battle what with a white rapper (G Mayne Frost) using the N-word, a pocket check (by Frost) and a near brawl occurring between Arsonal’s camp and Frost’s after Arsonal literally wiped his dreds on Frost’s shoulder. As for the battle itself? Pretty competitive with plenty of spicy punchlines/boasts, witty barbs, gritty gun bars/personals and racial bangers from both battlers throughout the bout. And while the 3rd round was filled with a handful of dicey moments, a more condensed and consistent with the punches Arsonal gets the edge in the deciding round here for the win.
Verdict: Arsonal (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Arsonal – “Your daughter got the Gary Coleman disease, little old bitch, I’ll purposely walk in her room and feed some coke to her goldfish!”
Recap: Arsonal da Rebel and Caustic (who did really well despite having one day to prepare) battle for the crown of “Who’s The Most Disrespectful?” in this one-rounder from KOTD. A close, personal and oft-times pretty heated (hey, as many times as Arsonal’s brought racist bars to battles with white dudes in the past, no one should be upset when a white dude turns around and does the same to him) battle throughout, despite a more consistent flow from (“How the fuck am I racist? I use such colorful language”) Caustic and a horrible “fanny pack” line from da Rebel, it’s Arsonal’s more formidable haymakers and variety with the bars that edges him the win.
Verdict: Arsonal (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Arsonal – “I’m disrespectful, I’ll walk in your house and shit everywhere…that’s a hoarder nigga”
Recap: Hey, battle rap has come a long way and I have no problem with Eminem, a former battle rapper himself, giving back to the culture by putting on this Total Slaughter event. Still, why Ebro was there is beyond me, considering all the shitting on battle rap that he’s been renowned noted for. And while the production was slick and on point, mic issues seemed to be a problem throughout the night I hope that someone approached host Sway after the battle to tell him what the meaning of ‘rebuttal’ is.
As for this battle, a comfortable and clearly motivated Arsonal easily 3-0’ed a usually competitive Big T with a steady barrage of winning personals, feelgood (“What happened T, you used to be the man killing them, bars was heavy, but you got lighter over the years..Aunt Vivian!”) wordplay and rich set-ups and let to even (“I’m from where they say don’t pull your glock out if you don’t plan on it shooting, shhhhhhiiiiittttt I’m like Daylyt tattoo artist, I’m drawing on a nigga even if I don’t know what I’m doing!”) richer performance bars. And while Big T didn’t seemed to be intimated by the big stage, his lack of potent wordplay, persistent bouts of righteous (“Nigga I killed a lion, what y’all mad I ain’t spar hard with the kittens?”) filler and stumbles in the last round were a bit surprising to say the least. Too bad as Arsonal’s latter rounds weren’t nearly as crazy as his first, which lets you know that if Big T had brought his A-game, he would’ve had a chance good to win. But none of that was the Arsonal’s fault as Jersey gets another dub.
Verdict: Arsonal (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Arsonal – “Tahiry was like this with JR Smith [licks lips emulating sucking a –] it’s a boy!”
