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Charlie Clips

Charlie Clips defeats Gemini

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Recap: During their recent battle Hollow da Don schooled a lot of battle rappers on how to use personals when going up against Charlie Clips. But clearly not everyone is up for the task as UK up-n-comer Gemini displays here. Better when he flouted his hometown’s (“This a place where niggas go pen come out and go back in, they repeat the same sentence like a dyslexic reading!”) pedigree along with some rich punchlines instead of standard “School of Hollow” personals that mostly failed to land, Gemini’s round was simply no match for Clips combination of stifling performance (“I’ll grab ya baby mom’s to the roof and make her skydive, I was born in ’83, I was taught to Air Mac’s before 9 5!”) bars, easy name flip (“Now watch Gemin1 turn into a Leo, and start lying [lion] ’bout that full clip, if he say he shooting the Taurus, don’t worry that’s some bull shit”) schemes and rigid punchlines.

Verdict: Charlie Clips (W) 1-0

Favorite line: Charlie Clips – “I’ll pop a pill, take ya girl home. spend 9 hours in bed, I’m from America, she from London, so I made give me 5 hours a head [ahead]!”

Charlie Clips defeats John John da Don (Rematch)

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Recap: In this one-round rematch from John John da Don’s new BullPen Battle League, JJDD does a nice job displaying his (“These problems is like a diet, that’s something you don’t want Clips”) wit as well as calling out some of Charlie Clips past nonsensical lines. But other than that, too many average bars and long-winded set-ups don’t stand a chance against Clips way more versatile stream of performance bars, witty jokes, delightful schemes and proverbial (“I didn’t come here to battle John John, I came to start a relationship with John’s mom, when she dressed we argue, but when she in her underclothes we get a long [along] john”) wordplay.

Verdict: Charlie Clips (W) 1-0

Favorite line: Charlie Clips – “Your bitch ass is the type to pull out a gun and then get robbed”

Charlie Clips defeats Loaded Lux

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Recap: Featuring the longest argument over a coin flip that you’ll probably ever see, Charlie Clips versus Loaded Lux is also a battle of time constraints, some ridiculous punchlines, heated personals, dope schemes and of course, Charlie Clips’ pops–the latter of which has never actually appeared at a battle, but whom too many opponent’s of Clips seem to be obsessed over proving whether or not he was a snitch. Either way, Harlem versus Harlem almost always makes for a fire match and this one, while not reaching the sheer loquaciousness of say a Head Ice vs. Swave Sevah, still had its moments.

There was a more condensed Clips taking out a solid, but filler-drenched 1st round by Lux with gritty punchlines, fiery (“Now when you came up with that slogan ‘You gonna get this work’, that sent chills down my spine, that shit was crazy B, but the work you give out don’t last that long, but you the Temp agency!”) personals and some crazy wordplay. In the 2nd round, Lux edged a witty Muslim/Lux-impression and some more potent personals by Clips with a versatile turn of lofty personals, gripping (“It’s time Smack, why your fake shooter always worrying about the time clock?!?”) punches, a stifling freestyle and boastful bangers that all hit their mark.

Littered with squabbles on time limits, the 3rd and deciding round saw Lux go T-Rex on Clips with a turn centered on his opponent’s alleged family (“You and your daddy a couple of Chatty Patty’s!”) dysfunction–all good for Harlem-nites long familiar with these tales, but for others, most likely an elongated turn on a theme we’ve already seen before. Even with the paperwork. Still, as we previously saw with Rex, Clips seemed to already have an idea about what was coming, coming right back and dishing a couple of nice (“Charlie Clips a pussy?!, c’mon y’all, imagine that, you broke down my father’s past, but what the fuck that got to do with battle rap?!”) rebuttals in the midst of more jaunty wordplay and hitting schemes/personals in yet, another more condensed round that ended up getting him an impressive win.

Verdict: Charlie Clips (W) 2-1

Favorite line: Charlie Clips – “I watched Rex you on 8th and I seen this man fry, so if you battled on the roof and the loser had to jump, either you ass-betted or you can’t die!”

Charlie Clips defeats Pass

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Recap: Fresh off his somewhat disappointing battle with Hollow da Don, Charlie Clips gets right back on stage against a formidable opponent in the punchline-heavy, Oakland-based spitter Pass. From the start it doesn’t look too good for Clips as Pass (who clearly took a lot of notes from the Hollow battle) uses his opponent’s penchant for excuse-making to set up some nice punches and fiery (“You not careful where your Ice is [Isis] you get beheaded”) bars. But after using his first round to spit some mostly pedestrian freestyles in between pontificating on time issues, Clips gets back to battle mode and steps it up with a mean performance, steady schemes and a couple of righteous (“I’ll walk through your hood, no scratches on me, I’m a Foam Posit”) haymakers that easily takes out Pass’ fast-rap indifference and mostly stale darts. With the momentum back on his side, Clips edges a competitive (Pass: “Just cuz’ you .38 don’t make you special nigga”) round 3 with nasty schemes, festive (“You know Simon?. who gives a fuck, do what this gat say”) wordplay and a ‘Timbaland/Timberland/Missy’ line that was the best one in the round. Take in account Clips’ freestyle pedigree and how prepared he was for Pass’ angles and whoever Clips battles next may want to rethink the idea that he might be falling off.

Verdict: Charlie Clips (W) 2-1

Favorite line: Charlie Clips – “And my Cole, Shirley, when I bring these biscuits in ya mama Payne [pain] bitch”

Hollow da Don defeats Charlie Clips

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Recap: A staggering 1st round filled with multiple derision’s on his opponent’s battle technique, witty punchlines/schemes and aggressive haymakers by Hollow da Don beats back a very solid, but less versatile and a little pedestrian turn by Charlie Clips. This highly anticipated battle is then decided by yet another superlative round by Hollow, going after Clips with a rich palette of jocular darts, crown-friendly punches, career/life tutorials, and heavy-handed personals that all hit their mark. In turn, after a dope 1st round that would’ve easily beat most rappers and during one of the biggest battles of his career, Clips literally goes off-track in the 2nd, struggling with his flow, dispensing substandard rhymes and strangely taking his focus off Hollow to throw shots at Cortez and D. Chambers who were each looking on from the stage. And while Clips’ focus would return in the 3rd with a fiery, personal and punch-heavy turn that got past a solid, but elongated round by Hollow, by the end it’d be too late.

Verdict: Hollow da Don (W) 2-1

Favorite line: Hollow da Don – “I ain’t saying your shit wack, but bro, it’s the same move every time you kick that, set-up/punchline, set-up/punchline, that’s how you spit that?…just a candy rapper with 4 bars, you a [Kit-Kat]…see how easy it is to predict that?”

Charlie Clips defeats T Top

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Recap: I agree with Jaz the Rapper on this one: Charlie Clips being on this Rookies vs. Vets card was just weird. No disrespect to T-Top, but considering that Clips is pretty much Top 5 on anybody’s list, to me a rook has got to put in more work before earning the chance to face the likes of Clips. So perhaps a more suitable option would’ve been Math (who’s publicly voiced wanting to face T-Top) or Cortez or even Arsonal. Still, a good match nonetheless and it was nice to see Method Man voice what I think most hardcore battle rap fans feel about mainstream artists trying to get down with the scene. That said, I got Clips (more variety, fierce schemes and sharper [“But if y’all do compare him to Tyson and he weave them first two rounds when that .4 bustin’, Total Slaughter ‘cuz the 3rd round dropping mics like Joe Buddens”] bars) clearly taking round one and Top clearly taking round two with that electric Trap talk, ill (“How many times we gonna guess what room in the same house?’) personals and wicked gun bars. A close 3rd round saw Top spit some nice personals and more of that real street (“I’m a drug lord, I’m only charging a rack a tier [racketeer])” chatter he’s become known for. Yet, Clips came one better here, mocking T-Top style and repetition before delivering a gripping prayer, some tutorials and enough stellar (“Maury show, I call DNA, he know who da [to] pop”) bars to edge this one at the end.

Verdict: Charlie Clips (W) 2-1

Favorite line: T-Top – “All y’all see is fire, but I notice the kickback, that Clip worth two good rounds, like your bitch ass!”

Charlie Clips defeats Marv Won

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Recap: Marv One deserves props for making this match close, but as Charlie Clips made sure to point out that’s mostly because he rapped way longer (not that Clips should be upset with that considering how long he went against fellow Michigan spitter X-Factor not too long ago) than his opponent. Still withstanding a dope round of frequent personals, jokes and hot (“You trying to fight Jesus in Bethlehem and a couple of heathens got you down to win, but I bet that change when they see me walking on the same waters you drowning in”) bars from Marv with a more condensed mix of rebuttals, scoring (“We could throw the hands Marv, on some real shit I need a new challenge, uppercut, you’ll get zzz’s on your ftee now that’s a New Balance”) punchlines, a couple of haymakers, working schemes and winning personals, Clips is able to hold off a near upset.

Verdict: Charlie Clips (W) 1-0

Favorite line: Charlie Clips – “When you do the uncut version of ‘8 Mile 2’ tell Eminem I’m the celebrity”

Charron defeats Charlie Clips

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Recap: Unbothered by Charlie Clips openly admitting to being a little distracted preparing for their battle, what with top tier names like Hollow and Luz on deck, after getting edged in round 1 (thanks to some amiable freestyles by Clips) a more consistently punching, scheme-heavy, witty, freestyle-spazzing and personal hitting Charron simply out raps his toilsome, but less potent opponent in the latter two rounds for the win.

Verdict: Charron (W) 2-1

Favorite line: Charron – “The reason I freestyle is ‘cuz it’s crazy and hype, you freestyle because you do this for a paycheck and you’re too lazy to write!”

Charlie Clips defeats Illmaculate

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Recap: A pretty beatable Charlie Clips, free-styling half the time with mostly B-grade punchlines/name flips along the way, still lands enough haymakers here and there to beat back a drawn-out-with-the-schemes and outside of a salacious, breakdown-heavy 2nd round, mostly pedestrian Illmaculate in this underwhelming 3-rounder from KOTD.

Verdict: Charlie Clips (W) 2-1

Favorite line: Charlie Clips – “I don’t talk about pulling guns out on Twitter because these ain’t the shots to follow, I’m on Eastern time, I kill him tonight that mean he died tomorrow!”

Charlie Clips defeats T-Rex

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Recap: Has Harlem vs. Harlem on the battle rap stage ever been a let-down? Making up for opponent and fellow Harlem-nite T-Rex’s mayhem-lit, but shortened opening rounds with a brutal annihilation that contained 3 rounds of flawless execution (we’ll call both the regimented, punch-lit and consistently piercing 4-bar set-ups of round 1 and the highly personal, spicy rebuttal-driven, haymaker-drunk and over-the-top performance-wise 3rd round both classics), Charlie Clips delivers a hardbody 30 while spouting one of the most epic showings in battle rap history (hell, Cassidy’s reactions alone could tell you how this one went) and taking out Rex and his entire Dot Mobb crew at URL’s Summer Madness 4.

Verdict: Charlie Clips (W) 3-0

Favorite line: Charlie Clips – “Jesus! One of my lines could make an Atheist say ‘Christ!’, if you wanna get Rex to chill all you gotta do is say I.C.E., we’ll discuss that a little later, but with these tho, I’m way nice, give him a choice in the elevator, you want the Solange or the Ray Rice?!”

Heartless defeats Charlie Clips

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Recap: Even a tired Charlie Clips is hard to bear as this close battle against S.O.N.S.’ Heartless proves. Still, for all of Clips dope (“Headshot, even if he got on a hat, his life fucked, that’s Mr. Marcus”) punches, freestyles and witty schemes, Heartless takes advantage with 5 minutes of more steady bars, hitting personals, fiery slow-it-downs and confident (“I got one bullet for him, and I swear I’m popping that shit, and battle fans gonna love it, ‘cuz they finally gonna get to see that Hollow in [‘n] Clips”) wordplay. A rare loss for Clips, but it’s the risk you take when you bring your B-game to a one-rounder against a vet like Heartless.

Verdict: Heartless (W) 1-0

Favorite line: Heartless – “There’s no time to snack, I’m dumping guns, and everybody know the kid draws like da-dun-da-dun”

Charlie Clips defeats O-Red

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Recap: Really disappointed with this battle, it’s like neither Clips or O-Red took it that seriously and altogether there just wasn’t a professional feel to it. Plus, as much as I don’t like to get into the extra shit, there shouldn’t be nothing wrong with a little constructive criticism, right? For starters, the crowd’s at U-Dubb have really gotten lame or just quiet. I don’t know if it’s the venue or the sound equipment or what, but compared to past U-Dubb events, the energy just isn’t there. Then too the camera angles were off and sometimes it felt like the only people witnessing this battle were the people on stage. Secondly, please stop letting Debo host battles (hell, even Clips said it). If a guy’s gonna host, he should just get a quick introduction, introduce the battlers, flip the coin and move on. Debo doesn’t do that and he reminds you too much of when Star hosted in the URL…too much extra shit. Lastly, if anyone’s arguing about oversaturation killing battle rap, battles like this would help prove their case–just lackluster all around with a couple of top tiers who clearly didn’t bring their A-game. That said, I got Clips taking the 1st and 3rd rounds.

Verdict: Charlie Clips (W) 2-1

Favorite line: Charlie Clips – “You know what you are? You a check my nigga, we only battle you when the landlord wanna get the rent, you beat X-factor, so what?, when I got fed X he ain’t deliver since”

Charlie Clips defeats Daylyt

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Synopsis: Charlie Clips proves again why he belongs in everybody’s Top 5 in this epic battle against Daylyt. From jump Clips goes for the kill, using a West coast scheme that packs wallops, speaking on Daylyt: “I run with some Outlawzs, that’ll roof dog, they crazy, let theey ratchet buck, an LBC crew that’ll stomp him, now that’s Kurupt, should I use a nine, an automatic or maybe the blade, whatever I use will push this bitch wig back, that’s the Lady of Rage” (Also: “I’m in your hood, I start airing the pipe, I hit these Crip niggas, make everybody in blue Jet without preparing the flight..”). It doesn’t stop there as Clips punches with authority on each line he spits. Don’t sleep on Daylyt tho, as during round 1 he more than held his own, busting genial one-liners (“You thought one call was gonna save your ass from dying, who life alert?”) and hilarious punchlines: “What the fuck, I bust chrome, I’ll do him in a greasy way, 2 4’s leave six eight, who do we appreciate?” that kept the battle close, but clearly went beyond the time limit (not to mention, did he have to spit those bars on Biggie and Tupac?). Either way come the latter rounds Clips continues to flex, styling on Day’s use of gimmickry, spouting rabid name flips and going straight for the throat with gritty bars: “I let that four flare, point the deuce, throw the beam in ya mouth, I’ll do the fusion dance with Chilla than scheme in your house”. While Daylyt still had his moments (“One thing we got in common is we could rock man, but I rest killas, you said a Mr. Fantastic line? That’s cuz it was a stretch nigga!”), they became few and far between. All the while Clips, in round 3, continued to spaz and show off his creativity, spitting tutorials at Daylyt’s ski-mask: “But now you just jumping on any nigga face mask and honestly I can’t take it, how you go from Schoolboy Q and Young Buck album to a battle rapper that’s getting naked?’ (with Daylyt ironically rooting him on) and putting the nail in the coffin with this haymaker: “You want your niggas to look they killer in the eye, I rather you look your killer in his whole face, so you could remember the nigga from the east coast that stripped you of your pride and your glory, real killas don’t need a face mask and I don’t plan on letting you tell your side of the story!” Daylyt had a nice 3rd round (“I’ve been searching for this little boy all night, we are cougars”), but it just wasn’t nearly consistent enough to compete.

Verdict: Charlie Clips (W) 3-0

Favorite line: Charlie Clips – “Talking about you’ll give me the open hand, the fist in the deuce, and y’all believe him. I’ll have the one pointing before he get to the deuce, that’s odds and even”

Tay Roc defeats Charlie Clips (Rematch)

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Recap: When Tay Roc got 3-0’d in the first battle between him and Charlie Clips, the biggest critique for Roc might’ve been his lack of aggression throughout the match. A big surprise considering that outside of that now classic battle, the legendary Baltimore, MD, spitter’s aggressive flow has almost never been called into question. And that’s the case here in this long-awaited rematch between Roc Clips that fires on all cylinders when it comes to not only Roc’s assertiveness, but also on a whole standout lyricism, heated gun bars, dope schemes (from both battlers), fierce punchlines, fly wordplay, crafty wit, shout-out’s to Clips’ grandma and of course, fiery lines concerning their previous (btw, nice move by Smack to bring Loaded Lux up the stage before the start of the battle in a salute to Lux’s old Lion’s Den, which is where these two first faced off) encounter. That said, with both battlers having gained so much experience and star power since their first meeting, it’s only right that they brought their A-game and that this rematch goes into the 3rd tied (what with a punch-heavier Roc edging the 1st round, while a more personal and creative storytelling Clips edged the 2nd)/ And it’s Roc who edges a close 3rd here, getting some major payback via a slightly more consistent turn with the heat, more condensed when taking in account an equal amount of haymakers from both battlers and less bent than his opponent on the usage of redundant personals. Either way, a spitfire battle altogether and one can only hope for a Part 3 to take place sooner than later.

Verdict: Tay Roc (W) 2-1

Favorite line: Tay Roc – “Fuck you, this rematch unnecessary, who’s the legend?,beating me is what made you legendary!, Charlie get hit with the 1st and then the secondary, then DNA get the business like its hereditary!”

Hitman Holla defeats Charlie Clips

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Recap: Can’t front, after a pretty basic 1st round that went up against a very (“‘Cuz the last nigger you beat was O-Red, and it was a O-Red that was way off…ok, so the Sixers beat the Pelicans, cool, neither one of y’all making the playoffs!”) witty, basketball-bar heavy, performance rich and scheme-friendly turn by Charlie Clips, it wasn’t looking good at all for Hitman Holla going into the later rounds. But then suddenly Holla flipped the script, starting out with a fiery (“You know what my brother Showout do, keep it up and you gonna have to remove DNA from the ground for real!”) rebuttal in the early part of his 2nd round, that along with some hard personals/punches combined with an aggressive performance edged things for the St. Louis rapper and made it a tie heading into the 3rd. The deciding round was more of Holla upping his verbal game with yet another nice rebuttal, some fly personals, braggadocio shiners and stifling gun talk, all enough to beat back what was a solid, scheme slick and at times funny, but a bit of a lazy turn by Clips, who needed to freestyle to complete his round.

Verdict: Hitman Holla (W) 2-1

Favorite line: Hitman Holla – “10,000?!, a nigger owe me $10, I need it, I’m on his doorstep, I’m knocking on his door with a .357 like it ain’t 4 yet!”

Charlie Clips defeats Conceited

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Synopsis: Charlie Clips better be lucky he’s been in the game so long, because his lack of preparation can still be a head scratcher for such a talented dude. Of course, the first thing you think of when you see Conceited vs Charlie Clips in the first place is why this wasn’t on URL, but whatever. That said, Conceited’s 1st round was straight fire: punchlines galore (“even if he is cocking the 5, this cat…pop in the sky like the lion king”), the Dot Mob diss and the 3rd-tier slow-it-down made for a superb round. But Clips came back nicely with personals, schemes, dope bars and a rebuttal that just murked Con’s original Captain Morgan slow-it-down. After an incredible 1st, Con returned with just an alright 2nd, what with a lame slow-it-down and not much else. On the other hand, knowing that he can always rely on his freestyle ability when he comes to battle rap, Clips easily took the 2nd, dissing Con’s celebrity nut-hugging (“Kim Condashian”), going after Dizaster and throwing out some crowd pleasers that more that won them over. As for the 3rd round, Con, who clearly came more prepared, easily took it with a broad range of bars, jokes (“Nigga, you can get it anywhere, that’s Craigslist”) and punchlines, yet while Clips came with it with the Slow-it-Down (slogans as a weapon) joke, his stumble clearly gave the round away.

Verdict: Charlie Clips (W) 2-1

Best line: Charlie Clips – “Got an oiled gun on my dresser (but) I’ll change it and put the newest clip in, 5 sing and 1 crack head, that’s New Edition

Charlie Clips defeats Dirtbag Dan

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Recap: Dirtbag Dan, apparently a Bay-area  “legend” in his own mind, gets bodied by Charlie Clips’ arsenal of exquisite wordplay, nice schemes, friendly rebuttals and witty bars.

Verdict: Charlie Clips (W) 3-0

Favorite line: Charlie Clips – “We both Mexican, because I’m serving every kind of shell out of that one truck”

Charlie Clips defeats John John da Don

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Synopsis: I can get with the “Quiet Room” concept, it’s something new and different, but 8 minutes of BS before the actual battle?!? Really??? Anyway, this is more about John John losing this than Charlie Clips winning as John John continued use of Serius Jones’ “Multiple Choice, All of the Above” scheme is an utter joke, the hula-hoop bar he used seemed very familiar and JJDD even stealing Clips “sike” line was straight corny. Charlie, despite some stumbles, won this easy with better freestyles and personals than JJDD’s written’s.

Verdict: Charlie Clips (W) 1-0

Best line: Charlie Clips – “Stuttered against Yung Ill, so what, when you on a Spree well, you get to choke like that”

Charlie Clips defeats Tsu Surf

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Recap: Considering the names here, except for Clips 3rd round, this battle was a little disappointing. But IMO that’s more on Surf’s part. I mean, not only does Surf have a huge (albeit rare) slip-up, but most of his bars were basic and I thought he would’ve used more angles along with personals on Clips–hell, even some nice “What I Gotta Put In Subtitles?” schemes could’ve done damage and possibly given Surf a win (w/o a slip-up of course). Just seemed like the energy/motivation just wasn’t there for Surf, surprising considering a clear win over the likes of Clips would look good on anyone’s resume. I gave Surf the round because it was clearly his best and cuz’ Clips finished his kinda lame, Clips clearly got the 2nd and 3rd tho.

Verdict: Charlie Clips (W) 2-1

Favorite line: Charlie Clips – “I’ll search for him then click on Surf, that’s a YouTube app, the gun under this Big T going [sound effects] ‘beep, beep, bigidiy, boukou bap'”

Charlie Clips defeats Oshea

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Recap: Charlie Clips gets an easy paycheck, showing up with one written round (which includes a hilarious comedy skit featuring oranges…yes, oranges) while taking full advantage of his freestyle game to get the win in this clear mismatch against the nonsensical “Gay Goodz” from the UK.

Verdict:  Charlie Clips (W) 3-0

Favorite line: Charlie Clips – “Yunno what let’s not make this debatable, I’m trying to show y’all that I been a vet, you’ll get naked, toss salad, then get to dressing…you Vinaigrette!”

Charlie Clips defeats Yung Ill

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Recap: As usual Charlie Clips is nice (not counting letting Ill rattle him in the 2nd round) with his, delivering three vigorous rounds of heat on an able (that “fart around” line was horrible), but clearly not at his best Yung Ill. Still, I’d much rather see Yung Ill healthy and able to spit 3 clear rounds than see him look bad and choke as we’ve seen in the recent past.

Verdict: Charlie Clips (W) 2-1

Favorite line: Charlie Clips – “See I show the world we got different skills, see the difference is you throw-up, I’m Precious on her period, that’s a different ill”

Charlie Clips defeats JC

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Recap: In the famous words of Florida Evans: “Damn! Damn! Damn!” Dope battle. As much as JC came hard, hitting with disrespectful (“Besides Ms. Gracie always trying to throw me a fat bitch pussy, she just never told me it was you”) bars and mean (“Any beef, my niggas just roll up, stretch a nigga, it’s like Piublishing Clearing House, we just showed up, checking niggas”) punchlines, Charlie Clips took him to school, breaking down JC’s authenticity (“But you can’t kill a nigga and then pop lock….”), hitting on scheme after scheme, tossing in a couple of nice rebuttals, executing potent bars with superb delivery and dropping haymakers with the ease of waking up in the morning. Clips all day.

Verdict: Charlie Clips (W) 1-0

Favorite line: Charlie Clips – “My shit hit niggas and bitches, my pump co-ed!”

Charlie Clips defeats Hollohan

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Synopsis: Clips (FYI: Nova Scotis is not a “city” but a province) gets his race card on and throws in a mix of fervent schemes with spirited jokes to beat an able, but long-winded and way-too-much-filler having Hollohan.

Verdict: Charlie Clips (W) 2-1

Best line: Charlie Clips – “I’ll knock the juice out your fucking lemon, put the metal on the lid of ya hype man, the silencer make it go [makes sound], you don’t know if I’m shooting or trying to open a Sprite can”

Charlie Clips defeats B. Magic

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Recap: Charlie Clips and B-Magic duke it out for the title of “Who Could Rap Better?” And on this day anyway, it’s Clips who wins with a nice combo of crazy (“The only nigga he bodied was Rosenberg, after that he took a detour, so I got a question, ‘why are y’all on Magic’s johnson if all he could do is beat Raw?'”) personals,  fiery (“You a ‘G’ Magic? Well sorry I’m a non-believer, you go in jail a tight end and come out a wide receiver”) punchlines and hard-hitting schemes. Don’t get it twisted as B-Magic was solid (“I ain’t trying to settle down when I’m dumping ratchets”) throughout, but just didn’t have enough heat to beat Clips in the first couple of rounds. Granted, Clips talking and gesturing through Magic’s rounds = not cool, but he still got the win regardless.

Verdict: Charlie Clips (W) 2-1

Favorite line: B-Magic – “I’m strapped, connected with them G’s like a Gucci shoe”

Charlie Clips defeats Tony D

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Synopsis: Albeit an entertaining battle throughout, Charlie Clips gets this one easy with some game rebuttals, crowd-friendly quips, sublime schemes, fiery impersonations and enough fire personals to make Tony D want to reconsider his battle rap career.

Verdict: Charlie Clips (W) 2-1

Best line: Charlie Clips – “Put this dick in ya girl lip, I’m like what she saying?, hands back and forth on her ass, look like I’m DJing”

Charlie Clips defeats Arsonal

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Recap: It’s been said plenty of times by both critics and his peers that Arsonal can be filler-prone and no battle exemplifies that belief more than this one versus Charlie Clips. I mean, how bad did Ars’ penchant for saying a whole lot of nothing get? When you’re inviting a female member of your hometown crowd to suck your you-know-what because she’s bored stiff at listening to your pedestrian raps, you just know that it wasn’t a good day at the office. And let it be noted that besides a versatile, punch-heavy, scheme-savvy, witty and off-the-dome efficient Clips doing him in for 3 rounds (to be fair, the 1st round, easily Ars’ shortest and most condensed, was close), Ars’ failure to consistently get disrespectful (his biggest strength) with his bars and his bent on weak personals, predictable punchlines, elongated schemes as well as random shots at DNA and URL didn’t help his cause either in a battle that was ultimately pretty one-sided.

Verdict: Charlie Clips (W) 3-0

Favorite line: Charlie Clips – “I could see mama Arsonal texting his phone, ‘Hey baby come over for supper!’, he walk in with an attitude ‘cuz the first person he spot is his brother, on his way to wash his hands in the bathroom, what did he discover?, a woman kissing on Joe Budden’s neck and it’s ya mother…everybody in your family like Joe Buddens’ Ars!”

Serius Jones defeats Charlie Clips

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Synopsis: This battle really comes down to who won the 1st round, because Clips (clearly, no debating!) won 2nd round while Jones (clearly, no debating!!!) won the 3rd. With that said, here’s why I think Serius got the ‘W’ here: his “Yeah, nine years ago I was a barber, so you know I know how to handle clips” rebuttal at the beginning of round one, while short, cancelled all of Clips barbershop jokes and in my book rebuttals earn you extra brownie points. Combine that with Clips choking at the end of round 3 (mind you, Clips is a freestyle king and in my book choking not only loses you the round, but earns you some demerits too), while you still have a classic battle, but give it to Serius by a nose.

Verdict: Serius Jones (W) 2-1

Best line: Charlie Clips – the whole house scheme was straight fire

Charlie Clips defeats Big T

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Synopsis: I’ve always been of the persuasion that battling in front of your opponent’s home crowd can make it extra hard to pull out a win. After all, the guy battling at home is usually extra pumped to put on a great show and do well in front of his hometown fans, the crowd will almost always be biased for their guy and fair or not fair, it’s the road guy who has to come out and impress the most. That said, this was an easy win for Charlie Clips, who IMO clearly out-barred an amped up (and clearly gassed by his Chi-town fans) Big T in rounds one and two, while airing exquisite (those phone co. lines alone) schemes and personals with the same swag and confidence that we all saw earlier against Tay Rock and Aye Verb. Then too, all gassing up aside, this wasn’t Big T at his best, who tho he may’ve edged the third round with that “You know I be using barbers to pull hits instead of  clips on these faces cuz’ clips get in that jam and they usually leave behind cases” line. Despite of all that when Clips gives you three prepared rounds combined with dope schemes, he’s almost impossible to beat.

Verdict: Charlie Clips (W) 2-1

Best line: Charlie Clips – “Now I know I shouldn’t crack fat jokes, but this nigga is really fat, the type to kill himself just to see Left Eye cuz she know where Chili (chilly) at”

Charlie Clips defeats X-Factor

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Recap: Take away the 1st half of X-Factor’s round here versus Charlie Clips and you have a pretty exhilarating (and very long) one-round matchup on the URL/Smack stage. For Clips, in only his 3rd on-screen battle, as far as making an impression goes, all bases were covered: from witty personals to goading off-the-dome lines that no one was safe from to quintessential (“This is what you wanted nigga?, you wanted me to be disrespectful, put my dick in ya niece fish tank, dump the water on ya nephew!”) schemes to flat-footed (“I’m the controller, I leave squares like you so dead, so if X care to the triangles [try angles] like Verb, he’ll get an L too and have to battle U-Red!”) haymakers, all in a battle that he was clearly motivated for as he literally took the crowd chants of “Keep going!” to heart, rapping for like 20-plus minutes. Clearly without a clue of what he was in for, after Clips was finally done, X-Factor still managed to give the crowd a worthy performance…when he got into his bag. Dishing amusing (“Against Tay-Roc about 200…against Verb, 305!”) ‘priority’ bars, feelgood name flips along with requisite (“I be going HAM, up dumping, squeezing that pump, Clips be going HAM…add bacon, cheese and croissant!”) fat jokes that made their mark, Factor’s execution was only hurt by a filler-drenched first few minutes of his round as well as wordplay that didn’t always land hard. That said, altogether Clips’ overall performance combined with better consistency was enough to score a win.

Verdict: Charlie Clips (W) 1-0

Favorite line: Charlie Clips – “It’s been 5 battles straight and you have yet to take that hat off, now either Blind Fury is your barber, he did you and took your back off or you got a hairline that’d make LeBron happy, but piss Smack off!”

Charlie Clips defeats Aye Verb

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Recap: Arguably URL’s most-hyped bodybag features Aye Verb against a Charlie Clips making his first appearance since his legendary battle versus Tay Rock. Honestly, I didn’t even think Clips was that great here (pretty good, but not at his best which says a lot about the standard Clips has set for himself) as much as Verb was just that bad and decidedly corny, clearly writing rhymes that’d get him through the night so he could pick up his paycheck, smirk at the “fools” who paid good money to watch this one-sided affair and quickly bounce back home to St. Louis. To think, for all the claims of a “biased crowd” Verb made after this battle, even Stevie Wonder could see that the crowd more than gave a Verb a chance to spit his bars without interruption. And did Verb really think he had any chance of winning with lame lines like “How the fuck you gonna have all that Harlem flash and you got just toilet swag?” or “All I ask for is that you pay respect and start every round like A…I O U, nigga make sure you go vowel on me”?!? I mean, even the people in Verb’s entourage were struggling to root him on, undoubtedly because even Robert DeNiro couldn’t pull off getting hype to Verb’s weak bars. As a matter of fact props to the guy hollering “Time!” halfway through Verb’s rounds, he seemed to be the only one in the crowd to notice that everyone around him was being robbed.

Verdict: Charlie Clips (W) 3-0

Favorite line: Charlie Clips – “So what I’m supposed to believe? You a gangsta? You bust and squeeze gats? or you fly chrome when it look like your iPhone got a ‘Just For Me’ app?

Charlie Clips defeats Tay Roc

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Synopsis: Not much more can be said about this battle that hasn’t already been spoken. A battle that put Clips on the map and literally gave him “legend” status all the way through to his battle with A-Verb a few years later on URL. As for Tay-Roc, compared to the high-caliber version of Roc that we see now, the version we see here just seemed happy to be there (tho his 1st and 3rd rounds weren’t that bad), which killed the B-more legend’s rep until he’d later take it all out on Kaboom in that famous OT round on the Lion’s Den later down the road. Other than that, peep Clips just dropping fire punch after punch while roasting on Roc for 3 rounds as well as Teyana Taylor in the audience for your added viewing pleasure.

Verdict: Charlie Clips (W) 3-0

Best line: Charlie Clips – “See the reason I go crazy and I be blacking it out, is because my grandmother said, ‘If you lose to this Tay Rock nigga, don’t bring yo ass back in my house'”, What, can you picture me losing for that good-ass cooking? For my grandmom’s I do time in that hood ass booking, he wanna fight I throw a left then a good-ass hook and, have him like, ‘woop-woop!’, you know, when you used to get that good-ass whooping”