Recap: Heavily dishing with a gang of sterling trap talk, witty personals/anecdotes, fiery gun bars and dope 4-bar set-up/punchlines with relative ease, while also unleashing a plethora of crazy similes throughout this gritty 3-rounder, Kyd Slade puts aside all the recent outside noise, while reminding everyone on how he became one of URL’s top rising stars in the first place, while beating back and out-finessing a gun bar-toting, righteous at times and competitive, but much less steady/sturdy Cortez.
Verdict: Kyd Slade (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Kyd Slade – “They literally had to watch a nigga do the white girl filthy, No Jumper!”
Recap: From Takeova/No Trenches, a close, fiery, sometimes personal and competitive 3-rounder between Cityy Towers and Cortez ends with the Brooklyn vet coming back and taking it in the end. As after getting edged in round 1 to the casual nexus of pertinent set-ups and flexing punches from his opponent, the more condensed Cortez’s own rich combo of hard street rhymes, stinging name flips and gritty wordplay/punchlines would earn Bodega a vic in both the 2nd and 3rd round’s for the win.
Verdict: Cortez (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Cortez – ” Dog, ain’t no respect for you lame types, ‘cuz the game hype, dog gassing, Bob Saget…you fake nice!”
Recap: A URL app exclusive sees rising star Klutz leave a mark with the usually hard-to-impress NY crowd with a shitload of lofty name flips, gritty punchlines, fly anecdotes, hard-hitting similes and galvanizing wordplay that were even more impactful with its surreptitious lingo. Confident from the jump, but also helped a bit by a competitive and street-laced but slip-up friendly Cortez, it’s Klutz who edges both of the opening rounds for the win before a 3rd round debateable.
Verdict: Klutz (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Klutz – “Y’all street nigga’s remind me of children a lot, spend all that money on toys…to end up in a box!”
Recap: Going forward Philly Haze may want to insert more of his wit in his bars, cuz the not-really-from-Philly (he’s actually from the BX) certainly funny when need be. That said, in this 3-rounder from BullpenBattle League, it’s all Cortez as the Brooklyn, NY, vet (despite a dope ‘off the wall’ freestyle by Haze in round 1) sticks it to his opponent with a gang of boastful barbs, searing heat, feel-good wordplay and more consistently lit punchlines to score the 3-0.
Verdict: Cortez (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Cortez – “Y’all pump Haze, but my block different, see y’all don’t get it, it’s Carlee Russell in my hood, that girl was never missing!”
Recap: Brooklyn vs. Brooklyn in this 1-rounder from the Gates. And while the lesser known June PZ ut frth a gritty and at times personal-lit effort, it’s the way more condensed Cortez’s spicy assortment of ripshod mayhem, glistening gun bars and piercing punches that earns the Murda Ave vet the win.
Verdict: Cortez (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Cortez – “It’s another ‘W’ in store, that’s Walgreens, and don’t you know he’ll never be seen again after the scufflee…like Rawsteen!”
Recap: A 3-rounder from URL’s ‘Banned’ series sees Jae Millz arguably at this best since the Harlem vet made his most recent comeback to battle rap. The former Young Money signee dishing a trio of sound, quality rounds that while featuring his usual m.o. of earnest boasts and gritty lyricism, was also highlighted when the usually one-note Millz flexed his funny bone a bit and added some witty barbs to the mix. That said, outside of a debatable round 2, this one was all Cortez with the Brooklyn emcee spouting a bunch of hard street rhymes, stinging personals, bodacious punches/gun bars and feelgood name flips/wordplay that especially lit up the scoreboard in rounds 1 and 3 for the win.
Verdict: Cortez (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Cortez – “They say battle rappers can’t make music, well since you put us in that box I’m returnung the favor!”
Recap: From Gates of the Garden, going to guess that there’s a lovely backstory between King Chi and that light-skin dude he was snapping at towards the end of the his round. Nonetheless, still a pretty solid effort from Chi in this 1-rounder, what with a bunch of spicy, unorthodox punches, some bodacious freestyles and sturdy wit comprising his turn to make things competitive. But with a gritty mix of hitting gun bars, bold street themes, flexing name flips and a gang of sublime punchlines that more than hit, at the end of the day it’s the storied vet Cortez who takes this one.
Verdict: Cortez (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Cortez – “He’ll get beat with the handle if he touch Cort…that’s And 1!”
Recap: From iBattle, both Cortez and Sean Godda drop a gang of stinging gun bars, wild episodes of mayhem and gritty street bars in this mostly competitive 3-rounder. But it’s Tez’s more steadily glistening punches and fine-tuned name flips that adds to the mix and helps him take each round for the 30.
Verdict: Cortez (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Cortez – “Move, I’m gripping a tool, and I’m blazing a Taurus, this El Chapo right out the cell, this a breakout performance!”
Recap: From Gates of the Garden, gritty with the street bars but so-so overall until he started scoring via some fiery usage of assonance in the latter half of his round, Jack Diesel ends up making this 1-rounder competitive. Still, with a boatload of hard-hitting boastful barbs, scorching name flips and gritty gun bars/punches, it’s Cortez who unleashes more than enough damage for the win.
Verdict: Cortez (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Cortez – “Today bro you gonna have to some more than some regular rapping, this ain’t the URL TV app, but this whole batle ya boy gonna be pressed just to get a reaction!”
Recap: Even a surprising choke in round 3 fails to withstand a couple of superb rounds by Swervoo in this URL ‘Outside’ matchup against Cortez. The young DMV spitter landing a boatload of aggressive street raps, fire punches/name flips, boastful barbs and hitting wordplay to take rounds 1 and 2 for the win before the aforementioned unforced error in round 3 combined with a touching and punch-heavy turn by Tez allowed the veteran BK battler to take the final round and avoid the shutout.
Verdict: Swervoo (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Swervoo – “Matter fact, say a sentence in Spanish to the crowd right now or I’m a click and spray…no no no no no, translate ‘say what?’ in Spanish…this a K!”
Recap: From Kill Switch Battle League, a lot of nasty work with the 4-bar punches and a fleet of spicy gun bars makes this 1-rounder between Cortez and Gwitty both entertaining and competitive. However, even with a couple of dry spots here and there, it’s the more performance-lit and slightly more haymaker-friendly Gwitty (while also taking advantage of a more flow-challenged Cortez) who ends up getting the win.
Verdict: Gwitty (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Gwitty – “I shot a Spanish at a wedding all you saw was rice and beans!”
Recap: Gotta admit with the two of them being close friends for so long, I never thought that Cortez and DNA battling each other one-on-one would ever see the light of day. Well guess that I was wrong as here they are on URL’s 90-seconds-per-round, ‘Life Work’ platform going at it for 3 fiery rounds (with no lame rehearsal taking place before the battle either). And bar-for-bar it’s a treat with DNA and Cor dishing a bunch of gritty street raps. flagrant punches, piercing name flips, blazing heat and mocking personals to make it competitive. Nary a slip-up on either side until Cortez stumbled a bit in round 3, outside of a debatable 2nd round, it’s the slightly more haymaker-lit DNA who takes the 1st and 3rd rounds for the win.
Verdict: DNA (W) 2-1
Favorite line: DNA – “It’s always a fight when cash is involved, Joe Frazier and this cat is always lying on the bread, that’s why they call him Bodega!”
Recap: From GOTG, a couple of gritty, boastful and versatile performances from Cortez and Black Aladdin in this 1-rounder makes things competitive. But with a nastier diet of stifling wordplay, fiery street darts, crazy 4-bar set-ups/punchlines and rambunctious haymakers, it’s the veteran Cortez who earns the win.
Verdict: Cortez (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Cortez – “It’s Brooklyn, so who you gonna kill?, with twin nina’s, my gun connect had a two-for-one deal!”
Recap: From URL’s Banned card, in this 1-round rematch Cortez a gang of stifling gun bars, gripping mayhem, lofty personals/punchlines and nasty boasts/wordplay to handily beat back a raucous punching and rebuttal-lit at times, but overall mostly pedestrian Danny Myers.
Verdict: Cortez (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Cortez – “Llama’s hurl, erasing DM, I got a girl!”
Recap: In this 1-rounder from IEvolveTV, another solid punching and aggressive showing from Cali Smoov gets handily beat back by Cortez’s more steady and gritty mix of bold street raps, nasty wordplay, lofty name flips, boastful darts and hitting punchlines/personals.
Verdict: Cortez (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Cortez – “Your motivation, you can’t mirror me, I’m a miracle!”
Recap: From Beastmode, always able to paint a bloody scene no matter where he’s at, Cortez uses a steady barrage of fiery schemes, flashy gun bars, ruthless boasts/name flips, stinging similes and fierce Brooklyn-laced punchlines to easily get the 30 while beating back an earnest and aggressive at times, but overall topsy-turvy trio of rounds from Canadian up-n-comer Jayyohh.
Verdict: Cortez (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Cortez – “We ain’t close, bro I give a fuck if the opps watching, I’m talking guns and butter, those my kind of stock options!”
Recap: A 3-round rematch between Cortez and Drugz from URL’s Lite Work card goes the former’s way as the veteran Brooklyn emcee not only takes it back to his old Grind Time days with a boatload of gritty street rhymes, but with an addition of a bunch of spicy name flips, some sizzling wordplay/Spanglish and more consistently hard-hitting punches manages to take rounds 1 and 3 (call round 2 debatable as a pretty and aggressive Drugz stepped it up there) for the win.
Verdict: Cortez (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Cortez – “Fuck I look like wrestling with drugs…Eddie Guerrero!”
Recap: From GOTG, a pretty standard 1-rounder between Cortez and Zay Smoove sees the two deliver resident/aggressive bars in the form of hardbody street darts, feelgood gun bars, flexing mayhem and boastful punches with a few personals here and there to prove that the two did do some research on each other before the battle. That said, with much less reaches than his opponent, more intricacy to his bars and some gutsy trap talk to attest to a slightly more versatile plate, it’s Cortez who handily gets the win.
Verdict: Cortez (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Cortez – “The twin 40’s smoking together ain’t peer pressure!”
Recap: A battle 10-plus years in the works, Cortez vs. Tsu Surf finally happens on the URL’s Civil War 2 card and for the most part it’s a goodie as both battlers made it competitive and came to fight. A turned up Tez (esp. during a killer 2nd round) would come packed with shitload of gritty punches to go along with some witty barbs, spicy Surf lingo flips and fiery personals. While an aggressive Surf dished a gang of stifling wordplay, hard-hitting personals (esp. during the deciding round 3) and multifaceted punches that for the most part landed hard. As for the elephant in the room that started with Aye Verb accusing Surf of ‘stealing bars’ during his opening round? Simply put, a non-starter as Surf not only has it been proven online that he didn’t plagiarize (tho he did, for a minute, have a similar cadence and rhyme pattern to that Quilly freestyle) anything, but the idea that flipping a handful of bars you’ve heard somewhere else is suddenly a flagrant foul that gets you tossed out the game would disqualify quite a few of your favorite battle rappers, including some top tiers. That said, a few things that hurt Cor a bit during this bout: choosing to go first (only because the feeling here is that with Cor having a better rebuttal game than Surf, he could’ve scored more), one too many indirect bars and the usage of that same raucous, but at times longwinded boilerplate rhyme pattern he’s been utilizing since his Grind Time days. Still, an easy decision on this one with the more haymaker-lit Surf taking rounds 1 and 3 for the win, while Cor returned the favor in round 2 to avoid the shuout.
Verdict: Tsu Surf (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Tsu Surf – “They said this could go either way, listen Jon B, if you aint trying to be where Jon be, don’t listen to what people say!”
Recap: From Hoc Rap Battle League, a surprising amount of witty personals from both battlers makes this 3-round Cortez vs. Snake Eyez even more entertaining. Yet, after the two split (had the heavier-punching Cortez taking round 1 before a harder-hitting and Spanglish-lit Snake took the 2nd), Tez’s continually fiery braggadocios lines, mocking personals and hard street rhymes in the final round added up to a gang of haymakers that coupled with a short and mostly pedestrian turn by Snake gives the Brooklyn capo the win.
Verdict: Cortez (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Cortez – “Nigga’s swear they Hardcore ain’t never get their belt took!”
Recap: A solid rebuttal to begin things in case the battle ends up close, but a filthy barrage of hardbody street rhymes, boastful barbs, fiery name flips/gun bars and consistently gritty punches ends up doing the trick for Cortez, who after witnessing a gang of piercing punches/personals from a competitive Statz G, would need the whole clip to score more haymakers and beat back his opponent in what was a competitive 1-rounder from Houston Bar Code.
Verdict: Cortez (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Cortez – “Shit get ugly when the blade cut his cheek at a acute [a cute] angle!”
Recap: Cortez, who’s been talking a lot lately about needing his peers to start ‘putting respect on my name’, stops by iBattle for a 3-rounder against the lyrical wordsmith that is Xcel and after a debatable and fire-on-both-sides round 1, uses a righteous at times, personal-heavy, gritty, and more punchline-lit rounds 2 and 3 to earn the win over an opponent who gave a game effort, but just couldn’t keep up with Cor’s verbal barrage in the latter two rounds.
Verdict: Cortez (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Cortez – “It’s global warming, I make blocks hot for the winter!”
Recap: Gotta admit to kinda missing Cortez’s old ‘top tier money’ outro. That said, in this 1-rounder from GOTG, Cort’s rapid blasts of mayhem, nuanced heat and more rigid punches/personals work to enough effect to beat back a pretty solid overall, but too often-reaching turn from Dre Dennis.
Verdict: Cortez (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Cortez – “You stand still or the steel drawn, this arm? it lift a pole, I’m just showing him real form!”
Recap: In this URL/Super Fight 5 matchup between Cortez and Jey The Nitewing, Tez’s standard spurts of mayhem and daunting gun bars fail to pack enough heat to keep up with Nitewing’s wide array of mocking/witty personals (which included a stellar impression of NY street discourse in round 2), stinging name flips and righteous wordplay/darts/screeds, thus (outside of a debatable 2nd) giving Jey the 1st and 3rd rounds for the win.
Verdict: Jey The Nitewing (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Jey The Nitewing – “The closest he ever been to field nigga’s is crying in the whip!”
Recap: Nothing out of the ordinary here as Cortez and RI 28 Grams kick a gang of fiery gun bars with your resident mayhem, braggadocios barbs and a few wily personals mixed in. A close GOTG 1-rounder either way, it’s the slightly more haymaker-lit Cortez who edges the win.
Verdict: Cortez (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Cortez – “I don’t need a trailer, it’s 28 Grams, you getting cooked in a meth lab!”
Recap: In a 1-rounder from Kill Switch Battle League that was laced with gritty street missives from both battlers, a more name flip-lit, graphic and rigid with the mayhem as well as intricate with the set-ups/punches Cortez handily takes gains the win over Problems.
Verdict: Cortez (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Cortez – “The Grim Reaper is in this bitch and I want all the smoke and like Black Up’s I’m here to set the tone!”
Recap: Controversial, judged battle between Ace Amin and Cortez (who somehow got the win via the judges) with $5K on the line sees the former Goonie level up (after losing round 1 to a combo of Tez’s stifling/versatile/raucous punches and a couple of unforced verbal errors) with a speedy/steady (we’re not counting stumbles that occur when the opponent is talking thru your turn here) barrage rich multi’s/name flips, hard-hitting personals, righteous street talk and stinging punchlines to score more than enough haymakers (esp. in round 2) to take both of the latter rounds over his sometimes redundant (tho Cor’s timeline angle was fly) and flow-challenged opponent for the win.
Verdict: Ace Amin (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Ace Amin – “How you gonna eat off a dead body when all you do is vault yourself?!”
Recap: No disrespect to Cortez who came through with a solid, if not gritty effort, but even without the slip-ups, he wasn’t beating Rum Nitty here in this 3rd round UM3 tourney rematch. And that’s just a testament to the level of verbal acumen Nitty was on here, the Phoenix, AZ, battler going ham with spicy after spicy name flip, sizzling gun bars, spitfire punchlines and incredibly rigid wordplay that coupled with some hitting personals all combined to handily move Rum to the finals.
Verdict: Rum Nitty (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Rum Nitty – “This shit is over, I’ma lift it on him, no mask, show up bare [bear] faced on Cort’ (court) like the Grizzly’s logo!”
Recap: Rapping, at times, with the speedy, mayhem-lit flow from his old Grind Time days, but in this case a bit more versatile (esp. with the personals), scheme-friendly and rigid with the wordplay, an overall more condensed Cortez does enough in the 1st and 3rd round to beat back the oft-biting, unorthodox, but not-always-stealth 2-step styling’s of Jakkboy Maine in this 2nd-round Ultimate Madness 3 tournament.
Verdict: Cortez (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Cortez – “Yellow tape the body he could model for oft-white!”
Recap: A bit lengthy, but still gritty 1-rounder here from Organyzed Cryme Battle League between an always game Cortez and a performance-stunting and witty at times Sunny Red features a plethora of graphic mayhem, boastful barbs and raucous punches from both battlers. However, even with an almost equal amount of haymakers on each end, it’s a more condensed Cortez, extra fly with the name flips, a little more consistently hard-hitting and able to score too with some deft use of local references, who ends up earning the win.
Verdict: Cortez (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Cortez – “Tell these nigga’s stop before I pop that clip, the blood stains on this Tee, you can’t block that shit, I’m talking street sweepers, a bloody mess, you can’t mop that shit, I just left with bloody shoes, but it’s not my drip!”
Recap: Astonishly, a lot of the recaps on this Ultimate Madness 3, 1st round battle between O’fficial and Cortez seemed to center around people making the mistake of sleeping on Cortez (esp. when it came to those who wagered on the bout). And while that might be partly true, the fact of the matter is that if you’re going to put money on O’fficial winning vs. a top tier male battle rapper, you might want to go on YouTube, do a little research and see that O’fficial’s history against top tier’s hasn’t been good of late. And yeah, with all that shit-talking O’fficial did before this battle, seeing her slip-up so many times, choke in the 3rd round and bring so many subpar bars to a $100k tournament was certainly karma workimg its magic. But then too the reality we saw here is that the wicked gun bar-slinging, punchline/personal-stunting and wordplay-lit Cortez, especially with his experience in the game, should’ve been favored to win in the first place.
Verdict: Cortez (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Cortez – “I’m Puerto Rican…you already know, I hit bitches!”
Recap: In this Born Legacy 12 match that featured the 1st solo appearance of longtime vet Quest McCody on URL, Cortez utilizes with a quartet of verbal apparatus’: fierce name flips, boastful lyricism, ringing mayhem and rigid personals on his opponent’s status in battle rap to take the first couple of rounds for the win before Quest used some pent-up aggression and blistering personals to angle his way to a 3rd round debatable.
Verdict: Cortez (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Cortez – “My last battle?, that shit wasn’t trash, that shit was less than that, but Harry’s back ‘cuz once again I’m re-investing Smack!”
 Recap: Rookies vs. Vets 2 matchup between Eazy the Block Captain and Cortez goes Eazy’s way as the boastful Philly rapper’s hot wordplay/name flips, more direct and hitting personals, gritty street semantics and fiery storytelling hit with enough flair to take both the 1st and 2nd rounds over a solid and versatile, but mostly par the course ‘Tez, before a 3rd round debatable.
Verdict: Eazy the Block Captain (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Eazy the Block Captain – “Nigga, you fraudulent and why we doing all this talking shit and what the fuck we got to speak about the 3rd round Cort?, my judge don’t listen to closing arguments!”
Recap: Can’t help but think of what this battle would’ve been like had gun line feen Rum Nitty been around during Cortez’s Grind Time days, when the Brooklyn rapper was known almost exclusively for his rapid flows of mayhem. That might’ve been interesting. Nonetheless, an easy decision here as Nitty’s explosive punchline game, matched up with some stinging name flips and of course, a plethora of perpetually hazardous gun lines that always seem to be on a killing spree in the first two rounds easily beats a solid, but at times flow-challenged showing by Cort. A more versatile and punch-heavy Cortez did put together a clean and more potent 3rd round to avoid the shutout, but by then his opponent already knew he had it in the bag.
Verdict: Rum Nitty (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Rum Nitty – “Check the scoreboard, Warlord, , fucking with the kid is suicide, you ever seen a Tek-9 Cort?!”
Recap: Hope that I can be forgiven for giving unsolicited advice to a self-proclaimed ‘G.O.A.T.”. But as awesome as Kid Dangerous clearly is with the raps, going forward he may want to add more energy and performance to his bars…just saying. Meanwhile, in this super short 3-minute 1-rounder from ‘Special Battle League’, a pretty graphic with the punches as well as the sexcapades Cortez somehow manages to put a hurting on his opponent’s sublime bars to get away with a surprise win over battle raps KD….just don’t tell anyone.
Verdict: Cortez (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Cortez – “Razor’s for any amount, Bam Bam Bigelow, that means a flame gonna sit on his scalp!”
Recap: A consistently strong and righteous 3rd round from Cortez (who beforehand was too gun bar heavy) comes too late to knock off a punch-heavier, spirited, name flip-lit, set-up crazy and savvy with the personals Th3 Saga in the earlier rounds of this URL Sterilized battle that took place on Saga’s church rooftop.
Verdict: Th3 Saga (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Th3 Saga – “Leave all you frantic, I figured if take out people with Core’s [core] values then more will panic!”
Recap: Flashy gun bars are usually nice, but when Cortez can equally address the mayhem, precision and scenery that come with the heat while mixing in some spicy punchlines/personals…well, that’s a whole different story as seen here in this 1-round Quarantine battle that Cortez handily wins over a gritty, but topsy-turvy Shotgun Suge.
Verdict: Cortez (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Cortez – “And I don’t care what his life like, this .45 will make his life flash before his eyes and now you finally get to see what your life’s like…before you die!”
Recap: In the face of repeated mom disses, ringing mayhem and a gang of lyrically acute punches from Cortez throughout the battle, after a debatable 1st round, T-Top 1-ups his opponent in both the 2nd and 3rd rounds with a wide array of fiery personals/schemes, witty barbs, stinging punches/name flips and weighty trap talk to take this mostly competitive 3-rounder from the URL app.
Verdict: T-Top (W) 2-1
Favorite line: T-Top – “The reason nobody had ever bought your shit is ‘cuz we love the Big Apple, we just never wanted the core of it!”
Recap: Well, at least Vodka kept it entertaining as the confident, but mostly inconsistent Philly rapper (who seemed more prepared for a stand-up comedy show than a rap battle) made for some guffaws here and there with a steady stream of jokes and sandwich diaries. Too bad for Vodka tho as Cortez actually came to rap and that he did in this 1-rounder from The Battle Academy, using a blistering round of witty barbs, righteous name flips/personals, fire wordplay and dope punchlines to easily take the win.
Verdict: Cortez (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Cortez – “I mean what am I supposed to do with Vodka?, it’s proven Vodka…you never gonna touch the Smack stage because there’s nothing about you that’s Exclusive [Exclusiv] Vodka!”
Recap: Banned Legacy 3 battle between JC and Cortez sees the kid from Brooklyn rap his ass off for 3 rounds with a versatile mix of fiery punchlines, wily boasts, flippant personals and some nasty name flips/wordplay. But as he’s always capable of, JC just took matters to another level here, the much more condensed emcee, delivering even finer wordplay, fierce name flips, fire set-ups, witty personals, heated gun bars and crazy punches that produced haymaker after haymaker, especially during an almost flawless 2nd round. And with the Michigan battler also taking the 1st round, despite a debatable 3rd (‘Tez’s best round), it’s still an impressive win for JC nonetheless.
Verdict: JC (W) 2-1
Favorite line: JC – “You can’t keep blaming your lack of battle releases on your opponent’s, see that’s that usual Cort shit, I devour nigga’s and you can still click ‘view’ on them corpses!”
Recap: Besides taking advantage of his opponent’s ring rust with some witty personals, Cortez uses a barrage of slick punchlines, feisty verbal mayhem and rich name flips to beat a confident, but mostly-subpar-till-the-3rd-round Metaphor.
Verdict: Cortez (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Cortez – “The minute this nigga crack a smile, I’ll crack his smile, nerd nigga, square off top like cap-n-gown!”
Recap: With a live band behind them, Cortez and Bilzar battle on a beat for 3 entertaining rounds, whiel riding each beat almost to a tee (esp. the speed-rapping Bilzar in the 1st round while adeptly free-styled over the “Big Pimping” beat in the 3rd). After a debatable round 1, a punch-heavier Bilzar took the 2nd before Cortez came back with a more steady flowing 3rd to take the round and earn a tie.
Verdict: Debatable
Favorite line: Bilzar – “I’m the best they could find, you just the best they could get!”
Recap: Cortez’s underrated wordplay versus Saint Mic’s boatload of stinging punchlines makes for a solid matchup on RBE. Competitive throughout, but for a huge disarray of angles and less potent punches by Mic in the 1st round, it’s not only Cort’s ability to construct his bars better in the opening and middle rounds (before a debatable 3rd, that was due in part to an elongated turn by Cort as well as Saint Mic displaying some ardent wit) that gets him the win here, but also a versatile palette of fiery name flips, sizzling set-ups to his punches, jocular shiners, fervent pontifications and flexing gun bars.
Verdict: Cortez (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Cortez – “I’ll beat Saint Christ-like, I’m the face of sin, a Hellraiser, they all scared to face the pen!”
Recap: Pretty solid 1-rounder from Don’t Flop between Cortez and Gemin1 with both battlers bringing plenty of spicy punchlines and other hitting darts. Undoubtedly a close one with an almost equal amount of haymakers, with slightly less dry spots Cortex gets the edge here.
Verdict: Cortez (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Cortez – “Brooklyn, all day, we spray there and you know what?, life’s bittersweet but I was taught that I could taste fear!”
Recap: Cortez and Pass go back a long way’s so a little strange that it took them this long to battle. But with KOTD providing the platform, these two vets finally meet up on the stage and it’s a more consistent and versatile Cortez who takes this one in what was an entertaining and punch-heavy matchup with plenty of syrupy punchlines from both battlers, but also some quizzical moments like Pass wasting too many bars on not getting a chance at the KOTD chain and failing to be more crisp with his angles. The latter issue is something a confident Cort would take advantage of in the first couple of rounds with a deluge of fiery personals, flippant name flips, heated gun bars and other heated schemes/wordplay, all with an invigorating and tight flow that got him the aforementioned rounds, before an elongated turn in the 3rd (and Pass dishing his best round) cost him getting a shutout.
Verdict: Cortez (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Cortez – “Boy, fuck your open nights at the Pit, cocky is how you come off, you from the era of Scribble Jam, but get treated like a jump-off!”
Recap: Damn, if that Big Pun “You Ain’t A Killer” beat isn’t still fire in 2018. Besides that, anyone familiar with Cortez’s overall resume, mixtapes, singles, etc. over the years, knows full well how battling over a beat is second nature for him. So much so, as proven here against a resolute, but nowhere-near-as-nice Buttah From The Block, that with the Murder Ave vet’s ability to endlessly spit rapid bar after bar with gritty cadence, this battle really wasn’t a fair contest.
Verdict: Cortez (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Cortez – “Closed casket, now your features got smothered, looking down like ‘Yo, I can’t believe it’s not Butter!'”
Recap: Not that he wasn’t bountiful with the haymakers, but a surprising freestyle/rebuttal game ends up saving Cortez from a loss here in what was a fire and competitive battle versus Ryda. Indeed, after an entertaining, (“I’m a hybrid, Ryda [rider], ain’t no gas in the clutch!”) personal-heavy/name-flip and braggadocio turn from Cortez to start things out in the first, Mr. I Like To Name My Guns comes right back with an aggressive, (“They say no fingers, no evidence, Gary Payton, O.J. Simpson, I brought both gloves for Cort!”) gun-savvy and spitfire turn of his own that with a couple of more haymakers, edges the Goonie member the round. Still, after a spazzing-on-both-sides first, things settled down a little bit in the 2nd round. But while Ryda was a little more consistently nice with his punchlines/personals/gun bars, a couple of solid freestyles by Cor towards the beginning of his turn and only one less haymaker gets him a draw for the round. With Ryda still ahead going into the final round, Cortez really gets in his bag of haymakers, crisply working his vaunted ‘Shit We Gotta Speak About’ angles to ill effect with some dope wordplay, fiery shots at Ryda’s team, a couple of rebuttals, fire Spanish idioms and more salacious (“I’m flaming out the projects, banging out with targets, 50 sparking, Ricky Martin, this shit just came out the closet!”) punchlines/gun bars mixed in to beat back what was also a turned-up and punch-heavy, but not quite as potent turn by Ryda.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: Ryda – “Just because you out of arm’s length don’t mean I can’t bring you pain, just because you out of reach, don’t mean you out of range!”
Recap: A classic, consistently punch-heavy, personal/name flip (nice enough to turn around Cor’s ‘Nasty!’ jargon on him) spazzing and aggressive 1st round from O-Red sets the tone. And even while getting edged by the rebuttal-spouting, mayhem-friendly and equal (“So either check in or get checked out, I’ll hit him with X amount, he’ll be X’d out, Malcolm X style, meaning he gon’ burn then die [dye] when I let it fry on Red scalp!”) haymaker-dishing Cortez in the 2nd, in this fire matchup between two battle vets, O-Red proves in the end to have enough (“Now I’m confused, are y’all tellin’ me, you went from Total Slaughter couch to Charlie couch? well goddamn Mr. Top Tier Money, you need some bread bro? Sub Zero after the finisher, hold ya head up [BAOW!] now it’s like I got evicted when the lead bust!”) heat and more consistent punches to edge to pretty solid turn from his opponent and take the deciding round.
Verdict: O-Red (W) 2-1
Favorite line: O-Red – “Smack, what you be on, this a lose-lose tell this faggot move along, a lose-lose for you I mean, you see, I could snap and do you wrong or choke every round and send you back where you belong!”
Recap: Doesn’t get much more confident, raucous and sublime then the Cortez we see here as the Brooklyn rhyme-slinger brings 3 rounds of persistent heat, performance-rich semantics, sizzling name flips and spicy punchlines/personals/wordplay to a pretty solid, but not as proficient or as captivating Patron in what was still a competitive battle from F-Klan Visuals.
Verdict: Cortez (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Cortez – “This what I’m pout here for?, one swing crack his jaw, one swing…raquetball, I’m out here, by myself, bring a Tag a long [Tagalog]!”
Recap: More constructed in his raps and a little more consistent overall bar-wise than his opponent, who seemed to be spitting themes at random throughout the battle, Cortez can be forgiven for the misuse of Bret Hart in the 4 Horseman reference, in an otherwise well-themed and personal 3rd round that serves as the difference maker in this win versus Christian rapper/KOTD stalwart A. Ward.
Verdict: Cortez (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Cortez – “Ain’t shit we gotat speak about, ask Hollohan bitch, i killed God already!
Recap: Saving his best round for the 3rd with a well-themed turn that was wax full of egocentric bluster, Cortez survives a split of the two rounds as well as overall a nice, competitive turn from his witty/aggressive Aussie opponent Cortext, to take the deciding round and earn the win.
Verdict: Cortez (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Cortez – “Me?, I’m MSG on SportsCenter, Him?, high-school gym, y’all get it, which Cort’s [court’s] better?!”
Recap: I’m glad that Cortez mentioned staying in Australia for a couple of weeks, because Lord knows you shouldn’t travel 24 hours all the way to Australia from New York just for a battle and turn back right around. Instead, make it a vacation and roam around, check out the place, touch a kangaroo, etc. That being said, nice battle between (“Yall know me, Cortez, Brooklyn, I kill shit offhand, Mason Betha, he can preach and diss all he want, I’m sill gonna get the win on Cam!”) ‘Tez and veteran battler (“…turn ya cerebral cortex into a lobotomy!”) Dunn D with both having their moments throughout the match while keeping the crowd hyped. Still, after sort of an up-n-down 2nd round that saw him fumble a bit, thus splitting the battle going into the 3rd, Cort used an obligatory ‘Something We Gotta Talk About’ theme to get personal and score with hitting barbs on his opponent’s career or lack thereof and beat back a solid turn by Dunn D.
Verdict: Cortez (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Cortez – “Damn, I thought you was the man on this rap shit, but you ain’t looking how I thought you looked…I was catfished!”
Recap: Gotta roll with the crowd on this one as the seeming lack of excitement during this KOTD title match between Cortez and Head I.C.E. was totally understandable in what was mostly a snoozefest. Indeed, as lengthy as pretty much each round was here, while one can appreciate the effort put in from both battlers, judging from all the dry spots and filler, neither emcee was on their A-game. Still, considering it was a rematch from their controversial bout way back in the days of the Lionz Den, the irony of Cortez receiving another loss to I.C.E. when the opinion here is that he hit with enough hard punches, personals, angles and rugged heat to easily take the first two rounds against an opponent who was all over the place with his rhymes, super long-winded and too often lacked any spice with his punches, shouldn’t be loss on anyone, especially the hosts.
Verdict: Cortez (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Cortez – “I told y’all I ain’t playing with I.C.E, if I air [ear] one then it go one out the other, I ain’t take his advice!”
Recap: Here against Nu Jerzey Twork, Cortez finally gets his long-deserved Summer Madness battle and overall, whiel it’s a solid showing from both battlers, you wouldn’t be unfair if you wanted and expected more. That said, a more consistent, trap-themed and versatile Cortez edged the first round, using some dope performance bars along with some exquisite (“I need to know, they call you Twork why?, ‘cuz you shaving them grams?!, lies, they call you Twork ‘cuz you shaky on cam!”) wordplay to beat back a menacing and gun-heavy turn by the always eccentric (“I let it clap on Cor, [claps 3 times]. then again…clap..on. Cor…the gat drann!”) Twork. Second round had Twork winning pretty easy as Tez’s aggressive bars, while loaded with a few (“.357 in your face, the nose ring different!”) shiners here and there, missed the mark too often with a couple of reaches and wayward themes/lines that seemed a little redundant, when they weren’t pedestrian. In turn, Twork came through with a spitfire round that spoke to the potency (“I get it popping when it bang, silencio, sound like nada when it bang!”) of his pen as well his ability to spout an expansive range of fire set-ups. Going into the last round tied, Cortez’s earlier promises of having something to talk about, turned into a bit of a disappointment, what with little on the personal side. And while you got a competitive round filled with plenty of heat and sanguine wordplay, a few dry spots along with bars that would’ve worked against a lesser tier opponent, would end up costing Cortez a win. In turn, with momentum on his side after spitting his best round, Twork’s 3rd, while not his best, still was enough to rise to the occasion, what with some witty (“You managed to beat Daylyt, but most of your footage ain’t seen the light of day!”) personals and fiery gun bars that slayed their mark. Overall, enough to catch up to Cort and call this one even at the end.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: Nu Jerzey Twork – “Fuck your battles, you hear me talking about your vault, it’s the one behind the portrait!”
Recap: Choosing to run with like 80% punches allows Ish Mula to put together a very solid (“Bar for bar, you ain’t even in my class G, actually when I calculated these punches…I’d be better off with Math B!”) performance against the veteran Cortez. However, when Mula alludes to Spanish battle rappers not liking Cortez, you can’t help but wonder why he didn’t address that particular rumor more in his raps. Because if that’s the case, why is it that when given the chance to face Cor one-on-one, most Spanish battle rappers have failed…miserably. And considering too thut with a way more versatile and (“Two battles in one day, nigger I’m that hungry, I offed Run and Will hit a brick wall like Crash Dummies!”) haymaker-heavy Cortez takes this one here, he can’t help but give notice to all Spanish battle rappers again, that he’s the best one out there.
Verdict: Cortez (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Cortez – “Lord forgive me, that chrome dumping, I’m dome hunting, it’s an everyday struggle waking up to Cyn [sin] like Joe Buddens!”
Recap: “You’re mid-tier!” Ummm, yeah. Prez Mafia can keep killing the Craig Lamar’s and Money Bag’s of the world, but until he can step up and beat a Top Tier like DNA or in this case Cortez, he’ll forever remain a mid-tier URL battler (or, at best, headlining a smaller league card). Which is a bit disappointing when you know that the talent is there (so much so that can’t help but wonder if the two chokes here were due, in part, to taking this battle too soon after his recent battle’s against the aforementioned Lamar and Bagz) as we’ve seen it in the past and he even had a few (“This nigga is gassed and pussy, he petro!”) moments here when he wasn’t slipping up or choking. Either way, another dope performance by Cortez. The downright Nasty! (“I know Bloods up in your hood, so play even, or I’ll them big hats up on Prez like Abe Lincoln!”) wordplay, lessons in Battle Rap 101, spitfire jokes, braggadocio (“This is a bird-ass nigga, a bozo, you know the type to wait on line for days for some Jays that’s finna drop?…I’ll skip him, ‘Shut up nigga, its been my spot!'”) bars and crazy punchlines…it was all there throughout his 3 rounds on an Ascension card that garnered so much talk for ‘Tez being on it in the first place. Now after this showing, URL needs to stop the insanity and give Cortez the Top Tier battle’s he so richly deserves.
Verdict: Cortez (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Cortez – “They said keep ya eye on the prize, I got a scope for that, ’bout to trump Prez like ‘fuck him’ I ain’t vote for that, Mr Hide My Bars, well good, I got a vault for that!”
Recap: Even if half his bars were based on themes battlers have long called to order regarding Daylyt (i.e. the antics, gimmicks, homosexual dalliances, etc.), those fiery lines along with some potent name flips and flaming gun bars guarantee rounds 1 and 3 (you can argue for a debateable 2nd) to Cortez along with a win on the KOTD stage.
Verdict: Cortez (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Cortez – “I ghostwrite, it’s common sense [cents], we coin phrases!”
Recap: Vocal projection on full tilt, but with a bunch of raucous punchlines, some fire-set-ups/gun bars and acute personals/schemes to match, a competitive and consistently spicy D. Flamez edges the deciding 3rd round for the win in this Bullpen Battle League matchup over a witty, boastful and mostly punch-heavy Cortez, after the two split the first couple of rounds.
Verdict: D. Flamez (W) 2-1
Favorite line: D. Flamez – “You got that look like you trip to get the ass!”
Recap: After edging a close 1st round via a gang of gritty storytelling bars, fire set-ups and audacious (“The real food for thought in life, is that you can’t eat books for dinner, you stupid nigga!”) pontifications (that combined added up to a classic that even impressed his opponent) on B. Dot’s renowned battle lectures, Cortez makes the mistake of mostly sticking to one theme: attempting to beat his opponent at his own game for the rest of the battle. Or better yet, perhaps B. Dot was just more prepared for what his opponent would bring to the fight. Either way, through the use of steely hometown bars, thoro (“I gotta do ya, send a shot into ya, this is Black love, Brown pride, Shaka Zulu meets Montezuma!”) raps, aggressive punchlines and toss in some nifty (“You don’t know what that means bro, you just a gringo who go wherever the green go!”) Spanish lessons and as far as round 2 and 3, it’s pretty much all B. Dot, showing off his versatility for the dub.
Verdict: B. Dot (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Cortez – “And you talking all this Black power bullshit, that that’s what excites fans, but you still chose Organik over Smack, so you working for the white man!”
