Recap: In this 1-rounder from The Battle Academy, Nu Jerzey Twork uses fierce name flips and stinging punchlines to make quick work of a confident, but lyrically pedestrian Cyssero. Indeed, Cyssero’s elongated turn not only had Twork exasperated, but it became so humdrum that he had the crowd yelling ‘Time!’ while he rapped.
Verdict: Nu Jerzey Twork (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Nu Jerzey Twork – “Ill line ya shit, scope on it, I’m Iron Fist, everybody gotta die, but you go first…I insist [eyeing Cys]!”
Recap: Round one turns out to be the difference maker in this entertaining matchup between Cyssero and Bill Collector. Prone to slip-ups in his most recent battles, Cyssero not only gets more pronounced and refined here, but along with dishing some nice animated bars, it’s the righteous (“Stop being Bill Collector, who’s a clown, and be Eric who’s more of a respectable nigga and you won’t have bitch-nigga problems, ‘cuz the real one’s will have more respect for ya nigga!”) ‘talking to’ that he puts on his opponent that edges him the opening round, despite a hot (“Battle rap Snapple fact, from the upper council, you Black Wallstreet and The Game don’t give a fact about you!”) turn from Bill. And Cys wasn’t done hyping the crowd there either as his second round, an elongated but steady stream of winsome punches and gritty (“So go head, play animal, I’ll bang it out and spark, he’ll go to sleep right after the shot…that’s a tranquilizer dart!”) gun bars that continuously landed, turned out to be Cyssero’s best round since his return to battle rap. With two straight rounds of consistent fire, by the time Bill (who pretty much took round two off) returned with repeated (“If you swing…[ducks down] wait a minute, if I swing…[points down] pavement!”) heat to take the latter round, it turned out to be a little too late.
Verdict: Cyssero (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Cyssero – “I’ll bless you with so many bullets in ya neck region, you’ll belch and drop ya head in ya chest, now ya breastfeeding…”
Recap: The Philly battle rapper’s need for more intricacy within their bars displays itself again as while Cyssero spouted more consistency and a better flow here against Ty Law than he did a few months earlier against Cortez, his mostly hard lines and straightforward delivery just couldn’t hang with a more elaborate punchline (“Your pen game like Rogue off X-men, feel her [filler] is hurting you!”) feen, personals (“Me and Cortez ruined ya buzz, my question is who killed him more, Court or Law?…YOU be the judge!”) stalwart and jaunty (“You got frail hands, you ain’t poppin’ no gun, it’s gonna be a nasty sight, tell Th3Saga don’t run!”) wordsmith in Law. So while Cyss’ penchant for guns bars were drenched in cinematic sound bites (and he did manage to spit some (“If I don’t give him a shot, I still Set It Off, you Vivica Fox, eat the butt of the 50!”) fire at times) too often they lacked the adroitness, bite and animated pizzazz of a Big T. So indeed, while the (“I throw lead, go ‘head with the hype shit, AR hit ya car and make it do bike tricks!”) talent is certainly there, if Philly’s best are going to continue to take on the URL’s best, they’re not going to have to catch up to the slick proficiency of battle rapper’s more elite, but come more consistent and even look into drafting a different game plan.
Verdict: Ty Law (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Ty Law – “Your time to blow done, your chances like Daylyt [daylight] vs O Red battle, because Day died and [in] ’01 [O won]”
Recap: For 3 consistent rounds Cortez reps hard for his hood with a wide load of BK bangers, dishes out some nice storytelling bars, styles with the (“Fingerprints? Not a trace, cuz’ if I fuck with the gloves, I’m in Philly, two twins giving Brotherly Love!”) wordplay and kills with the personals against Cyssero, a signed North Philly rapper and battle rap vet, who despite some nice punches here and there, chokes twice and learns the hard way that if you’re an artist returning to battle rap, you may want to ease your way back in slowly against some lower tiers dudes rather than hop on the big stage right away and face a top tier like Cortez.
Verdict: Cortez (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Cortez – “So stop acting like you some real big G, please ock, you get sent to the store for dutches, you come back…and then get sent to the weed spot!”
