No Bias. No Narratives.
Recap: A 1-rounder from URL’s ‘Outside’ card sees Shotgun Suge use a scintillating and steady barrage of fiery name flips, gritty set-up/punchlines and hard-hitting personals to handily beat back a punch-heavy at times, but mostly pedestrian Danja Zone.
Verdict: Shotgun Suge (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Shotgub Suge – “I look danger [Danja] in the face I see a desert eagle with 30 friends!”
Recap: From URL’s Born Legacy 12 card, Don Marino gets back on his grind, avoids the notorious unforced errors and while taking advantage of an elongated Danja Zone who was prone to filler after a punch-heavy and strong, multi-layered round 1, unleashes a hefty bag of piercing name flips/punchlines, hard-hitting struggle bars, some solid rebuttals and stinging set-ups/personals to edge round 1, score a debatable 2nd and take round 3 for the win.
Verdict: Don Marino (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Don Marino – “When it comes to smoke, I’m no stranger Danja, you just pointed out the wrong person!”
Recap: Consistency counts for something as a pretty solid throughout and never off his game Danja Zone, via a plethora of spicy 4-bar set-ups, some fiery wordplay, plenty of boastful darts and the occasional piercing name flip/personal survives a sublime and punch-heavy 1st round from O-Red to edge the latter two rounds what with the help of his opponent delivering two topsy-turvy turns that too often bordered on choking.
Verdict: Danja Zone (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Danja Zone – “You cook, I cook, so what you saying nigga like Paula Deen!”
Recap: Danja Zone’s rapid, ‘jewels within the jewels’ style of rap often works when he’s a little more direct with his punches and wordplay. And ironically, here in this URL 3-rounder against Kid Chaos, Zone’s best round would be his 3rd as he assuaged the crowd with boastful barbs, more direct punches and some sizzling play on words instead of the topsy-turvy hijinks he was spitting in the previous rounds. But speaking of Chaos, the South Carolina rapper just continues to shine, putting on another stellar show of festive verbal gymnastics, more direct/witty/hitting personals (esp. during round 3), piercing schemes and crowd-pleasing punchlines/gun bars to take both round 1 and 2 for the win.
Verdict: Kid Chaos (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Kid Chaos – “This shit a Bigg K, shit’ll go through Zone like a trick play!”
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: Both battlers shilling for lyrical showmanship, Danja Zone and Chilla Jones go at it for 1 electric round in this Quarantine battle on Smack/URL. And while Danja’s rapid punches and eccentric wordplay made their mark for the most part, some reaches on the punches here and there in addition to his fellow Writer’s Bloque member Chilla’s more pointed darts, piercing name flips, heated gun bars and festive/intricate punchlines gives Jones the win.
Verdict: Chilla Jones (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Chilla Jones – “I zone in and I zone out, I took the Dr. Scholl’s route, I’m trying to knock his soul [sole] out, I’m leaving shells all over the floor…Texas Roadhouse!”
Recap: In this Black Ice Cartel battle versus Chef Trez, noted puncher Danja Zone turns it up a bit and grinds hard enough to force a debatable 3rd round. But before that, too many dated bars/schemes by Zone as well as punchlines that were a little meh at times obscure an otherwise solid showing. Then too, with the Chef dishing more consistent mayhem, gritty punchlines, fiery name flips, a couple of fire rebuttals and genuflecting gun bars at random during the 1st and 2nd, this battle was already was already in the bag before the final round.
Verdict: Chef Trez (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Chef Trez – “I would say we could line it up in the streets, but I know you don’t trust that, so we could do a cage fight, fuck rap, jab, hook then let a knee in Zone…touchback!”
Recap: 30’s can be so deceiving sometimes what with the implication that the winner bodied their opponent. But that’s not always the case such as in this battle against Danja Zone, Holmzie Da God really gave a great effort, punching his heart out, adding some wit and even spouting some real street shit/struggle bars that the ‘been there’ crowd could appreciate. However, a couple of mistakes by Holmzie didn’t help matters. Such as the usage of nonsensical similes in the early stages on the bout and comically going at Danja for repeating bars in past battles would turn into a huge no-no as Zone was able to turn the personals that into a couple of fly rebuttals. Still, when it came to a spicy punch game combined with a wide load of boastful barbs and some sublime wordplay throughout his 3 rounds, even with two elongated rounds against a fierce competitor who made him earn it, the lyrically sharp Danja Zone just had too much in the tank.
Verdict: Danja Zone (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Danja Zone – “Look here I cook squares in hot hot round like a waffle iron!”
Recap: File this one under ‘WTF Was He Thinking?!?’. A stickler for hardbody punches/schemes, after edging round 1 versus a punch-heavy, but less cleaner Danja Zone, R Streetz goes into ‘How To Lose A Battle You Were Winning’ mode and uses half his 2nd round to dish mostly lame jokes/personals, before getting back on his grind in the deciding 3rd and about a minute in…tagging in T Top for a cameo appearance that clearly meant for something else. And then he quit the round. Yeah, really. Either way, with Danja Zone pretty on point and scoring with solid punchlines and wordplay throughout his 2nd and 3rd rounds, one could make the case that Streetz probably would’ve lost the battle to the DMV vet anyway. But the sheer idea of getting away from got you on the big stage in the first place and fucking around with roasting sessions and an unreliable tag-in, kind of says that you didn’t deserve to win this battle anyway.
Verdict: Danja Zone (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Danja Zone – “Whoever said this would be a movie, should come to events a lot less faded…we still trying to figure if R a PG like ‘This Film Is Not Yet Rated’!”
Recap: In this 3-rounder from Skytier Northwest, after a close 1st round, a confident, witty with the personals and scheme/punchline-heavy Danja Zone ends up with an easy bag upon Jey The Nitewing’s more pedestrian bars and slip-ups in the latter two rounds.
Verdict: Danja Zone (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Danja Zone – “Everything in your verse was dumb, wack, lot of dead waste. please tell me that that’s not your best Jey, ‘cuz if so, everything in your head was trash…Black China sex tape!”
Recap: Kind of a weird battle between Jai 400 Block and Danja Zone in the fact that despite going into the final split, none of the 3 rounds here was even close. 1st round saw Jai stumble a couple of times before dishing a pretty standard turn that Danja easily beat back with spitfire (“They just here for Jai to [Jada] die early, that’s the beginning of Scream 2!”) bars that brought with them all sorts of mayhem. However, the 2nd round saw both battlers do a 180 what with Jai stepping up his aggression while dispensing a stirring mix of dope (“All these nigga’s talk about weapons that they’ll shoot off, till I pull a Wesson they get to stepping like Q-dogs!”) gun lines and fiery punchlines that left you no doubt who won that round when put against what a ubiquitous bore-fest of bars from his opponent. So with the momentum on Mr. 400 Block’s side and Danja Zone seemingly losing traction, Jai spits a shortened and ordinary 3rd, which in turn allows Danja to effortlessly take this one by means of a nice mix of hard punches and dope set-ups. Again, just weird, especially for what was an apparent grudge mtach.
Verdict: Danja Zone (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Danja Zone – “I’ll put lead in a caliber, then put a hole in his head like Kevin McCallister!”
Recap: Big Kannon survives getting creamed with ‘3 of them things!’ by Danja Zone in round 2, after just edging Danja with a more rambunctious, direct and less reaching 1st. That adds up to a deciding 3rd round, which Kannon edges with filthier bars, nifty wordplay and less filler.
Verdict: Big Kannon (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Big Kannon – “You ain’t gotta warn me about Danja [danger], I’ve already read those signs from the gate!”
Recap: Dishing stinging name flips, righteous schemes and hard-hitting personals in rounds 1 and 3 with extra flair and confidence, Charlies Clips easily sets back an erratic Danja Zone in this 3-rounder from Black Ice Cartel.
Verdict: Charlie Clips (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Charlie Clips – “…and this nigga a snitch, running with State Farm, what that mean he pop up with the wrong Jake!”
Recap: After a subpar 1st round that gave way to some stifling bars from opponent Street Hymns, Danja Zone turns it up and puts it on vet mode, dishing potent punchlines, Poindexter-dripped personals a couple of fire, mid-round rebuttals in the 2nd and 3rd rounds to easily beat back Street’s more substandard bars and earn the win.
Verdict: Danja Zone (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Danja Zone – “I had a Revelation after Genesis, I’m gonna show him where’s the exit’s [Exodus] at!”
Recap: Impressive win here for Big T, who’s consistent variety of witty punchlines, sizzling gun bars, fiery personals, performance-rich schemes and gritty braggadocio lines allows him to take the 1st and 3rd rounds (call the 2nd debatable) and surpass an at times bar-heavy and mostly-solid-till-the-3rd-round Danja Zone in this dope battle from Black Ice Cartel.
Verdict: Big T (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Big T – “I’m the type to play Pokeman Go…on a block where I got beef with nigga’s!”
Recap: Danja Zone (“Your pencil is pitiful, shit my pen do is pivotal, appearance wise, fear for lives, see how I move without traveling…Jamiroquai!”) out-bars Quest Mcody in a close round 1. But Quest comes right back displaying more versatility with righteous (“Danja, swear to God you don’t live with your daddy….that’s ‘cuz I put you out bitch!”) jokes and (“You winning? nigga not today, he swing, he’ll get a knot today, pop and spray, he the future? cool, that’s not today!”) punches to even things up in round 2. Split going into the 3rd round, it’s all Danja, with personals that landed hard along with some nice (“Bitch, I’m fitting to smack you, they like ‘It’s just a battle!‘, [places arm under chin & waves] till I wave goodbye with the 5th to his chin like I’m a Little Rascal!”) performance bars and sizzling wordplay to earn the win.
Verdict: Danja Zone (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Danja Zone – “It’s no pick-n-roll, give-n-go, but you’ll still get shot off-screen like I’m reloading an arcade gun!”
Recap: Mostly punch-heavy and at times personal-lit effort from Danja Zone. But in this competitive 3-rounder from URL, Rum Nitty would prove to be too much. The Arizona battler consistently scoring with dizzying wordplay, a gang of intricate punches, brolic gun lines and fiery gun bars/personals/name flips that included a flawless round 2 (i.e. classic) which when you added it all up amounted to a Gentleman’s 30.
Verdict: Rum Nitty (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Rum Nitty – “You my nigga, but I’ll give it to you, blade get stuck in a friendZone like how the bitches do you!”
Recap: DNA uses an exquisite palette of feelgood (“…yellow tape surround the block, weave the punch, counterblock”) schemes, cunning (“I’m old school, Aviator, these two 4’s, your favorite Laker, when these meals come out, it ain’t a Baconator!”) wordplay, witty personals, ill angles and fiery (“For them Knicks you’ll get robbed Early in Queens, this is not Uber!”) punchlines to beat Danja Zone, who at (“Don’t even think to compare him to this beast from Maryland, they ain’t seen a fly nigga drop bombs since Tuskeegee Airmen!”; “Right after I body Shine, that’s Bruce Leroy!”) times merited his consensus Battler of the Year acclaim, but overall settled for too much filler. That, along with his opponent’s incredible consistency and robust performance, made for a surprising 3-0 from DNA.
Verdict: DNA (W) 3-0
Favorite line: DNA – “See, we used to think you was tough when you was fat, but all that disappeared, I used to think the old Zone [ozone] would lay a han don me, but now all I see in him is fear”
Recap: In this punchline-lit 3-rounder from Black Ice Cartel, a spitfire freestyle at the end of his 3rd round serves as the coup de grace for a confident Danja Zone, who’s steady barrage of sizzling punches, rigid mayhem and boastful wordplay/name flips/personals is enough to beat back a solid/clever-punching, but less potent overall B Magic in each round.
Verdict: Danja Zone (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Danja Zone – “I slaughter nigga’s and you nothing like Carter, write harder, thinking Danja wack, I’ll bring the blade to Black like Wesley Snipes’ barber!”
Recap: Despite overperforming at times, the recently on fire Danja Zone gave you three solid (“See the issue, he’s not the most elite of writers, but deserves an Oscar for acting, that’s bologna, what makes you think we need a Meyers [Myers]”) rounds here against Danny Myers, a plethora of nice (“You just mad ‘cuz you not Carter, the team hot, but you not…Ron Harper!”) punchlines and rich performance bars that probably would’ve beaten most rappers. But I don’t know if anyone is fucking with Myers these days as once again his (“I’ll pimp your bitch, but I don’t want her, nigga the whore is yours, I’m just trying to make her flip open the box like Storage Wars!”) haymakers have almost become perfunctory, his bar quotient exceptional, consistently dope (“I’ll blow off a nigga’s ear [points at Danja’s ears then mouth] and tongue over hearsay”) wordplay, flagrant schemes and his punchline (“And that bitch you with is a cum drinker, that ho be quick off the draws like a gunslinger!”) game just leaves you shaking your head begging for more. It’s always something special to see a battler put it all together and in 3-0’ing a hot and dope lyricist like Danja Zone, the dudes holding down that Top Tier room down may have to finally stand aside and let the Bar God in.
Verdict: Danny Myers (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Danny Myers – “Remember these young niggas can’t rap with me, ‘cuz I’m about to turn 36 Zone, that’s the key”
Recap: “I’m dead nice”–never witnessed a more confident, flat-out consistent and all-out superb Danja Zone than here against Lotta Zay. So prolific was Danja’s pen game, that nothing Lotta did in this battle would’ve mattered at the end. So despite a rare choke by Lotta in round one, being followed by a couple of (“I’ll leave y’all all hurt, Rugrat open and crank it, y’all see the Tom’s squirt”) average rounds, with a wide array of fierce wordplay, booming punchlines, spirited (“Zay verse Danja, bet, but if this a battle on Olympus, in light of when greats connect, then why he kept getting invited like Facebook game requests?’) bars and addictive (“Cut out your middle and side man, like when Frank went to Thailand!”) crowd-pleasers, Danja Zone not only only gets the white towel thrown in during round 3, but his stock should go way up after catching a body against a pretty formidable opponent.
Verdict: Danja Zone (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Danja Zone – “Headshot, y’all getting the head at the same freaking time, that’s a 69!”
Recap: A super aggressive Bedaffi Green dishes out some (“I don’t care for these suckers, I want to kill all these niggas like Aryan brothers!”; “Killing any tier, blackened on the top and bottom, this widescreen!”) hot bars and nice punches in this one-rounder against Danja Zone brought to you from Trap House NY, But a little too much filler/nonsensical (‘the bird will come out first…’) bars along with some pedestrian bars mixed in from the Long Island emcee altogether add up to a loss when matched besides Danja Zone’s consistently fiery wordplay and righteous (“Green, it’s too late to come back homes’, you need a ne curfew…all I see ’round him is fear, you need a new circle!”) punches/name flips.
Verdict: Danja Zone (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Danja Zone – “To future up-comers with punches, do not mix with danger [Danja]…I preserve bodies for the future off freeze alone like cryogenic chambers!”
Recap: Danja Zone rapped longer and came with some nice (“See these ratchets fucked, and flew out the window like Cleo in the whip”) bars, but too much filler and exaggerated schemes proved too little against Verb’s haymakers, witty personals and crowd-pleasing (“I be bringing out the live drums in Maryland, nigga that’s Go-Go music!”) punchlines in this one-rounder from Do or Die Battle League.
Verdict: Aye Verb (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Aye Verb -“I ride up, Jerri-curl, bumping that Soul-Glo music, shotty out the window, that bitch long, look like Rebecca Lobo shooting!”
Recap: Not much to see here as even an inconsistent Danja Zone’s best (“Every buck go in [gone] like Robin Givens”; the Doug E. Fresh bar/impression) moments were simply overwhelmed by KG the Poet’s wicked (“Get out the way from the .40 when it double, you see that big shot? [‘Bob!‘] that’s Robery Horry from the clutch”) performance bars, slick wordplay, substantive personals, jokes (“You battle rap’s Tevin Campbell”), sport bars and aggressive delivery. Toss in a dope rebuttal at the start of round 3 and you have an easy 3-0, no overtime necessary.
Verdict: KG the Poet (W) 3-0
Favorite line: KG the Poet – “I’ll hit you with a Tek, I will flare, the shit will make you feel weird, like you living with your ex”
Recap: Mostly a snoozefest between Cortez and Danja Zone as Tez for the most part seemed uninspired and his signature wordplay more often than not fell flat. Still, after a lackluster first round, Danja Zone stepped his game up and scored heavy in both the latter rounds with some nice performance bars and brash schemes to take it at the end.
Verdict: Danja Zone (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Danja Zone – “You telegraphing your punches, my jab’s fast as a Mach Five, you swing and I’ll weave and land that before you draw your hands back, I’m counterclockwise”
Synopsis: M. Ciddy makes use of frequent TV habits (“Charm School”), name flips, personals (“I bet you hear the floor squeak when ya’ mam fuck”) and punchlines along with steady aggression to make hay of Danja Zone.
Verdict: M. Ciddy (W) 2-1
Favorite line: M. Ciddy – “You use schemes for a crutch and you stretch crazy, and draw everything out, you Tex Avery”
Recap: Weird seeing Smack host a non-URL battle. That said, despite an overall solid effort from Danja Zone, too many pedestrian bars overall, taking too long to get in his bag during rounds, fleeting personals that just didn’t hit and equally a punch-heavy JC who consistently brought the heat with audacious shiners and personals throughout the battle, gives the latter a pretty comfortable 30.
Verdict: JC (W) 3-0
Favorite line: JC – “I can blow like 8 battles straight bro, I’m the shit regardless and I’m a still get paid to burn you pussies…Mr. Marcus!”
Synopsis: Warning to all battle rappers: DO NOT battle Goodz in a one-rounder. Really now. And there’s no sense trying to spin this one as despite a solid effort from Danja Zone, a Henny-holding, gem-dropping and versatile Goodz was just clicking (“Thinking you on, well you wrong, you had a classic with NuBorn, no for real you had a CLASSIC with NuBorn”) on all cylinders here. Indeed, BX all day.
Verdict: Goodz (W) 1-0
Best line: Goodz – “Where’s the charisma at?, that was today’s lesson, matter fact y’all battle rappers should’ve met me on Christmas, I was giving out stage presence (presents)!”
Recap: With so many artists wanting to try their hand at battle rap these days, it’s funny how this one-round matchup between Mickey Factz and Danja Zone gets slept on. Factz came off a little rusty with a couple of bars here and there that clearly could’ve been tweaked/updated, but for the most part he did pretty well esp. considering how he hadn’t battled in like 7 years (tight stage presence/performance too, but that’s to be expected from any artists used to hitting the stage regularly). And while Danja Zone hit with some nice bars and (“Album called The Achievement but ain’t accomplish shit, what the fuck you handing out, blank discs?”) personals, esp. towards the end, too many stretched out schemes and filler through out his round did him in against Factz’ hard-hitting bars, personals and punches.
Verdict: Mickey Factz (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Mickey Factz – “My ‘Paradise’ video?, two million views, yours total? don’t make up that equation, you just bringing my numbers down, fans gonna think we in the Matrix”
Recap: Neither Danja Zone or Spee Dolla impress much in this Block City matchup. But thanks to more variety as well as some ill (“How the fuck are you supposed to control streets, when it’s probably hard for you stand on your own feet?”) personals from Spee along with Danja’s mostly elongated schemes and righteous filler in rounds 1 and 2, it’s Spee who manages to hang on for the win.
Verdict: Spee Dolla (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Spee Dolla – “We only aim for the head when we drive up, and leave one side hanging like a bobcut!”
Recap: Two-round promo battle between Danja Zone and Nuborn sees them both represent and put forth their A-games, which usually makes for a dope battle. However, it’s Danja Zone who stands out just a little bit more in each round with nicer schemes (esp. the “Machine Gun Kelly….Mac Miller” line) and more hard bars to get the win.
Verdict: Danja Zone (W) 2-0
Favorite line: Nuborn – “Line for line you can’t spar with me, soon as I start cooking I be getting niggas mad…Paula Deen”
Synopsis: Danja Zone does remind you a lot of Chilla Jones, but I wouldn’t call him a clone as while he is scheme heavy, he has shown the ability to match his scheme quotient with fine performances and sublime bars. It’s just his capacity for filler and inability to build off momentum that makes for subpar performances. For example, he should’ve won this battle, esp. after a dope 1st round that saw Danja Zone take out Ill Will with keen wordplay (“You bowl and gutter, the only time you bold and gutta I bowled and gut the boy after I Riddick Bowed his gut…”), ill jokes and dope schemes. But other than displaying that he has a nice impression game, Danja’s 2nd round was pretty blah and allowed Will to catch up with a dope rebuttal and crazy aggressive bars. Both came nice in round 3, but in the end Will’s continued haymakers (that ‘PG County scheme was crazy!) and personals edged it.
Verdict: Ill Will (W) 2-1
Best line: Ill Will – “Ever since Chilla came, these niggas been scheming more than R. Kelly at a middle school”
Recap: For a last-minute replacement Danja Zone still puts on good show against the all bars, no gimmicks version of Daylyt. But a slight slip-up, a couple of elongated schemes and a little too much filler will stand out even more when it comes to a one-rounder. That and Daylyt’s steady hitting punchlines/bars secures the win for the guy with the face tats.
Verdict: Daylyt (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Daylyt – “Try to rob and you’ll see Sparks fly like a Lisa Leslie dunk”
Recap: Danja Zone utilizes aggressive schemes, swift punchlines and some pretty entertaining wit to finesse his way past a nice here and there, but inconsistent Logic.
Verdict: Danja Zone (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Danja Zone – “I’ll tell her, give me what I want and let that man wife you and you gonna gimme the bitch like Denzel asking for that damn rifle!”
