Recap: Both G Lowe and King Shadow get equally busy in this fiery 1-rounder from Pyrexx Battle League. Indeed, for all of Shadow’s fiery snapping, rich name flips and set-up/gun bar-savvy theatrics, a versatile punching. witty line (“Nigga, you rap like the straight version of J2!”) tossing, freestyle adept and piercing wordplay/name flip spouting G Lowe was able to keep up with his opponent’s run to make this bout a draw.
Verdict: Debatable
Favorite line: King Shadow – “Remember how you used to argue with a nigga in middle school?, I bet I pull more hoes than you!”
Recap: Fire battle between Mr. Wavy and Drugz features a shitload of eccentric gun bars, performance-heavy showmanship, fiery personals (esp. from Drugz during a superb 3rd round: ‘You tore the building down verse this nigger [points at K-Shine looking on in the crowd] like literally…but you never did it again!’), stunted lyrical shiners (esp. during round 1) and a host of formidable punchlines. And while Wavy may have went a little overkill with the name flips (as is expected against Drugz), most of them were pretty dope, while the always aggressive Drugz flexed a versatile game that often gets overlooked when it comes to The Gun Show. That said, an equal ratio of haymakers in the 1st round makes that one a tie, before Wavy clearly took the 2nd round with a standout and an almost flawless turn that gave the Brooklyn rhymer the edge going into a final round. And while Wavy was still cooking plenty of heat in the 3rd, an aforementioned sublime turn by Drugz would give him the round and force a draw.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: Mr. Wavy – “You barely made a name after the group…this nigger Kelly Rowland!”
Recap: Very likely the most intriguing battle on the 2020 URL Kings vs. Queens card, seeing as they once were a real-life couple, Charlie Clips vs. Couture is not only a chance to see who can rap batter, but also witness the two air all their dirty laundry for all the world to see too. That said, outside of some slip-ups in each round by Clips (which were made up for with plenty of nimble freestyles and sound effects), the bout certainly lived up to the hype with both emcees going all the way in when it came to stinging personals that included (esp. Couture during what was a stellar 2nd round) graphic sexcapades, battle rap couple life, rich storytelling and responsible parenting. Add to that a plethora of heavy-handed punchlines, some fierce wordplay, witty barbs, fire name flips/schemes and boastful shiners and you’re left with an entertaining and competitive matchup with a punch-heavier Clips taking the 1st round, the extra spicy personals of Couture taking the 2nd round and despite Clips getting off to a bit of a sluggish start, with an equal amount of haymakers in a final round that featured a variety of sizzling themes overall, we can call this one a draw.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: Couture – “Sike, I lied nigger, every time we had sex, you almost died nigger!”
Recap: Pretty solid 3-rounder from League of Championship Kulture ends up a draw as a (“I ain’t come to talk about the skeletons in ya closet, but I got a bone to pick!”) punchline-lit Baby James delivers a slightly cleaner 1st round to edge things there, before a more condensed, punch-heavy, raucous and versatile Danny Myers returns the favor and edges the 2nd. 3rd round is another goodie with some hitting name flips/wordplay from Danny and more fiery mayhem/gun bars/personals from James. But surprising once again with another condensed turn that also spouted a couple of nice rebuttals, allows Danny to earn a draw for the final round and make this one debatable.
Verdict: Debatable
Favorite line: Danny Myers – “Ain’t you a boxer?, ain’t no fight, I got the right route for this nigger, ‘cuz once I hot James’ toe knee [Toney], it’s Lights Out for this nigger!”
Recap: Dope 3-rounder from RBE finds Chef Trez and O-Red doing what they do with mostly fiery results. The Chef, after getting edged by a more potent Red in the 1st round, steps up his recipe game in the latter rounds, using a spicy mix of flexing rebuttals, hitting gun lines and stirring/braggadocio (“I took your spot, it’s mine’s now, give me your honors, you removed the ‘locks, I grew the ‘locks, I was more fit for the roster [Rasta]!”) punchlines to make for a debatable 2nd round, before edging the 3rd over his ever-confident opponent, who while consistently spicy/personal and wordplay-lit throughout the battle, fell a little too hard on cuisine-related punches and rebuts that fell a little flat, which in turn helped to cost Red his edge as the battle proceeded.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: O-Red – “I’ll throw a left hook that’ll floor a pup, then the four will bust, head shot, ringing a Chef bell like ‘Order up!'”
Recap: CT vs. NY, spitfire 1-rounder from We Go Hard sees the gritty, bullish at times and punchline-savvy bars from Budds go bar-for-bar with the oft-witty, performance-rich and (“Fat nigga with a smooth shot, kick like Ong Bak, clip sterilized…URL ain’t the only nigga shooting on a rooftop!”) wordplay/punch-lit styling’s of Hollaluyah Jones. Also featuring a raucous cameo from Bangz and a handful of over-the-top haymakers from each side, with each battler bringing an equal amount of versatility, efficiency and potency with their raps, the only winner here is the crowd that got to see this one up close.
Verdict: Debatable
Favorite line: Budds – “Arm on an 80…I ain’t helping grandma cross the street!”
Recap: People that have followed Daylyt’s battle rap career close enough know he can spit. Just go back in the files and check out Daylyt versus Rich Dolarz or him versus Mike P to get the goods on Daylyt at his best. So seeing Daylyt ‘show up’ here in this URL/NOME X bout against Tay Roc and put forth his A-game really just comes down to ‘Lyt choosing bars over bullshit. It’s not complicated. That said, yeah this 3-rounder, to quote ‘Lyt was certainly ‘one for the books’ with nary a dry spot or misstep from either said. Roc, captivating in the Dracula outfit and sublime as ever with a gang of sizzling name flips, head-twisting gun bars, piercing punchlines/personals and some excellent wordplay, kept it competitive throughout the match. While Daylyt, who rarely battles these days, didn’t show an ounce of rust (except for being, at times, aimless with his raps) despite some long time off. Indeed, ‘Lyt’s 3 rounds were also on ode to versatility with the Quill man spouting a rapid, lyrically stunting, punch-heavy performance in round 1, before switching up a little to a (“Here we can learn the Flat Earth Theory confirm, or the man gifted, can’ lifted, hold up, scroll up, as I break Roc(k) right down!”) wordplay-heavy, solar system-friendly, metaphorical/God-centric and scheme-lit 2nd round before getting bar-heavy, witty and personal with Roc in a fire 3rd. Add some Dot Mobb (Daylyt’s still a member, while Roc infamously left a little while back so you know it had to be brought up) entries to the mix as well as plenty of ringing mayhem and you’re left with a spitfire battle with a more direct and versatile Roc edging the 1st round, a middle round tie and Daylyt edging the 3rd for a draw.
Verdict: Debatable
Favorite line: Tay Roc – “Thought you’d be the champ at King Of The Dot, ha, I had high doubts, nigga, black lives do not matter in that White House!”
Recap: A battle that was in the air for a couple of years, Danny Myers versus Nu Jerzey Twork, finally takes place in Danny’s West-coast stomping grounds and for the most part it was well worth the wait. The always excited-just-to-be-here Danny, does his thing with a wide load of eccentric gun bars, some righteous/mocking personals and flexing punches that outside of a angle-muddled 1st round, kept him in the match. For Twork, a sublime 1st round with a barrage of visceral (“I’m looking for the Target near me, like Google maps!”; “Everything come out his mouth bloody, like a British nigga!”) heaters and rousing schemes easily git him 1st, before a slightly more versatile, mayhem-dishing and personal-driven turn in the 2nd was able to equal a standout and more focused by his opponent. With Twork still up one going into 3rd, even without Danny’s use of a couple of dope freestyles/rebuttals, Myers’ steely pontificating, gripping vet talk and fiery punchlines/wordplay in the final round was more than enough to beat back a solid, but not-nearly-as-potent turn by Twork and thus, force a draw.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: Danny Myers – “Me on the big stage, no reason too, I ain’t never did Summer Madness because my bars ain’t seasonal!”
Recap: In the midst of a biting wind outside, a visually sound Qleen Paper still does a nice job playing up an underlying, moniker-friendly ‘Kitchen vs. Chef’ theme, using some solid (“What you cook is [kisses the air] what I cook is crack…the pot different!”) [wordplay and gritty angles to get his point across. However, Chef Trez, with a shortened and easygoing turn that he probably did on the way to the store, still dished out enough gripping punchlines and meaty name flips to earn a draw.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: Chef Trez – “We miss the clean {Mister Clean] you used to be, now nigger’s mopping the floor with you!”
Recap: Having a hard time finding his grind of late, Don Marino gets back to basics, using consistently banging (“Child’s Play, when I was killing shit, I didn’t need y’all to put the batteries in my back!”) punchlines/personals with a little added wit, lofty gun lines, fire schemes and hitting, but also thought-provoking struggle bars to….force a draw here with Big Hann. Indeed, while Marino put on a show, so did Hann. The Philly capo matching his steely aggression with a wide load of blistering street shit, boastful metaphorical bangers, ringing mayhem and some gritty wordplay/punches/personals to edge round 2 (after Marino took the 1st) and force a tie in the deciding 3rd round.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: Big Hann – “You know the truth, you wanna check my stats?, I’ll show the proof, I kept an eagle on me, I used to to pull up in a drop top and let a bird fly the coop!”
Recap: Another 1-round, Social Distancing battle from RBE, this time between Quantum Physics and Charron, gets a draw as on the creativity side any momentum gained from QP’s clever/witty Leave It To Beaver-like visuals and wordplay/personals gets deflected by a way-too-short turn when it came to the bars. And while Charron showed us once again what an awesome free-styler he is with the random word usage in his raps, an elongated turn combined with a bunch of so-so punches (tho he had a few hard-hitting one’s) was only enough to merit a tie.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: Charron – “He’s Quantum Physics so it’s only right to have his body in two states at the same time!”
Recap: 1-round URL Quarantined battle between Rum Nitty and Mike P features strong performances from both battlers as Mike’s aggressive, (“Rum got me fucked up, there’s something about me and dark liquor!”) punch/personal-lit and brazen oft-performance-rich bars stay toe-to-toe with Rum’s fire gun bars, fierce set-ups and stinging wordplay. A goodie with little breaks in the action, a tie here sets up what could be a dope 3-rounder down the line.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: Rum Nitty – “Do not try me, you a nobody…the head detective!”
Recap: Chef Trez versus Charron for 3 rounds (not counting the added freestyle round at the end here) on the RBE stage, goes about as expected with 3 high quality rounds of spicy rebuttals/freestyles (hey, there’s an idea, with their noted acumen for dope freestyles and rebuttals, maybe Trez and Charron should form a tag-team?), piercing mayhem/punchlines and spitfire personals. Still, outside of a 1st round that Trez was able to equate in potency thanks in part to his ability to dish 3 of them thangs, an almost flawless, versatile, punch-crazy, racially transparent and off-the-dome superior 2nd round by Charron got him the lead in the battle, before a just-as-crazy 3rd round with near the amount of robust bars as the previous one won him the battle while at the same time beating back two pretty solid and rebuttal happy, but not quite as consistent turns by Trez.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: Charron – “Have him see through when I’m rolling up, try to creep, slow as fuck, even when I’m sleeping I got a can on me…Homer’s gut!”
Recap: One of the nicest things about these Social Distancing battles is getting an opportunity to see some of your favorite battle rappers from the past come back and battle again. Such is the case with Syah, a battle vet who goes back to the days of Grind Time and now comes back here against Scotty for what turned out to be a pretty dope matchup. Scotty, fierce with the aggression, creative with the visuals and piercing with the punches/comedic bars, scores well here. But then so does Syah, who came equipped with a gang of flexing wordplay, righteous mayhem and fervent (“I heard Loso beat your ass so bad, he made you Christian!”) boasts that were consistent enough to earn a draw.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: Scotty – “Shoot the clip and die laughing…this a comedy skit!”
Recap: Wooda Black and Yoshi G both offer up a couple of pretty solid rounds for this Quarantine battle brought to you from ABR. Wooda, blazing with the fiery (“Snipe you, before Cornona I was good with the distance!”) gun bars and slick set-ups, made for a competitive showing while Yoshi flexed throughout her run with a wide array of piercing punchlines and stinging wordplay to make this one a draw.
Verdict: Debatable
Favorite line: Yoshi G – “I’m not a bitch, this for unity, but if I have to black on Black, I’m a fuck up the community!”
Recap: Leaving your card in the ATM slot, failing to take any money out and leaving it in to let your man use it too? Hmmm, hope they remember to take out the camera’s before they bounce. That said, in this 1-round Social Distance battle from RBE, both Jai 400 Block and Bankhead bring the heat with Jai leaning on some stifling name flips and a host of gritty punches. And while Bankhead failed to deliver any Coronavirus-related lines, his frenzied (“I’ll give J the smith [Jada Smith] all it takes is some Will power!”) wordplay and steely narratives came with enough smoke to warrant a tie.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: Jai 400 Block – “Catch up [ketchup], you in hindsight [Heinz], I know you must heard [mustard] about me!”
Recap: Dope, 1-round RBE Social Distance battle between Ooops and Rosenberg (“I’m a shooter, I stay with the Tek, put three O’s [holes] in ya body, P.S. I just put ya name in the flesh!”) Raw has them both kicking a load of hot punchlines with a nice mix of stirring wordplay, witty personals and hitting name flips. With about 2 minutes each and an equal amount of haymakers and very little filler, let’s not only call this one a draw, but hopefully when things start getting back to normal, bring ’em back for 3 rounds.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: Ooops – “Just cause you look white and animated don’t make you King of the Hill!”
Recap: A credit to Street Hymns’ creativity and dual pen game here as the ‘fake’ Charron he’d incorporate into his raps had me fooled at first when he first showed up at the door. Then too, Street’s Bible-laced wordplay and nifty/mocking personals were also on point. And while Charron’s just-waking-up, from-the-basement-peeking visuals doesn’t come close to competing with his opponent’s more neighborhood-friendly optics, bar-wise ‘Billy Pistols’ was all-in, using some ridiculous name flips and an ever-strong (“After this quarantine you know that I’ll rap harder, ‘cuz the game needs me more than I need a black barber!”) punch game to earn a draw in what turned to be a pretty dope 1-rounder from RBE.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: Street Hymns – “Man I got Quads, Quintuples, Sextuples, I done built a 4th wall more than Ted Pool!”
Recap: Fire, competitive battle between Don Marino and B. Magic features a variety of slick punchlines and fierce set-ups throughout the battle. And while Marino was able to dip in some pointed personals here and there, a more condensed Magic, after losing round 1, would score with enough (“Act tough and uh, Tek’s gonna hit y’all, it’ll calm that shit down like Pepto Bismol!”) haymakers to edge round 2, before hanging in there versus a robust turn from his opponent in the deciding 3rd round and force a draw.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: Don Marino – “You only got one or two moves in the ring…Mankind!”
Recap: Fire battle on URL between a couple of lyrical swordsman, Chess and O-Red, goes down to the wire as a draw even tho it included a perfectly-executed, name flip expansive and punch-heavy 2nd-round by Chess as throughout the bout the slightly more consistently spicy, wordplay-bent and slick-punching O-Red refused to give an inch. Indeed, if not for the usually gritty, gun bar-heavy and intuitive Chess showing off a side of himself, we don’t often get to see in battles, his wit, versus a steadily cooking and haymaker-dropping Red in round 1, the opener would not have been a debatable. And with Red dropping more of the same consistent heat in the middle round, an aforementioned classic turn by Chess is the only reason he was able to edge round 2. Finally, in round 3, with Red dropping even more (“Think vending machines when the .38 pop, I load a few rounds, push my buttons, I’ll let it spin till a Cake drop!”) gems back-to-back, while getting even more deft with the vocabulary, boasts and personals, Chess, while still delivering a pretty solid and raucous turn, just couldn’t keep up with the efficiency coming from his opponent’s pen, thus giving O the round and making this one a debatable.
Verdict: Debatable
Favorite line: Chess – “The clip funny, it got a mind of its own, it’s schizo, like elephants, the long nose cling out the trunk, but the wide nose coming out the hip, O [hippo]!”
Recap: Delivering a wide load of fiery (“All that plug talk where you stash the cocoa, that’s a nono, this Nut’s all cap with his cane (‘caine); Planters logo!”) punchlines, sizzling personals, witty barbs and piercing 4-bar set-ups/schemes, Charron would’ve won this battle against Geechi Gottti if he hadn’t done one thing wrong: rap for too damn long. Indeed, after edging a potent and spirited-on-both-sides 1st round, the Canadian battler’s penchant elongated turns would hurt him in the latter rounds even after an almost flawless and (“We breathe different these emcees different, you gang bang I’m rich our G’s different!”) spitfire 2nd round that didn’t look like it had a chance of being beaten until Geechi came through with is own stash of steady heat, rambunctious punches, lofty wordplay/personals and 3 dope (“You wanna hear about niggas who ain’t never been on the block, rappin’ ’bout things they ain’t never did on the block?, keep watchin’ King Of The Dot!”) rebuttals for the draw. And with Charron still ahead in the battle going into teh final round and kicking yet another a savvy, personal-heavy, witty and punch-heavy turn in the 3rd, Gotti’s ability to take it up another level with a couple of fiery rebuttals that along with a slightly condensed turn that was rich with haymakers as well as hardbody gun bars, stifling personals, quality freestyles and humorous darts, allows Geechi to edge the 3rd and make this one a debatable.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: Geechi Gotti – “I’ll let a .9 clap you, matter of fact this AK will make the floor shake, street nigga, I took all my bitches on court dates!”
Recap: As expected, Chilla Jones versus Rum Nitty turned out to be an incredible battle with all the booming haymakers, ringing gun bars, stinging (Chilla: “I’m a gun fanatic, follow the guidelines of Chill, if you Rum, then I’m vodka that’s five times the steel [distill]!”) punchlines, fiery schemes and stunted wordplay one could ask for during 3 highly competitive rounds. Ironically, while some might call it fitting that this bout ends up as a draw (we’re calling the 1st round debatable before Chilla took the 2nd and Rum took the 3rd), one can’t help but think that as electric as Rum was with his crafty bag of righteous heat, performance-heavy zingers and sublime punches, with the history of these two former Writer’s Bloque members, Rum choosing to pass up on almost any personals (as opposed to Chilla, who went there quite frequently with some hilarious effect) could’ve made a difference between winning. No knock really on Run as personals aren’t his forte, but still. Then too Chilla, a rapper’s rapper, but long known for elongated rounds, may’ve won this battle here if he was able to keep his final round a little more condensed. Nonetheless, when two top tiers go at it like this, you can be sure that you got your money’s worth.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: Rum Nitty – “You don’t got it this nice, you can see the effect when I punch like a comic book fight!”
Recap: The Trap NY presents a dope punch-fest between Kush Cloud (can we get him some more plates, please?) and B Magic with the former unleashing a boatload of nifty punches, piercing name flips/personals and slick (“Built your name on Street Status, just to die on Ave when it counted the nost!”) wordplay that added up to Cloud taking the 2nd round after a debatable 1st and leading things going into the 3rd. The final round, however, would serve as yet another exercise in quality vs. quantity as Cloud would deliver an overall solid, but incredibly longwinded turn that got more and more tedious as it went on. And that elongated run by Kush would easily get overrun by a much shorter, but highly efficient and punch/name flip turn by Magic, allowing the St. Louis vet to take the round and score a debatable.
Verdict: Debatable
Favorite line: B Magic – “I’ll push you in the air, past the sky Cloud, Anthony Davis, I’m connected wherever eyebrow [I brow]!”
Recap: Mixing fiery mayhem with a nice pound of (“I ain’t come to play not a game with you, gay fight, the flame hit you!”) wit and a boatload of searing punchlines/schemes, after a debatable 1st round and a punch/wordplay-heavy/God-barking Xcel easily taking the 2nd, Sha G is able to make a comeback, win the 3rd and make this competitive 3-rounder from iBattle a debatable.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: Xcel – “Head shot, I’ll put your cabbage on your dog…no sauerkraut!”
Recap: At least this was one (the 3rd in their controversial trilogy) was a lot closer, so much so that we could call it a draw in lieu of Real Deal stepping it up from his last bout against Chilla Jones by displaying much more versatility, consistency and potency with his bars. Loaded too with plenty of mentions regarding their last battle and a boatload of wit as well as breakdowns of each other’s style from each side, for its competitiveness alone, Jones vs. Deal 3 is easily the best match of the series. A slightly more punch-heavy Jones edges the first round before a (“So when I beat you, fans that loved us both turned on me too, cause you’re such a nice guy, you’re awesome dude, but every face needs a good heel that’s why I’m curb stompin’ you!”) personal-heavy Deal returns the favor in the 3rd. The deciding 3rd round, for all its fiery 4-bar set-ups, stinging personals and flashy schemes/punchlines, can go either way what with a condensed turn by Deal matching an elongated turn by Chilla when it comes to bar efficiency.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: Chilla Jones – “Go ‘head, make mockeries of my passion and purpose, but I will leave you in grave [engrave] and I’m just scratching the surface, how ’bout a bullet in ya eye Deal [ideal], that would be perfect!”
Recap: The prolific Danny Myers versus the seldom seen Hollow Da Don on a West-coast charity card goes down with neither battler, after a spitfire (Danny: “Listen Nigel, even your name got a soft ‘G’ in it!”; Hollow: “I’m like a nigger that’s like ‘I’m a pay you on Friday…I ain’t got it ALL!”) but even 1st round, quite able to bring their A-game. Danny with plenty of raucous punches, quality personals and righteous lyricism/mayhem throughout the battle, errs when he tries too hard to emulate his more unorthodox opponent, which partly costs him a close round 2 when put side-by-side with Hollow’s roasting session quips, on spot performance hijinks and dope wordplay/personals. But with never any give-up in him, Danny comes back with a pretty solid (and emotional) 3rd round, that’s not only drenched with feelgood punchlines, but also some pretty (“I was choking ‘cuz if I lose my kids to the system I’m a hang myself!”) emphatic struggle bars that hit–altogether enough to beat back a surprisingly up-n-down last round from da Don and make this one debatable.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: Hollow Da Don – “You coulda came here with Satan as your Plus-1…the hell with you!”
Recap: Each battler living up to their top tier status in the game, Chef Trez and Ill Will put on a spitfire display of bar efficiency in this 3-rounder from RBE. The Chef, after a pretty solid, gun-centric and punch-heavy showing in the first round that only gets beat by a turned, set-up lit, (“I’m the stupidest one, two arms to both sides of Chef, like he waiting for the food to get done!”) performance-stunting and name flip/heat-a-blazing turn by Will, edges the 2nd round with else?…a fiery, room-shaking toss of 3 of them thangs, plus more eccentric (“Let him play, fuck all the hype games, knife swing, dirty blade…something rusty around Will, old bike chain!”) punchlines and other sizzling polemics and personals that in lieu of yet another fire turn by Will, he’d need to tie things up going into the 3rd round. Both battlers would dish plenty of stinging mayhem, searing punchlines and well-loaded (Trez: “When I cook, I’m too seasoned, hope you wasn’t expecting a lazy Chef ‘cuz now you gotta face the Chef, I’ll blaze the Tek, bullets at this leg, got him taking baby steps!”) gun bars in the deciding final round, but with an equal amount of heat from both sides, this altogether fiery and competitive matchup would end up as a draw.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: Ill Will – “But the 5th will twirl, Nick ya son, hit ya girl, once I get in the range, miss the games, send the Chef to a different world!”
Recap: Solid, bar-lit 3-rounder from KOTD sees battle vets Pass and E. Ness go at it for 3 competitive rounds with the only occupational hazard occurring during Pass’ 2nd round, a couple of slip-ups that along with a turned-up (“They say you’ze a douche-bag, he’s a real asshole, hit Pass with the combination, got the pass code!”) and witty Ness cost him the turn after the two battlers both had an equally seismic, punch-heavy 1st. But with the ever-confident Pass rarely losing his cool, the Bay-area maestro came back with a sizzling 3rd, fresh with feisty personals, some potent wordplay and dope punchlines to edge the round over a much less formidable showing from Ness and earn a tie.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: Pass – “Fred got you famous from a headlock, arms wrapped your throat, now Loaded Lux ain’t the only one with a classic choke!”
Recap: Fiirst Ladii Flamez and Coffee Brown both step up to the plate with their A-games, making for a spitfire match on this URL/QOTR Banned Legacy card. The ever-aggressive and earnest Coffee brought the heat throughout the battle, using a barrage of steely trap talk, piercing personals/gun bars, dope set-ups, boastful barbs, greasy punchlines and a couple of hitting rebuttals in round 3 to flex her versatility. On the other side of the stage, a more condensed Flamez kept the crown rocking with continually hitting wordplay, head-ringing punches, rich mayhem, salacious personals, rigid name flips and stifling (“You believe in God right? well hell let’s even shit up, test my gangsta and I test your faith and feed you the pump!”) heaters. A close bout throughout, after a debatable 1st round, a slightly more versatile and haymaker-lit Flamez took the 2nd round before Coffee, helped by those fire aforementioned rebuts, took the 3rd for a draw.
Verdict: Debatable
Favorite line: Coffee Brown – “Your nigga say cook something, she was thinking Mexican, probably made him a burrito, my nigga said cook something I was thinking Mexico…came back with a Kilo!”
Recap: 1-rounder from Body Bag Battle League sees Swamp beating back Quban’s braggadocio punches, fiery (“A big chopper, get y’all chomped, eagles and hawks, Lord Farquaad, I’m the reason there’s animals on Swamp!”) schemes/punchlines and menacing name flips with a more versatile palette of stinging personals, rich performance bars and ill punchlines…until he had a huge slip-up mid-round. And while Swamp was able to get his groove back and continue on with a wide assault of verbal hijinks, despite spouting better bars overall, it’s the aforementioned stumble that makes this one a draw.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: Swamp – “Now we only got one round in this muthafucka and bitch you gotta go early…38, Kevin Gates, they both pearly!”
Recap: Took a very long while, but thanks to RBE, we finally get to see 3 rounds of Serius Jones versus Math Hoffa. And after much hype, the battle itself was…ok. Not that, with all the back-n-forth, alleged Miami incidents, video blogging and animosity still lingering over the years, this battle didn’t have its share of machismo moments and flexing gestures that made you think the possibility of yet another incident could occur. But thankfully, both battlers kept it professional and left it all up to the bars. That said, surprisingly bar efficiency was lacking and inconsistent on both sides as both Serius and Math weren’t at their sharpest when it came to their pen games. Still, with quite a few dry spots and way too much bravado/sermonizing, by landing a couple of more haymakers that his more subpar opponent Serius edges the 1st round, before a more a consistently nice with the punches, witty at times and better equipped with the personals Math evened things up by taking the 2nd round. The 3rd round turned out to be each one’s best as Serius stepped up his wordplay and thus was able to score heavily at times with a wide load of piercing punchlines. But after a slow start, Math, who was displaying better angle/scheme work throughout the match, came through in the latter half of his turn, with some exemplary (“…but since I put hands on you, you done seen me 4 or 5 times, I’m very tangible, but you know if you try some dumb shit, I’m gonna mangle you, you don’t want the hands my nigga because I will handle you, but since you do little [Dolittle], watch the way you talk to animals!”) punchlines/personals to back his narratives and more importantly make the round and battle a draw.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: Serius Jones – “See?, this nigger think he could just get away with telling stories, but you a good fraud, you should change your name to Algebra ”cuz before you figure him out, Math just look hard!”
Recap: Pretty solid URL Banned Legacy 3 battle between Geechi Gotti and Ill Will served up a gang of explosive gun bars from both sides, wicked sexual hijinks to go along with witty banter from Will, some spicy rebuttals from Gotti, mocking (Ill Will: “You be doing hair, you know what? I ain’t gonna debate about the nonsense, you a fag, I don’t know one nigga Straight Outta Compton!”) personals, graphic street tales and gritty name flips/punchlines. The best combined round, the 1st, gets edged by a more condensed and haymaker-lit Gotti, before Will came back with an altogether blazing 2nd round to tie things up heading into the 3rd. And tho Gotti had another nice rebut to combine with one more haymaker in the final round Geechi’s pen game just wasn’t as consistently lit as was his opponent, making this one a draw.
Verdict: Debatable
Favorite line: Geechi Gotti – “Nigga, this .9 mine [Bawh! Bawh!], Mackk you better check ya man [Bawh!], I just gave him another shot, everybody deserves a second chance!”
Recap: Dope battle between two of the most energetic battlers in the game, Barz Major and Danny Myers, fittingly ends up in a tie as Danny’s substantive punchlines, fire (“Glock 5, running up on me bitch?, not wise, he tired of eating chicken…but I’m in line [holds out hands like a gun] to pop eye’s [Popeyes]!”) rebuttal game, stinging ‘parallel universe’ entries and piercing personals allowed him to edge round 1, before a debatable 2nd and a 3rd round defeat that while short on length, was still electrifying yet couldn’t equate to the stirring struggle bar themes Major took during his turn. Before his sublime final round, Major kept himself in the mix with a gang of raucous punches, frenzied 4-bar set-ups, righteous gun bars and piercing schemes/personals, a splendid effort that should’ve gotten him some extra shine even if he had lost the battle.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: Barz Major – “Everybody wanna be sick till they get shot, better be cool, before ya ass catch something that you can’t pronounce…like mesothelioma!”
Recap: This much-hyped T-Rex versus Bill Collector battle is a tale of two halves with witty and visceral personals, references to past lore, boastful barbs of mayhem, salacious gun bars (esp. via Bill’s highly maneuverable Super Duper Scope) and other lofty punchlines dominating Rex’s 1st and BC’s first two rounds. The first round easily being the best, Rex edges the opening round with a more consistent and condensed turn, before a still-turned-up B.C. comfortably takes the 2nd with a dope performance that included some very pointed (“…it would’ve been a news article that read ‘This Nigger Dead!’?, is that what happened when Head I.C.E. man put you to bed?!?”) personals at his opponent. 3rd round was pretty much a wash what with neither battler going for the kill, but delivering enough fiery heaters and solid punches to make the 3rd a draw and the battle a tie.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: T-Rex – “Your son gonna grow up a pussy Bill and you did it, he said ‘Daddy how you want me to swing back nigger…you didn’t!'”
Recap: A wide array of piercing punchlines, crazy set-ups, stinging name flips, hard-hitting (“That box is past its Prime, you ship it out daily like Amazon!”) personals, hometown angles and wordplay-savvy zingers from Bonnie Godiva and RX makes for a dope battle here on the KOTD stage. Yet, in light of the slightly more overall punch-heavy RX taking round 2 after a debatable 1st, behind a round going into the 3rd, a spitfire, mid-round rebuttal by Bonnie would highlight a head-ringing turn that allowed the NY femcee to win the final round and make this battle a draw.
Verdict: Debatable
Favorite line: Bonnie Godiva – “Abortions are a women’s right…and honestly, you should try it!”
Recap: Take out a half-hearted and shortened 3rd round from Nu Jerzey Twork and you have a fire battle here against Charlie Clips. To start, there was a superlative 1st round from both rappers that saw a versatile, punch-heavy and witty Clips somehow edged by a raucous, (“You fucking fool, bust a move, dump a tool [Bwoh!]…guess what room he in? the other room!”) mayhem-induced and haymaker-drenched turn by NJT that even featured an early ‘Strapped In…’ bar. Undaunted by losing the 1st round, Clips showed his veteran steel with yet another fire turn in the 2nd round, breaking down Twork’s style with plenty of jocular (“Just because he screams and adds ‘Bwoh!’, it does not make him lyrical, nigga be like ‘I’m masked down, potato on a barrel, smell a hash brown…[sings] Call JG Wentworth, 877 cash [Bwoh!] I want my cash now!'”) call stylings, using some excellent crowd control and spitting some dope punchlines/personals. But Twork wouldn’t have reached his top tier status if he wasn’t equipped with a spitfire pen, as he shows again in the middle round with more visceral heat, a nice mid-round rebuttal, understated fiery wordplay and aggressive (“I’m like Charlie with longevity…extended Clips!”) punches/name flips/personals that made the round a tie. Partly due to the aforementioned indolence from Twork, the final round was a lay-up for Clips who for his part used a steady stream of fiery schemes and hitting punchlines to easily take the round and make this one a debatable.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: Charlie Clips – “You’ll catch stray’s, ASPCA, I don’t play with bitches, Red you said something earlier?, well I’ll throw something in Oshun [ocean] when I spray the biscuit and he’ll get found in the Pacific, like a ghetto bitch that’s trying to say ‘specific’!”
Recap: It doesn’t get much better than this one as Emerson Kennedy and Jey the Nitewing each deliver an exquisite 3 rounds of steady, potent and crowd-pleasing bars and schemes. EK, slightly more lit when it came to hard-hitting (“You supposed to be toe taggin’, keeping up the race, you know, even up the pace with the East to be the greats, Jey, every time you choke East, the West reap all [Reepah] the mistakes!”) personals, but also just as fire throughout in lieu of a boatload of stirring punchlines, loaded abstract stingers, aggressive and (“Niggas chains getting rung, I don’t chase fame from a gun, but for a band on the side, I might change on the run, hop out and wait till Nite [night] show, put his name on a drum!”) well-finessed wordplay, stayed on his A-game. And Nitewing, with perhaps a bit of a monkey on his back what with all the heat he’s gotten for choking (a theme that EK had no trouble reminding him of throughout this battle) during battles, stayed flexing with consistent ease during his turns, all the while keeping the pressure on his opponent with a wide bag of witty barbs, banging (“You probably thinking this angle is getting fucking old, but you keep acting like you wasn’t told, can’t survive off what your mother knows, she can’t save you when you touch the stove!”) punches, dizzying metaphorical shiners, rich set-ups and a couple of over-the-top rebuttals. An altogether spitfire battle with nary a dry spot that also displayed plenty of braggadocio zingers and lofty struggle bars from each side, the scoring here saw EK needing a gargantuan opening round to edge the 1st, the two battlers traded an equal amount of potency with their lines to make that one debatable and the deciding 3rd round going Nitewing’s way what with one or two more haymakers.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: Jey The Nitewing – “You wanna know my theory of relativity?, get his relatives first!”
Recap: Don’t really speak on these things too much, but it’s kind of bugged watching this battle and seeing Th3 Saga on stage being rooted on by his old NWX bro K-Shine, who just happens to be standing side-to-side in the crowd with his old Dot Mobb bro T-Rex…just saying. But back to the battle, a pretty fire 1-rounder between Saga and the always competitive Fettuccine 20 with the former dishing a dope load of storied schemes/personals and variety of spicy (“So just behave or this right will drop you before you lifting your cannon…then it’s over 20, like $19.99 plus shipping and handling!”) punchlines that were sometimes mixed with religious flair that were only hurt when he struggled a bit with his flow and got a little too mean with the personals. As for Fetty, a hard and gritty round that were finessed by heated punches, searing (“The llama spit, or he get pistol-whipped, the butt came out of nowhere like Rihanna’s did!”; “I’ll turn his lights out in a small room…now it’s a BANNED! battle!”) wit, ill personals and potent gun bars which combined made for a debatable battle when taking in the few shortcomings Saga had as well as an almost equal amount of haymakers between the battlers.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: Th3 Saga – “If this will make your head tilt like you ain’t really convince me, then this right hook make her not certain like the feeling was empty, the left hook, Westbrook, when I’m hitting ’em swiftly, I caught 20 3 times like I did it for Nipsey!”
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: Outside of Hitman Holla, Ave, Glueazy, Charron and Pat Stay, I can’t think of anyone who consistently brings stellar 1st rounds like Snake Eyez does. And here against Jai 400 Block, the Dot Mobb soldier does it again with an uber-gritty, street-gripping and (“Beasley, last time my money transfer wasn’t convenient so tonight I’m a make Jai pay [Jpay]!”) punchline-ringing opening round that would’ve beaten almost anybody…if not for being elongated, containing one too many Shotgun Suge references and a just-as-spitfire, punch-lit, name flip/personal-spazzing, mayhem-slinging, witty and condensed turn by Jai which forced a tie. The latter two rounds, however, were both pretty cut and clear with a versatile Jai dropping rugged haymakers with reckless abandon to easily beat back a mostly pedestrian turn by Snake before a strong start by Jai in the 3rd round is ruined thanks in part to a midway slip-up which led to a subpar latter half of the round. On the other hand, Snake would get back on his grind in the final round with a barrage of more piercing personals, when he wasn’t delivering more of that epic street shit along with daunting punchlines that earned him the round and made the battle a draw.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: Jai 400 Block – “If I ride out and you try to hide out that’s just gonna get ya mother touched, bullets will tattoo ya face, a closed casket will be the cover up!”
Recap: A damn near carbon copy of each other battle-wise with their sheer intensity on stage, braggadocios personas, aggressive raps and ability to light it up with wicked gun bars, it’s only right that this RBE battle between Bad Newz and J. Murda ends up tied. A competitive, touchy-feely and sometimes witty battle for the most part, an amped up, slick with the punches, (“So go ahead, joke, play, lie about how I got shot and that’s a foul, but that shoudl already tell y’all…I already looked Murder in the eyes!”) fiery and way more consistent Newz took the 1st round, before a more condensed Murda steps up his punch game and edges the 2nd. Both battlers got off to a slow start in the deciding 3rd round, but eventually each came through with enough mean punches, stinging name flips/gun speak and greasy mayhem to make this one a draw.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: J. Murda – “Against Loso it was ‘Fuck God’, who the first one you was looking for when you was dying nigga!?!”
Recap: One-rounder that you wish could’ve been three as the fierce, aggressive and bullish bars of Lady J met up with the brainy, punching power of Yoshi G to make for one of the better female battles you’ll see all year. Yoshi, confident (“I smell like money, his dick get hard off my odor!”) as ever, excelled throughout her turn via spitfire wordplay, some of her usual sexcapades and fire set-ups when it came to her punches. While Houston’s Lady J kept the crowd in tuned with a gang of boisterous gun bars, fiery street shit and braggadocio darts to produce an almost equal amount of haymakers and make this one debatable.
Verdict: Debatable
Favorite line: Lady J – “My style been patent leather and that’s a retrospective!”
Recap: iBattleTV matchup between King Jables and Steams proves to be witty (esp. on the side of KJ), punch-heavy, name flip savvy and loaded with mayhem. A more consistently nice and intricate (“Make a move or I wish you’d flex, the C’s will drop J and cables is what you’ll be hooked to next!”) Steams takes round 1, before a vigorous, flow-centric and haymaker aplenty Jables comes back and easily takes a 2nd round that was even more solidified by a Steams choke. Tied going into the 3rd, both battlers came with even more rigid punchlines and some dope wordplay. And while Jables was a little more versatile his bars, a slightly more consistent Steams came hard with enough heat to make this one a draw.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: King Jables – “Ypu know he don’t travel, this clown runs his own league, hosts his own battles, like round 1 it’s on me!”
Recap: Even tho it took on the feeling of being a handicap match what with LB The Boss (RIP) getting tagged in for gang of fiery missives, this 1-rounder from Bullpen Battle League still ended up being a goodie with the forever entertaining Bill Collector dropping his usual assortment of eclectic (“The can cover the arm, I’m reaching for a Pringle!”) punchlines, witty barbs/personals and lofty gun bars while an off-the-dome nice, name flip-lit and punch-heavy Casino stayed consistently spicy throughout the battle. That said, what an almost equal amount of haymakers during a near equal amount of time rapping, this one ends up being a draw.
Recap: Vet vs. newbie. Lite-skin vs. Lite-skin. Those themes and a boatload of florescent gun bars/residual mayhem/piercing name flips by NXT along with witty (“We supposed to believe little Blake Griffin gets guns involved?!”) personals, some solid wordplay and boastful punchlines by Cali Smoov add up to a dope battle and draw in this 3-rounder from the Riot Network. Give the perfunctory heat-blasting NXT a clear vic in the 1st before Cali came back with a versatile and sublime 2nd to even things going into the deciding 3rd round which we’ll call a draw due to an equal ratio of haymakers.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: NXT – “You said Griz work at the call center, I’m all wit’cha…so he gave me the extensions for ya!”
Recap: While a pretty solid throughout Aye Verb brings some righteous vet talk and piercing punches to this Go-Rilla Warfare 1-rounder, his opponent Gauge, although rapping a little longer, still manages to use his cold flow to spout cocky stylings on street code ethics when he wasn’t dishing some witty (“The powder so white the brick stamp say ‘gluten free’!”) barbs, throwing shots at fellow Chi-Town rapper Big T or delivering enough worthwhile heat to earn a debatable.
Verdict: Debatable
Favorite line: Aye Verb – “You gotta win two rounds to be solidified, if I don’t lose two rounds I don’t get criticized!”
Recap: Tough to call and as he mentioned in the battle, JC will definitely differ with this being a ‘debatable’, but with all categories considered and we’re done picking apart a superb punch-fest here with Ave, the verdict here is a draw. Which makes sense when you take in the long noted similar styles between the battlers, an elongated Ave getting turned up with the punches, (“If dance is rather what you’d be on, than young fella keep doing it, or fuck with the music…70’s porn!”) crazy set-ups/wordplay, aggressive urban street talk and braggadocio lines, but not-always-quite-so with the personals. While a more condensed JC, not always able to keep up with his opponent’s more finessed (esp. versus Ave’s fire 2nd round) repartee, still dished enough stifling heat, witty personals, fire name flips and potent schemes/punchlines to drop enough haymakers and edge round 3 after losing the 2nd and a debatable first. Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: JC – “I grab this, they wont remember his name, he’ll be past tense, he will literally go from Ave to Memory Lane”
Recap: In this 1-rounder versus Bill Collector, a slow start out the gate along some early stumbles ends up costing Nu Jersey Twork a win. After all, when Twork did get in his bag and pulled out a shitload of syrupy mayhem (tho some may wish he saved that fire ‘Kaboom!…little brother will never hold him up again!’ line for Hitman Holla if they were to ever battle), simply put, it was not only stellar across the board, but certainly condensed enough to beat a BC, who while spouting an elongated turn that was a bit costly when it came to pretty basic punchlines, produced enough hilarity with his (“The gun so big, to shoot it, I aim past you!”) fiery performance bars, sizzling name flips and witty personals to earn a draw.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: Nu Jerzey Twork – “[Bwoh!} see straight through Bill…ghost that!”
Recap: Deftly taking on themes of a drug addict when he wasn’t scoring with a gang of blistering (“Growing up Luke Cage, every hoodie I had, had some holes in it!”) punchlines and witty barbs, in this dope 3-rounder from We Go Hard, Uncle Flip does enough overall to score a debatable (got Slade edging the opener, Flip round 2 and the 3rd debatable) with a righteous and even jocular at times, gun-bar blazing, plug-talking and punchline-lit Kyd Slade.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: Kyd Slade – “You and that needle been separated for two days and now y’all back together, Curious George this Yellow nigga gonna have that monkey on his back forever!”
Recap: Dope altogether and super entertaining Verbal War Zone between Bill Collector and Dre Dennis really has no winner as after splitting the first two rounds, BC’s now classic, original, personal and wild (“Put the salads and the soups aside/Supersize on the Supersize!”) funny 3rd (‘We Loved You Better As A Fat Nigger’) round still doesn’t beat what was a pretty gritty, punch-heavy and hard turn from Dre Dennis. And while overall it’s BC who rode the beats better, bar-wise the edge goes to Dre Dennis, again making this battle only a close match with huge replay value, but a debatable one too.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: Dre Dennis – “Aim at him while he with his homies laughing, D. Rose, straight-face, make a shot with no reaction!”
Recap: As much as his name was mentioned in this battle, I’m guessing that Loaded Lux would smile at this one. Then too, in front of a mostly subdued crowd, B. Dot versus JC was just a fire matchup, competitive throughout with a boatload of hardbody punchlines, steely personals, style breakdowns that Murder Mook would certainly wink at, flippant gun bars as well as a host of gritty wordplay and haymakers. In other words, you couldn’t ask for much more. Despite rapping longer than his opponent in pretty much every round, a swift-kicking B. Dot gets the edge in round one, fiendishly (“I can’t believe this clown and all the shit y’all let him get away with, we all know he don’t spray clips, that’s why he emphasizes every line, every line, and y’all pay him for the overcompensation!”) exposing JC’s rap pedigree with a series of dope schemes/personals, while also dishing some rich performance bars and stinging punches to beat back a pretty solid, but a bit filler-prone and mostly thematically atypical with the gun semantics/punches turn from JC. The 2nd round saw B. Dot continue to leave aside his usual m.o. of cerebral, militant, thought-provoking raps for rapidly hitting personals that with an aggressive performance and some fine (“I mean the dancer, the rapper, the clapper, I’m knowing they all mesh, look I get you, it fits you, these personalities you switch to, its residential, they all fit inside your Napoleon complex!”) wordplay, for the most landed. But JC wasn’t having it, coming back with his own set of well-crafted (“Bitch stop the switchin’, llama’s spitting at this walking contradiction, big guns, Super C on Nintendo, that’s actual Contra-diction!”) personals mixed in with wild (“I catch bodies, I’m from the Glove, the proof is in the fingerprints!”) braggadocio lines and potent punches that all led to a more condensed and versatile turn to edge the round and make it 1-1 going into the 3rd. The last round was spitfire on both sides with B. Dot getting busy (and back to basics) with sterling life/rap (“I mean Smack, you just another train that he can board, said he wasn’t believable, that’s when he found a new Vice and start banging to the core, well of course, I’m not surprised, here go another God named JC claiming that he Lord!”) tutorials on awareness mixed in with more breaking down of his opponent’s raps via fire angles and set-ups. But JC wasn’t having any of the frenetic class sessions, delivering a confident and pragmatic (“The problem is the fact that we need to unify comes after the red raggin’, not saying it’s not a place at all, but it’s contradictory, Ref, you gotta drop that flag before you make the call!”) turn on B. Dot’s alleged hypocrisy in his raps with a boatload of consistently steely personals and feelgood schemes. All enough to match B. Dot’s potency in the deciding round and make this one a draw.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: JC – “This that same nigga who mirrored the image of Loaded Lux, then thought that it would help him skip the ropes, didn’t get that feature he wanted, realized Lux (luck’s) not on his side, then that mirror broke!”
Recap: A pair of gritty, hardbody battlers, Snake Eyez and a rarely seen Brooklyn Hanz, go at it for 3 rounds on the 7Cities Sharks stage and results are a bit mixed with Snake at his gulliest, (“You stopping cabs Brooklyn?, because that’s the only time we see Hanz [hands] waving!”) name-fliiping, scheme-savvy best dishing raunchy punches with consistent flair to beat back an aggressive, but less potent Hanz in the first. Things would flip a bit in the latter rounds, however, with a more condensed Hanz stepping up his game by adding a bit of wit to his bullish repertoire, thus forcing a debatable 2nd round with a sometimes fire, but less consistent Snake, before Hanz edges the 3rd over what was a pretty uneven turn from his opponent.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: Brooklyn Hanz – “You certified when your OG’s reference me!”
Recap: In front of a UK Code Red crowd, Real Deal and Quill both put on an entertaining show littered with witty barbs, dope punchlines and solid off-the-dome theatrics. A tight battle that also featured Deal devoting an entire 3rd round to Charlie Clips’ affability and Quill spouting a fire mid-round freestyle, after a more condensed Quill edged the 1st and a 2nd round debatable, the more cohesive and congenial Mr. Deal takes the final round to force a draw.
Verdict: Debatable
Favorite line: Quill – “Out of all the places I’ve been, your city is the least frightening, you imagine your hood as something else…Grease Lightning!”
Recap: The last time we saw Fettuccine20 battle on the West-coast, it was an impressive win over Dre Vishiss. This time however, a just-as-potent-with-the-punches Yung Griz forces Fetty into a different outcome. Still a fire battle nonetheless as after a debatable first round that saw both battlers bring an equal amount of spitfire heat, a more (“Big ass gun, Billy Boondocks, if this 1.1 [one point one], even the crowd dies!”) sublime and expansive Griz edges the 2nd, before Fetty comes back to edge the 3rd with a nice rebuttal, a gang of dope punchlines and one or two more haymakers to make up for a slightly less cleaner round than his opponent and a draw at the end.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: Fettuccine20 – “Everybody want be a featured artist, till the magazine put you on the front page!”
Recap: Credit to Bonnie Godiva for holding her own here, mixing it up with one of the most witty and disrespectful battlers in the game, Caustic, and outside of some flat rebuttals, delivering a bunch of fire punches, piercing personals and disrespectful (“If you really Italian bro, I’m a need you to bring ya momma to prove it, ‘cuz with that nose, you gotta be Jewish!”) shiners of her own to wholeheartedly compete and score a draw (got Caustic taking the 1st round, Bonnie took the 2nd and with the help of some dope rebuttals by Caustic, score round 3 a tie) in this 3-rounder from Rotation TV.
Verdict: Debatable
Favorite line: Caustic – “Bitch, no matter what the fuck we do, you don’t seem to go away, bitch, you’re an abortion clinic, your whole career is a bunch of Nuborn throwaways!”
Recap: A gritty and punchline-heavy Riggz and a street shit talking, but also hilarious Squeako make for a dope, competitive and entertaining PG battle on the URL stage. Scoring with spicy punches (“So don’t try me, you know me, be wise, don’t approach me, ‘cuz if need [points to Squeako’s knee] be I keep the strap close like Girbaud jeans!”) after punches in the 1st round, Riggz takes the opener over an opponent who while serving up a solid plate of his own, couldn’t provide enough spice to make up for a slow start. The 2nd round saw both battlers flex with the gun bars/trap talk and even get a bit (esp. Squeako) personal with their bars, but neither stood out enough to make the middle round anything more than a draw. With Riggz still up a round going into the 3rd, the North Carolina spitter shined again with some fine wordplay, witty barbs and festive punches during his final turn. But showing some remarkable resilience, Squeako would come back with an even doper 3rd, a turn that was drenched with some spitfire punchlines, resonating struggle bars and more funky old-school semantics to put him over the top, win the round and make this one a draw.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: Squeako – “You average, but your confidence is up to the fullest. talking about your punchline got a punchline….well my gun got bullets!”
Recap: Hitting with rapid, but gritty and aggressive punchlines Krzy Bby puts on enough of a quality show to force a draw with Drugz, who’s condensed turn of mostly mayhem mixed in with salacious (“Silencer, something copper hit the ground, but you couldn’t hear a penny drop!”) gun bars might’ve given him this 1-rounder if not for an unnecessary tag-in from Dre Dennis.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: Krzy Bby – “I ain’t seen nothing this ass on a plate since Cow and Chicken!”
Recap: A gritty and witty Shotgun Suge versus a lyrically bent and punch-heavy Chess on an EBC 2 card that while featuring none of the bells and whistles that comes with a Smack stage, still was a dope and competitive match. A fiery, more condensed, personal-savvy and consistently (“Like you palming the ratchet?, I don’t buy that shit like pork grinds!”) potent Suge edged round 1, before a debatable 2nd saw Chess get more versatile with the punches/set-ups and performance-heavy with his–enough to match a hard and comical turn by Suge in which the Jersey rapper continued to make light of Chess’ penchant for so-called ‘struggle bars’. With Suge still up a round going into the 3rd, Chess stayed on kill mode, dishing heat with steady real-life experiences in his lines, some fire wordplay and other worthy darts to edge what was another solid and condensed, but not quite-as-nice turn from Suge.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: Chess – “I’m Tom Shepard in a shootout, they gonna be mad when I put on…Jersey!”
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!”
