Recap: From RBE, in the end whether Goodz pops really is white didn’t matter. The GMB boss, after getting edged in round 1 (thanks in part to a fly freestyle, some astute personals and righteous talking too’s from Calicoe) utlizing a plethora of hard-hitting punchlines, fire braggadocious rhymes, dope personals/schemes, slick money talk and rigid wordplay/name flips to beat back a couple of pretty solid and gritty, but over expansive (when it came to themes) rounds by Cal that gave Goodz both turns for the win.
Verdict: Goodz (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Goodz – “These dumb nigga’s be on Spaces for hours arguing for free, if it ain’t about a profit or I ain’t dollar-signing, i ain’t got time for gossip if I can’t monetize it!”
Recap: With Eazy The Block Captain on a hot streak of late and Swag King Goodz coming back to the big stage after a long hiatus, the two make for a highly anticipated matchup here on URL”s N.O.M.E. 12 card. And as expected the battle is a real goodie with Goodz dishing his usual assortment of boastful barbs, financial advice, snappy drug talk, nifty punchlines and mocking personals to mostly terrific effect. While a steadily aggressive Eazy TBC’s boatload of real street raps, steely angels (esp. when it came to utilizing some of his opponent’s more noted lingo against him), aggressive/gritty punches, rich similes and hard-hitting personals of his own showed why he is the most sought-after opponent for top tier battlers today. A close battle throughout that kept the Houston crowd fully engaged, it’s a more versatile and punch-heavy Eazt who takes the first two rounds for the win before a turned up Goodz edged the 3rd to avoid the 30.
Verdict: Eazy The Block Captain (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Eazy The Block Captain – “We already allowed you to call your cologne Gentlemen 30 and you never had one!”
Recap: Smack Volume 6 battle between Geechi Gotti and Goodz that outside of some dope rebuttals on both sides, goes down as expected: aggressive, competitive and well-executed when it came to preparation. Indeed, for all of Goodz talk of making money and living well outside of battle rap, Gotti countered with some scintillating (“I guess he always talking money ‘cuz he trying to speak in into existence!”) personals and righteous, business-minded moves of his own. Then too, Geechi’s penchant for gang-related themes in his raps were handled deftly by Goodz’s resident nonchalance and witty punches. Add to the mix a bunch of vet talk, boastful barbs and spicy breakdowns/punchlines from Goodz as well as a gang of rigid gun lines, piercing schemes and gloating chatter from Gotti and you’re left with a fire battle that was too close to call in each of the 3 rounds.
Verdict: Debatable
Favorite line: Goodz – “Every battle the same shit, somethin’ about his man death, nigga, you done lost so many friends I’m surprised you got friends left!”
Recap: Dope 1-rounder from Go-Rilla Warfare between Goodz and Gauge goes the former’s way as despite a pretty solid, slick-talking, braggadocio, personal and at times witty/punch-heavy turn by Gauge, a more refined, affable with the life lessons, wordplay-savvy, slightly more consistently-lit and personal/punch-heavy Goodz edges it at the end.
Verdict: Goodz (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Goodz – “You know why I’m doing better than these battle nigger’s?….because the nigger’s I hang with are doing better than me!”
Recap: No debating the result here: Goodz got the 30. But let the record show that in the 1st round Cassidy was kind of nice (that is, except for jacking Danny Myers’ ‘Who in here believe in a parallel universe? (I do!)’ slogan), albeit utilizing a gritty but monotone flow throughout the battle, the ever-boastful Cass was still able to spit some (“I’m too popular, never lost a battle Smack, I made battle rap popular, you got popular off battle rap!”) hard punches here and there to make things competitive and even give you hope that this would turn out to be a dope match. But after the 1st round however, things went south…and fast as Cassidy–already so in love with himself that he’ll rap your head off if you let him–just could never get back in a groove, rarely lighting up the scoreboard with haymakers while spitting mediocre bar after mediocre bar after mediocre bar. Indeed, Cassidy’s 2nd and 3rd were really hard to watch. So hard in fact, that not only could you not wait for this hour long battle to be over with, but anyone choosing to re-watch this much-hyped bout would probably be wise to just skip Cass’ turns after the 1st round and appreciate Goodz’s ultra-smooth, versatile, (“How you The Hustla, but looking like the customer!”) personal-heavy, narrative-crazy and punchline-lit performance.
Verdict: Goodz (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Goodz – “These industry niggas, when they career die, they be looking for a buzz to get hot, now they coming over to battle rap, what the fuck we look like, Love & Hip Hop?!”
Recap: This N.O.M.E. 8 headliner doesn’t quite give you the best Goodz or the best Tay Roc, but in the long run it still ends up being a pretty dope match between two top tiers in what was a much-anticipated matchup. The first couple of rounds made for clear decisions with a more pointed with the personals, (“I’ll reach for this pole, squeeze and let go, leg shot, it’ll be hard to keep up with half the people you know!”) heat-cocked and punchline-heavy Roc taking round 1 via more overall potency with his bars as well as more haymakers, while Goodz (who already dished a pretty solid turn in the 1st round although it wasn’t as consistent as his opponent’s), snapping with his affable storytelling while also fueled by rugged name flips, (“But you tough tho’, right Roc? Can we be sure?, you from the county, you not even from the real B-More, no projects, no shootouts, no knife killings, the county got big houses, gated communities and nice livin’, what I’m sayin’ is, while y’all run around believing son, ya legendary Gun Bar King, come from a place where you don’t need a gun!”) witty/stifling personals and plenty of boastful shiners would clearly take the 2nd round over a surprisingly subpar and mostly pedestrian turn from Roc. The 3rd and deciding round was close and almost a toss-up. But Goodz, who was hurt a bit throughout this by ‘borrowing’ themes we’ve already seen used against Tay Roc, still came through with a mostly fly final round making use even more swagger-swinging content, storied schemes and some punchlines/wordplay here and there. On the other hand Roc, with nowhere to go but up after a disappointing 2nd round, made good on his earlier prognostications, continuing to aptly take on Goodz’s spicy personals with astute rebuts, dishing hardbody schemes, witty punches, finessed wordplay and best of all righteous gun lines that edged him the round and scored the Cave Gang honcho the win.
Verdict: Tay Roc (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Tay Roc – “Gun Titles? You don’t want smoke with even half of that, 50 round clip, hangin’ out this automatic gat, just know if you comin’ after the Titles, make sure ya ladder match!”
Recap: Too much wit and too many (“They only like you ‘cuz you the fake me and they don’t see me as much!”) fly personals/tru-isms from Goodz along with too many unforced errors (bragging about beating Tony D, spitting too many non-direct bars, etc.) from an otherwise solid (“You lost all this weight and still got a fat girl face!”) Jimz, gives the former the first couple of rounds and the win in a battle that wasn’t as dry as the seemingly listless crowd let on.
Verdict: Goodz (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Goodz – “When that nigger knocked you out, why you ain’t call me?,…instead you was watching him from the ground, gave us the real definition of floor seats!”
Recap: Not everyday that you see a league owner with little to no experience battling step in the ring to face off against a top tier opponent. But that’s the case here as ABR owner Chris Petty goes heads up against Goodz and honestly..he was alright. Tho his braggadocio lines on how wealthy he is does get a little repetitive at times, he scored with a few shiners here and there. And while the witty and swagger-aesthetically inclined would’ve had to have pretty much choked in order to lose this battle, at the very least, Mr. Petty didn’t embarrass himself and the battle itself clearly kept the crowd entertained.
Verdict: Goodz (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Goodz -“They talking lyrics, dumb then down, I’m really trying to dumb him down, I done had a bunch of orgies, think chicks in circles, but I don’t fuck around!”
Recap: When he wasn’t faking a choke just to see what it feels like, a more condensed and versatile Goodz scores with more than enough punches to take out a mostly laborious D.I. Da Hennyman in this one-rounder from Do Or Die Battle League.
Verdict: Goodz (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Goodz – “iPhone texting an Android, don’t even hit me if you ain’t trying to talk green!”
Recap: If there’s one chink in T Top’s armor (and the same goes for his bro Brizz Rawsteen) it’s that too often he just raps too long, thus diluting rounds with unnecessary bars that while more often not still lean on being fire, don’t quite meet the standard of haymakers and in turn risk lowering his ratio of haymakers per round. But surprisingly, here against the always stylish, talkish and confident Goodz, besides a substantive time differential between the two battlers in round 1, in the latter two rounds, they spit for around the same amount of time. That said, with a more condensed and shit-talking Goodz edging the 1st round before a boisterous, punch-spazzing and (“Dog, I would’ve battled Yung Ill twice on the corner and then sold him what he needed, got him right on the corner!”) personal-heavy Top drops just enough more haymakers to take round 2 and tie things up. With the match on the line in the 3rd, T Top’s elongated turn still makes for a solid effort with a gang of spicy name flips, personals and punchlines. However, Top’s final round proves to be no sweat off the back for Goodz, who with the reliable cup of Henny in hand, unloads an extra witty, (“You sound like Jadakiss with cancer!”) personal-themed, punch-heavy and swagger-licious turn to beat back any chance of his opponent taking the bout.
Verdict: Goodz (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Goodz – “You ready T?, ‘cuz we don’t talk much, if it’s personal we park the car and do walk-ups!”
Recap: After barely battling the last couple of years, Goodz shows us once again that he’s firmly back on his grind with his 3rd battle of 2017 here against the generically designated Jeffrey, who while impressing with repeatedly witty (“I been doing numbers on people like Nazi brands!”) one-liners and some cool name flips, hurt himself with only a couple of haymakers for such a long turn. On the other hand Goodz, with some unapologetic vibes from his 2015 battle with Rone, spit a more condensed and altogether humorous round, spiced with lucid (“These [balls up fists] are A-1, for what’s at stake [steak], we could go Out Back!”) personals that overall was just enough to supply Mr. Half-A-Gallon a win.
Verdict: Goodz (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Goodz – “Put the money on the wood, we could see who the best team, but Jeff ain’t got the heart to play, I’m just trying to take Jeff Green!”
Recap: Goodz picks apart a clearly-not-on-his-level-Billy Boondocks with a confident palette of swagger bars, righteous (“I could call you in L.A. and make you go to the store!”) aplomb and some exquisite wordplay in this one-round battle from HoneyCombHideOut.
Verdict: Goodz (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Goodz – “You hot, where? Come see me, give him bars like I’m locked up, I’m on the top tier!”
Recap: Goodz, arguably the most dangerous 1-round opponent in battle rap, proves why again, beating back a ripping and pretty solid turn by Shotgun Suge with a variety of spicy/witty personals, flippant boasts, rich storytelling, piercing name flips/punchlines and stifling 4-bar-set-ups to win this Time Is Money battle.
Verdict: Goodz (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Goodz – “My voice gets your bitch box wet, that’s why she checks my flow!”
Recap: Rone versus Goodz makes for an odd matchup on paper, but the two battle rap vets still put on a highly entertaining battle nonetheless in this one-rounder from KOTD. Going first, Rone does Rone: plenty of white-boy swag with an oft-frenzied mix of potent (“You have the body type of an overstuffed teddy bear, all that extra flesh God and you couldn’t stick a neck in there?”) jokes, rapid schemes, animated name flips and robust (“Paper or plastic, man I got a bag for the goods, I will put you in the news, like Noah the story could, we’ll tune into Good Morning America to see America mourning Goodz!”) punchlines. But it’s Goodz (despite making it clear how much he was only doing this battle for the bread), who’s always the favorite when it comes to one-rounders, that uses a more versatile and condensed mix of splendid wordplay, fresh out the box puns, witty (“I’m battling a real good kid, this don’t even seem right, the toughest thing you ever did probably was cross the street on a green light”) personals and real rap (“Slow down Goodz you using them, when times get hard for me I go to selling drugs, they get hard for you, you go to using them!”) talk to take this one in the end.
Verdict: Goodz (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Goodz – “I don’t care about this battle so much…nigga, I’m rooting for YOU!”
Recap: Sometimes Goodz just makes it look too easy. Not to say Ah Di Boom wasn’t game here, what with his usual top-notch performance all the while spitting some extra cripsy (“You pull bitches, I pull triggers, there’s a difference in Mack’s”) heat that served as a reminder as to why Goodz gave this ‘PG’ a shot in the first place. But in a one-rounder against the likes of Mr. Half-a-Gallon, Ah Di’s few dry spots were enough for Goodz to take advantage. And that he did with a heavy barrage of rich bars, steady jokes, winning (“Now getting money I’m nice tho, your green too small to talk, this ain’t Geico”) metaphors and wicked (“In the lunchroom I had my own table, you ain’t ever laugh with the cool niggas”) stunting on the wordplay. Taking time out hid busy schedule to school another young’un, you’re only left to wonder what it’d be like if he battled more often.
Verdict: Goodz (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Goodz – “How do steal a nigga’s body shape?”
Recap: Aye Verb gets line of the night (see below), but that’s still not enough to beat back a (“Ask about my background, pistol dumpin’, believe me nigga you gon’ get what you don’t want if this cat fish [Catfish] for somethin’!”) punch-heavy, swaggalicious with the boasts and witty with the personals Goodz in this N.O.M.E. IV, 3-rounder from Smack. Goodz, amped from the jump on out-barring his opponent, faced some steady comp lyric-wise from the St. Louis-repping vet. But besides a debatable 2nd round, a couple of inconsistent turns by Verb in both the 1st and 3rd didn’t help matters, thus helping a righteously snapping throughout Goodz (who on Jadakiss reactions alone, won this battle) to the win.
Verdict: Goodz (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Aye Verb – “I ride up on this nigga while he chillin’ on the weekend, creepin’, seat back, iron low like I’m anemic!”
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: A couple of Lionz Den graduate’s, Goodz and Arsonal (“He still drinking that dark, he must ain’t seen what that Brown did till it got a hold of Whitney!”), take their skills to MC War stage, rhyming for two rounds over a beat before switching over for the final style to normal style, but with a microphone in hand. Definitely a goodie with a pair of captivating flows over a gritty beat that was backed by equally fierce punchlines, boastful darts, solid wordplay and blazing gun bars. In the end, we got Arsonal taking the 1st round before a punch-heavier Goodz edged the 2nd, while the last round was a draw.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: Goodz – “I hate bitch nigga’s, you the type get a ticket for an open container and snitch nigga!”
Synopsis: No battle rapper gets booed outside his home turf more than Aye Verb. Yet, I can’t see Aye Verb ever letting booing stop him from delivering a round like X-Factor does here. Shame too, because this isn’t even Goodz at his best and after the 1st round it was kind of close. And while X-Factor’s 2nd was just wack, a real vet wouldn’t let the crowd get to him like that. Clearly unprepared combined with a “priority’s” angle that went nowhere fast, X-Factor should lose a lot of fans for pulling this crap.
Verdict: Goodz (W) 3-0
Best line: Goodz – “And I heard your tenderoni was a sleaze, she a golddiger, I could mac your roni with some cheese, bake her, until she oven hot then I leave her, you open, so you take her out then you eat her, that’s crazy”
Recap: Classic Lionz Den battle between K-Shine and Goodz goes the Animal’s way after the two split the first two rounds. The sometimes witty and ever boastful Goodz, dallying in street semantics, noted playa themes, stinging 4-bar set-ups and piercing punches/personals throughout the battle, does enough consistency-wise in the 3rd round to beat Shine’s rapid-fire mayhem and spicy punches.
Verdict: Goodz (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Goodz – “Buck-fifty? nah, I give scars as long as two dollars!”
Synopsis: 1st appearance of Earl, but really what’s a choke? Depends on who you ask. IMO, however, it’s completely forgetting your rhymes. Hitman didn’t do that here, but then would it have mattered? Hitman’s performance, bars and name flips were poor at best (a real disappointment considering Holla was in front of his home crowd) and Goodz although not at his best either, still spit enough bars and came with enough swag plus personals to take the win….in spite of Earl.
Verdict: Goodz (W) 1-0
Best line: Goodz – “You ain’t nothing but an Urkel nigga that can turn into Stefon”
Synopsis: Ok, while overall this was a dope and competitive battle, a couple of things really frustrated me about it. First, there was Hollow’s man, clearly high as fuck with his constant interruptions that could’ve easily wrecked his man’s flow. Then, of course, there’s Goodz choice in round 3 to get upset at a heckler in the crowd and forfeit a match he had a chance at winning, since I had the batted tied (Goodz edging the 1st while Hollow, in what was a sublime turn, clearly took the 2nd) going into the final round. Also, significant in this battle IMO was Hollow calling out Hitman Holla at the end of his 3rd round, which showed how much respect Hitman was getting after beating Arsonal. As for the battle itself, ultimately it’s Hollow’s stronger punch game (he even had a fire rebuttal in the middle of his written’s during the 3rd), consistently and versatility that gets him the win here as after a bullish (“You lost to Arsonal….clearly, no debating!!!”) 1st, Goodz’s bar potency really went downhill in both of the latter rounds.
Verdict: Hollow da Don (W) 2-1
Best line: Hollow Da Don – “His man Charlie Clips did one battle and he thinks he’s Top 3 now, how we supposed to believe Charlie got clips when we only seen three rounds?!”
Recap: After Rich Dolarz uses a stirring mix of aggressive, braggadocio rhymes and swift (“He said he getting money, yeah he a fast spender, he was the same one complaining when the price of the gas went up!”) wisecracks to easily take round one, Goodz lyrical meanderings finally catch up to his swag in round two and three. Indeed, for Goodz there’s enough deft (“I keep chickens in they place, that’s coup control!”) wordplay to edge round two. And thanks in part to Rich going overkill on the gay bars, but mostly due to some dope (“I done killed so much tracks, I pay child support, too many deadbeats [dead beats]”) punchlines from Goodz, it’s a come from behind win for Da Animal.
Verdict: Goodz (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Goodz – “I snap box fools with biscuits, I’m too vicious, there’s more hunger, y’all scrape the plate, I chew dishes!”
Recap: Conceited is so hit-n-miss with his punchlines throughout this matchup against Goodz, that even if he did manage to drop a couple of nice off-the-dome bars on the huge armpit stains staring at him throughout this battle just begging to be goofed on, it probably wouldn’t have mattered anyway. Indeed, this battle didn’t come down to how crazy nice Goodz as much as how alarmingly corny Conceited, one of the slicker (“Sub zero gave him ICE, it was a fatality”; “I swear Goodz I ain’t gonna front, that name is clever, [but] I’ll get rid of that ‘O Z’ and send you up to the remaining letters”) punchliners around, was at times. From the infamously lame: “And they all bananas, so you better split” performance bar in the 1st round to the lazy “In this battle I’m a Yankees, he the Phillies [philly] that’s why I’m smoking his ass” line in the 2nd, Conceited lack of consistency, much less haymakers left plenty of room for Goodz most entertaining (“It’s crazy, he talk about he poppin’ them things, wow!, but him and his girl go to the mall and they shop in the same aisle!” personals, wittiest “C’mon, you tough?!, well if you do smoke lead, it’s like a dope head, you gotta shoot up”) wordplay and an easy win.
Verdict: Goodz (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Goodz – “I got my name from a bitch, you went to jail and they named you Conceited, he tried to hook off on the low, and got pushed off on the floor, then they caught him in the showers and made him play football with the soap!”
Recap: All things considered, it would take a cool vet like Head ICE to out-swag Goodz. But this one really came down to, as it usually does…who had the better bars. Something Goodz seemed to run out of as the battle went on, while ICE’s slick talk, storytelling lines and boss chatter stayed moving the needle in his direction as the battle proceeded. Split the first round down the middle. The rest? All ICE.
Verdict: Head ICE (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Head ICE – “And I’m a bark back, come to the dog show, catch you by yourself slipping, expect to get long-nosed!”
Synopsis: Damn, Tec-9 put on a great show, fully entertaining as hell with a wicked performance to match.. But Goodz put on a pretty dope show too (with plenty of swag, as usual) and going in tied, Goodz clearly out-barred Tec in round 3 for the win.
Verdict: Goodz (W) 2-1
Best line: Tech-9 – “I go shopping I see it I like it nigga, the receipts pop up after I swipe it nigga, when you swipe it they tell you to re-enter your code, you come up with excuses say they got your — on hold”
Recap: Classic in-studio battle from 2002 between street battle rap legend Jae Millz and a young up-n-comer from the BX named Goodz (over a variety of beats) sees the latter hold his own for 4 of the 5 rounds here, edging rounds 1 and 3 with a quality assortment of boastful punches and slick/witty barbs. But the ever-ready Millz, armed with a battery pack of raps that makes him so prolific with the lines, edges this one, all the while dropping thoro punchlines with dismissive flair when he wasn’t spouting a gang of graphic/gripping schemes, gritty street semantics and stunted similes/wordplay.
Verdict: Jae Millz (W) 3-2
Favorite line: Jae Millz – “I’m like a basketball coach in love with the 2, 3 dog, you can’t take me out my zone!”
