No Bias. No Narratives.
Recap: Stalking the stage, confident, performance-heavy and back on his grind with sizzling punchlines, fiery name flips/personals and heated gun bars, in this 1-rounder from Houston Bar Code, Glueazy makes quick work of a solid overall, but up-n-down Gutta.
Verdict: Glueazy (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Glueazy – “100 proof and even tho URL don’t fuck with you, you could be anywhere in the world right now, but you’re stuck with Glu!”
Recap: The intricate, wordplay-feening Gutta, who goes back a ways with URL/Smack, makes a solid effort here in this 3-rounder versus Young Kannon. But mixing it up well with more fiery punchlines, some witty barbs/schemes, well-researched personals and raucous name flips/gun bars, YK, for the first two rounds anyway, does more than enough to earn the win before a slightly more potent and consistent Gutta salvages the 3rd.
Verdict: Young Kannon (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Young Kannon – “You the yellow Starburst, you the worst out the pack!”
Recap: Able to confound his opponent with a dizzying array of repeatedly dope punchlines, stirring (“First he get a clip from the old ratchets…that’s Golden Girls!”) ‘old head bars’ and some crazy wordplay, for two rounds anyway, Reepah Rell takes advantage of his Gutta’s, at times nice, but way…too…slow…to…arrive punches and score a near 3-0, before Gutta’s distinct (“See, right now we on real nigga time and that’s…well past your curfew!”) comeuppance in the last round saves him from a very unpleasant return to the URL stage.
Verdict: Reepah Rell (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Reepah Rell – “I’m two-faced right?, so you was dead as soon as the coin flipped!”
Recap: Dishing mostly fierce braggadocio lines, jaunty wordplay and fiery gun bars, (“See, this why I don’t scheme, I rather give you all this info upfront like a lobby booth!”; “In battle rap it’s a million finger guns and niggas faking straps, but this, this a textbook example of a nigga with a hard cover, but he paperback!”) Beddafi Green and (“When they tell you I’m the truth, it’s all facts, no deceptions slick, and I do numbers with that white girl and the flow [Flo], now that’s Progressive bitch!”; “I show up and Black on competition like away game jersey’s!”) Gutta both do little to separate themselves during the first couple of rounds here in this matchup on Trap House NY. Then the 3rd round came, and tho Gutta still managed to deliver a solid (“I’ll let the first kick in here sleep, then take this jerk chicken in the street..but shit, that’s just a typical Labor Day in Brooklyn”) turn, Bedaffi’s added mix of hitting personals and harder (“When the block hot, his heart drop, Gutta be exposed like a big bitch in a crop top!”) punchlines gets him the win.
Verdict: Bedaffi Green (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Bedaffi Green – “This why I hate speaking to clowns, no daps, but I peeped you when I see you around!”
Recap: Dope battle between Gutta (who easily makes up for his earlier poor PG against Blacksmif here) and Gjonga, a Michigan cat whose style and pedigree is like a flat-out combination of Dizaster and Uno Lavos. Close throughout with plenty of haymakers, crazy (Gutta: “I’ll chew a nigga while he hot, I can’t stand to eat my dinner cold”) punchlines, steady jokes, preachy (Gjonja: “Well honestly, save your fucking apology, I been down paths so fucking dark my shadow wouldn’t follow me”) wordplay and stellar performances on both sides. But Gutta takes it in the end for being a little more consistent overall with the flow while producing more heat with his stage time. All the while Gjonaj’s wordplay didn’t always match his aggression, tho his all-world first (“If by now you’re not a fan, I got holy punches that I promise land”) round should still be viewed as a classic.
Verdict: Gutta (W0 2-1
Favorite line: Gjonga – “Well now I’m mad and I can’t get past it so I’mma catch you leaving Summer Madness, talking to your fucking ratchet, knife you at a red light, tell your bitch you got stuck in traffic!”
Recap: Decent battle. Both came with plenty of bars, but their similar styles feeds into the argument that too many of these PG dudes sound alike. Blaksmif also needs to work on his delivery along with less dapping, while Gutta’s lines are too generic (even if you aren’t into personals, being proud that you couldn’t find any dirt on a dude is a non-starter) and his entourage could’ve shown more support for his bars. I got Blacksmif winning this easy tho: way more angles, better (“You remind me of a pregnant bitch: you got nut-in [nothing]”) punchlines, nice wordplay, steady jokes and more hard-hitting bars.
Verdict: Blaksmif (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Blaksmif – “I’m balling cuz’ I run through two halves then it’s O time, I shut him down so bad so bad his casket need a Closed sign”
