Recap: From the HowY ouGonAct Network, a mostly competitive 3-rounder between Ave and Jai400 sees the latter’s hard-hitting street rhymes, aggressive punches and slick wordplay edge both of the opening rounds for the win before the ever-boastful and punch-heavy Ave puts together his best round with a deliciously personal and haymaker-lit 3rd to avoid the shutout.
Verdict: Jai400 (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Jai400 – “What make you feel you could deal with Jai [Jay] when you couldn’t survive Roc nation?!”
Recap: Cali vs. Jersey, prolific with the interviews vs. prolific with the interviews, bald head vs. bald head, Danny Myers vs. Jai 400 from the latter’s HowYouGonAct Network league serves up a steady mix of graphic punchlines, aggressive personals (esp. from Jai), pent-up set-ups/boasts and spiteful mayhem to the consistent delight of a well-tuned in crowd. But after a sublime and steadily hard-hitting Jai took round 1, a couple of fly rebuttals, mayhem-slinging (“This is a movie right?, well this clip hold 16 Blocks…Mos Def!”) and more versatile showing from Danny in round 2 would tie things up before the 3rd, which with an equally syrupy display of punches from both battlers would end up making this one debatable.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: Jai400 – “Parallel universes is not enough, ‘cuz parallel is all I did to get them numbers just to line him up!”
Recap: Kaboom vs. Jai 400 on a ‘Philly vs. Jersey’ card features a couple of fiery schemes, an elongated 2nd and a dope freestyle to open his 3rd round by ‘Boom as well as a gang of consistently (outside of a final round slip-up) gritty, quality punches/name flips from Jai. However, with neither battler quite on their A-game, a debatable 1st round, Jai edging the 2nd with a more condensed and steadily spicy turn before a killer turn by Boom in round 3 allows him to take that one, a draw here seems entirely feasible.
Verdict: Debatable
Favorite line: Kaboom – “I feel bad for ya hard luck, Gillie walked in…and Jai 400 got starstruck!”
Recap: Although he did go a little overboard with the John John angle, when it came to the personals, Jai 400 still hits with enough salacious/mocking personals, rigid name flips/schemes, fiery set-ups, witty barbs and consistently spicy punchlines/gun bars to take the 1st and deciding 3rd round and win this matchup over the solid unorthodox stylings of a Jakkboy Maine who did put forth a captivating and quality effort despite struggling with his flow a bit here and there.
Verdict: Jai 400 (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Jai 400 – “Watch him for the backstabbers, for the Love of the Money, you’ll take the Stairway to Heaven if ever you owe Jai [O’Jay]!”
Recap: Besides being somewhat lazy and antithetical to today’s era of battle rap, I don’t have too much of a problem with the use of recycled bars. After all, T-Rex is absolutely right when he states that back in the day, as dudes went from block to block to battle, using the same verses over and over was the norm. And yes, using recycled bars always beats stealing…always. Funny too how Rex’s proud usage of mixtape bars serves as some great self-promotion to yunno, go out and buy one of his mixtapes. That said, pretty clear win here for Jai 400 Block, the Newark battler basking in an aggressive assortment of rugged punchlines, flexing personals, lofty wordplay and rigid heat in this 1-round Social Distance battle to beat Rex’s shortened, gun-heavy and witty at times, but far less potent turn.
Verdict: Jai 400 Block (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Jai 400 Block – “Not the type of business that you conduct when looked as a vet, that shit ridiculous, you just out here taking free money like the stimulus!”
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: If you’re going to resort to mayhem, you might as well as stick with it as after a lukewarm, but still pretty raucous 1st round, Jai 400 Block ups the ante on his bar efficiency in the latter two rounds, mixing in a boatload of more perfunctory heat along with wily personals and stinging punchlines/wordplay to edge a brazen Lu Castro who started off well, but in rounds 2 and 3 was a little all over the place when it came to angles, all the while resorting to hit-n-miss gun bars when he couldn’t keep his themes more in sync.
Verdict: Jai 400 Block (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Jai 400 Block – “You from the Bronx, but who found you?, the Bronx is where Hip-Hop started from the ground too, you a clown Lu, but [???] nobody’s heard or foreseen you before, so I’m guessing you ain’t from Soundview!”
Recap: One too many Shotgun Suge references in the 1st round cost him a 30, but a stellar, punchline/personal-crazy, name flip-spazzing, gun-centric and wordplay meaty 2nd and 3rd rounds gives Fonz the win over Jai 400 Block (who went ham in the opening round, but proved to be less consistent in the latter rounds) in this 3-round Born Legacy battle from Smack/URL.
Verdict: Fonz (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Fonz – “This nigga Chinese mustard, I finna put him in the bag for nuthin’!”
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: How fitting is Big T’s ‘Quiet’ slogan in front of a dead crowd in New Jersey? Very much so. Tho to be fair, listless b attle rap crowds in Jersey seem to be a common occurrence. Still, professionals that they are, Big Terrence and Jai 400 Black still put on a good show for the crowd with Jai’s rapid punchlines and ad hominem sermonizing scoring here and there, while Big T’s noted gun sounds, pointed punchlines/personals and fiery wordplay also leaving their mark. So who gets the win? While overall Jai was solid and more condensed, it’s a more versatile, cleaner and hitting Big T who takes rounds 1 and 3 to prevail in the end.
Verdict: Big T (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Big T – “This a Uno match verse a Judo scrap and I don’t gotta break it or spell it out for you Jai, you do [JU-DO] that!”
Recap: In this close 1-rounder from RBE between Jai 400 Block and Qleen Paper, Jai’s head-ringing punchline game, piercing personals and flexing mayhem are enough to beat a witty at times and gritty with the punches, but not as steady or pointed as his opponent QP.
Verdict: Jai 400 Block (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Jai 400 Block – “Bishop on the roof is the only time we seen Q let an arm go!”
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: Jai 400 Block impresses once again on the URL/Smack stage. This time using eerie name flips, flexing (“You a Jakkboy Maine [jack boy, man], well I’m a Ryda [rider] at the right time!”) wordplay and some elite guns bars to take out a (“I’m looking for him in his grandmom crib, screaming ‘You bastard, you soft!’, I let it ring in the house, now his granny dead in the living room, the plastic went off, [blows finger like gun] I left a stain in the house!”) hard-hitting at times, but overall flow-challenged Dougy on this Ascension card.
Verdict: Jai 400 Block (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Jai 400 Block – “Ace Ventura, have them animals raiding your house, got him tripping like Ray Finkle, guess the laces was out!”
Recap: In this stirring one-rounder from WeGoHard, both (“Check the pamphlet, ever since this match was booked, I asked the army ‘Is bro sure [brochure]?'”) Pharoah and (“These clips back-to-back…this my slide show!”) Jai spit a load of hot, fiery bars that more than landed hard on their mark. But it’s Pharoah, who spat twice as long as his opponent (and only stopped due to the timekeeper) did, who ended up leaving himself a little more room for filler…and that, along with Jai being a little more empahtic with his punches, pretty much turns out to be the difference-maker.
Verdict: Jai (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Jai – “Don’t get hooked up to IVs for nuthin’…Roman Numeral!”
Recap: In some battles doing a little too much can end up hurting you in the long run. Case in point here in what overall was a terrific and close matchup between (“Have ratchets surrounding Dre like ‘How To Be A Playa!”) Jai 400 Block and Dre Dennis. Loaded with plenty of nice gun bars, ferocious (Jai: “So how you gonna act Dre?, when I push your melon in [melanin] like I’m promoting Hidden Colors 2!”) bully bars, sizzling (Jai: “Closed mouths don’t get fed, and by your weight I’d be lying if I said you don’t eat!”) wordplay, fresh schemes and rich (Dre: “He even tried to PG Step to get to Smack, but that ain’t work for you tho, little Jai tried to be I but got curbed on the low!”) personals from both battlers, this was a debatable battle going into the final round. And that’s where Dre Dennis, despite a round that spouted some fiery bars and a couple of (“This big bitch, be looking for Shotgun more than Trick Trick!”) haymakers, ended up losing the battle what with a couple of reaches, mediocre lines, unnecessarily PG-stepping and over-saturated gun bars that in comparison to a more short and succinct, but heavily (“You take battle after battle off Smack, I don’t think the staff ok with the shit, is it because of the fact they never pay you for shit?, let’s say they paid you for this, this the initiative, because after what I do to you, it’s going to be like they paid you to quit!”) stacked with a variety of potent bars from Jai, ended up edging 400 Block the win.
Verdict: Jai 400 Block (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Dre Dennis – “Slow with clips in, I take time filling up my drum, old URL days, I upload rounds one by one!”
Recap: Mostly lackluster battle between Jai and K-Shine on the Udubb stage features bad impressions, plenty of filler, K-Shine taking a round off and Jai catching a bout of Earl in round 3, which along with Shine’s more titillating (“That’s banging on sight [site] like Backpage!”) bars in round 1 essentially serves as the difference-maker.
Verdict: K-Shine (W) 2-1
Favorite line: K-Shine – “Glock-9, mean laser, —-, bean chaser, act out, nigga, I done backed out more than Qleen Paper!”
Recap: Even with a 1st round choke messing a bit with his popping-veteran-schooling-the-fledging-rapper angle throughout the battle, Cortez still manages to comeback, add some witty personals, righteous gun bars and scathing punchlines to his plate in the latter rounds, while also taking advantage of a Jai 400 Block who didn’t have near the robustness to his raps in rounds 2 and 3 as he did prior, thus helping Cortez gain the win.
Verdict: Cortez (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Cortez – “A brand new .40 will make this nigga die young if he don’t act his age!”
Recap: Plenty of lyrical showmanship in this 3-round battle from RBE between Jai and ShowOff, which sees the two split the first couple of rounds, both of which were adept on wordplay with your resident mayhem, aggressive boasts and even a few personals mixed in. And while both battlers spit some solid punches and flexed some versatility in the deciding 3rd round, ShowOff’s more pointed personals and deft execution with the bars stood out a little more, thus giving him the win.
Verdict: ShowOff (W) 2-1
Favorite line: ShowOff – “I’m the same one hated by those who show me hell of love, bald head stay with a Shotgun…meet Elmer Fudd!”
Recap: Assessing the notorious Hitman Holla situation his opponent Bill Collector had a couple of years back with righteous indignation, flexing punchlines and over-the-top hilarity in an almost flawless 1st round, before hanging on to edge the 2nd round with some stinging wordplay and a more concise punch game, Jai 400 Block survives three solid (and pretty lyrical at times) rounds from his humbled opponent to edge this competitive 3-rounder from RBE.
Verdict: Jai 400 Block (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Jai 400 Block – “Shooter…that mean I’ll put the trey [3] on you like Bradley Bill [Beal]!”
Recap: Still rampant with the name flips, but in this case against fellow Jersey-ite Ah Di Boom, also stifling with the gritty punchlines and excelling at times with the wordplay and personals, Jai 400 Block takes the first two rounds for the win, before a solid-throughout-the-battle Boom gets extra nice in the 3rd with a punch-heavy and heat-blazing turn to salvage a round.
Verdict: Jai 400 Block (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Jai 400 Block – “You don’t let tools off, you a fraud, I’ll let two off, remove his soul [sole] from him like tennis shoes when they too small!”
Recap: Rosenberg and Jai put on a spirited battle on the RBE stage and it’s Jai who comes out on top with hard-hitting bars, delicious (“Just know whatever I hold in these hands I’m squeezing, they’ll find body parts of Rose’s [roses] everywhere, EMS won’t know whether if it’s a homicide or a romantic evening”) anecdotes, steady name flips and enough personals to make Rosenberg want to seek out a confessional. Almost a 3-0, but credit for Rosenberg for hanging in there, making it close and edging the 3rd round with that “stealing crabs like Jameis Winston” line. Verdict: Jai (W) 2-1 Favorite line: Jai – “You not a man of your words, 50 vs. Ross, I can’t believe the shit Rozay [Rose say]”
Recap: Up against the hardbody, often cold and bullish raps of Dan Barz in this 3-rounder from Udubb, Jai 400 Block is still able to deliver a wide stream of solid name flips and piercing punchlines to take round 1, before Barz spouts a scheming, boastful and surprisingly (“…you love her, I’m trying to duck her, say that you trash in the bed, she say I’m cuter, ‘cuz you [puts hand over Jai’s head] look like Dame Dash in the head!”) witty 2nd round to even things up going into the 3rd. With the final round deciding the winner, both battlers were able to cue up an assortment of steely personals and widespread mayhem during their turns. But with a minor slip-up from Jai to go along with Dan wasting some bars on Shotgun Suge, an equal amount of haymakers and bar efficiency in round 3 makes this one a draw.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: Jai 400 Block – ” I already arm-stronged Lance nigga, so you know it’s gonna be easy for me to handle Barz!”
Recap: Apparently so confident in his chances against his opponent that he wrote a shortened 3rd round, it’s ultimately a strong 2nd that most separates Jai from Lance, whose mostly pedestrian bars failed to match his moxy or aggression.
Verdict: Jai (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Jai – “But Lance, you do nothing right so I’m a tell you what you do wrong, you perpetrate, so it’s FU like Too Wong!”
Recap. Solid battle between Jus Juice and Jai is decided by more versatile turns by Jai. Who in the first couple of rounds, overcame a plethora of real rap stylings by Juice with a steady mix of sturdy name flips, hard-hitting personals, nice (“Won’t stop till I’m on top and they saying I’m great, long story short…this nigga couldn’t end J if he was abbreviating my state!”) wordplay and witty jokes. Still, give Juice credit for hanging in there with a potent (“Rocking them bright colors, I’ll roll up, smoke J…it’s the 80’s nigga!”) 3rd round that allowed him to avoid getting 3-0’d.
Verdict: Jai (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Jai – “…. so when that caliber spit…URL won’t be the only one’s with the footage of Jones battling Clips!”
Recap: Black Haze’s strong-armed raps, righteous cadence and hardbody boasts makes things interesting. But in this 1-rounder from Block City TV, Jai 400 Block’s more methodical punches, self-deprecating lines, piercing name flips and oft-witty personals shows off a more versatile pen and gets him the win here.
Verdict: Jai 400 Block (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Jai 400 Block – “Haze, that’s OK with me, you could yell, act tough as you want but don’t play with me, goons stay with me, it’s not a nigga that wouldn’t murk they own call to put in work, it’s like I run a temp agency!”
Recap: It’s pretty much a roasting session in this battle between Jai and Spee Dolla, with Jai mercilessly dissing everything from his opponent’s skin tone to his alleged (“The only time you doubling stacks is when you adding fries with that!”) occupation. All in all, it’s more than enough for the guy from 400 Block to easily take the 1st two rounds and the win.
Verdict: Jai (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Jai – “Black son of a bitch, when you sweat you look like a wet grape!”
Recap: Dishing mostly personals with an equal amount of potent (“You’d probably want to jail for the fuck of it!”) wit and forthright, Jai scores a 3-0 over a severely lacking in intricacy and a bit unprepared Amazin D Boy.
Verdict: Jai (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Jai – “Nigga’s always want to talk about they lead and —, till I run up in his crib while he sleep, pistol whip him with the heat, then make him eat the biscuit like it’s bed in breakfast!”
Recap: Against the mostly lackluster (but at times witty) bars of Bless, it should’ve been as easy wrap for a more intricate Jai. But when Jai wasn’t dishing consistently nice bars round by round, there was one slip-up during a close 1st round, followed by a debatable choke in the 2nd and a definitive choke in the 3rd, that all in all equals up to seeing a man literally beat himself.
Verdict: Bless (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Bless – “You was doing research on me, huh?, went through my Facebook, started browsing through my flicks, the nigga got sidetracked when he saw comments from his bitch!”
Recap: A more versatile Jai, with some nice flips, witty bars, righteous gun lines and potent punches, takes the 1st couple of rounds and the win here against K-Holla, who unfortunately waited till the last round to bring his A-game.
Verdict: Jai (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Jai – “Riding with that rubber grip, you would think I came with a tire, shoot the Tek and bullets to connect like cocaine suppliers!”
Recap: Incorporating a boatload of nifty punches to his rhymes to go along with aggressive spiels on the neighborhood strife life, righteous gun bars and willful boasts, Jai 400 Blocks manages to beat back a couple of solid and at times witty turns by Duke in the opening rounds of this Block City TV 3-rounder, before a shortened turn by Jai in the 3rd round coupled with better bar efficiency from his opponent erases any chance of a shutout.
Verdict: Jai 400 Block (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Jai 400 Block – “No chest shots, believe, I’m a squeeze at ya head, chrome 5th get blown quick, you could sleep when you dead!”
Recap: Not sure what happened in Jai 400 Block’s 1st round which seemed to have gotten cut short here, but whatever, as in the latter two rounds Jai, dishing nothing much outside of rampant heat, rugged boasts and utter mayhem, was able to up the ante on his bar efficiency and beat back a just as aggressive and gritty, but less potent over time Kold Hearted.
Verdict: Jai 400 Block (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Jai 400 Block – “You got cute rhymes, how you shoot .9’s, this nigger wouldn’t cut a coupon…in the due time!
