Recap: Possible that Real Deal underestimated his opponent Referee (aka Bigg K lite) here as even his best (“Judging by your size advantage…they gonna need a giant bandage”) bars didn’t match Ref’s more consistent (“See, I could do comedy too, on some Dumb and Dumber shit, but I rather drag you Step by Step on some Suzanne Somers hit””) quips, personals and (“He get shook when it’s time for some scuffles, Real Deal never swings like monogamous couples”) one-liners, all spat with ample ease to take the win.
Verdict: Referee (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Referee – “You’re a 30-year-old school teacher still paying off school debt, midlife, asking his wife is it in yet”
Recap: From No Coast Rap Battle League, Real Deal uses a bunch of stifling name flips, piercing punchlines and mocking/witty personals to take rounds 1 and 3 (call the 2nd debatable) for the win over a funny at times, but so-so with the punches XQZ.
Verdict: Real Deal (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Real Deal – “You went to the same university as Michael Sam and your rap name sounds like part of an eye exam!”
Recap: Let’s face it Chilla Jones just seems to get nicer with each battle. And here against a veteran in Real Deal who almost always impresses, Jones had to know going in that he better be on his A-game in order to pull out a victory here. Thinking that he’d come out with haymakers (ala his bout against B-Magic) Real Deal fails to impress much in round one, mostly delivering bars on Jones supposed regimen for street talk–an angle that makes no sense against an opponent renowned for schemes and wordplay. On the other hand Jones quickly shows that he did his research, spitting congenial wordplay on how Real Deal will attempt to win, while serving his opponent with a nice “boy band” scheme as a keepsake. Round two sees Real Deal clowning on Jones supposedly overrated style (“Your bars make people feel good when they get ’em like a refund check”) and alleged reaches with jokes, punchlines and other anecdotes breaking down Jones’ miscues on past bars. With Real Deal stepping it up, Jones switches angles, snapping on Deal’s Dot Mob status (“Why ain’t K-Shine behind you screaming ‘Get that nigga Deal!'”) before returning to his mantra of hot (“Once I air Real, he gonna see how some assault feel”) punchlines and hard-hitting bars. Last round finds Real Deal getting personal, hilariously cracking on Jones’ epic battle against JC, his hairline and the infamous Boston accent. But Jones, who’s more than stepped it up when it comes to his 3rd rounds, is at the ready, executing an unreturned high-five with precision on the creative front and pulling out haymakers (“This is the shit that happen when you step to the best Real, bars out of this world I brought extraterrestrials [extras to rest Real] “) to put this one to bed.
Verdict: Chilla Jones (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Real Deal – “I’m not a hater tho, your battle with JC is a classic I won’t lie, but you two pussies talk about it like it’s 4 touchdowns at Polk High”
Recap: From Homegrown Battleground, a solid, rapid-punching effort for 3 rounds from ZitroTheGreat gets blown to pieces by a steadily mocking, scheme-lit, casually witty, personal and punch-heavy Real Deal, giving the latter the 30.
Verdict: Real Deal (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Real Deal – “Since you’re Puerto-Rican homie I’ll whip the blade out for ya, if you a product of your environment you’re made by Goya!”
Recap: Of course Real Deal, performing in front of his hometown crowd, had the folks gassed for his bars, but even if this battle were held on neutral turf, Real Deal’s punchlines (“When it comes to hands, you been washed more than a germaphobe”), personals, aggressive bars and jokes would’ve beat anything Rosenberg Raw had spit.
Verdict: Real Deal (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Real Deal – “You probably the last one in your crew to slide out and slap like the 5th Temptation”
Recap: Utilizing effective screeds of dry humor, mocking personals and a bunch of witty jokes on the Gym coach profession (which he shares with his opponent), after getting edged in round 1 to a rebuttal-spitting and consistently solid-punching Real Deal, UK rapper Ogmios comes back with a stellar round 2 and another fire 3rd to win what was altogether a dope and competitive battle from Don’t Flop.
Verdict: Ogmios (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Ogmios – “Just listen to his words, ‘6am I wake, it’s cold as death in the city of steel, I don’t shave to symbolize how pretty I feel’, that is deep bro, so your whole face is a metaphor!”
Recap: Dope 1-rounder from ENJ Battle Grounds sees SammyWild100s deliver a variety of raucous punches that lit up the scoreboard with increased intensity. But after opening his round with a fly rebuttal, a more condensed Real Deal goes on to dish a gang of consistent hard-hitting punchlines, potent personals and witty zingers to edge the vic.
Verdict: Real Deal (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Real Deal – “I’m not hating on you Sammy, I’m trying to see you make it, I hope your fat ass gets a foot in the door before diabetes takes it!”
Synopsis: A rare Real Deal slip-up in round 3 and Bigg K not letting his huge first round slip-ups unnerve him to the point of affecting his latter rounds, keeps K in the game (“This is revenge for every kid you ever failed in gym class, every suspension and detention they had to spend with your bitch ass!”) and gives him a victory. Then too, we’ve seen Real Deal come way better than this.
Verdict: Bigg K (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Real Deal – “I love to kill a fat mutherfucker, but hey your diabetes is that type 2”
Synopsis: As expected, a really good battle between two fierce competitors who both happen to be from PA. But after splitting the first two rounds, Rone clearly took the 3rd with over-the-top bars and personals, while Real Deal took half the round off to address his issues with Smack/URL (yes, he does deserve another shot on the URL stage, esp. after his sublime win over B-Magic, but that would’ve been better suited for a blog, not a battle).
Verdict: Rone (W) 2-1
Best line: Rone – “You’re not racist to the point that you’d start a Klan army, but you’d buy your daughter a dildo before you’d buy her a black barbie”
Recap: Hard to say that Sco won this one as much as an unprepared Real Deal loss as the Pittsburgh rapper, after easily winning the 1st, consistently loses his train of thought in the latter two rounds and has to kick mostly lame freestyles just to make it through the rounds. Thus Sco, with a punch-worthy and witty 2nd and a short, but able 3rd, edges this BET/UFF battle at the end.
Verdict: Sco (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Sco – “Nigga’s sleeping on Sco, I been the truth, been rapping since Bow Wow was in ‘Gin and Juice’!”
Synopsis: Young Kannon and Real Deal always put on a good show and either one could’ve pulled this one out. But even though both of these guys 3rd rounds didn’t nearly live up to the bars, schemes and performance that they put out in rounds 1 and 2, I thought Real Deal edged round 3 to get the win.
Verdict: Real Deal (W) 2-1
Best Line: Real Deal – “That’s why nobody out here believes you when you acting like you so hard, you probably convert to Islam in the back of a patrol car”
Recap: Funny how an up-n-coming battle rap dude (in this case Aye Dot) can quickly go from confident and cocky to butt-hurt and sad after possibly ruining a chance to beat a top tier battler by slipping up and nearly choking during his round. To be fair tho, there was no way Aye Dot (who did deliver some solid schemes and wordplay during his turn when he wasn’t struggling with his flow) was beating Real Deal in this GHOGH 1-rounder anyway. The Pittsburgh vet staying on his opponent’s neck with a stellar rebuttal, a bunch of flexing punchlines, brazen boasts and witty/mocking personals to handily gain the win.
Verdict: Real Deal (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Real Deal – “I had to go back and watch his battles just to see how wack dude was, I’ve got throwaway bars you’d get tattoo’s of!”
Recap: From KOTD, a near body for Real Deal as opponent Tony D’s struggles with his flow in both of the opening rounds help give an already punchline/personal-heavy RD the win, before the more hitting RD also takes the 3rd round to get the 30.
Verdict: Real Deal (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Real Deal – “How the fuck are you old as shit but you look like you’re in 2nd grade!”
Synopsis: A little weird seeing T-Rex hosting a battle in Pittsburgh?! But anyway, a slow start by Spee Dolla in the 1st and a slow start by Real Deal in the 3rd allowed the other guy to take those rounds. So the difference here was the 2nd, which saw Spee drop some nice (the “looking for deals everywhere like Black Friday” line was fire) bars, but not enough to overcome Real Deal name-flip zealotry (“Your real name is David Edwards, you could’ve used that shit to pop, was it views? cuz’ if so we’ll swing on you, we’ll get ’em dog and we’ll make a star of David like a Jewish synagogue” and personal (“Your chick can get tagged like a Facebook pic”) haymakers.
Verdict: Real Deal (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Real Deal – “They only put a dollar on the stage to see a pussy pop”
Recap: Featuring the classic, call-n-response, crowd-controlling line: “But I know the slogan Smack so to me that raises up the question, what time is it? Real what? [‘Real nigga time!’], thanks for making me the exception!” from Real Deal, in what was one of the best 1st rounds you’ll see from two rappers in battle rap history, Real Deal versus B. Magic on the URL stage was also highly impactful when you consider the style clash of a ‘Grind Time’ rapper making his debut and stepping out of the ‘knapsack rap’ zone of GT for the more street-friendly/gritty confines of URL. That said, with a gang of rigid race angles/punches, spicy [B. Magic: “You looking like I’m not the shit, nigga, change your face!”] idioms, spitfire punchlines/metaphors, witty barbs and stinging personals left and right, this close and competitive battle stands out even more due to each battler bringing their A-game. That said, with Real Deal’s more versatile artillery (which also featured some off-the-dome heat) and crowd-friendly antics upping his performance game, it’s the slightly more condensed Pittsburgh battler who does just enough to edge rounds 1 and 3 for the win.
Verdict: Real Deal (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Real Deal – “Ok, so what happens when the Black dude goes up against the White dude & the White wins?, Aiiiight then! better go home and tell ’em I’m light-skinned!”
Synopsis: This battle did not get off to a good start. Money Bagz had plenty of aggression, but some of his bars were nonsensical (men can’t menstrual) and during the first couple of rounds Real Deal too often seemed to sleep through his bars while looking to take the night off. But then outta nowhere Real Deal came with a way-too-hilarious “interview” scheme to save the day and take the win.
Verdict: Real Deal (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Real Deal – “I’m in the mecca going ham like I’m sacrilegious”
Recap: In this 3-rounder from Voicebox Battles, Cadalack Ron scores an impressive win over Real Deal. Using a plethora of potent hallucinogenic (“I know I’m the worst, if you got some lean in ya cup, pour out a couple of O’s and a purp before you go into church, ‘cuz I don’t care if you put me in a bodybag, just make sure there’s some dope in it first”) bars, roundhouse personals and some pleasing (“And it’s the anniversary of Columbine, so I’mma do like Eric Harris, I’ll leave him with a hollow spine and blame my careless parents!”) wordplay to take all 3 rounds over a veteran opponent whose freestyle (“Stepdad jumped in the scene to play the daddy figure, being brain dead cost you your seat at the House…Gabby Giffords!”) aptitude saved him from getting bodied, this is arguably Ron’s most consistent and best overall showing.
Verdict: Cadalack Ron (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Cadalack Ron – “I found her profile on Christian Mingle, it just said the bitch was single, if that pussy was a snare drum…well, let’s just say my dick was Ringo!”
Recap: May be a minor thing, but always respected Okwerdz’s choice to go 1st in battles. And here in this Grind Tine bout against Real Deal, the Stockton, CA vet offered up some serious comp what with a bunch of fierce punches and witty/rigid personals throughout the match. But after a debatable round 1 and a pretty dope 2nd from his opponent, Real Deal’s ability to up his punch/personal game, get extra busy with a couple of fire rebuttals and then use his final round to get righteous and excellently break down Okwerdz’s rap style and career, gets the Working Man’s Rapper a well-earned win.
Verdict: Real Deal (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Real Deal – “We would rather hear 1-dimensional good rapping with gun rhymes than hear some yell to overcompensate for actual punchlines!
Recap: One of those rare battles that literally came down to the final punches in round 3, after a witty at times and versatile-punching Nebula and a lyrically technical and personal/punch-lit Real Deal break even in both of the opening rounds, it’s a slightly more haymaker-rich RD who edges what was yet another close final round for the win in this 3-rounder from KOTD.
Verdict: Real Deal (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Real Deal – “”When you’ve got 4 angles and they’re all the same, you end up looking like a square!”
Recap: A real good one here from Grind Time as Ness Less and Real Deal (esp. during a brazen and classic round 2) get really spicy with the personals when they weren’t dropping a bunch of solid rebuttals and hard-hitting punchlines. An ill battle straight through that also featured some dope wordplay and similes from both battlers, we got Ness taking round 1 before Real Deal came back to edge the latter two rounds for the win.
Verdict: Real Deal (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Real Deal – “Loose cannon, I’m deadly, Bruce, Brandon, you deal Lee!”
Recap: From Got Beef? Entertainment, one too many raps by Aussie battler Defron on his opponent’s occupation plus a witty, personal savvy and more punchline-lit Real Deal outscoring Defrom in each round adds up to the Pittsburgh battler taking rounds 1 and 3 (call the 2nd debatable) for the win.
Verdict: Real Deal (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Real Deal – “If you want to be a contender in this league you’ll out-rap the muthafucka…but you don’t have the ball!”
Recap: Klutch uses a boatload of aggressive, witty and lucid personals along with some fierce schemes to beat back a solid, but topsy-turvy effort from Real Deal in this 3-rounder from Grind Time.
Verdict: Klutch (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Klutch – “Your music is boring in the dark, your music should be titled Amish Sex!”
Recap: From Grind Time Now, a boatload of hard-hitting/witty personals, fire impressions, piercing punchlines and some witty barbs gives Real Deal the first two rounds for the win over a not-as-consistently spicy Lotta Zay before the Jersey puncher edged the 3rd to avoid getting shut out.
Verdict: Real Deal (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Real Deal – “‘Oh, he has gram’…so I do, two grandmothers!”
Recap: Gotta go with the judges on this one as after the two split the first two rounds, a slightly more consistently spicy Dizaster edges the deciding (and less raucous) 3rd round over Real Deal in what was a pretty blazing, personal-centric, freestyle-spazzing opus when the Diz and Real Deal rapped without a beat during the first couple of rounds.
Verdict: Dizaster (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Dizaster – “Muthafucka…you look like a Budweiser truck driver!”
Recap: Two rounds ‘acapella’ and one round over a beat for this Grind Time tournament battle which a more punchline-heavy and overall witty Dirtbag Dan wins upon taking both the 2nd and 3rd rounds after Real Deal took the opener.
Verdict: Dirtbag Dan (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Dirtbag Dan – “Your baby’s mom is a linebacker, for a big girl that bitch is a fine tackler!”
Recap: Even with the two battlers splitting the first couple of rounds, this Grind Time 3-rounder between a brazen and punch-lit Real Deal and a street shit talking and gritty Mo Dirdee in Detroit wasn’t that competiive as clear decision’s in each round amounted to a much more hard-hitting RD taking the 1st and 3rd’s for the win.
Verdict: Real Deal (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Real Deal – “How you Dirdee [dirty] and you washed up?!”
Recap: Another competitive goodie here from Don’t Flop as Deffinition’s loud/raucous lines, teacher/life-as-a-Caucasion jokes and solid punches made their mark. But an ever-confident Real Deal, showing off some dope wordplay (esp. when it came to mixing local UK references), wicked personals and a flexing punch game throughout the battle, does enough to earn the 3-0.
Verdict: Real Deal (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Real Deal – “You let another man just hit you in the face?!, God you are such a bitch, if I punched your faggot ass right now…you’d probably rebuttal it!”
Recap: In this rematch from their Scribble Jam battle a few years back, Real Deal gets some get back by out-punching The Saurus over of the course of 3 rounds in this competiive and witty 3-rounder from Grind Time.
Verdict: Real Deal (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Real Deal – “After all these years Pete I’m still astounded how your face looks, find it utterly ridiculous that you’re allowed on Facebook!”
Recap: Who knew Earl didn’t actually make his first appearance in the Goodz vs. Hitman Holla matchup, but here as after coming back and making this match competitive in round 2, Loe Pesci pulls an epic choke so long that Organix literally had to let Real Deal lead off the final round. Yet, Pesci was somehow still allowed to spit his 3rd after Real Deal (who should’ve been able to spit a rebuttal for that 5-minute freeze)?!?…that shit doesn’t even count in my book.
Verdict: Real Deal (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Real Deal – “He’d leave Canada dry for a chance to be Americanized, trade his family curry for a slice of the American pie, check the ‘P’ on his cap, you fucking treasonous rat, you ask him where he’s from, he’s like ‘North America, let’s leave it at that'”
Recap: Pretty sure that a guy doing very well in college is not a productive angle one would think to take as 9DM does in the 3rd round here. Still, as perplexing as that was, with 9 spouting a plethora of basic bars throughout this battle, against a straightforward, but punch-heavy, witty and personal-lit Real Deal, there was little chance for 9 in this 3-rounder from Grind Time anyway.
Verdict: Real Deal (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Real Deal – “You’re as believable as Doogie Howser’s character…on ‘How I Met Your Mother!”
Recap: From Grind Time, in what was a pretty competitive, personal-lit and punch-heavy 3-rounder that also had some nice rebuttals, gotta disagree with the judges here as after a debatable round 1, had Sahtyre edging round 2 before clearly taking round 3 over Real Deal for the win.
Verdict: Sahtyre (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Sahtyre – “You remind me of that super hero that never could fly, look, it’s a bird, it’s a plane…nope, it’s just a regular guy!”
Recap: Consistently going hard after opponent Real Deal with a barrage of stifling punchlines, dope personals, stereotypical, but potent white-boy jokes/themes and some off-the-dome heat, Jonny Storm is able to best a so-so effort from Real Deal in each round and catch a 30 in this 3-rounder from Grind Time.
Verdict: Jonny Storm (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Jonny Storm – “Bitch, you just a nerd rapper, your mom’s a hippie and your dad’s a squirrel master!”
Recap: One of the most competitive and better Grind Time battles to ever drop, Real Deal and Rugged go at it for 3 crazy, punchline-lit rounds and rarely let up with both battlers dropping a fleet of fiery personals, hilarious racial barbs/impressions and stinging punches. A battle that also had $300 on the line, it’s a slightly more condensed Real Deal who gets the win and the cash after coming back to edge the 2nd and 3rd (in which RD dished a fire rebuttal) rounds after getting edged in the 1st.
Verdict: Real Deal (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Real Deal – “Stick to your terrorist plots and fucking sinister tactics, got a daughter pushing her big wheel into buildings as practice!”
Synopsis: I agree with judges with Cortez edging the 1st, while Real Deal takes the 2nd and 3rd with better bars, personals and performance (that Any Emcee getting prepared in the booth impression killed!).
Verdict: Real Deal (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Real Deal – “How the fuck are you thorough when Cortez means courteous in Spanish?”
Recap: No contest here as Real Deal’s fresh combo of zany impressions, stifling punchlines and witty/mocking personals combine to easily take down the mostly subpar raps from Ex-l in this 3-rounder from Grind Time.
Verdict: Real Deal (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Real Deal – “All that judging battles that you do, you think you’d know how to win one!”
Recap: From Grind Time, a close 3-rounder with plenty of sardonic personals on both sides. But with neither battler lighting up the scoreboard consistently, it’s still a harder punching and more versatile Real Deal who takes each round for the win over Complex.
Verdict: Real Deal (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Real Deal – “See, homie, why do you hate being white, be a man and tell me, you on black people’s dick so much I’m a call you Lisa Lampanelli!”
Recap: Grind Time judges got it all right here as capped by a dope ‘Leave Britney Alone!’ impression, Real Deal’s gang of mocking personals, sizzling punchlines and gay innuendos combined to score a 30 on a mostly pedestrian and overmatched Fresco.
Verdict: Real Deal (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Real Deal – “Chicago is not your city, it’s your favorilte musical!”
Recap: Yet another Grind Time battle that went to OT (at least two of the 5 judges had the guts to make the right call) when it didn’t have to as a witty, personal-savvy and off-the-dome spicy Real Deal clearly out-punched his topsy-turvy opponent Tut in the 1st and 3rd rounds (call the 2nd round debatable) for the win.
Verdict: Real Deal (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Real Deal – “Hey, you need to do away with these project dreams and go back to being on the Jamaican bobsled team!”
Recap: Against a mediocre punching and free-styling A Shaw, Real Deal has an easy time of it, using a gang of piercing punchlines, witty/rigid personals, fierce name flips and even a dope 2nd round rebuttal to score a 3-0 in this 3-rounder from Grind Time.
Verdict: Real Deal (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Real Deal – “I make moves across the country, he’s stuck in Indy…nobody wants to listen to a tree-hugging hippie!”
Recap: Both battlers bouncing around the stage a lot because apparently that’s you did if you were a battle rapper back in the late 2000’s, The Saurus uses a fierce punch game in addition to some killer rebuttals to take both rounds for the win in this 2-round Scribble Jam matchup.
Verdict: The Saurus (W) 2-0
Favorite line: The Saurus – “Can’t give you all the credit, ‘cuz that Rice-a-Roni line was hotter when Solomon said it!”
Recap: Guessing that E went into another line of work as after getting demolished in this 1-round, freestyle battle by a way more hitting Real Deal, we haven’t heard from E since.
Verdict: Real Deal (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Real Deal – “Why am I battling Kevin Garnett’s action figure?!”
Recap: Ajaxx and Real Deal go at it outside on the streets of Pittsburgh for 3 spirited and gritty rounds, but it’s more consistently hitting RD’s punch game that gets him the 30.
Verdict: Real Deal (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Real Deal – “I’m not your ordinary cracker ‘cuz I’m the Ritz!”
Recap: Boka disses opponent Real Deal’s frequent use of punchlines, but doesn’t provide much else when it comes to his bars. Thus allowing for the Pittsburgh emcee’s witty freestyles and lofty personals to make for an easy win in this 1-rounder from the Shadow Lounge in RD’s hometown.
Verdict: Real Deal (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Real Deal – “When did Russell Simmons become pregnant?!”
Recap: Armed with a barrage of mocking personals, in lieu of the round of pedestrian bars from opponent Chris Cain, Real Deal makes quick and easy work, thus taking this 1-rounder in his hometown of Pittsburgh.
Verdict: Real Deal (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Real Deal – “This dude should be going first, who the fuck came here with a Louis Vuitton purse?!”
Recap: 2007 1-rounder from Boyce Park in Pittsburgh, PA, finds a lack of substance in Anymal’s confidence and gritty raps which in turn leaves even a so-so Real Deal with just enough robust punches/personals/freestyles to get the win.
Verdict: Real Deal (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Real Deal – “You got that rubberband ‘cuz you have breast cancer!”
