Recap: Longtime vets at battle rap and also close friends outside the ring, Real Deal and Rone put forth 3 competitive, hilarious at times, punch/metaphor-lit and sarcastically-bent rounds in a compliment battle in front of a Barstool crowd that couldn’t help but stay in tune due to both battlers shining throughout. A close one that was heavy on the accolades, a bit of a slow start by Real Deal allowed Rone to edge round 1 before a slightly more punch-heavy (“Your name is Adam, who couldn’t take a rib from you?!”) RD took the 2nd round to tie things up heading into the 3rd. And with the last round being equally funny as well as a bit sentimental, it’s only right that this ends up being a draw.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: Rone – “He wouldn’t even let me pay for the pizza we had, I tried to Venmo him back and he deleted the app!”
Recap: Long-awaited battle between battle vets Rone and Charron is a bit surprisingly more littered with aggressive personals than the comedic hijinks that both are known for. The matchup still makes for a close and competitive goodie tho with both rappers bringing their A-game and Rone’s 2-year break from the stage serving as a suspenseful backdrop. Still, for all of Rone’s nifty punchlines/schemes, (“But his karate-action arms, that’s his true talent, throw some melons while he’s rapping, he’ll make a fruit salad!”) witty-isms and extra confident boasts, for the first couple of rounds Charron had an answer. The Canadian spitter scoring at will during rounds 1 and 2 with a boatload of hitting (“Your whole family’s racist, I’ve killed so many Smack rappers I’m your grandpa’s favorite!”) personals, less filler, stronger wordplay, some jaunty rebuttals and a gang of potent punchlines that were enriched by their fiery set-ups. The 3rd was just as dope, aggressive and heavy on the haymakers as its two predecessors, but it’s a slightly more potent over and condensed Rone who edges the round to avoid the shutout.
Verdict: Charron (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Charron – “The Philly Prince Will get sonned in Cali, I’m Uncle Phil, slashed throat, they put his face on a shirt, “RIP the Frat GOAT”, this time when you go viral on a tee [T] it ain’t for fat jokes!”
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: Well, this was an easy one to judge as Daylyt uses some behind-the-scene drama with host Eurgh to literally walk out on his battle with Rone. Of course, if it was that serious Daylyt could’ve thought about the fans who paid their hard-earned money to see him, backed out of the event earlier, did a blog or something to air his grievances with Eurgh and allow Don’t Flop enough time to find somebody else to replace him. But Daylyt wouldn’t be Daylyt if he did things the proper way…smh. Credit Rone for maintaining his cool and spit his bars–the crowd certainly ate it up.
Verdict: Rone (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Rone – “He fucks over his own culture, like a porn star fight, but it’s cool, as long as he gets on World Star, right?”
Recap: Along with basically retiring Okwerdz from battle rap, Rone made a name for himself during the old Graind Time days with an eccentric delivery, congenial white-boy swag, self-deprecating bars and more-often-than-not wicked comedic timing. Add on the repeated name flips and while not much has changed strategy wise, it was still enough to beat an inconsistent Big T during his appearance on the KOTD stage. T takes the first round with a better performance and more variety to his bars, which included enough gun sounds to make one think they were visiting a gun range instead of a rap battle. Yet during a 2nd round that his opponent pretty much handed him on a platter, while Rone’s delivery was little off, he still managed to earn an unexpected dance from Big T with his caustic (“Bro, I can’t even hang with T cuz son stressing, he thinks everything is a drug or a gun reference, like I said Molly, Miley and Nina is in the back of the whip, he said pills, coke and a nine? I said no, actual chicks”) wit, hitting bars and some frenetic wordplay. Last round saw Big T hit with some dope (“You like Brad Pitt in Fight Club, they got you out here looking crazy beating yourself up”) personals, but his sardonic angle on Rone’s presumed lifestyle could’ve and should’ve hit a lot harder. And while Rone went predictable with the fat themes during round 3, he still killed it with too-funny one-liners and enough real life (“You are inconvenient to be around, how awful does that feel?) bars to gain the win.
Verdict: Rone (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Big T – “You king? I heard you was selling coke in college to all your rich white friends, shit I walk up to you like ‘Hi guys’ [slaps hands] giving high fives, I’ll fit right in”
Recap: Replacing an absent Uno Lavos at the last minute with only a couple of hours prep, DNA flexes his battle rap acumen by mostly freestyling his entire round. And with a boatload of piercing punches and personals, the Queens, NY vet does just enough to score a sufficient amount of haymakers to edge the witty at times, but overall so-so written’s from Rone in this KOTD rematch.
Verdict: DNA (W) 1-0
Favorite line: DNA – “I don’t respect you Rone, the last time I was so upset, I came up last time with a bomb and you still ain’t blow up yet!”
Recap: Take away the annoying and way-too-involved host and you have an epic and hilarious “Compliment” battle brought to you from KOTD between Pat Stay and Rone. A welcome respite from the usual insults we see battle rappers hurl at each other, this 3-rounder was entertaining as hell with Rone and Pat doing their best to out-praise their opponent, using witty storytelling/schemes, silly anecdotes, whimsical gay innuendos, amusing personals and some deft, but still hysterical wordplay to do so. However, after an equal amount of humorous barbs in the opening rounds made for two debatable turns, it’s a more consistently comical and performance-heavy (presents included!) Rone who outlasts his opponent in the deciding 3rd for the win.
Verdict: Rone (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Rone – “I felt trauma cause I was ostracized for all of my life by the popular guys, but your positive vibe, your positive vibe, whoopsies…I just forgot all my lines for a second right there cause I was lost in your eyes!”
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: Two-round battles have never made any sense to me. But it’s even worse when they happen during a tournament as this Charron vs. Rone matchup does what with Charron out-punching a pretty subpar Rone in the 1st to take that round before Rone returns the favor in round 2 for a tie. Yet, somehow in one of those rare moments where an overtime round would’ve been the proper thing to do, the judges give the win to Charron instead.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: Rone – “Just like my shirt I’m a monster off the head!”
Recap: What with any excuse to do an OT being the Grind Time way, DNA knows that he can’t rely on hot bars and (“If it’s beef then my dudes gonna spark, just cuz’ you look like Mr. Boston don’t mean you gonna win New York’s heart”) punchlines to guarantee a win over Rone. Good thing he has the presence of mind to strap himself with a bomb and threaten to blow the place up if he doesn’t get his just due….smh, the things they make you do sometimes.
Verdict: DNA (W) 3-0
Favorite line: DNA – “And we all know you not the hottest with spitting, because if dad knew you was Grind Time he wouldn’t pay for your college tuition!”
