Recap: From RBE, against the meandering but hard-hitting jabs and righteous/slick talk of Yung Ill (who stayed competitive throughout, esp. during a turned-up and fire round 3), it’s a mean collage of nasty work from Bigg K. The Norfolk, VA vet using a steady barrage of spitfire 4-bar set-up/punchlines, flexing similes, sturdy name flips, fiery street bars and brash/witty personals to take each round and the earn a 30.
Verdict: Bigg K (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Bigg K – “It’s calling, oh you need a booster start, I will supply you the stuff that you use for sparks, I still grind in the tuck yeah the gruesome part, where more lines getting cut than amusement parks!”
Recap: In this 3-rounder from Street Status, Yung Ill’s storied set-ups, slick wordplay and rich performance bars keeps him competitive and erans him a debatable round 1. But with the ability to hit all cylinders when it came to name flips in addition to a gritty punch game and a gang of piercing personals, it’s John John Da Don who handily takes both of the latter rounds for the win.
Verdict: John John da Don (W) 2-1
Favorite line: John John Da Don – “You washed up, the face of this gun?, I’m still popping, clip longer than a Netflix series…you still watching?!”
Recap: Energy-wise, Brizz Rawsteen is almost impossible to keep up with, so leave it up to a wily vet like Yung Ill to attempt to beat him bar for bar. And for while the St. Louis puncher’s strategy works, as after getting bedazzled by his opponent’s boisterous (“Smack, who is this nigger when I got more battles then…who is this nigger?!”) anecdotes, potent name flips and performance-heavy heat in the first round, a more lyrically adept, cocnsistent and (“You look like a baby male ostrich!”) witty Ill edges the 2nd round to even things up going into the 3rd. Yet despite Brizz calming down a bit and failing to match the steady ferocity of his stellar 1st round, he was still able to deliver solid turns in both the 2nd and 3rd, using the latter round to spout rich, braggadocios lines, hitting personals as well as a gang pf flinging mayhem to beat back a lyrically-bent, but mostly pedestrian turn from Ill and take the round along with the win.
Verdict: Brizz Rawsteen (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Brizz Rawsteen – “You didn’t know you could die or maybe you wanna get euthanized, well cool it’s fine, I’ll take a blade two inches wide, split you in half…Holla and Verb choosing sides!”
Recap: After a deliciously (“My left trigger left nigga’s with the bull motion, the best player in the game, still used it probably, will move through ‘yond the, this is when I try angles [triangles] and they was trying to tell me Ill yuma?, not he [Illuminati]!”) abstract, scheme-heavy and wordplay-fiending (“Let me tell you, I done seen you take too many losses in a row Ill, I guess ‘I’ can give you an ‘L’ too [two]!”) Daylyt manages to still edge a highly (“If it’s beef, I’m at his driver’s side door, ready to buck a mag, wait toll he crack his window….swish, this shot won’t even touch the glass!”) potent Yung Ill in round 1, it’s pretty much all Ill after that. Tho Daylyt delivered a nice (“War spaceship, I bug out in formation, nigga it’s Galaga!”) 2nd round, whether finessing and consistently punching with systematically aggressive punchlines or (“This sacrifice sacrilegious, tho this crucifix may look Catholic-like..you came with a couple of thieves, they’ll die besides you, feel his passing Christ!”; “Quiet director, you about as dangerous as the pastor’s wife, a referee in a belly shirt, you ain’t got half the stripes!”) blessing the crowd with a steady diet of rich set-ups and performance bars in both the latter rounds, Ill’s come-from-behind win here and comeback in general continues to warrant everyone to pay close attention.
Verdict: Yung Ill (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Yung Ill – “Ever since that run-in with Smack, you been viewing URL backwards, you ain’t ready to see this L, R [are] U [you]?”
Recap: Back on a solo mission, Yung Ill proves himself to be up for the task, delivering a stellar dish of fiery performance bars in the 1st and (“Y’all gave his battery in his back a charge and he still can’t match my practice bars!”) 3rd rounds to edge punchline-fiend Heartless. Indeed, while the SONS captain spouted steady rich (“You oughtta be ashamed now, your career like the Mario brothers, soon as it got on the pipe it went straight down!”) personals and phenomenal (“Lick a shot, they get nuts with it like bar food!”) wordplay at times, he would fell victim to not only Ill’s penchant for hard rhymes, but his own slip-up in round 1 and way-too-short 3rd.
Verdict: Yung Ill (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Yung Ill – “This perfect, the SONS left you in the Lou deserted to face the Sandman, nigga I’ll ask a bitch where you stay, throw a clip in the K and take a trip to L.A., I’m a Rams fan!”
Recap: Not the best Chilla (could be taking too many battles, but props for the Jean Grae mention) what with a little more filler than usual, but against a Yung Ill who basically only showed up for a round (mostly the 2nd with hard lines like: “Pounds and Tek’s, that multiple so three or four? but these two I brought with me? I named them Either Or”) and a half, a plethora of (“Before the dollars came you beat Hitman with bars of flames, but he’s the legend and you? without a call or lane, another Pete Rose because you’ll never see Hall of Fame”) working personals, elite wordplay and feel-good schemes provided more than enough heat for the win.
Verdict: Chilla Jones (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Chilla Jones – “So play Hero, from here on I’m a villain I took Ill in vain, but that’s dope because if you take the word villain that’s ‘ill’ in ‘vain'”
Synopsis: Funny to see two vets who have been in the game so long that you would’ve sworn they’d been battled each other by now. But either way, a decent battle nonetheless (despite the wack headsets), that could’ve been so much better if Arsonal wasn’t always so hellbent on continuing to prove to everyone that he can out rap anyone and Ill was just more consistent. Sure, Ill used some old angles against Ars, but for the most part they worked and I’m all for props (as long they’re used right), but Ill didn’t stay on teh ghey angle long enough.. However, Ill knew who he was up against and after taking round one (thanks to, as usual, too much filler from da Rebel) Ars easily took the second with nice personals on Ill’s battle with his demons (“He ain’t got 5 cents to put cheese on a waffle, but got all the right tools to feed his addiction”) while just snapping in round 3, getting straight ig’nant with the rebuttals and killing it with tha “I might even change a diaper or two if I like the bitch, then pick her up and scream touchdown Cowboys!!! and spike the bitch” set up. Jersey.
Verdict: Arsonal (W) 2-1
Best line: Arsonal – “You St.Louis’ Star Smilez, you anotha pussy that Rex ate!”
Recap: Close battle. This despite Fresco losing to his water bottle and some ill Young Ill bars in round one. With Fresco easily winning the 3rd, it comes down to round two, which saw Fresco start slow, but pick it up with a wicked Paul Walker line and some Jew jokes–overall an alright round that could’ve been better if it wasn’t drenched in filler. Yung Ill’s 2nd round wasn’t that great either, but with bars that were more direct (“I’m still that young black boy the public school systems tried to neglect, you that college kid that corporate America didn’t accept”), authentic (“You dressing like a Forever21 model”) and potent, Ill just did enough to win.
Verdict: Yung Ill (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Fresco – “Now his wifey suck me off while I grab the controller, I ain’t asking for no head I just casually told her, then I hit it from the back while I’m grabbing her shoulders, dropped my kids off then leave thanks for having me over”
Recap: Can’t front, close battle, almost too close, almost a debatable. But after a few listens the edge goes to Yung Ill only because the feeling here is that he put more effort into the battle while outbarring (not so much haymakers, but a lot of jabs/punches) and using more angles on K-Shine, who relied a little too heavily on performance and a few angles in which only one stood out (Ill stretching his schemes was nice, the ‘Who Is This Nigga?’ semantics was ok, but the ‘Is Ill Gay?’ shit has been played to death). Then too the Hitman Holla remix, while funny to watch, didn’t quite hit on effect and Shine’s attempt to pack so much heat in short rounds was sorta hit (that “You stop for a minute and stretch every line and then you started using hard” line in round 3 had to hurt) or miss while overall Ill was more consistent with the bars, storytelling, punchlines and performance.
Verdict: Yung Ill (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Yung Ill – “I could talk about his priorities but ‘X’ that, I’m a contract killer I’m just signing where the ‘x’ at!”
Recap: As usual Charlie Clips is nice (not counting letting Ill rattle him in the 2nd round) with his, delivering three vigorous rounds of heat on an able (that “fart around” line was horrible), but clearly not at his best Yung Ill. Still, I’d much rather see Yung Ill healthy and able to spit 3 clear rounds than see him look bad and choke as we’ve seen in the recent past.
Verdict: Charlie Clips (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Charlie Clips – “See I show the world we got different skills, see the difference is you throw-up, I’m Precious on her period, that’s a different ill”
Recap: V.I. uses some nice name (“I’m pops from the Wayans Show, I’m just here to whip Marlon’s ass!”) flips and feisty punches to deliver a solid round here versus Yung Ill. But a minor slip-up, some filler and an opponent who dished more consistent punchlines and had a better flow along with crazier (“When this A R is on her [Arizona] that’s what she’s getting, big cans….A-R Iz On A…Arizona, big cans, that’s sweet tea, but ain’t nothing sweet so quit playing!”) wordplay, equates to a loss in what was otherwise a dope battle.
Verdict: Yung Ill (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Yung Ill – “This ain’t no walk in the beach, this more like quicksand, scope on this rifle, I could snipe you from a quick glance!”
Synopsis: Since he hasn’t spoken about it publicly, one can only guess what’s going on in Yung Ill’s personal life these days and one can only hope that its gotten a lot better since this battle dropped. Still, the belief here is that once you step on the stage and into the ring…all bets are off. That said this is just hard to watch as Ill pulls consecutive choke after choke that makes you not only cringe, but wish he had listened to the audience and just stopped mid verse (or freestyle) in each round. Of course, with the repeated hot bars O-Red spits throughout here, I’m guessing that even if Ill had brought his A-game, he probably wouldn’t have been able to stand up to Red anyway. But if you paid your hard-earned dollars to see these two at their best, it’s a shame only one of the them was able to give you your money’s worth.
Verdict: O-Red 3-0
Best line: O-Red – “But now you standing here like you poppin’ thangs, stop it lame, you nervous, I can hear you shaking nigga, you pocket change…”
Recap: Let’s start this one off by acknowledging a tremendous start what with a very solid 1st round by both JC and Yung Ill in this battle. However, while JC’s steady aggression and rich (“To know that they gonna keep losing, you ain’t gotta be half psychic, they like Shine and Guerilla Black writing, ‘cuz they talk B.I.G., but don’t rap like it!”) set-ups were nice, his want for taking on the whole St. Louis battle scene was light when compared to Ill’s more direct style points, dope basketball references and exquisite (“See, that’s what striking a nerve, ‘cuz y’all got they new nigga’s believing they us, not Autumn [all them], but Summer Fall [some will] for thinking they with us, they not seasoned enough”) wordplay. 2nd round was a dead giveaway by Ill, short with average lines that weren’t even trying to impress and JC stepped it to take full advantage with delicious punchlines and a couple of roundhouse (“Miss me with that bullshit about solidifying the spot, ‘cuz this year I’m just making sure that all you crybaby nigga’s start…dropping a tear [tier]”!) haymakers to easily even things up going into the final round. Last round is too close to call with Ill landing with overzealous jokes, gritty punchlines and hilarious (“You pop-locked, dropped and gyrated for a grown man and I ain’t gonna hype it, but it made it worse when you smiled and said…’I hope you like it!”) performance bars/dance moves to mock JC’s infamous Chris Stokes video. But with JC earnestly displaying that he came to win, it’s the kid from Michigan’s more steady wordplay and ferocious (“Nigga you are faker than every Contra gun…lame ass, and your girl go shopping, she bring both y’all shit back in the same bag!”) personals that earns the young’un a debatable against a wiry vet.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: JC – “That’s why these fuck nigga’s frontin’, you Will Smith, Ali, just active [action], but throwing another nigga’s punches!”
Synopsis: Old Ill: cocky, aggressive, superb wordplay, some personals, bars on top of bars. Really, Rex didn’t stand much of a chance against this version of Ill, but he showed up and made it a match (tho he might’ve used some recycled bars). Still overall, Ill took this one with more consistent and fiery bars.
Verdict: Yung Ill (W) 1-0
Best line: Yung Ill – “I’m like a procrastinating pimp ever since I picked up this pistol, i ain’t put my mac down yet”
Synopsis: Here we see two of the worst decisions (the other being rapping on beat against K-Shine) in DNA’s career: trusting someone within his camp with what he was gonna do during his second round against and thinking it was a good idea to play off the audience during a rap battle with the whole “say something and I’ll freestyle a response back to it” steeze against a Yung Ill clearly in his prime. Freestyle a is a good skill to have when necessary, but it shouldn’t be used for whole round, not in today’s battle rap era. Personals, punchlines, bars, performance…..Yung Ill all day.
Verdict: Yung Ill (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Yung Ill – “I’ve seen every battle when DNA get murked, coincidental. your team still get excited for you, meaning your dickriders are grade A DHD, they get hyper for you”
Recap: In one of the early “One-Off”‘s from Smack/URL, a steadily aggressive and oft-jocular Yung Ill snapping on Rich Dolarz’s “stanky, Yankee cap” is the most memorable moment of this battle. But besides getting edged in the 2nd round, this battle was all Dolarz, who when he wasn’t going random with shots at Aye Verb and Tech-9, proved to be way more consistently nice with his punchlines, personals, steely wordplay/schemes and pointed gun bars in the 1st and 3rd rounds. It also needs to be said that for all their competitive bravado throughout this match, the underlying humor within this battle doesn’t get enough credit.
Verdict: Rich Dolarz (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Rich Dolarz – “You soft, but you be acting hard tho, a St. Louis nigga that reminds me of Nelly…Furtado!”
Synopsis: Head Ice’s reactions alone are the reasons to watch this battle. That said, Surf’s first round is an incredible barfest with consistent performance and swag to match–indeed, the “You a Ray-J fan and an Aye Verb lover, toughest nigga in the Midwest is Aye Verb’s mother!” quip doesn’t become an instant classic without Surf’s sick, on-point delivery. And while Ill was nice too in round one, a couple of bars were just flat-out corny. Surf’s round 2 was just full beast-mode and over-the-top hilarious, but Ill sorf of made it debatable with some hefty bars and that “she top me off so much, the bitch memorize the sound of my zipper” line. Surf obviously gave away the last round and Ill and his belt took advantage of it. Still overall, Surf’s first two rounds edged Yung Ill’s for the win.
Verdict: Tsu Surf (W) 2-1
Best line: Tsu Surf- “Dwyane Wade, 3 from my heat, a drop 30”
Recap: As Yung Ill mused, “Ill be schooling niggas for free, tell ’em come get they scholarship”. Which may explain why so many fans still root for the St. Louis spitter to this day, despite personal demons that have caused huge blowbacks on what was once a thriving battle career. Evident in full here during the infamous “Smack, who is this nigga?” battle, as a wry Ill leans heavy on winning anecdotes, nice personals, amiable wordplay and hard-hitting (“I’m on my shit again, no diaper rash, just pipes and mags for niggas that like to flash they ice and cash, or play Pac…till we Suge Knight they ass!”) bars to take out a strong-willed (“A lot of niggas know the plug, but I’m the power strip”; “He say he in that drop top, I say good now he can get his top popped…John F. Kennedy”) and competitive, but not-quite-ready-for-primetime, Calicoe.
Verdict: Yung Ill (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Yung Ill – “See, Detroit likes hockey and since Eminem y’all captain, I guess all the black rappers the waterboys”
Recap: Yung Ill with the heated gun lines and some nice set-ups. Hollow da Don with the fiery punchlines and witty barbs. However, it’s a nice rebuttal by Hollow in the deciding 3rd round that makes the majority of the difference here in this Fight Klub battle.
Verdict: Hollow da Don (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Hollow da Don – “This nigga have to be a bitch ‘cuz he sweet like Sara Lee!”
Recap: It’s an easy win for Yung Ill here against a filler-prone RemyD, as Ill not only dispenses gritty (“How you rap about committing crimes…chill, you couldn’t do penitentiary time behind mini-blinds!”) street lines with aggressive consistency, but fiery punchlines.personals and an early “Gun So Big…” bar that showed how much the creative juices were flowing.
Verdict: Yung Ill (W) 2-0
Favorite line: Yung Ill – “Catch ya at the laundromat, your son by ya…they gonna be like ‘Damn, how he fit two bodies in one dryer!'”
Recap: Early Hitmam Holla versus Yung Ill stays competitive and aggressive on both sides throughout. But it’s Ill who seizes the day with more potent (“You a poodle with three legs, I’m a pit bull with rabies and no chain!”) bars, some fierce personals, a deft delivery and overall, a pretty strong performance. Holla, who got distracted by someone in the crowd during his second round, certainly had his (“If I sneeze you better not say ‘Bless Me’ wrong”) moments, but might’ve done better if he wasn’t seemingly (“Pull your skin off like bologna meat”?!?) insecure about his wordplay.
Verdict: Yung Ill (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Yung Ill – “I’ll put the gun on his tongue like shhhh…don’t kiss and tell!”
