Recap: Pretty good one-round battle for two guys who only had a couple days notice. Still, as solid as Scheme was with his (“6 clips surround your whip…it’s like the drive-in!”) punches, a more versatile, (“The A-K go eh-eh-eh-eh-eh like a Wiz Khalifa laugh!”) witty and wordplay-heavy Emerson Kennedy takes the win here.
Verdict: Emerson Kennedy (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Emerson Kennedy – “You too busy giving your team a high-five, I ain’t surprised boy, you can’t hustle on your own, you need to grind more, see I celebrate my independence, I use my time more, if you don’t want to see how this fire work, then nigga what’d you lie for?!”
Recap: Dope, competitive freestyle battle between Charron and British emcee Soweto Kinch delivers high on off-the-dome adeptness, including rhyming to a variety of random objects from a plastic bag for the first two rounds (which the two split). And while Kinch, for the most part held his own against his opponent with nary a slip-up, some piercing lines here and there and a charming flow, overall Charron’s more potent rhymes/personals and flips worked with enough effect to take 8 of the 12 extra rounds for the win.
Verdict: Charron (W) 9-5
Favorite line: Charron – “Scar and wounds?, I’m the best at spitting, you look like Eddie Griffin with a meth addiction!”
Synopsis: A classic round is like a knock down in boxing, a 10-8 round, a knockout, or that rare round where a battler is just perfect, no filler, no stumbles, regardless of the angle/perforamnce/bars/storytelling, etc., the type of round that belongs in a time capsule for battle rap opulence. Well, score one for Big T here, as he put forth a round that exemplified what a battle rapper can do when he’s at his best, delivering personals, schemes, bars, name flips, a crazy performance, creativity and angles that pretty much deaded this battle (granted Shine’s 1st round was decent) from the opening gate. Credit Shine tho for showing up and he made it close with a dope (“fat bitch on Instagram all it take is head shots”) 2nd that relied heavy on some ill gun bars. Much as it was hard to live up to his classic 1st round, Big T got off to a slow start in round 2, but still dropped some haymakers, esp on Shine’s street cred (“fruit cup, a lot of flavors, sweet cakes, a lot of bakers”) that ended up making round 2 debatable. A restless crowd didn’t help Shine in round 3 and neither did his slip-up, but overall his round was decent, yet took away any chance he had of winning as Big T’s 3rd was clearly more polished.
Verdict: Big T (W) 2-1
Best line: Big T – “I ain’t giving up bunny ears when I hold this piece behind his head”
Recap: Philly vs. New York, Reed Dollaz vs. Mister for 3 rounds from an old 2 Raw For The Streets video finds Mister clearly using a gang of mixtape bars, while Reed keeps it gritty and condensed with a bunch of boastful barbs and hard street rhymes. And while Mister displays a superb flow, some fire punches and some wit throughout his bars, the more original and consistently nicer Reed edges both of the opening rounds for the win here before Mister took the 3rd.
Verdict: Reed Dollaz (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Reed Dollaz – “I ain’t even gonna mention my age, what could I say>, if they knew I was 17 it might fuck up your day!”
Recap: In a scene that looks more like a party that got interrupted by a rap battle, the fun and good times rock on with the funniest part being Tyranny (a clear S.O.N.S. wannabee) changing clothes after round 2 with barely anyone noticing. Still, even with all the clowning on Prep’s fashion etiquette in round 3, Prep more than did enough in the first two rounds to take the win.
Verdict: Prep (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Prep – “Let’s take it outside, as soon as I step in the lot I’m pulling those cigs out like a smoke break”
Synopsis: Tone Montana must’ve gotten one of his videos rejected by BET or something, because I can’t think of any other reason for him not showing up here (he even goes out his way to diss Bow Wow to his face). But then talking about what went wrong with TM dismisses Sco’s performance–a nice palette of rigid bars, nice jokes and biting personals. Hey, at least we know that Tone Montana can do a mean DMX impression.
Verdict: Sco (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Sco – “Oh y’all nigga’s gangbanging out there? I hope you got your flowers and caskets, bet my 5 run your 5 off the basket without shooting a basket”
Recap: Clearly confident throughout, JC backs up his mojo with a plethora of fervent schemes, lucid gun bars, some ill and braggadocios wordplay/punchlines and even a few rap tutorials to easily beat a mostly subpar Sic Vic in this 3-rounder from AHAT.
Verdict: JC (W) 3-0
Favorite line: JC – “They said homie was cold, I honestly thought he was gonna bring more at first, but you going up against a boss, you a Mexican, y’all was born to work!”
Recap: Elongated throughout the battle, but still stunting in his opponent’s hometown with enough gritty (“I’m Arsenal, I could teach you to be a winner, I’ll Coach Carter you, let a shotgun rearrange your eye, formation without an audible!”) punchlines, relentless mayhem/gun bars and fiery personals (towards Aye Verb and fellow St. Louis battler Hitman Holla), although amazingly lengthy throughout the battle, Arsonal survives some at-times scathing condemnations from a scheme/personal-heavy Verb to earn a draw (Ars took Rd. 1, 2nd round was a tie and Verb edged round 3) in this 3-rounder from Smack/URL.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: Aye Verb – “There’s a bigger G than being a gangsta, it’s called being a grown man!”
Recap: Lots of gun bars and some bad editing in this matchup between Nu Jerzey Twork and Lu Castro. Yet, from what you can see, it’s pretty clear that a more aggressive, fast-rapping and (“Your mom take a lot of D, so you know the players in here, we call her Chandler, Why?, because she defensive player of the year!”) joke/bar-heavy Castro took round one, while Twork came back with more (“We know you ain’t got those .4’s dumping nigga, and when the cops come around it’s the only time you know something nigga!”) shiners and gritty schemes in round two to even things up. Last round saw Twork almost choke, but thanks in part to Castro often struggling with his flow and delivering nothing much but standard bars, it’s Twork with some ill usage of bouyant (“At his crib window, thumping on the glass, break in, shoot your mom while she humping on your dad, bullets ricocheting when I’m dumping out the mag, boy these shells like frogs how they jumping off the pad!”) storytelling bars, who edges the round and gets the win.
Verdict: Nu Jerzey Twork (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Nu Jerzey Twork – “Once I blast this nigga with Wessons, it’s like action figure collections, ‘cuz nigga you ain’t getting out the box!”
Recap: After a close and competitive (R Hood: “Snatch out, unload, that A-K crush him, so when a 6 throwing bullets at a Bear, know it ain’t Jay Cutler”; T Top:: “Start with me, I’m autistic, retarded clips, twin gats, this one drool, this [one] saliva spit!”) first round, R Hood’s performance stays steady in the latter rounds, but unfortunately the same can’t be said for his delivery and bar productivity. That’s all T Top needs to separate himself from his opponent by increasing his wordplay, come nice with the scheme game and deliver enough righteous urban (“Keep thinking I’m sweet, till your chin get the music”) drama to score yet another 3-0.
Verdict: T Top (W) 3-0
Favorite line: T Top – “I go from corner to corner like where ya pipe at?, you go from order to order, like ‘Would you like that?'”
Recap: Killa Kel’s pen game more often than not couldn’t keep up with his fierce and aggressive flow, leaving T Top with an opening to drop three nasty rounds of voyeuristic heat along with some witty (“They say her and coke were best friends, cool as a Chevy, Boosie and Webbie”) personals and take this one with ease.
Verdict: T Top (W) 3-0
Favorite line: T Top – “I heard you like to dance in the clubs, that’s what you lied about, my niggers dance too, but we only doing [forms gun with arms] the shootie bounce”
Recap: Speed rapper Sonic Soundwaveus manages to salvage himself with a hot (“My disses are like imaginary friends, you gotta be crazy to respond!”) 3rd, but not before succumbing to Emerson Kennedy’s confident barrage of performance-heavy set-ups and sanguine (“They say EK flow chilly, that’s how a snowman move, something to make a nigga spin, like a slow dance move, two 22’s on my ankles if his ho man move, that’s two straps on my feet like old man shoe’s!”) wordplay during the first two rounds that ended up pronouncing this battle over.
Verdict: Emerson Kennedy (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Emerson Kennedy – “I’ll put 2 thousand dollars on ya head, and watch my fucking G’s flip, that’s two racks on ya roof like you taking a ski trip!”
Recap: O’fficial’s Queen of the Ring debut goes well as she spazzes on K Prophet with 3 rounds of heated (“You look bad with a haircut, I would hate to see you with a perm or tracks, I’ll make my Flatline niggas bust on your face, but who’d put they sperm on that?”) personals, aggressive bars and juicy wordplay. Prophet had a couple of moments, but overall fell flat with too much filler, reaches and underwhelming bars.
Verdict: O’fficial (W) 3-0
Favorite line: O’fficial – “You say your city bang, well guess what my city bang too, you wanna be the president of your crew?, I guess they lames too, I carry Washington’s so when you fucked by this black bitch, it ain’t a Scandal”
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: Battling against the traveling vet that is JC, credit Young Pablo for holding his own, spitting a variety of smoking (“Nino Brown with the shotgun, I’ll walk you down the street right after I jack Carter”) bars while for the most part staying away from the easy JC dance jokes. But not taking any opponent lightly regardless of their status, JC literally scoffs at Pablo’s lines with 5 minutes of winning (“He said J, I ain’t no pushover or a walk through the park, I said cool because I don’t walk through no park I’ll walk through and park”) wordplay, clever rhyme flips and mischievous punchlines to easily take this one-rounder.
Verdict: JC (W) 1-0
Favorite line: JC – “Every time I draw a line it go over head, it’s a Homer here [hair]”
Recap: Young Kannon had the hometown crowd, some nice (props to Denzel) schemes, a good performance and personals, but it wasn’t near enough to beat the total barfest put on here by M. Ciddy. From machismo (“This win is so clear like Jordan 11’s”) lines to intricate (“Topics I’ll address a couple like wedding planning, spark boom walk in a darkroom and develop Canon [Kannon]”) wordplay to precision (“You got killed by a dancer, nigga you Chris Brown in Stomp the Yard”) bars, one this day anyway Ciddy was that good.
Verdict: M. Ciddy (W) 2-1
Favorite line: M. Ciddy – “And you so corny and sensitive, you Chicago nigga, brush it off like Joe Torry”
Synopsis: Some ill freestyles and rebuttals by Dizaster throughout, but Cortez put it all together: schemes, wordplay, personals and straight up bars to easily get the win…on the road no less. I gave Diz the 3rd for that mean Princess Diana line alone.
Verdict: Cortex (W) 2-1
Best line: Cortez – “Nigga you brag every fucking battle and boost yourself up like you’re the guy, the shit, you’s probably remove your own rib just to suck your own dick”
Recap: Spitting mostly mediocre bars, Crimz is only able to score with a couple of (“Everybody in yoru crew know you bitch pussy like a bitch jogging with camel toe!”) shiners here and there, leaving Mo Mula with plenty of room to shine using a combination of more consistently nice spitfire bars and a couple of thoro schemes for a one-round win despite a couple of slip-ups towards the end.
Verdict: Mo Mula (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Mo Mula -“And I heard you a Queens nigga, but when I told ya boy you was gonna lose, he was like ‘not my queen, nigga!'”
Recap: Even before they became stars I don’t recall today’s top tiers taking battles off like so many of these new dudes do. Lack of preparation? Taking on too many battles? I don’t know what the deal is and no disrespect to Majik, but prez mafia shouldn’t be losing to guys like this.
Verdict: Majik (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Majik – “She said I remind her of the old school Lakers, cuz Magic on point and I Kareem [cream] in the center”
Synopsis: Danja Zone does remind you a lot of Chilla Jones, but I wouldn’t call him a clone as while he is scheme heavy, he has shown the ability to match his scheme quotient with fine performances and sublime bars. It’s just his capacity for filler and inability to build off momentum that makes for subpar performances. For example, he should’ve won this battle, esp. after a dope 1st round that saw Danja Zone take out Ill Will with keen wordplay (“You bowl and gutter, the only time you bold and gutta I bowled and gut the boy after I Riddick Bowed his gut…”), ill jokes and dope schemes. But other than displaying that he has a nice impression game, Danja’s 2nd round was pretty blah and allowed Will to catch up with a dope rebuttal and crazy aggressive bars. Both came nice in round 3, but in the end Will’s continued haymakers (that ‘PG County scheme was crazy!) and personals edged it.
Verdict: Ill Will (W) 2-1
Best line: Ill Will – “Ever since Chilla came, these niggas been scheming more than R. Kelly at a middle school”
Recap: A more versatile (and condensed) DNA, stunting throughout with ill freestyles (including a really fierce dart at none other than Kevin Durant while the NBA star stood on stage), rapidly fire punchlines, fly name flips, some stinging personals and festive gun bars manages to beat back a scheme-heavy, but elongated Chilla Jones in this 3-rounder from NOME 3. Jones, clearly committed to spouting scheme after scheme throughout this match, definitely had his moments, especially during a spitfire 2nd round that saw his wordplay and consistency elevate to its highest level. But thanks in part to a mostly one-themed showing as well as some long drawn-out dry spots in both the 1st and 3rd rounds, just couldn’t keep up with his opponent’s quotient for haymakers, much less DNA’s roundhouse scoring ability.
Verdict: DNA (W) 2-1
Favorite line: DNA – “Serius, Arsonal, Darrel Jones, I guess I gotta show up to Chilla with some real chrome, so when you hear it click, no, that’s not a dial tone, so when I raise the stock, who you gonna dial [Dow] Jones?!”
Recap: Even a dope introduction by Nuff Said doesn’t stand a chance against Nuborn at his best, delivering rapid (“Every bar I drop is official, this guy’s a disgrace, it’s ironic you still fat when your career is jogging in place” ) and hard-hitting punchlines/personals with nary a sweat and getting another win on the road.
Verdict: Nuborn (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Nuborn – “Sawed-off shotty on waist, stock on the face, I’ll rob him then pop around him like a father’s embrace”
Recap: Facing off against a European rapper in Ilyak who when not heaving a bunch of dry wit and mostly pedestrian punches within his raps, seemed just as bent on dissing his challenger’s home league (KOTD) as he did his opponent, Charron gains the upper hand in this battle with a rousing mix of boastful shiners, deft name flips, steadfast punches and well-honed personals to take each round while pitching a shutout.
Verdict: Charron (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Charron – “You’re such a fag your sex life is a pain in the ass!”
Synopsis: Considering it was a tie after 2, shame on Daylyt for admitting that he didn’t write a 3rd round for KG The Poet, thus pretty much handing him the win despite his on-the-spot bars.
Verdict: KG The Poet (W) 2-1
Favorite line: KG The Poet – “Once you showed the moon, we knew Daylyt [daylight] was finished”
Recap: Some witty/fiery (“Man, this manslaughter is awesome, he’ll get slapped from both sides like Macaulay Culkin!”) punches by P.T. keeps him around in this 3-rounder versus the ever-capable Brizz Rawsteen on the Pit Fights Battle League stage. But an elongated 2nd from P.T. along with too many nursery school raps, gives a more punch-heavy and consistent Rawsteen the first couple of rounds before P.T. manages to edge the 3rd.
Verdict: Brizz Rawsteen (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Brizz Rawsteen – “The type of knife I got will treat your bitch pussy like a pizza and put slices in a box!”
Recap: That ‘True religion’ bar by Mackk Myron here was extra fire. But after him and JC split (got the punch-heavier Mackk taking the 1st, while a grittier and more consistent JC took the 2nd) the first couple of rounds, in light of a spicy and personal-bent final round by Mackk, a couple of dope rebuttals by JC in an otherwise solid final turn gives Mr. Carter the win.
Synopsis: Brizz Rawsteen pulls out a bag of crazy name flips, punchlines, aggressive (“But dog when will the shit stop, I palm let the fifth pop, pause till the click drop, reload then give Auto more like a wristwatch”) bars and solid wordplay to take out Automatic Ray.
Verdict: Brizz Rawsteen (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Automatic Ray – “But pride’s a pill, swallow that and quit whining dog, cuz’ my NyQuil [Nike will] will put a head through the Tylenol [tile and all]”
Recap: When he wasn’t talking during opponent Eazy The Block Captain round’s, Johnny Mel spouts a solid freestyle game, with enough dicey personals and witty off-the-dome theatrics to edge round 2 in this 3-rounder from TIP Battles. But a versatile and gritty punching Eazy, tho a bit uneven with the bars, still manages to unleash enough haymakers in rounds 1 and 3 to get the win.
Verdict: Eazy The Block Captain (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Eazy The Block Captain – “It look like your girl got no walls, but you can’t fill it, your dick little with no balls!”
Recap: Scientific won on (“Shake your head ummm, when I ask ‘Gimme dough’, that’s gonna get bitch-ass clapped, that’s a twerk video!”) haymakers, but that’s only due to rapping twice as long as his opponent, Tone Montana. That aside, despite plenty of standard bars on both sides, way too much filler and lame bars by Scientific along with Tone’s more consistent and animated punches, ends up costing him this one.
Verdict: Tone Montana (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Tone Montana – “Going against me is like a man in a mask at the police station staring through the glass!”
Recap: Good performance by Dirt, but a nonsensical angle (guns bars are way down on the list as far as what M. Ciddy is known for) combined with Ciddy’s repeated (“I’m getting Dirt on track, Motorcross”) punchlines, name (“Run through Dirt like African feet”) flips, wordplay and witty personals didn’t give him much of a chance here..
Verdict: M. Ciddy (W) 3-0
Favorite line: M. Ciddy – “He so old I asked for his mixtape and he played a cassette”
Recap: An otherwise solid and consistent round by Profecy is only hurt by too many name flips and a very unnecessary chickenhead dance. Still, it’s enough here to edge Dirt, who despite hitting with some elongated punches here and there, didn’t come off as versatile and performance-heavy as his opponent, while also spouting too many dry spots.
Verdict: Profecy (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Profecy -“I’m a out bar you, I can still win with a bad performance, I’m only here to get my views up, if you assist me, well hell, somebody had to pass to Jordan!”
Recap: It’s not unusual in lower league battles for the crowd to gas up the hometown fave and egg him on in the hopes of getting a win. But in this case, support or no support, Deal Tha Monsta edges Lotta Zay (and pulls off a minor upset) with hitting (“This man a queen, won’t let that hammer seen, he’d rather sing a song”) personals, authentic wordplay, aggression, more haymakers, a nice Lakers scheme and better overall delivery.
Verdict: Deal Tha Monsta (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Deal Tha Monsta – “You got more battles than Genghis Khan in ancient times”
Recap: As challenging of a performance that Tsu Surf put on here, overall, Hollow da Don used experience and plenty of variety to do did him one better. But then that’s you’d expect from Hollow, nevermind the long absence, in this battle Hollow not only proved that he still has it, but that he belongs in anyone’s Top 5. More importantly, Hollow easily proved that he deserved a shot against Loaded Lux at the next Summer Madness. Sure, the first round was fire on both sides, with Hollow making a statement and spitting some ill bars (surrounded by some aggressive filler and weird moments like the ‘making it rain here’ show and literally sniffing on his opponent to make a joke), but the edge here goes to Surf what with an ill freestyle to start things off coupled some mean (“Your mom probably was a whore and your daddy didn’t love her, kids by a another nigga, so your brother probably wasn’t your brother, walk up in her room dumping, shooting straight for the cover, [makes like he’s fucking] I felt just as bad as your father…putting a hollow in your mother!”; “A thirsty nigga in the club, I’m trying to hit everything standing, it got a kickback when it shoot, so when it aim you gotta slant it, want your life?, crawl for it, trying to see the gates and access granted, on the block with something Deandre size, one way to explain that night?…Brandon!“) schemes, personals and punches that all landed hard. Still, Hollow’s 2nd and 3rd round clearly gave him the win here. In the 2nd da Don stepped it up and just bodied an (“He ain’t about that Gunplay, so why lay [Wale] hands on him?”) alright, but mostly underwhelming turn by Surf with feening (“Damn, you was locked like Pac, but Surf wasn’t there to bail you out?!”) personals, ill (“I said anytime, it’s an open invitation, you could come to a nigga’s hood, my address is 19 22 I Wish A Nigga Would!”) set-ups, crazy name flips and standard jokes. While in the 3rd, it was just more (“Every day I’m in the hood, tapped up with the cop, KD/Dwayne Wade…I wake up to the block!”) haymakers from Hollow, complete with battle rap 101 bars and stinging punchlines/personals that easily beat another solid, but not-nearly-as-nice round from Surf.
Verdict: Hollow da Don (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Hollow da Don – “But since his man gave him the charge he’s been on the low, dodging imprisonment, hoping it gets better playing Chris Webber trying to forget about that timeout in Michigan!
Recap: Not counting rebuttals and freestyles, we all know that battles are pre-written. Still, sometimes a battle can give you a feel of rolling with momentum such as the case where a dude starts off timid or mediocre and then with each passing round gets better and better with his raps, as if something in him clicked on. That’s the situation here as a solid-punching, brazen and extra witty with the personals Jimz takes advantage of a punch and scheme-tossing, but listless Xcel in the opening round, before holding on to edge the 2nd round despite his opponent closing the gap on bar efficiency. Indeed, in the final round, Xcel would finally put it all together and deliver a lyrically sharp and way more intricate turn that’d easily beat back a subpar run by Jimz. Unfortunately, by then it was too late.
Verdict: Jimz (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Jimz – “Xcel is straight dusty, bean full of grease and fleas, and y’all can’t tell me don’t look like he sell insense, mix tapes and DVD’s!”
Recap: Who knew that there was a popping battle rap scene in Utah, of all places? Either way, with some requisite Mormon jokes, fiery punchlines and witty barbs throughout his 1st and 2nd rounds, the only thing that prevents Profecy from getting an easy 30 over his very average opponent Mikey B is a way too short 3rd.
Verdict: Profecy (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Profecy – “You won’t be relevant when you’re 46, if you have a daughter that was 5, I’ll be a legend before she’s 6!”
Recap: Prez mafia impresses here, taking a battle last minute and putting on such a quality show that you’d have no idea he had little time to prepare his bars. Big Jimya, while able to keep things interesting via a mix of some nice gritty bars with a splash of humor along with freestyling in round 3 without choking, still had no chance against an opponent who’s clearly on another level when it comes to bars, performance and wordplay.
Verdict: prez mafia (W) 3-0
Favorite line: prez mafia – “You about to lose to a kid, just know how this kid’s real, big deal, that box come with handle, that’s kids meal”
Recap: Despite some dated bars throughout, Mias Lanskey dishes enough haymakers along with spirited, aggressive shiners to take the first two rounds and the win versus an inconsistent Gwitty.
Verdict: Mias Lanskey (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Mias Lanskey – “It don’t matter where we at, I’ll always be me, You’ll get dropped in Long Island like I’m spiking the Tea!”
Recap: Is there a battle rapper who loves what he does more than Danny Myers? Probably not. And if Danny’s eccentric similes and aggressive, old-school stylings bother you, you’re certainly welcome to beat him in the ring, something, simply put, in this 3-roudner from AHAT, Shi Dog couldn’t do. As for all of Shi’s talk surrounding Danny’s alleged lack of lyricism, the best the Dog could do was a couple of shiners here and there to go along a pretty solid 3rd that would ironically get beat back by Danny’s best round of the battle. Yikes, indeed.
Verdict: Danny Myers (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Danny Myers – “Why the fuck would I go in his pockets?, you could miss me with that hard act, you could keep your 7 dollars, your buss pass and your Carmax!”
Recap: Capped by a stellar string of rebuttals to start off his 3rd round, Charron flings together a boatload of mocking personals, frenzied boasts dripped in robust schemes, spitfire flips, witty barbs and piercing punchlines to beat back the raucous imagery and flippant raps of Unanymous in this 3-rounder from Don’t Flop.
Verdict: Charron (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Charron – “Chalk him out when I’m starting a lesson, you’re writing the same line over and over like Bart in detention!”
Synopsis: Young X is a different breed of rapper, from his southern swag to his keen wordplay to his passive-aggressive bars, as seen here, this kid is a problem.
Verdict: Young X (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Young X – “You ain’t know? I got flow [Flo] like the bitch from Progressive”
Recap: In a battle with 7 million-plus views (yet another testament to how popping battle rap is in the Philippines), outside of a debatable 3rd round, Charron’s witty personals and fiery punchlines are enough in the first two rounds to edge the bilingual and hilarious styling’s of Zaito and earn another win overseas. That said, credit to Fliptop for providing a translation to its English-speaking viewers.
Verdict: Charron (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Charron – “Your memory’s so bad you could throw your own surprise party!”
Synopsis: Daylyt’s battle rap career is starting to remind me of QP’s (Qleen Paper). Great start, unique presence and exquisite bars, but too many battles in a short amount of time and the huge buzz just slowly died. I mean just from watching Daylyt’s homemade video’s you could tell how funny he is, but now his battles have become too much (esp. here) clownery over bars. In other words the same guy who showed up and went toe-to-toe against Rich Dollarz, Philly Swain and Spee Dolla has been replaced by a guy who just wants to be weird and make you laugh. Anyway, Math got this….tho I wouldn’t be surprised if his next opponent mentions how Daylyt punked him with that push.
Verdict: Math Hoffa (W) 2-0
Best line: Math Hoffa – “I stopped fighting over colors back in kindergarten”
Recap: Not much in the way of competition here as Ave. uses some cold punches, filthy schemes and steely braggadocio bars to easily beat an up-n-down, mostly average D. Flamez.
Verdict: Ave. (W) 3-0 Favorite line: Ave. – “You see, he fooling y’all, but let him try me, I’m a bomb twice, that’s gonna put a couple in his frame like a prom night!”
Recap: GO-Rilla Warfare/URLTV matchup between Pooh and JC sees the former put on a competitive showing with a host of fiery schemes, flashes of wit and hitting punchlines/personals. However, a little too much on pedestrian side in the early rounds from Pooh and a more consistent JC, scoring mightily throughout with fierce gun bars, stinging name flips and aggressive schemes/personals gets the Pontiac, MI kid another win.
Verdict: JC (W) 2-1
Favorite line: JC – “Bitch, I wave arms like decent neighbors!”
Recap: Spouting a gang of fiery schemes, visceral heaters and some solid wordplay, after a debatable 1st round, D Gunna takes advantage of a mostly lackluster Danny Myers and edges the latter two rounds for the win in this 3-rounder from Doep16.
Verdict: D Gunna (W) 2-1
Favorite line: D Gunna – “Nigga’s say they gonna give D one…they better wait for college!”
Recap: Ummm….besides Boogie Flamez possibly taking battle rap a little too literally what with all his bad sportsmanship and being unintentionally (“My block is like white people Kool-Aid, it ain’t sweet nigga!”) funny at times, overall his real street bars while sounding authentic, lack intricacy, thus giving way to the animated bars of Mr. Wavy, who besides his usual glowing performance etiquette throughout, gets busy here with a slew of rigid (“Your ratchets ain’t got no bodies, like a stick figure!”) punchlines and fly-guy darts/personals to score an easy 3-0.
Verdict: Mr. Wavy (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Mr. Wavy – “I ain’t gonna fuck Boogie bitch, that’s wild low…but just know, I walk away with that head, I’m Al Snow!”
Synopsis: How lucky was O-Red to pull this one out? I mean, not only did he almost lose his voice, but he had to put up with arguably one of the best 3rd rounds ever, from a spirited (“And he tried to break down the Chicago teams, and this is where I’m gonna light his ass up, because I am Rip Hamilton, you know I’m the shooter as soon as I mask up!”) Big Kannon flexing hard in front of his home crowd. Too bad for BK, Red had just enough haymakers (“The left will hit him twice and I punch smooth with the stiffest right, I’ll stomp him for 30 seconds to end the fight, so when you see BK on the side of my sneakers, they ain’t British Knights!”), punchlines, personals and traditionalist bars to edge rounds 1 and 2, thus taking the belt (and the cookie) back home to Jersey.
Verdict: O-Red (W) 2-1
Best line: O-Red – “You make Chicago look bad, you a Yung Berg nigga!”
Recap: In this unlimited one-rounder from The Tank, it’s a tale of opposites as Presidential Dubz, after a strong start, gets weaker with his turn, while Interstate Flames, after a rather mundane start, gets stronger and stronger with his. So overall, while both battlers brought their equal share of heat, a mid-round Dubz slip-up ends up making the difference.
Verdict: Interstate Flamez (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Interstate Flamez – “He Spanish, so you know he work at the corner store!”
Recap: One-round rematch between T-Rex and Math is edged by Rex thanks to a couple of (“You had the ghost of B.I.G. in one of your joints like you raw like that, you seen B.I.G. last whip?, my niggas will do your car like that”) haymakers, thus earning a win for Rex who wisely also dropped the fast-rapping that plagued him in the 1st battle and delivery/bar-wise put forth a more consistent and versatile performance. Math had some dope (“After you battled O-Red we had to book you through a weegie board!”) bars here and there and was energetic throughout, but faltered a bit towards the end of his round and relied too much on the same formula he used in the first Rex battle. Still a good show nonetheless with two top tier battlers giving you a rare rematch and as a bonus it even included some scene-stealing appearances by K-Shine and Bonnie Godiva.
Verdict: T-Rex (W) 1-0
Favorite line: T-Rex- “Niggas be starting to die if I actually get upset, cuz a nigga play the dick until there’s a magnum’s on his head”
Recap: It’s well-known that battle rap is really popular around certain parts of the world and that includes the Philippines where rooms to see two emcees out-rap each other are often filled to capacity. That said, it’s fitting to see one of Canada’s finest, Charron, go overseas to battle Filipino battling vet Skarm for 3 rounds on the FlipTop stage and do his thing, beating back a solid trio of turns from his multi-flowing, but topsy-turvy opponent with an aggressive mix of syrupy personals, boastful darts, some lofty wordplay and a boatload of banging punchlines/rebuttals and score a 30.
Verdict: Charron (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Charron – “Y’all observe, I’ll make him watch his words like karaoke machines!”
Synopsis: Seems like Cocky only took this battle to get some shit off his chest concerning Fox…and that he did. Meanwhile, The Deadman, while funny (“Nigga you wouldn’t be top tier (tear) if you were the first tat on Lil Waynes face”) throughout didn’t quite do enough to warrant a win over Cocky’s potent punchlines. Give it a tie tho based on Cocky’s second round choke.
Verdict: TIE
Favorite line: Cocky – “Keep it real Deadman you don’t want no problems tonight, cuz I’ll pull it out and have all the fans leaving like it’s the bottom of the 9th”
Synopsis: Contrary to Bigg K’s earlier exclamation Shotgun Suge definitely came with bars, but too many stumbles didn’t give him a chance against an up-n-coming phenom like Bigg K who took this with relative ease.
Verdict: Bigg K (W) 3-0
Best line: Bigg K – “I seen him tap Bill Collector’s pockets I said damn he vicious, come to find out he only tapped his pockets because he thought there was candy in it, let him try that shit with a gangster, a true to life lawbreaker, I got some candy in my pockets Suge…and it’s a jawbreaker”
Recap: Toss out Tay Roc getting the face wrong (it’s Grant, not Jefferson) on the 50-dollar bill because he would’ve lost that round anyway here B-Magic, who after a pretty light first round, upped the ante and used some nice personals, punchlines and hard (“Trip dog and I’ll stage a shooting like Rick Ross”) bars to split this match after two. With Tay easily taking the first (“Man for real, who the fuck is B stopping?, you got 3-0’ed like two battles ago but now B popping?, let me catch B plotting, I’m griping the waist, I’ll pistol whip [smush] push in his face like B. Hopkins”), this one came down to the 3rd which saw Magic snapping away with frequent punchlines and name (“For trying to Jack Black, I’ll teach you how to school a Roc”) flips, yet Roc did him one better with a steady diet of effective punches, wordplay (“I don’t play, this mac ain’t Beanie Sigel, once I rock him y’all won’t see him again, I’ll Memphis Bleek you”) and elite gun bars to take it at the finish line.
Verdict: Tay Roc (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Tay Roc – “If he see me on his block when he roll around, the chopper Conceited size, I wish he would slow it down”
Recap: Ms. Fit got jokes (“The last time you seen a hammer bang….was Judge Brown”), delivery and stage presence, but what was missing here enough hard-hitting bars as well as wordplay. Plus too and her rounds were interrupted by too many long pauses. On the other hand Ms. Hustle stayed strong and consistent throughout, spitting loads of hot (“My dogs hungry turn them nigga’s into child’s food, tell ya bitch ‘fuck her’ she could try to wild too, that’ll get your chicken chopped in the street like halal food”) bars, personals, fresh angels (not spitting a single bar about Cortez, which most opponents do against Ms. Fit was impressive) along with a nice performance to take this one.
Verdict: Ms. Hustle (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Ms. Hustle – “We all know you got ADD bitch, you don’t keep steel [still]”
Recap: Yunno, even if his atypical rhyme patterns and so-called ‘over the head’ bars are sometimes overblown or dismissed due to his oft-want for silly antics, the bottom line here in this one-rounder from BeatKnoxxx Rehash is that Daylyt did show up and tho he could be a little off-putting (talking on a phone during a battle…really?!?) at times, so did Calicoe. Still, aggressively addressing personal battle rap issues, talking that street (“I got a clip full, I’m trying to free every bullet like they mason’s, I’ll let a couple fly like honeymoon, vacation!”) shit that he’s known for and dishing fiery bully/gun bars with Grade-A bluster, Calicoe ends up taking this one.
Verdict: Calicoe (W) 1-0
Favorite line: Daylyt – “I look at you dead in your eyes like Who you?!…my guns will peel, bury [Pillsbury] these dope boys [doughboys] Woohoo!“
Recap: Way too many basic punches along with haphazard angles that left you puzzled, until a fiery and personal-lit (but elongated) final round, Crome does little to nothing to stand a chance against Dizaster’s raucous multi-syllables/schemes, neck-deep personals and witty punchlines over the course of 3 rounds. Indeed, when Crome finally did come alive in the 3rd, any chance of him salvaging a round was ruined by him dishing too much filler between the bars that actually hit, thus making the round a debatable.
Verdict: Dizaster (W) 2-1
Favorite line: Dizaster – “I’m back with the killer flow, I react you hit some crap, I’ll hit you back your minutes low!”
Recap: When you have a sex tape out and you also happen to be a battle rapper, you gotta know what’s coming when you compete. And Bonnie Godiva didn’t disappoint, using her 1st appearance on the KOTD stage to beat former porn star/gritty puncher Germ Free with a gang of salacious personals, piercing name flips, stinging wordplay and witty barbs, thus taking each round of this 3-rounder.
Verdict: Bonnie Godiva (W) 3-0
Favorite line: Bonnie Godiva – “Me vs. you?, wrong move, you thinking you won’t lose?, you’ll get beat till you get laid down…that’s Pro Tools!”
