We Young Black Entrepreneurs

This blog has move to RapGrid.com!

2013-03-11T14:58:00.001-04:00

I appreciate the love and support all my blog readers have given me for over a year! Over 155K views total! Thats big for a written blog. Just informing you guys that the blog has not ended, its more alive than ever, with daily updates, but it has been moved to rapgrid.com/news.

Want to know what RapGrid is? Check the video:

peace and thanks

The Current State of Battle Rap - Drect Vlog

2012-12-29T20:39:00.001-05:00

For 2013 im going to take a more personal approach to business managment. Thanks to everyone that has supported me over the past 5 years. EBA coming soon!

10 Things NOT to Say/Do in a Rap Battle

2012-11-07T19:14:00.001-05:00

For 10+ years I have played the role of battle emcee, fan, coach, proofreader, league owner, etc. - you name it and i've done it.

Over the years, this unspoken list of what not to say/do has seemed to materialize in the shadowy depths of lyricism. With battle rap reaching new heights of popularity, new fans have been tricked over and over again by some of the most overused lines in not only battle history, but the history of hip hop. Some people enjoy "biting" or plagiarizing other emcees, while others either don't know or don't care.

Either way, the following is a list things rappers need to stop saying; give it a rest!

*Disclaimer* Some of the lines in this blog were hot when they came out, but some weren't. Deal with it :)

contributions by: Ness Lee & Aak

10 THINGS NOT TO SAY IN A RAP BATTLE

1. DEFEAT (DA FEET)

"Da feet" is easily one of the most overused double meanings in hip hop history. I honestly don't know why people still use it. I hear this all the time from battle rappers and reputable lyricists. As a fan, every time we hear "da feet" we slap our foreheads and take away points/stripes from the person who said it.

In the words of Conceited: "That shit was like Benjamin Button ... it was old when it came out!"

Examples:

"You might as well face ya defeat, look patna/
Ill have you lookin' at da feet like a foot doctor" - Papoose BET Cypher

"Fresh out the box, new stock chrome handle/
You can see da feet like a open toe sandal" - Cess Lo vs Loaded Lux

2. I'LL PUT YOUR BRAIN ...

I don't know exactly when it started or who started it, but at the turn of the new millenium, everyone was trying to come up with lines written in the "I'll put your brain on _______ and _______" format. Its popularity peaked when Murda Mook battled Jae Millz on SMACK and ended one of his rounds, "Ill put your brains in your hand and tell you 'hold that thought.'"

In this day in age, the line has been overused to the point you may get laughed at for having a brain line.

Examples:

"Ill put your brain on your feet, so you can kick some knowledge" - Unknown

"Quit playing wit me, no im not a dreamcast/
Ill blow his brains in the sky and watch his dreams pass//" - Cocky vs Heartless

3. CAME FOR YOUR FUNERAL

At least once a year, someone says (verbatim), "I'm dressed in all black cause I came for your funeral" in a rap battle.

Why? I don't exactly know, but I have a few guesses:

- The line has been said so much, that if you have to resort to freestyling and notice someone wearing all black, its the first thing that pops into your head.

- Once upon a time, the line could get a major crowd reaction

- You believe you made it up.

Too many examples. Just pay attention & you'll catch it.

4. ILL PUT YOU IN A BOX LIKE ...

"Put you in a box" is the only phrase on this list that have evolved through time. The point of the line is to assume a "box" is a "coffin" and use a witty metaphor to tell your opponent how they will arrive in their final resting place.

Evolution

- Simple Simile: "Ill put you in a box like a action figure" - Hollow Da Don vs Passwurdz

- Nameplay Double Entendre: "ill put QP in a box ... 10 points in scrabble" - Soul Khan vs QP

- (Blank) is a Faggot:: "Ill put Nocando in a box ... and Iron Solomon's a faggot" - Dizaster vs Nocando

It's possible to have a dope "box" line, but next time you think about saying, "ill put you in a box like a pizza" ... just don't do it.

5. WEEK (WEAK)

Every since Canibus said, "your weak like 7 days" in 1998 (thanks AmIAm), We have all heard the line 2 million times. Somewhere along the line, people took it to the next level and starting saying, "you're two weak like 14 days." I always thought some would battle 24/7 and say, "seven's weak like 49 days" * shrugs*

Examples:

"Oun's been weak for more than 7 days." - DNA vs Oun P

"You're too weak, I only needed 14 days prep" - Chilla Jones vs Cash Eatin

6. ILL PUT (NUMBER) TO YOUR CHEST LIKE (ATHLETE)

Putting a number (of implied bullets) into your opponents chest like an athletic jersey of the player who wears that number is the OLDEST trick in the book. Somewhere along the line, people started using the caliber of a firearm barrel and bullet diameter instead of a random number.

Examples:

"ll put 44 to your chest like Rick Mahorn" - Marvwon vs Eminem

"With two nines to your chest, we goin call you Warren Sapp" - Juicy J

In one battle Soul Khan said "ill put the 9 to your face like I took a sharpie out and drew the number 9 on your face" that was pretty funny. - Soul Khan & Troy Brown vs 9DM & Cobra Ky

Somewhere along the line, this evoled to "Ill have you running back to (name of city) like (name of the running back for the aforementioned city's team.)"

"Ill have you running back for Miami like Reggie Bush" - Nobody ... yet

7. KILL DOGS LIKE MICHAEL VICK

When Michael Dwayne Vick, the superstar quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons was convicted of dog fighting in April 2007 and had to serve 21 months in prison, every rapper on the planet had a secret competition to come up with the best Mike Vick/dog line.

It's over 5 years later ... Vick is on the Eagles ... and apparently the competition hasn't ended. I have no idea why people still say this.

Examples:

"Let that rifle spit, kill a couple of his dogs like Michael Vick/
But even if I get jail time, I'll still come home and play wit the Eagles!" - PC vs John John Da Don (probably the best line)

"Betta behave, the eagle under the white tee/
If I dont feel you dog, ill kill you dog - Mike V" - Cassidy BET CYPHER

8. JEW(EL)S & HOLOCAUST

Nazi Germany's treatment of the Jewish people during the Holocaust is one of the most touchy subjects in the history of the world. What do battle rappers do? Make it a punchline.

Examples:

"When I let this 8 off (adolf) those jewels (jews) I better not see (Nazi)" - Rich Dolarz vs DNA

"I pop brews I don't gotta floss, I drop jew(el)s like the Holocaust" - Party Arty vs Murda Mook

GREAT Example:

"I'm letting 8 off (Adolf) if I find what the jew(el)s on Holla cost (Holocaust)" - John John Da Don officially retired that line when he battled Hitman Holla. Its over - it won't get any better than that.

9. PROOF (OF D12)

Just don't mention him - R.I.P

10. POPEYE'S BISCUIT

When it comes to chicken, biscuits and honey, where do battle rappers turn to? Not KFC, not Church's ... Popeye's! Even though it's been overused over time, its hilarious every time.

Examples:

"No Chicken, no biscuit - just them pop eyes" - Philly Swain vs Syahboy

"For the chicken, when I got the biscuits I pop eyes" - Calicoe vs K-SHine

This has nothing to do with Popeye's, which makes it very original. Plus, we can all relate to this wonderful quote:

"My trunk is Red Lobster, I only go there for the biscuit" - Nymesis vs X-Factor

*** HONARABLE MENTIONS ***

RAP (WRAP) GOOD / XMAS PRESENTS (PRESENCE)

"How you got so much presence, but ain't got a gift rapping" - Conceited vs Goodz

DYE (DIE) HAIR (HERE)

"This aint a battle, its a salon, cause in here you goin die Red" - Tay Rock vs O-Red

"I ain't come to rap about this niggas waves and his haircut, cause I could give that blade a wave and get everybody in here cut" - T-Rex vs Ayeverb

HEATH LEDGER / JOKER

"That blade'll put a smile on your face like the joker mask" - Passwurdz vs Daylyt

10 THINGS NOT TO DO IN A RAP BATTLE

1. "NO HOMO" / PAUSE MOMENT

Nothing can kill your momentum like accidentally saying something that can provoke your opponent into saying "pause" or "no homo" in the middle of your round and making the crowd laugh. Try to double check your rhymes and avoid this costly mistake.

(Battle: Tah Phrum Da Bush vs Likwuid Styles)

2. NO SHOW FOR A BATTLE

These days, people take about a month to prepare specifically for you. C'mon son! In the words of J. Biz tha God, "If you don't show up you get it anyway!"

3. CALL A WHITE GUY "EMINEM"

Eminem and 8 Mile references are played out as hell. White boys crush people who do this these days.

4. DISS THE HOME CROWD

You will get boo'd .. fast.

5. BRING YOUR NOTEBOOK

Really this should be called, "Bad use of a prop" but Canibus fucked the game up.

6. SAY "NIGGA" AND YOU'RE NOT A MINORITY

Sounds ridiculous, but I wouldn't mention it if it hadn't been said before.

7. CHOKE AND LEAVE THE BATTLE (OR CRY)

SMH

8. BRING YOUR GIRLFRIEND

She will either get you bodied, nag you and make you go home early, or get holla'd at by thirsty battle rappers.

9. TOUCHING YOUR HOMIE UNNECESSARILY (LOL)

"Y'all be slappin' each other on the ass like 'good game' and y'all ain't playin' nuttin!" - T-Rex vs Okwerdz

10. ADMIT THAT YOU MESSED UP

Saying things like, "yo im freestyling cause I forgot my bars" will lose you the battle.

*** HONARABLE MENTIONS ***

FORCED MULTI'S "You look like Elen Degeneres fell in a lemon pit" - (@GiveUpGuitar)

HAVE A FREIND LIP SYNC YOUR VERSE (and the camera catches them)

SPIT THE SAME VERSE TWICE ON CAMERA

Thanks for the help on Facebook & Twitter!

Credits:
@MrsOMG2U
@Clones3k
@SonnyMic
@Young_Swaggy
@iamHBY
@_D3adpool
@Luckyy_CharmZ
@GiveUpGuitar
Erik Watkins
'Jason Lunacy
Nik Najdov
Elias Lopez
Drip Recher
Bashir Avenue

and just to throw it in ...

RESPECT DAYLYT!

peace

Allen Iverson: Still Underrated

2012-10-28T22:06:00.002-04:00

This was originally a post I made on Facebook yesterday, which ultimately is lead me to watch the ESPN 30/30 "No Crossover: the Trial of Allen Iverson" and still do a little research.

I believe that Iverson is one of the top 10 players in NBA history and certainly the best small man (Isiah Thomas at a close second.)

Not only did The Answer have a heart only rivaled by Michael Jordan's, but he has the resume to prove it:

NBA Most Valuable Player (2001)
NBA Rookie of the Year (1997)
11× NBA All-Star (2000–2010)
2× NBA All-Star Game MVP (2001, 2005)

4× NBA scoring champion (1999, 2001–2002, 2005)
3× NBA steals leader (2001–2003)
3× All-NBA First Team (1999, 2001, 2005)
3× All-NBA Second Team (2000, 2002–2003)
All-NBA Third Team (2006)
NBA All-Rookie First Team (1997)

All thats missing is a championship.

Here are some brief thoughts and facts:

- At the age of 8 or 9 Iverson spent a lot of his young life watching over his own mother & had to learn responsibility early.

- Was the top ranked high school basketball and one of the most highly sought after football players in the country.

- His junior year of high school he was arrested four days after him and a group of his black friends got into a race related fight with some white kids. A white girl claimed he had smashed her over the head with a chair. The defense was that Iverson did not throw a chair and was escorted out by a teammate.

Interesting facts: A.) Iverson lead his bball team to a state championship a few weeks after his arrest B.) Footage that exists of the event doesn't show Iverson doing anything C.) Iverson's lawyer took a judged trail instead of a jury trial D.) After a friday court session, Iverson was flown out to NIKE basketball camp, which infuriated the prosecution and lead to their famous closing argument line, "Its our turn to just do it." E.) Even though he was only 17 at the time, they decided to try him as an adult

I have no opinion, I wasn't there. Those are just the facts for you guys.

- AI was sentenced to 15 years in prison with 10 years suspended. With good behavior, he could be released in 10 months.

Hampton, VA had claimed this was their own version of Muhammad Ali and this trial rivaled the MLK situation for their community. Blacks took up for Iverson and riots ensued across the city, which birthed a whole bunch of conspiracy theories.

A lot of people believe that in this situation, as with many athlete-related situations, it is an issue of sensationalism vs racism. Where its not about race, rather the money media outlets can make and attention they draw off of these types of stories. The local chapter of the NAACP would't even support this cause because they believed it was hopeless and the issue of class was introduced to this already touchy subject.

- Sports Illustrated posted a article about Iverson being discriminated against andTom Brokaw even came and interviewed A.I.

- After 4 months at City Farm (jail) the first black governor in the stae of Virginia granted traditional clemency to Iverson and pardoned the other kids associated in the fight on way out of office.

- Couldnt finish his high school education at Bethel and had a personal (white) study aid and was able to receive his diploma.

- After one year a georgetown under John Thompson, all the charges were dropped and Iverson was selected as the first pick in the 1996 NBA Draft.

- The NBA refused to give the man first team defense because he scored too much. He taught Larry Hughes how to play defense, who in turn became 1st team all defense.

- The 76ers had a chart on their website showing that through the course of his career he was injured in 26 different locations.

- He brought one of the shittiest teams in league history to the NBA finals and won in LA game 1 against one of the Best Teams in history and REFUSED to leave Philadelphia after years of trade rumors because he loved the city.

Look at his finals team

Allen Iverson
Theo Ratliff
Matt Geiger
Tyrone Hill
Toni Kukoc
Eric Snow
George Lynch
Aaron McKie
Vernon Maxwell
Speedy Claxton
Nazr Mohammed
Jumaine Jones
Todd MacCulloch
Jermaine Jackson
Ademola Okulaja
Pepe Sanchez
Mark Karcher

- The NBA lied and said he was 6'0 165lbs to make him look more impressive. The man was about 5'10 140lbs.

In closing ...

The big argument about Iverson has always been whether he was a hoodlum or hero. You have a man that was painted as the bad guy from day one come into the NBA and make the street look of tattoos and braids acceptable to the white community and influence kids from around the world. When RBK (Reebok) debuted THE ANSWER marketing campaign, it changed sports forever; he was the bridge between the hip hop culture and basketball.

I look at people like Kobe Bryant and Grant Hill who get all the commercials, have had wonderful teammates on great teams and wonder how many obstacles they have had to overcome to get where they are. Of course Grant Hill had injury problems, but he was college basketballs golden child and hated on by many of his peers for having such a "white" lifestyle. Kobe allegedly raped a white woman and bounced back as soon as he won another championship. Imagine if Iverson was traded to the Lakers because of his image (like Kobe) and had the opportunity to play with Hall Of Famers - I might not even be writing this.

You know how many people in similar situations have squandered opportunities just because they gave up or went back to the streets?

We look down upon Allen Iverson now, for what he didn't accomplish during the latter half of his career, but had he not went to jail in his junior year we may been looking at another Deion Sanders.

There are too many varibales to speculate, but The Answer is one of the greatest athletes in history and his story is one that should be understood and heard by many. When I think about his defiance against the system, its slightly inspiring, he lacked the verbal articulation one needs to get their full point across, and was therefore destroyed by the devil we like to call "the media." Hopefully, hollywood makes a movie.

*Another battle rap blog soon*

Peace,

- Drect

A Letter to Battle Rap (part I) & EBA Update

2012-10-26T01:04:00.001-04:00

In 2008 everyone insisted that battle rap was dead ...

What are we doing this for? We need to focus on making records. We are corny. There's no future in this battle shit.

How many times have WE heard this?

You fast forward about 4 years, 500 battles and about 160,000,00 views later and WE have one of the most popular raw formats in entertainment.

WE are the battle rap community.

URL has Diddy behind them, SMACK is with all of the stars & their battlers get PAID! That was the original goal, right?

KOTD had Drake behind them, Dizaster is their champion & they have their whole country on lock.

Countless leagues are doing their thing across the globe.

WE did pretty good.

I am writing this seres of letters (if you will) with the intention of to giving battlers, fans, staff, and anyone else within this community a little insight on what goes on inside my head and behind the scenes of battle rap. This is not meant to be used as a viable source of historical battle information (even though it may be); it is written from my perspective and contains many personal thoughts and ideas. Nevertheless, its a journey - enjoy.

BRIEF BACKGROUND

In short, I left Grind Time at the beginning of the year (click here if you did not read my blog) and announced that I would be starting a new battle league called EBA (Elite Battling Association) and (to most) have been notably invisible from the scene since (besides my blogs.) I have this slight issue of forgetting that the people want to hear from me. Of course I have a page on twitter, facebook and every other major social networking site, but i'm not really giving people true updates. So, consider this an update ...

WHAT IS MISSING?

I am a realist. I know my limits. I know battle rap is cluttered with bullshit right now (and good shit). I know i'm smart enough to do something else. I also know that I'm one of the only people on planet Earth that could reshape the battle scene for the better.

If I die tomorrow, maybe I slightly changed the Earth .0001 percent. That's cool, but I feel I have some sort of social responsibility to uphold. The battle industry is starting to mimic the music industry, which is good and bad. Im not here to screw anyone over, ruin careers or show favoritism - just create a quality product that is beneficial to everyone involved. Of course business is tough, but most of the people I am currently working with and reached out to understand my mission and know my heart is in this game; I was with them shooting in the gym.

My biggest issue in life is that I downplay what I have done and what I am capable of. Grind TIme has almost 90 million views online. The channel is youtube.com/drect ... thats my name. Pretty cool, but I still feel like I haven't done anything at all. My short term goals were to ressurect battle rap, get a couple thousand views and just get a little bit of recognition - I reached that. My long term goal was to become a millionaire, make battle rappers millions of dollars and gain the respect of other millionaires. Sounds nice, but we fell a million miles short.

So, I took this year to backtrack and study every single nook and cranny of the battle rap game. I watched almost every single battle from every league, disected peoples' business strategies, spent hours on the phone with your favorite battlers, celebs and business minds - picking their brains, and asked myself the simple question, What is missing?

Somewhere along this journey, I realized how much I have personally done for the scene. I have always been scared to take credit for the things I've done. The fear of being labled cocky, arrogant, or a "show-off" has always haunted me, so I chose to play the humble role. Maybe a little too humble because people take the credit for my work and I never say anything. I didn't even care until I realized: a.) other people were making money off of mind without it filtering through me first b.) business is business, not friendship c.) im that dude

PERSPECTIVE

Anyone who knows me personally knows im famous for comparing battle leagues to companies that deal with computers and mobile phones. Its just an interesting way for me to put things in perspective:

I look at URL like Microsoft and KOTD (and old Grind Time) like Google. In the 1990s Microsoft almost became a monopoly and almost completely shut down all opposition with some ruthless business practices. Do you know what happens when a company becomes a monopoly? It means game over for all of the competition - one company controls the market and therefore, can dictate the direction of the industry.

I just want to create battle rap's Apple. Something new and innovative that changes the industry and makes everyone else adjust. I've just been taking my time to really be creative without going too far outside of the box.

SOMETHING NEW

A lot of people have been asking me questions about my new league, so allow me to elaborate.

Settling for mediocrity is the mark of an underachiever and you guys expect something great from me. From a media standpoint I have grown to hate low quality cameras, the same angles, overused environments, etc. and become a director of sorts - EBA being my first serious project. We started another business too, but its too early to talk about that ... you guys will see.

Great marketing, a unique technical approach and superior business model will see a league emerge like none other.

Im not trying to outdo anyone. I don't care about a competition - I'm doing what I feel is best for myself, the people I work with and the fans.

Here is a sneak peek at the first EBA event

A very engaging promotional tool for battle rap that has only been loosely explored and poorly used in the past.

A controlled environment.

A venue that we do not necessarily know, but will all recognize.

Marvwon will retire after his biggest and most important match to date. I predict his best performance - we all want to see this one.

Ness Lee gets his career match.

Another Detroit battle legend vs a 106th and Park hall of famer.

A dope undercard between two emcees who deserve more than most to be called "top tier."

Female Battle - This is tricky due to the fact that Gattas has retired and I have to redirect her focus for a brief period of time. I'm not going to steal any established girls from other leagues, so I will be flexing my A&R muscle and finding the next dope chick you never heard and finding her a DOPE opponent. Seems hard, but im kinda good at these type of things. *I have a few people in mind, but contact me if you are interested*

If all goes as planned, this will be a great way to start 2013. Speculate away!

*will be back with another "Top 10" blog soon*

- Drect

Ask Me Anything (AMA) on reddit.com this tuesday

2012-10-07T22:25:00.004-04:00

"A rare opportunity to pick the brain of the man behind arguably the largest battle rap movement in history! Promoter and organizer for Grind Time Now he also helped develop some of the worlds greatest battlers and bring rap battle leagues to where they are today."

This is basically a open forum where people get to ask me questions and I log on and start answering at 3pm. Pretty dope. Shout out to Big Cope from Hip Hop Heads

Link: http://t.co/utTgII8

Philly Swain "The Last Battle" Movie Trailer

2012-09-18T16:05:00.002-04:00

Let me go on record saying that Philly Swain is probably the hardest working rapper that I have ever met. I've seen the man go from coming out of jail HUNGRY and make a name for himself vs Scott Free to being sponsored by a BMX company and having songs with the likes of Jae Millz, Yung Berg and super producer, Mark Batson.

This time around he linked up with actor/producer/director Max Decker to film a movie on his last battle and transition into the music industry.

Im in it too! Lol

Check out the trailer:

Top 10 Body-Bags/Ass Whoopings In Battle History

2012-09-14T15:39:00.001-04:00

Image: Greg Rieke via The Fifty Greatest Battle Rappers of All-TIme

"Them niggas thats behind you, they ain't goin' laugh now

But I bet you watch this dvd look hard into the crowd

You goin' see a lot of your niggas not looking very proud"

- Murda Mook

Intro

Throughout the last ten (or so) years, battle rap has taken over as a huge part of hip hop. What started as a way for up-and-coming rappers to gain respect in their neighborhoods or communities, quickly became one of the most watched and respected forms of lyrical prowess.

I have decided to devise a list of some of the worst "bodies" or ass whoopings in battle history. This is the second installment of the "top ten" series I will be writing on this blog. Check out Part One featuring the "Top 10 Written Verses in Battle History" here.

Please keep in mind this is not just a list of ass whoopings/bodies, but THE WORST in the history of battling. The requirements for this list include: live crowd reaction, embarrassment factor, internet reaction, replay value, impact on the loser's career and what it did for the winner's career. Readers may not understand these verses by just reading the text, so please do yourself a favor and watch the videos too.

I would not dare try to put these bodies in order, as they all came at a unique time and had a different impact on different groups of fans. 2 vs 2s, freestyle battles, and some battlers/performances will not appear on this list due to the fact that they are better suited for another blog in my series.

Contributing Credits to go Aak & Ness Lee

*Please note, bomb = crowd pleasing punchline (dictated by the live crowd, not me)

*Red text indicates a line was inaudible*

*Pink text indicates Soul Khan making a girl voice*

*Green text indicates an action performed outside of rapping*

*Blue text indicates the battle league/outlet the battle was performed in*

In the words of my good friend, Ness Lee, "Every battle rapper has their GOD MOMENT"

Here is a list of bodies that would solidify any rappers spot next to Zeus on Mt. Olympus:

Head Ice vs Tye Knots

Lionz Den

28 Bars

4 Bombs

Memorable Verse - Head Ice Round 1

"I said yo!

*crowd goes crazy for two minutes*

I used to play ball til the hoop became short to me/

Never supported me, so I looked at it awkwardly//

But unfortunately offers was offered see/

But I ain't take that - told 'em I hung up all my sneaks//

Damn ... what a buffoon you say ...

Now my beat knock hard in your ear drum/

Wit a flow thats fearsome//

Copycat a nigga, I dare one/

I tap dance all on ya beard son//

Bust off ya flare gun, cause you goin need help my nigga/

Wit ya shorty right beside you like, 'Help ... my nigga"//

*crowd goes crazy for one more minute*

Im hoppin' in the pickup soon as i put the blick up/

Fuck layin' wit a bitch, i'm going to buy the liquor//

Might get my dick sucked in the truck too/

If I scoop sumthin' then boot sumthin' like thugs do//

Love who? I ain't got time for that backlash/

At last, every other word is 'Black Ass' ehh ehhh//

Too much G in my swag for popularity boostin'/

You poppin' cause of battery boostin'//

Make niggas pump him up and I ain't talkin' no gas station/

Cause stick and stones hurt harder than bad statements//

Fuck a red light, i'm livin' like the fed type/

50 bricks or betta - that's what my bread like//

Strictly chick 'n chips is in my head right/

You slick - if you slip 'n stiff that mean you dead right//

So stop playin' me close - that don't work here/

Niggas come through here dumpin ...

*grabs Tye Knots by the arm*

You my first shield//
*crowd goes crazy again*

I ain't sayin' that you pussy or nuthin'/

Ain't like you tried to push me or sumthin'//

Im just being me ... ICE!"

Significance
This may be the worst body on the list for the simple fact that I have never seen someone get grabbed up by their opponent in a battle. Head Ice snatched Knots by the back of his shirt like a kitty cat and swung him around while saying, "You my shield." To make matters worse, he taunted Knots for not pushing him. The battle was so bad that Knots gave up in the third round and his homie had to jump in the battle to defend him. The hilarious antics mixed with the debut of Ice's mesmerizing slow flow and delivery make this a classic ass whooping.

Hollow Da Don vs Jay Focus

Grind Time

16 Bars

3 Bombs

Memorable Verse - Hollow Da Don Round 1

"This nigga swear he a icy cat/

You got your earrings from the same place you got your white tee at//

You know how I get it on and your glasses is fake, you aint got no cake/

And your shoes, what them the fade aways? Them ain't Bathing Apes or the latest J's//

Fuck the tradition, ill have white after Labor Day/

Ima play away//

And I heard in battles he stay chokin'/

So they coached him like, 'Jay Focus stay focused'//

Jay Bogus, whatever your name is you know how I get down/

Ill break down the quarter, hit you wit a quarter, then send you to the corner like a boxer at the end of a round//

Its Hollow Da Dinininon you know how I get down/

I can't Youtube you - no videos are found//

We can't Google 'em they like, 'Nah yo he aint around'/

Man this nigga harder to find than Waldo in the crowd//

Im hot, ya mans up - his career playing man hunt/

Alright, we can't find him - his ass won//

Significance
In Hollow's first performance in a rap battle league, he definitely came out the gate swinging. This whole battle was hilarious due to the fact that Hollow was just playing around and Jay Focus' confidence seemed to jump out of his chest after the first round. When this battle debuted, I remember people saying, "Oh my god Hollow is the best battle rapper in history." The match was as brutal as it was funny, I just feel bad for personally setting it up. Watch Jaze Juice (the host) react to Hollow's lines - it's hilarious.

Side note: For what its worth, I liked that line Jay Focus had: "You Sharp like Shannon, like Darren im Shaaaarrrpeeer"

Swave Sevah vs Young Kannon

URL

48 Bars

7 Bombs

Memorable Verse - Swave Sevah Round 2

*Turns to J. Arch*

"This nigga Kannon bout to come in here and fool niggas wit these three minute long rhymes

*Turns back to Kannon*

Oh waddup? Me and my nigga was just talkin' bout you/

But in this case you wont live a long time//

You asked for this, see you was born for pussy niggas to relate to/

I was born, mutated into a form that will mutilate you//

Open palm your face, the strength of my forearms will levitate you/

You speak blasphemous ill turn sacrilegious and desecrate you//

No depending on your faith, ima either heavens gate you/

Or send you to the pits of hell and let the Devil rape you//

Im not him my nigga/

Fuck the subliminal, praise me like the biblical hymns my nigga//

Since they cut my umbilical I been grim my nigga/

A horrible Thing thats hard as stone im Ben Grimm my nigga//

Yous a spoiled child and I refuse to spare the rod for you/

So I use might and smite thee and put the fear of god in you//

Im too thorough and all of my friends be grinnin'/

Our hearts are colder than a winter night in your Windy City//

So Kannon what you wanna do? Throw ya fist up or grip up/

Cause is I swing your prolly bitch up and your screams'll turn to whispers//

Any word about a beef fly outta your damn mouth/

You'll think im buying foams the way i'm in front of ya home camped out//

You don't stand out, ain't nobody come here to see K/

You are not a nigga they replay, how dare he say//

That he the best at what he does/

When all of his battles get swept under the rug//

Fuck gettin' personal, i'm bout to give y'all some truth here/

Kannon been battling bout two years ... but who cares?//

That bullshit style not designed to last/

How many of y'all can quote a line he had//

Exactly, you spit the same since day one

The funny head movements, the aggression/

All this time done went by - no improvement, no progression//

Nigga if you really bang one and fire weapons, time to aim one in my direction/

Cause i'll snap and beat the shit out this lame til he my complexion//

You asked for this, but I aint gettin' nothing for this but a couple bucks - thats for sure/

But you - you gettin' that killer you been askin' for//

So y'all stop ampin' him, yo Norbes, don't pamper him/

SMACK, stop placing crowns on these paper champions//

Watch out

*Moves around Kannon to speak to SMACK*

SMACK, gimme those other guys/

That you think are the kings of this shit and i'll show you otherwise//

This nigga Kannon don't wanna bump heads crossin, I dump lead often/

12 foot ditch - give you and ya man some bunk bead coffins//

You said in your interview I couldn't bully you, ain't this a fuckin' trip/

Magic said it best in your battle, nigga you a fuckin' bitch//

You bout to be in some upstate ward washing your bunk mates drawers/

You food to the Iron Chef, plus you sweeter than Cupcake Wars//

You bout to get chopped and sent back to the intermediates/

Cause they can't accept your presentation, especially when you lack one of the main ingredients//

And its called presence - nobody even know you fuckin here/

And the sad part about it is ... nobody fuckin cares//"

Significance

Let me go on record by saying I was going to put Swave vs QP in this spot, but this battle is way more impressive (on both ends.) Its one thing to completely destroy someone - its another thing to destroy them, despite the fact that they did a great job. What Swave did in this battle separates the greats/legends from the battlers that are really good. If you have time, you must watch the whole battle; Swave was perfect from beginning to end. "Bunk bed coffins" was the exclamation point on a ruthless performance.

Iron Solomon vs Shirt N Tie

Underground Sessions

16 Bars

4 Bombs

Memorable Verse - Iron Solomon Round 2

"Its funny this cat called me Em, he compared me to Em/

Gee, nobodies ever compared me to him//

You know what homie? Its no surprise that you do/

Cause me and Eminem are both nicer than you//

And its me - Solomon, not Critical you dissin'/

So its Critical you listen//

See talent, the thing thats most critical is missin'/

So ill have your career in critical condition//

You from the Bronx, but in the Bronx nobody wants you/

They want me to stomp you and spit shit you can't respond to//

Im several steps beyond you/

You should quit hip hop and get a job at the Bronx Zoo//

You comin' weak as fuck on this rap shit/

So maybe you'd be better off sweeping up some Giraffe shit//

And you can tell his career ain't about shit/

Cause I seen the last dvd and he's wearing the same outfit//"

Significance

This is the battle where everyone said "Ok, Solomon might be the best ever." I have never seen someone's opponent give them dap so many times during an ass whooping! The impressive thing about Solomon in this battle is that (at the time) we couldn't tell he his rhymes were premeditated, freestyled or written. Shirt N Tie had just spit a line about "Critical," whom he had battled in his last match and Solomon set the modern day standard for rebuttals when he spit four bars that ending with "Ill have your career in critical condition." Truthfully, Shirt N Tie was funny, but Solomon burned that barbershop down .

Pat Stay vs Jesse Ito

The Elements League

32 Bars

7 Bombs

Memorable Verse - Pat Stay Round 1

"Challenging me was one big fucking mistake/

Y'all can ask him right now, last time we battled I ripped him up and picked him up and chucked him in a lake//

I swear to god, and I was like, 'beat it young man get outta here'

So he left with his girl/

He's hatin' now, but before he was like, 'Pat Stay man you're like the best in the world'//

On msn he'd be always talking to me/

sending me tracks like, 'Yo Pat you should drop on this beat'//

PSHHH ... Block and delete

Im a pretty respectful fellow right, and I ain't never been rude to my fans either/

But man ... I can't see me doing a song with an ant eater//

He think's he's hard cause he's in martial arts, what's this little kid goin' do/

Buddy ill take you out back and fuck the shit out of you//

If you even come at me wit that Tae Kwon Doe and your Capoeira/

Ill fuckin' smash your brains out and make them look like mashed potatoes//

He got all these bad memories from back in the day like when I chucked his ass in the lake/

And at the same party my boy Calvin slapped him in the face//

And now for the past six months he been gettin' ready for me/

Built up the courage to battle the boss in the Elements League//

So he made a challenge on Halifamous when you should have prolly erased it/

Cause me vs you? pshhh thats a no-brainer like a labodomy patient//

Buddy, whatever your name is, chuck in the towel now do this poor man a damn favor/

Cause he bout to get his ass ripped up like wiping with sandpaper//

Y'all probably wouldn't know this just by lookin' at 'em/

But this lil faggot is half asian, no that explains it just in case you were thinkin about how stupid his last name is//

Jesse Ito? Damn 'Jesse' is bad enough/

A fuckin asian with a girls name? Man that just sucks//

He looks like he's a fuckin ...

North Korean, Norweigan, Puertorican, European/

Quarter Greek and Portugese experiment of foreign seamen//

It disgusts me that you even exist/

I hope you were beat as a kid and fuckin' treated like shit//

Me puking right now would be more lyrical than all of his rhymes combined/

He's behind on times, he just send me a friend request on Hi5//

You're 5'4, no wonder your names never been heard before/

Who the fuck wants to listen to a 75 pound herbivore?//

Significance
Pat Stay had about 5 Bodies before the modern era of battle rap even came around - Jesse Ito just happened to be the worst. I used to do everything I could to find out when his new battles were coming out. Pat reminds me of that cool white guy that everybody accepts and lets get away with saying anything because he has such a charismatic aura. This battle is so funny because you don't have to understand the personal disses to relate to the situation. We all new that one small kid in school who tried to stand up to the bully and got that ass whooped - that's Pat vs Jesse. Pat Stay is the only battle rapper that could say, "Ill fuck the shit out of you" to a man and everyone just laughs ... no homo son!

Soul Khan vs Deacon Frost

URL

54 Bars

8 Bombs

Memorable Verse - Soul Khan Round 1

"He might try to approach me Hoffa vs Solomon/

If thats the case buddy, oh you got a problem them//

Cause I might have a few features you can clown or diss/

But at least I don't dress like that or sound like thiiiiiis//

Oh I bet you package and pitchin' pounds of that white girl/

But you rap like a bitch and you sound like a white girl//

Oh you Deacon Frost like the super villain from Blade/

You look happy for a dude thats been living with AIDS//

You got the germ when you were locked up and your chick is afraid/

But ill still let her taste some of my gentlemen's glaze//

Bitch, if this is Blade im Wesley with the katana extended/

I paid ten bucks for some head and ya mama just spent it//

Then ill hit ya grams up while she was dying alone/

Then be the first guy gettin' dome in a retirement home//

Oh you aint heard? I'm Grind Time's Dexter/

A homicide expert that will leave you leaking something with a fine wine's texture//

I'm an evil genius - thoughts that be screamin' over heads/

So homie if I get you, even you won't know you're dead//

This guy plays like his driveway's where the Maybach is/

Bitch, you too broke to cop a Maytag fridge//

*inaudible*

Cause if we go spar its crow bars and eight smashed ribs//

See, I'm funny like Eddie Murphy playin' Klump and his family/

You funny like Eddie Murphy when he was pickin' up trannies//

You lie about what you aim and shoot and being on that major route/

You ain't hot you flamin' duke, I bet you think that Drake is cute//

You one of them stupid bastards that ain't seen what I do to rappers/

Chewed up, spewed up, barely lookin' human after//

Listen little Frosty, ill uppercut you through the plaster/

Just to see if its true that bitches get bruises faster//

So when your homies ask why your lost, and they askin' why/

Cause you talk tough but got the voice of Jasmine Guy//

He goin' say he sin bad and let the ak spray/

But in the precinct he flips like Dwayne Wayne's shades//

After his battle with Big T, he asked his homies to give him some feedback/

They were like Frost that was dope, but give your sister her jeans back//

My words are weapons so now you gettin' burnt to the bear gristle/

You a burst from a air pistol, i'm surfaced to air missiles//

You's a family man, damn life seems so serene/

Til his wifey found out he takes the Deac-in between//

She tracked me down so I could Pacquiao beat the vagine/

Then she domed me up and told me the royal penis is clean//

You're pathetic - I mean that in the meanest way/

How many round you gunna loose? Three today//

Im like Nas in '94 sippin ENJ/

I put the 'god' in 'goddamn' you put the 'G' in gay//

Homie you lost this battle just by opening the door/

You lost it when you accepted, even knowing what's in store//

You lost it when SMACK told me it was time to go to war/

Homie, you lost this battle the fuckin' moment you was born//

Excuse Frost, he tried to earn him a buck or two/

There's mad dudes in the spot, I bet you'd suck a few//

Three minutes? Three seconds are enough of you/

IM SOUL KHAN YOU SILLY BITCH! WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?//"

Significance

URL, Welcome to the Soul Khan show. This was the first time a white rapper (from Grind Time) who was seen as a "joker" went on URL, the league built for the streets - he completely SHUT IT DOWN. Certain match ups are unfair to even think about putting together. This match proved exactly how deadly Soul Khan was on any platform and opened the gates for those who came after him.

Serius Jones vs Jin

Fight Klub

14 Bars

4 Bombs

Memorable Verse - Serius Jones Round 2

"Is this nigga runnin' outta bad luck or what/

*Turns to son*

I don't even know this lil dude, but you just told me you'd fuck him up//

[I said yo] Now I done seen your face more than me, but you far from a star/

And them Korean cars go forever as along as you gass em' up, but your heart aint a car//

See, I heard he killed Shellz and Verse - I was like 'Who?'/

Cause you see what happened to them - they all flopped just like you//

See you was in the game for nothin' - thats cause you lame you frontin'/

You better call up RZA and try to join the WU Tang or somethin'//

[I said yo] You ain't no Ruff Ryder, you on the back of the bike huggin' on like one of them broads/

And DMX tried to kill em' - you know why? He caught him tryna cook one of his Dogs//
*Enter one of the longest/best crowd reactions in battle history*

See it ain't nothin' to me - I be international pimpin/

And I had your Chinese chick givin' me a massage wit a happy ending//

When she turned around I was like, 'Ewww she kinda wrong'/

Like damn why she got a thong, her ass so flat she could iron her pants while she still got em' on//

Significance
Let me start off by saying that "You ain't no Ruff Ryder, you be on the back of the bike huggin' on like one of them broads" is the best set up line in battle history. From beginning to end, the relatively unknown (at the time) Serius Jones whooped out the Fight Klub champ. We didn't know if Jin was mad, sad or hurt - there were all types of things going on, but Serius wouldn't let up. This is one of those situations where you can't feel bad for the loser because the winner winner so was damn funny.

Dizaster vs Canibus

King Of The Dot

90 Bars

15 Bombs

Memorable Verse - Dizaster Round 1

"Whatever y'all are expecting from me ... today think the reversal of that/

Today every single verse that I rap is going to have zero personal attacks//

Ima use science and math and shit that you teach and ima murk you with that/

No personal jokes, no jokes just lyricism cause hip hop has always been like that//

So anything he says to me intellectual, ima be able to flip right back/

I can teach y'all how to chemically break down a enzyme flat//

Stabilize the temperature using incubators which condense molecules that turns into H20 you can get right back/

Cause when particles ... Wait a minute y'all thought I was gunna come out here and spit some stupid shit like that!?!?!?!//

Let me get this fuckin' word off, fuckin' faggot brought all of his homies with him/

He hasn't even got his verse off and this little fuckin' homo already got his shirt off//

*inaudible*/

You probably paint your fingernails and chill with him at Chip 'n Dales//

Welcome to hell Germaine the wrath has cometh/

This is the part of the rap you get your ass confronted//

And then I catch you in the back gettin' relaxed and blunted/

Then set the place on fire until you feel like you sitting inside of a dragon's stomach//

You cats don't want it, you get castrated and hacked to nuggets/

I'll make chicken strips out of your loved ones - that's what I call a family bucket//

I'm like KFC when I pull the axe out you get slashed and gutted/

so fast even the King Of The Dot staff will need panoramic camera coverage//

Just to capture the angle of the blood bath/

From the other side of the room, when I drag you from it//

What's wrong with you Canibus?/

*Points to arm in sling*

Did you fuck that up doing some skateboarding stuff?//

Im tryna figure out how you ended up with your bones gettin' crushed/

But now it made sense I get it, you punched yourself in the chest so hard you made both of your shoulders touch//

You had a fall from grace, fell a long way from the praise that he's gotten/

To being straight misplaced and forgotten//

Nowadays from place to place he be hoppin'/

But he never feels safe no matter where he is from all the names he be droppin'//

And he keeps droppin names no matter all the pain that its cost him/

He stays taking losses, LL Cool J basically stopped him//

The same happened with Slim Shady even though you initiated the problem/

So its safe to say after today, this will be the nail in his coffin//

I got infinite skill/

Even if you took millions of pills like the kid from the film 'Limitless' you still couldn't think of shit that's this ill//

Im ill, ridiculous, chill - you physically built like a little bitch, your squad trippin then they all gettin killed//

Your dogs? Im skinning them, knitting them into a sweater quicker than Cruella de Vil//

Look at this fuckin' treatment i'm giving him/

Look at the treatment im giving this old ass senior citizen//

that wouldnt be seen within the reach or 300 feet within the street of Michigan/

from all the nightmares and dreams of Slim repeatedly rippin' him//

I ain't Peter Griffin, so why do I beef with this Chicken/

Jabbing and kicking him repeatedly til he bleeds from his ribs and then falls asleep on the concrete in the same fetal position he was left in ever since Eminem beat his career in submission and didn't let him spit again//

Blackballed and restricted him/

Blocked him from his mission or any other business attempts, so technically Slim ended up stiffing him harder than he did to Kim ever since the last time the bitch attempted taking half of his shit from him//

Pitiful guy, miserable type sucker/

You live in a time cluster where it was easy for getting by

cause most of those industry lines were missing those intricate rhyme structures//

So your lyrics to them were like mind fuckers/

But as the internet lines buffered, you realized its harder to keep up with these little guys cause its like a million lines tougher//

Looking at him I feel like the universe just wants to witness this guy suffer/

Cause he's going through hell and LL's out in some ridiculous priced suburb//

He probably lives with a white butler/

Who, every night is hired to fix him a nice supper//

He literally drives like 65 Hummers/

And each one of them is specifically a different type of color//

Y'all know what rhymes with Germaine Williams?/

*Guy in crowd screams 'Never made millions*

That's what it is! Never Made Millions

That dude, I don't know who he is, but he's straight brilliant//

What happened after the success of 'Second Round Knockout'/

Exactly, nothing happened - there was no one left on Earth for Canibus to call out//

So he pretty much ran outta things to talk about - the industry blocked him out - they fuckin' locked him out//

And we didn't hear from him again 'til he popped up in a song callin' out every single member from Slaughterhouse//

Out woulda socked every single one of the out?/

Pshhh - don't be mad cause you took the hater slash salty route//

Everyone hates your guts - you called everyone out from Slaughterhouse except for Crooked I/

Cause Crooked I woulda knocked you out//

Everybody hates you, what the fuck are you talking bout?/

We interviewed LL and even his own mama said to knock you out//

Look at the bright side, you're like a certified author now/

You could write a novel on what being blackballed is all about//

Its probably all them call outs and them blogs, why he had a falling out/

Its like being inside of a pool hall watching his ass fall cause he got ate, blackballed, and then they chalked him out//

What the fuck are you talking bout?!?!?!

We call miss that Canibus that used to attack with that thirst rage/

Snap and burst liek an animal thats trapped in a dirt cage//

Nowadays you uninspired and I can see the cracks in your wordplay/

What you sayin, 'I kept it true to hip hop blah blah blahblahblah - that's what the herbs say//

You took your ball and you went home cause things in the industry weren't happening your way/

You wanted to be famous too, you and LL were supposed to collab on the first take//

But he bodybagged you off the track in the worst way/

Then you came back and you said it wasn't about the fame//

Its about being hurt and theres a purpose in actual verse made/

But that's the impact that actual words make//

Cause if it was truly about the art and your lab is the workplace/

You would have never wanted to be on a track like that in the first place//

I fuckin' hate it when people try to go mainstream and they flip flop/

And they try to disguise their failure as them being true to hip hop//

So I don't give a fuck what you try to talk about, next time one of your homies pops out/

That's how you do a fuckin' First Round Knockout//

Significance

Dizaster and Canibus collaborated to make one of the saddest moments in hip hop history. I don't know if Canibus got bodied worse by the notepad or Dizaster, but one thing is for sure - before the notepad even came out, Dizaster was going Ham & Cheese on that ass. Please read Dizaster's first verse (shown above) and you will appreciate how much time, effort and detail was put into his words. Pay close attention during Dizaster's first round and you will see the people behind Canibus go from looking happy and excited to putting their heads down in shame. The Murda Mook quote at the beginning of this article pretty much sums up Dizaster vs Canibus - word to Supernatural's face (Supernatural is the guy with the dreads behind Canibus.)

Cassidy vs Freeway

Someone's Camcorder

16 Bars

2 Bombs

Memorable Verse - Cassidy Round 4

"I don't got a whip, but I got my chick Z3 key/

No top - dropped out like a G.E.D.//

Rican bitch eatin' my dick like 'Ven Aqui"/

Im on the celly watching Belly on the dvd//

If I get robbed you'll get 5 in ya Enyce/

B blow *inaudible* tryna see my P//

I'm NBC - news time blastin' 8s/

Keep ya cool for you loose like half ya face//

Run in ya house, cover ya mouth wit masking tape/

Let my chick strap on a dick, his ass get raped//

Everybody gotta die, why procrastinate?/

You get put in a casket for makin' trashy tapes//

If I pass you base and you spend my gravy/

Then I ask for my papes and you pretend you crazy//

Ill put ten in ya Avi(rex) and pretend you paid me/

Leave you stuffed in a dumpster like Brenda Baby//"

Significance
This battle showed everyone on Earth the fine line between studio rappers and battle rappers. It seems as though everyone in the studio that was watching the battle live was scared to react because they felt so bad for Freeway. In Freeway's defense, he didn't do as bad as people make it seem, but at the time it came out, it was the biggest ass whooping ever. "Leave you stuffed in a dumpster like Brenda Baby" was the line heard round the world and "Throw on a beat" became one of the hugest jokes in hip hop.

Conceited vs Jesse James

URL

44 Bars

8 Bombs

Memorable Verse - Conceited's Round

"He said he wanted a big battle, coming at Conceited is something you shouldn't go to/

Its ironic you say people in the Lou smell you, but nobody here knows you//

He's only known for choking in his raps and throwing away a stack/

Not for no aggression or no skill//

You a no-namer, they refer to you as that last nigga that went up against Ill/

This is a favor, me lettin; you hear these nice raps//

If you so hot, how come you couldn't melt down a Ice Pack/

I mean, you couldn't be forreal wit that babble//

This matchup to me is a back paddle/

And from the looks of things, you still look a little Ill from that battle//

Especially ... see I forgot my damn line ...

*Jesse James makes a triumphant noise*

SIKE! YOU MUST BE OUT YOUR DAMN MIND!

Imagine me freeze, that's not cool/

Get in a battle and say, 'Aah Shit!' ... nigga I am not you//

Y'all probably don't know what i'm talkin' bout cause that battle aint got views///

See I know when I remind you of that, it bring a whole lot of pain up/

But what really hurt this lame fuck is that your own niggas keep bringing my name up before they say your name once//

And that's the truth straight up, this square better shape up/

You think I believe you conceal a mack cause everything you say is make up?//

The rest a y'all will get that in the morning when you wake up///

Battling me, you stepped way outta your comfort zone/

Nigga you aint dumping chrome//

You like Mark McGuire/

Someone in St. Louis we always see runnin' home//

The shotgun will strip him to his skull and bones/

Once i blocka ill get rid of the Choppa like Puffy Combs//

See this sucka's known to be a liar - a faker/

Stop wit the yappin' you frontin' - he think ima give him props cause he's actin'//

In that case, ill make you sit calm when I snipe your ribs/

You could me 'Married With Children,' - ill still murder your 'Wife And Kids'//

Even if he's 'Livin' Single' - ill run in your crib and still dump the desie/

Kill everybody in that 'Full House' - even your Uncle Jesse//

You know I had to say something 'bout his name, this lame is nerdy/

Not even a Lakers jersey would say that James is Worthy//

And quite frankly i'm gettin' tired of it/

Y'all brought me another college kid tryna spit like he fire clips//

He go to school in Missouri on a scholarship/

So that means Arsonal drives the bus ... and you ride the shit//

I'll catch him in the hallways running late tryna' make it to math/

Shots clip 'em and like Ferris Bueller you won't make it to class//

Bullets tear off his arm from his body, he's straight shook/

His legs from his bottom, this ain't good//

Point at his dreads with the glock/

Remove his head from the Lox like J-Hood//

Ill have his dome on the floor, his jaw from his Nike shoes/

And his locks on the wall like hallways in High School//

See, i'm a nice dude - this nigga wanna be a Lunatic/

But you ain't part of that damn gang, from my waist where the can spray/

Keep tryna be Nelly out hurr til ya face get a band-aid//"

Significance

This is why you don't call someone out and try to cheat your way to the top of the ladder. Jesse James paid Conceited $1000 to battle him on URL's first trip to St. Louis in a one round promotional match. Conceited whooped that ass so bad that SMACK wanted to see another round. This is that match that solidified Conceited's "top tier" - any less of an opponent would get the same treatment Jesse James got.

10 Honorable Mentions

Young Gattas vs Ami Miller
"You the third bitch that I body bagged, fuck the other two
You look like that bucktooth bitch from 3lw"

Rone vs Rugged
"And now i'm in this pockets thinkin' 'Aint that funny'
Now who the fuck's gettin' Arab Moneyyyyy"

Kid Twist vs Big Mac
"He thinks he's taking trips to the court for packin' pistols in drawers
Bitch, you not on house arrest - you just don't fit through the door"

Swave Sevah vs QP
"Barbarian bully rappers, why bother us?
The fuck im dealing with SONS for? Ill fuck your father up!"

Hollow Da Don vs Big T
"Don't get your brain cooked for a half
Jim Carey style - I act different when I put on that Mask"

Iron Solomon vs Mic Assassin
"The British are coming, the British are coming/
But history done proved that the British are nothing//"

QP vs Taz
"I was told he was Indian, but which kind it wasn't specified
Convenience store owners or the Wild Wild Western Kind"

Charlie Clips vs Tay Rock
"The shotty'll remove his whole body, his man like, "Nah that ain't my g"
Cause at the funeral there's no arms and no legs - just his face inside a box like a State ID"

Conceited vs Illmaculate
"When them clips lift and the heater shoot, its mad noise
When the scope it on, its like Pokemon - Ill Pikachu and Blastoise"

Soul Khan vs J Fox
"The way you talk about guns you bust, corny as fuck
Damn, life as a shorty shouldn't be so rough"

AND JUST TO THROW IT IN ... (For Literal Purposes)

Math Hoffa vs Dose
"I put the smack in SMACK"

*Leave a comment if you would like to suggest a topic, comment on this blog or contribute*

- Drect

Top 10 Written Verses in Battle History

2012-08-24T00:27:00.000-04:00

I have decided to devise a list of some of the best verses in battle rap history. As the first part of "top ten" series I will be writing on this blog.

Please keep in mind this is not just a list of very good verses, but THE BEST in the history of battling. The requirements for this list include: delivery, writing skills, live crowd reaction, number of "bombs," impact the verse had in battle rap/hip hop at the time it came out and what it did for the artists' career.

I would not dare try to put these verses in order, as they all came at a unique time and had a different impact on different groups of fans. 2 vs 2s, freestyle battles, and some battlers/performances will not appear on this list due to the fact that they are better suited for another blog in my series.

*Please note, bomb = crowd pleasing punchline (dictated by the live crowd, not me)

*Red text indicates a line was inaudible*

T-Rex vs Un Kasa - Round 5 "Packin' the Mack"
SMACK DVD

38 Bars

3 Bombs

VERSE (13:50)

"Niggas dont like me cause i'm not on my block and im frontin'/

I got one of them type of cars, take off the block wit the button//

Niggas aint like me in my hood when i was ploppin' and frontin'/

But gimme three feet, I ain't reaching in these pockets for nuttin'//

See me plottin' diddy boppin' as my enemies watch/

Semi cocked wit many shots to take my enemies watch//

Why hesitate? Im one of them insane dudes that aim tools/

Have you eatin' pissin' shittin' and sippin' all through the same tube//

Run wit me or run from me the main mood/

The landlord of the block, know how many niggas I made move?//

Jim (Jones) you know these gangs around my way/

Thought my drugs was blood cause I stay on the strip wit nine tres//

A crackhead bitch that will strip for nine tres/

Now check it, I got the blood of a dinosaur nigga//

I done came back, see I done died before nigga/

I promise y'all niggas/

Butter all in the gate I done clocked the wall nigga//

Its time for war nigga, no time to call niggas/

see a hundred dudes surrounding y'all niggas wit rounds and raw triggas//

All types of mines and galacks of war len/

Once you got a meeting with death take your calendar off nigga//

See, I was built with the talent to off niggas/

You got your talent from talent your talent is off nigga//

*in audible*/

Put into bounds, fuck it you bound to get crossed nigga//

Wilin' the porsche nigga/

They say that I remind them of Alan and boss nigga//

Im stylin' of course nigga/

Im the only dude that pop cristal in the court nigga//

I pass the judge a cup, take his gavel and walk nigga/

Im wilder than yall niggas//

Im just being T, so im violent to y'all niggas/

Jim(Jones), I just want some moments of silence from y'all niggas//

I'm sick of hearing all of this arrogant talk nigga/

You running like the meters on cabs in New York nigga//

Im packin the four nigga, mack or the four nigga/

its actually y'all niggas//

Maine, look the beam is actually on niggas/

Im packin' the mack in the back a the ac in the ford nigga//"

Significance
This was the first time the whole world got a good look at T-Rex. This battle was very important for two reasons: It appeared on a highly anticipated volume of SMACK DVD and it was against Dipset representative, Un Kasa, at a time where the Bird Gang was becoming immensely popular. Kasa heckled Rex for four rounds, claiming, "You spit that shit on the radio!" all through his rhymes. T-Rex proceeded to spit one of the most memorable rounds in battle history on his fifth turn. On paper, the verse was not too special, but Rex might as well have coined the term, "Its not what you say, its how you say it." He ended the round with his version of Big Pun's famous, "Pakinamac" line and sent the crowd into a frenzy. One of the best delivered verses to date.

Loaded Lux vs Young Miles - Round 1 "ALLYOUCAN!"
SMACK DVD Volume 12
50 Bars
4 Bombs

VERSE (0:35)
You know he goin' bring the poker game face, he done studied the game tapes/
Well let him come, shit he could tell me what side I look better from//
I'm never sprung, marks think they test smart and they step sharp/
that's why I make that ass look bad like stretch marks//
Catch hard feelings and slack up like high waters the tides on ya/
Im back for the side order, try warn 'em//
Man play mega im Vega wit a pen/
slip dog, get ripped more than Schwarzenegger in the gym//
Shit, day he get a win, there'll be visiting stations/
Rivers in nations, Mars will have civilization//
He's a phony henchman/
You in Lux house, you flinched you get Duffed out like you drinkin' wit Homer Simpson//
Its no contending, and this my third hobby, wit words ill be/
Next to rule and I ain't Irv Gotti//
Shit moms knew it long through it schoolin' ya all my wrongdoings where they duke it and throw hadokens/
ain't no being ALLYOUCAN//
Beat is a dead guy runnin, his chest lies pumpin'/
His head thrive punches and his left eye jumpin'//
You repped yo' side, my set goin' ride/
Lies, tell me gas prices had you petro-fied//
I check both sides, when crossin I run the route/
Im the king, I cue pawns, now cut it out//
You know what this shit about, its hundreds to fling/
You goin' either jump in the ring or get under the wing//
Aint sharin' wit the dogs, we got shit to clear the mall/
I be be in your lobby lettin' the thing sing, i be airin' halls//
He don't wanna spar mucus/
[unh-uh] His bitch spit better, lips wet up, she done been in more laps than Carl Lewis//
I write my wrongdoings about life in the hard ruin/
the metro card student, he duck and he dodge tru it//
How you livin Miles?
In my moms roof im hostage, can't fondle my ostrich/
Got a job movin boxes//
I pitch the trap grams/
put down that same hustle, distribute rap jams//
My disc get wrapped, scanned - my lyrics backhand/
More dvd niggas tried to put me on the Cam than a Diplomat fan//
He don't click and clack cans, Miles hit dust if his shot bust/
He like a Grand Theft cheat code, his guns just popped up//
He goin' say im wrong, well, when he right?/
I come heavy he goin' bitch up - this MC Light//
I come to town like *inaudible*, wallet or im violent/
Beat you til you leakin' violet and they thought Big was the Wallace(wildest)//
Lux who on your level knew?/
Very few measured to a medical incredible neva met a dude betta who, think they on my pedestal/
Get my fist in ya whole mouth/
Im Theraflu, I be knockin' these niggas cold out//
And I don't hold out, its strike first, then the pipe burst/
Might jerk, squeeze on niggas like tight shirts//
Duck or your head'll be stuck, your life dirt/
We come through, Con Edison trucks - you light work//

Significance
In Loaded Lux's second appearance on SMACK DVD, he definitely proved himself not only to be one of the best battle rappers at the time, but one of the best lyricists in the game period. This verse doesn't really have any single quotables; people just remember rewinding the battle over and over again at Lux's intricate wordplay, unpredictable punchlines, crisp delivery and entertaining style. Loaded Lux's second round in this battle is his defining moment, as it paved the way for intricate lyricism in written battle rap.

Jae Millz vs E.Ness - Round 4 "Fuck"
Making Da Band Season 2: Da Band

40 Bars

2 Bombs

VERSE (3:20)
Now everybody wanna hate on my fam/

Well bring it on, I'ma take it and stand//

And while you and your man/

Is auditioning for Making the Band//

I had Diddy on Lennox tryna find out who I am/

Homie fuck you and the block you claim/

Listen, fuck you, and fuck your fame//

You a ghetto superstar, then fuck your name/

And if I ever get a chance I'ma fuck your dame//

Then I might fuck your mother then fuck your aunt/

And spit in your face like "pfft, you fuckin punk"//

See I'm too hot to fuckin touch/

And if you've got a problem with my language, so fuckin what//

It ain't no smirk on my face cuz I'm fuckin serious/

He can't solve a problem, you fuckin idiot//

I'm gettin out of line, stay the fuck in your place/

Matter of fact, go stand there, just get the fuck out my face//

What the fuck I gotta do to show catz I'm a fuckin problem/

I done embarrassed damn near half of fuckin Harlem//

Stop frontin, you fuckin broke/

And Millz mean what he say, you a fuckin joke//

Fuck what you gettin and fuck what you got/

And if you really love Philly motherfucker you can die on your block//

Hold up, matter of fact, fuck your block/

We can take it to the fists duke, fuck the glock//

Fuck your mother and fuck your pops/

Fuck whatever you stand for and fuck whoever think you hot//

Stop tryin to take the fuckin tough route/

Cuz Puffy's standin over you like "damn you got knocked the fuck out"//

Play tough and end up in the fuckin sky/

And you fuckin with Millz, that's a fuckin lie//

You mad cuz when I rhyme chicks say "I wanna fuck him"/

And when you rhyme they just be like "boo, fuck him"//

Fuck what you heard/

Millz ain't no fuckin herb//

I'll leave you layin on the fuckin curb/

Kill you and your fuckin boo//

And whoever feels sad at the funeral, fuck them too/

Listen homeboy, I'm here to make them grands/

You here, alright homie you can make the band/

Listen, right here I'll shake the man/

And after I embarrass Ness I'ma shake his hand/

Ya know

Significance:
The whole world was tuning to season two of MTV's Making The Band. The competition turned up a notch when Diddy called on Harlem rap legend, Jae Millz to battle his artist E.Ness over Loon's Story instrumental. During the last round of this legendary battle, Jae Millz proceeded to spit a verse including the word "fuck" in every line. This creatively changed the way a lot of lyricists used profanity in their raps. Due to its content, the verse did not appear on tv in its entirety, but when it appeared all over the internet (along with Diddy and Fred's reactions,) the whole world praised Millz for this top notch verse.

Serius Jones vs Jin - Round 1 "Two Billion"
Fight Klub

20 Bars

5 Bombs

VERSE (4:48)

Alright (International) P, What's goin on?

We got black, a british white, and a asian person/

What is this, the Fight Klub, the United Nations version?//

But that's alright, [I said] I been Jones before Jimmy and Mike/

And I don't even eat chinese, but you know what? Ima make an exception tonight//

[I said yo] Off the head or written I'm the best there is/

The message is: you sex, so yea ima talk about your heritage//

How you sleepin' in a cellar wit eleven relatives/

And how you quit like a bitch, talkin' bout, "Im sick a the record biz"//

See you know what? Ill tell you what the hell it is/

See you ain't got no life, so you can't talk about a life that you never lived//

And I done peeped ya whole rhymin' game and its kinda lame/

All he do is look around the crowd, find a celebrity and start droppin' names//

I said, see now, you can get that off with a weak crowd/

Then you throw old punchlines in the mix and try to pretend its a freestyle//

See im a emcee, I done seen that all day, you ain't foolin' me/

And when he rap, why you be cheesin' all gay? What you was doing? E?//

[I said] You broke, that's why you wanna come back and battle over here/

But you been wack your whole career//

Ain't it two billion people in China?/

You can't even go platinum over there//

Significance
Serious Jones set a lot of trends as one of the best battle rappers of our time. He mastered the art of interweaving freestyles in his verse, rebuttals, using premeditated rhymes and dropping crowd pleasing punchlines. His battle vs Jin was the first time the world had a chance to see Jones skill set on display via MTV2. He crushed 100 Grand Jin's return to Fight Klub with a memorizing first round that would set the tone for one of the biggest body bags in the history of battle rap.

Iron Solomon vs Jin - Round 1 "Jin"
Fight Klub

12 Bars

4 Bombs

VERSE (0:10)

"I ain't goin' rap bout your background or origin/
Ima rap bout the black cloud that rapped 'round your aura, Jin//
Cause when it rains it starts pouring Jin, ima send you home poorer, Jin/
Win the money, buy the bar and start pourin' Jin//
We'll all take shots at Jin, then i'll take shots at Jin/
Get a blade and start ox'in Jin, take away his oxygen//
His wife'll swallow Solomon, go 'head - call her Jin/
My syringe injected her lips like collagen//
He still wanna be my bestest friend, cause even Jin'll tell ya/
He's pussy, like estrogen - female genitalia//
He keeps switchin' genders, he's a degenerate/
Actin' like a lil lady and i'm tryna be a gentlemen//
But i'm to diligent ..."

Significance
During Jin's highly anticipated second return to Fight Klub, he faced NY battle legend, Iron Solomon in a match that would permanently retire him from battle rap. Iron's first verse, which was the first of its kind in a battle, broke down words with the common sound "jin" in them, while dissing his opponent at the same time. His opening statement "I ain't goin' rap bout your background or origin" is one of the most famous lines in the history of the sport. This battle launched Iron's name to a whole new level of fame, as he was widely courted by Ms. Info and Funkmaster Flex - this is the match that set Iron up to cross over perfectly.

Murda Mook vs Yung Hot - Round 1 "Jordan"
World Series of Hip Hop
52 Bars
5 Bombs

VERSE (Beginning)
"Now I know y'all confused like, 'What's up with this picture'/
Cause y'all like, 'Aiite, we know Mook, but who the fuck is this nigga'//
I ain't even pick this fight either, if that's what you thinkin'/
Truth about it is, this lil nigga asked for this spanking//
I was supposed to battle 'Trashidy' for one hundred thousand/
He said 'no' to a hundred grand and couldn't sell one hundred albums//
Next nigga they threw in my face was Reed Dollaz/
That was for twenty five grand, I said, 'Let's do it, no problem'//
Soon as it was time for 'em to sign that sheet/
Ask anybody in his city, they couldn't find him for a week//
I was on every nigga line in Philly/
His management, his mans and shit, EA's, Tech9's, Gilly's//
When we finally got a hold of him, through all the litigation/
We like, 'We wanna know the verdict shorty, you got niggas waitin'//
He said, 'My answers no, I ain't scared, its just im sayin'/
If I do take a L it will fuck up my situation//
i got an independent deal Mook, I'm trying to make a hit/
I got an album coming' *CLICK* I don't wanna hear that shit//
I was stuck like, 'What the fuck, I gotta get this pay/
Like twenty five K on the way, no fuckin' way'//
I get a call the next day, heard this nigga wanna play
Ok, we did the contract signing and what not/
And that's how y'all sittin' here lookin' at 'Young Twat'//
I know I said i'm retired, i'm apologizing to my fans/
but for twenty five grand ... I figure'd you'd understand//
But damn, i'm in a loose-loose situation/
Because i'm Murda Mook and he the third string replacement//
Y'all expecting me to kill 'em, y'all don't know he could rap/
Whatever's lower than a underdog ... he lower than that//

So when he do spit his shit and say something okayish/

Its goin' sound ten times better, cause its going against the greatest//

I do think Im the greatest - I believe in the hype/

Thats why every time you hear me, I compare me to Mike//

Example: Remember when AI crossed Mike out his sneakers?/

It seemed so much worse cause we ain't think Mike had a weakness//

Off of that one move A.I. got his fame/

They forgot Jordan had 35 and still won that game//

Dig what i'm sayin? *inaudible*/

When we was young, he was a bum - no pants and no hobbies//

Dirty clothes, lice all in his hair, his nose snotty

Bitches wouldn't even touch him, said he had the cooties/

Niggas'll snatch his hat off his head and play saluchi//

On the basketball court, he was pussy - small cat/

They take his rock, he turn Ricky like, 'Gimme my ball back'//

If you had Dough Boy you couldn't get your ball back/

You goin' forever be a son - you should live in a ball sack//

And don't talk about all your AKs, ARs/

and shotgun, mack10s, nines that you spray off//

Gimme a metaphor, punchline - you ain't never done crimes/

Word is, he had an encounter with one time ... one time//

And it isn't from no gunnin' or bussin' the shot/

Its cause he ain't go to court for a summance he got//

You not a don, red and white octagon, STOP!/

This is not who you are ...//"

Significance
At a time where Murda Mook had been retired for a while, he was called on to battle Reed Dollaz and Cassidy for 100K, but to the fans dismay, ended up battling relatively unknown philly emcee, Young Hot. Mook took the opportunity to address his reasoning for taking the battle and his haters, while dropping one of the best schemes of all time: a comparison between himself and Michael Jordan. This was a first round KO, as Mook proved you don't need to battle a great opponent to give a legendary performance.

Conceited vs Illmaculate - Round 1 "Ill & Mac"
Grind Time

46 Bars

9 Bombs

VERSE (5:40)

"Listen faggot ...

You callin' me a rat is irrelevant/

I'm a rat, but you still scared of me, that makes you an elephant//

See you wanna say I skipped Childs, but faggot I wasn't even in town

So when Illmaculate rappin, don't think Illmac is a savage/

I saw your last two battles and that Dizaster was Madness//

People didn't give you the win cause you was spittin' it clever/

You appeared to be Ill-maculate, they felt sorry for you cause you looked sicker than ever//

But I know where this drug addict went damn wrong/

He left chubby, started fuckin' wit the rock and lost more weight than Cam'ron//

But you don't wanna leave it alone cause he love it to death/

Change ya name to Redman the way you keep fucking with Meth//

And another thing that got me real pissed about you/

Your nickname's "ill" ... besides your health there's nothing sick about you//

That's why your whole gimmick is ironic, you should be shuttin' your mouth/

You got the words "ill" and "mack" in your name - two things you'll never know nothing about//

I dump and I sprout once I aim the ruger/

Ain't nothin' funny about this clip Mac, it ain't a blooper//

Really this thang'll shoot ya, you never came for the drama/

Cause your crew's named "The Sandpeople," we supposed to believe that y'all stay wit them llamas?//

You been hiding real well for that year, who'd you stay wit, Osama?/

Spent all your WRC money, now he's asking for change like Obama//

So I know Illmac aint seein' cash wit them measly raps/

You got no kraft, since this battle is for cheese, its gunna be easy Mac//

So you can take one look at 'em and see that Gregory broke/

Thats why your last name says it all, because Gregory's Poe//

That desert'll blow or the four-five will go right in the bullseye/

How u goin' call yourself big Mac? When you just a small fry//

I could use short jokes on him literally/

Illmac you guys a little geek who's even too little for little league//

But see it's not my style, I know how to make Grind TIme get crazy/

Just say, 'You look like Greg Brady and Ms. Daisy had a big baby wit Slim Shady who blew up like a M80'//

Fuck that, the shit I grip spit crazy/

And i'll put rockets to your T-Mac like McGrady//

This big eighty will cock and shoot/

And i'll get rid of Ill like a doctor do//

I rock the booth and I got the coldest raps/

I've always had a PC, but now I can say that I owned a Mac//

As far as your raps, who the fuck you goin' lie to/

You named your album 'Police Brutality,' who the fuck is goin' buy you?//

He thought because the title had something to do with pigs that ill would spread faster than the Swine Flu

See you slide through and make tracks about being a burgular, thats somethin' you not, dum dum/

Cause battling Quest is the only time you robbed someone//

And I see you mockin' someone, you a sloppy disgrace/

He saw The Saurus' style, called himself 'Mac' so he could copy and paste//

So you let him help with this battle, so you could maybe come harder/

Now I can say I sonned Greg and Peter ... i'm the Brady Bunch father//

Significance
Conceited had just gained national notoriety for the monstrous verses he dropped in The Jungle against Tall T (RIP.) After a highlly anticipated match in Portland with legendary battle emcee Illmaculate had fallen through and a small conflict between the two stirred up, a new match date was made for the first installment of Grind TIme's legendary Grizzlemania event. In a battle that almost no on had him winning, Conceited came out the gate with a first verse that completely trumped his opponent and sent the crowd into an uproar. This performance boosted Conceited into national superstardom, and inspired a new generation of battle rappers to mimicked the style made popular by Con and his crew, S.O.N.S.

Okwerdz vs Arsonal - Round 3 "Buncha Divas"
Grind Time
34 Bars
6 Bombs

VERSE (2:35)
Now see you definitely gettin' kicked off of Loaded Lux's entourage cause you lost it dog/
But that's what happens when you send a worker to do the bosses job//
See I knew you'd go for my race, but isn't it gettin' sorta played/
I'm not street in any form or way, but even I can tell that you're a fake//
See i'm from Stockton bitch, born and raised/
America's highest foreclosure rate//
And the most murders in California state/
Just ask Forbes its great//
And you act like you from the toughest parts of dirty Jersey and street smart/
But you went to Kean University sweetheart//
So that makes you even more nerdy than we are
And its funny your whole battle scene's about being the streetest round/
But when the heat come out//
You ain't street in the least amount/
Bitch you're like the scenic route//
And i'd rather tell jokes and say suck my testicles/
Then be at some one dimensional gun rhyme punchline festival//
So what's next? Pull out the imaginary glocks and AKeezeys/
Put me in a muthafuckin' box and say 'easy'//
And you guys act like Grind Time is so underneath ya/
Been in six battles his whole life, now he thinks he's Julius fuckin' Caesar//
You wanna battle, you gotta give Loaded Lux a visa/
And put one a hundred g's up, WHAT A BUNCHA DIVAS//
On the real, I for respect fa Tech, Lux - Solomon, Mook and Math/
but the rest suck, I'll fuck T-Rex up!//
And i'm willing to bet a, Ron Artest check stub/
That if you put your top five best up, against us - you'll get crushed//
And last Fight Klub, y'all so on the dicks of these west side vets/
Even International P was tryna dress like Plex//
And see, to faggots like him Grind Time is just a buncha funny clowns/
But you should be more humble pal//
Cause Fight Klub's time is running out/
So who's the funny motherfucker now//
And you just wore out your California welcoming whore/
So take your bitch ass south to Newark, and leave the Fight Klub belt at the door//

Significance
Battles and underground hip hop in general seemed to have been divided by "street rap" and "jokey-joke/backpack/white boy rap." Okwerdz took it upon himself to be the voice of his whole side of the culture and his league, Grind Time. After two great rounds in a highly competitive match, Okwerdz boosted himself into west coast celebrity and national recognition, as he called out the east coast and brought life to the terms, "What a buncha divas" and "Put me in a box and say easy!" Even though varying crowds feel different about this battle's outcome, what Okwerdz did for the battle scene did not go unnoticed.

Illmaculate vs The Saurus - Round 4 "That Was Me"

Grind Time

22 Bars
4 Bombs

VERSE (7:00)
"Its OT off top in a fuckin' confrontation I would snuff you/
I mean look at your music and how long its taken you to hustle//
ohoh that was dope - SHUT THE FUCK UP/
I've had enough of them bitch ass, non-rhyming, conversational rebuttals//
We get it Pete, you're a comical asshole/
But y'all heard battle rappers can't make music right? - well here's a walking example//
And that's the reason that i'll never walk in your shadow/
I mean what happened? It looks like Pirhanna's attacked you while you were bobbing for apples//
C'mon Lush, that mug has become infamous for fuckin' up businesses/
Don't believe me, here's a couple a instances//
You won scribble and WRC twice/
They're both bankrupt now, What a fuckin' coincidence//
Look, I understand that life's a lesson, so when people say he carried the team/
I don't stress 'em, knowing they'd think a lot differently if they knew all the lines I fed 'em//
FUCK IT! His last four bars in his first round against Madness - THAT WAS ME/
His Dumbfounded, 'Make me a cellphone wit tape and some velcro' - THAT WAS ME//
His entire double time round against storm ... okay that was you/
His WRC 'Doggy daycare but you probably ate there punchline of the week - THAT WAS ME//
And its sad to see, cause before every battle this faggot Pete/
Hits me up like, 'Hand me schemes I need ammo please'//
And there's plenty more - I just gave you those examples free/
That way when you're watching a The Saurus battle, think, while you're rooting for him you're actually just a fan of me//"

Significance
After being known as the two best battle emcees on the west coast for years and winning the 2on2 World Rap Championships twice in a row, The Saurus and Illmaculate were seemingly the best of friends. When they both accepted a match that pitted them against eachother after a long time of working together, the stage was set for one of the most highly anticipated matches in battle history. After the battle was sent into overtime, Illmaculate changed how the battle world saw personals forever with one phrase, "That was me." Illmaculate named all of the rhymes he ever helped The Saurus with and exposed their strategy of preparing for battles together. After this battle debuted, a lot of other emcees starting trying to expose opponents for not writing verses on their own, but none had the impact of Illmaculate's overtime round.

Dizaster vs Swave Sevah - Round 2 "Shut The Fuck Up"
Grind Time
68 Bars
11 Bombs

VERSE (15:30)
I need y'all to be vewy vewy vewy vewy vewy vewy calm/
Team Homi, Bars R' Us, Rebel Armz//
Wave my hand like i'm signaling off to a helicopter/
And there you have my bars//
I said he took Syd with a vib vab and a vib slab vib slab vib vab viv vrab/
I'm twisting your vig back//
You are suck a fuckin' wack dude/
I mean, if you pronounce the letter 'v' one more time i'm gunna stab you//
[this mother fucker] are you seriously kidding me/
you guys over here talking shit to try to throw me off literally//
I got some shit to tell you that you probably though I wouldn't say/
I know this is crazy but its not, Swave Sevah told me his lady is a cop//

So ima tell y'all something, why you think that he be snitchin' a lot/
Cause his bitch is a cop, he kissin' 5-0 on the mouth like Vivica Fox//

I said, I always wondered how you ended up clearing all your felonies/
Team Homi's shootin' at the police is what he's telling me
But on the low, he's creepin' wit the deputy//
Kinda brings a new term to the meaning/
Sleeping with the enemy//
Your wife is a CO from Rikers, they nicknamed her the pulverizer/
Your broke, so at home she's a dough supplier and you old so you sport the diapers//
You the oldest dude to ever own a cypher/
You were old enough to watch porn and own a lighter when Slick Rick first got known as a storywriter//
You're a senior citizen slash corny rhymer/
So i'm not talkin' bout sports when I say he's a forty niner//
You so old you wrote your rhymes inside a organizer/
born in '75, but you can't tell he's an older guy because he uses age defying moisturizer//
Him and PH graduated from the same class/
Go to sleep together wearing matching cucumber face masks, then you turn off the light on the nightstand and dip your teeth in the same glass//
*guy in the crowd interrupts battle and Dizaster goes at him*
I mean why you cuttin' off the battle/
Did you sponsor the event?//
Were you the one that paid the money to fly me out to Pen?/
No? THEN SHUT THE FUCK UP THEN!//
*goes back to Swave*
For all the work I've effortlessly put in and the direction i've come/
For the nobodies i've bodied and the many legends i've sonned//
I should be the one that earns the top tier position in Grind Time/
If there should ever be one//
I said, your train passed you, your times definitely done/
My legacy will never fade away just like the memory of Pun//
I said, you're a rap artist who bars have no connection to funds/
Have you ever got a check for a record you're done?//
Name one battle you've respectfully won/
You think you clever you dumb//
Your rap career is technically numb/
You're a walking example of what every battle rapper in here should never ever become//
After all the work i've put in, seventeen battle to climb the ladder/
And that's what you benefit from?//
Homie at this point I would technically have more respect for a bum/
Cause at least he has a little bit of dignity when he's begging for crumbs//
Your boy DNA never seen a homicide or corpse/
Only time we seen DNA on file in court, is when someone's suing for child support//
He wants to talk during my shit, put my sword on your head/
Fuck around and hit you in your spots burning your flesh//
Ima kill him, then return to the west/
And put DNA in a box like a paternity test//
Let the vagina spit, no ya man is vagina lips/
Its time to diss any emcee and give them a mental psychiatrist//
And that was for starters/
If me and you have the same cell phone, then i'll jack your charger//
Then ill bail outta your driveway and jack your charger/
I like you Cortez, but you a apple farmer//
You're not a battle rapper, you're a cabbage gardner/
So what? And me, i'm an Iraqi martyr//
Ill make yo' plane crash like Travis Barker/
Then write faggot on yo' casket with a magic marker//
If we were in Lebanon, I woulda chopped your head off and used it to play soccer/
Open up your frame like operation game, its time to play doctor//
Stomp you out in a pair of dockers/
Then drop you off in the middle of Yonkers in a t-shirt that says, 'I love Okwerdz'//"

Significance

If there was one place on planet Earth that Dizaster was not allowed battle, it would have been New York. After years of slandering NYC emcees, Poison Pen called on Dizaster to battle one of the realest emcees in battle rap, Swave Sevah. For some reason, Dizaster accepted and the stage was set for the west coast's favorite emcee to either die a horrible death (lyrically) or prove why he was one of the best in the world. After a great first round, Dizaster continued to have one of the most classic verses in battle history. Halfway through his round, Diz focused his attention on destroying a heckler who had been bothering him throughout the night, then set his sights back on Swave to deliver the rest of his verse, un-phased by his previous encounter. This is the match that made Dizaster one of the best in a lot of peoples eyes and proved his freestyle skill may be better than most's written material.

Honorable Mention

The following is a lists of the 50 best verses in battle history outside of the top 10, not counting freestyle battles and 2vs2s.

Pat Stay - Round 2 vs Hollohan

"Moon walk with steel toe boots on"

Aye Verb - Round 2 vs Hollow Da Don

"From St. Louis to Cyberton"

Bill Collector - Round 3 vs M.Ciddy

"I got da burna"

Aye Verb - Round 3 vs Hitman Holla

"Thats the way you talk to your son"

Murda Mook - Round 3 vs Serius Jones

"Regularly scheduled programming"

Dumbfoundead - Round 4 vs PH

"Old jokes never get old"

Dizaster - Round 1 vs DNA

"Ate sideways like the number infinity"

Iron Solomon - Round 1 vs Math

"Now Math is history"

Bender - Round 2 vs Arcane

"Sorry Player"

Soul Khan - Round 1 vs Deacon Frost

"Who the fuck are you"

K-Shine - Round 1 vs Tsu Surf

"3 1/2 years, no exceptions"

Arsonal - Round 1 vs Hollow Da Don

'Hulkamania Leg Drop"

Illmaculate - Round 2 vs Manaz

"I can do that with my eyes closed"

Party Arty - Round 1 vs Murda Mook

"When I was in Rikers"

Iron Solomon - Round 3 vs E.Ness

"Gettin' beat by a Jewish guy"

Mosh Jelton - Round 1 vs Jonny Storm

"The fiesta's cancelled"

Aye Verb - Round 2 vs SB

"Guardian angels duck"

Conceited - Round 1 vs Arsonal

"Bus driver"

40 Cal - Round 5 vs Cardi

"His mother can't take directions"

Hollow Da Don - Round 2 vs Aye Verb

"I did it"

Reed Dollaz - Round 2 vs Trigga

"Spray up the family van"

Conceited - Round 3 vs Cortez

"Straight nada"

Math - Round 3 vs Nems

"Little bitch"

Pat Stay - Round 1 vs Marvwon

"No more Mr. Nice Guy"

Hitman Holla - Round 2 vs Arsonal

"Dude might be gangsta"

Marvwon - Round 2nd vs Nems

"Is it April 1st?"

DNA - Round 2 vs Oun P

"Spit this shit backwards"

Cortez - Round vs 3 vs Hitman Holla

"Bloods in question"

Swave Sevah - Round 2 vs QP

"Tell 'em"

Loe Pesci - Round 4 vs Tantrum

"The head go wit it"

Syd Vicious - Round 3 vs Swave Sevah

"Slowed them mutherfuckers down"

Yung Ill - Round 2 vs Calicoe

"Who is this nigga"

Soul Khan - Round 2 vs Fresco

"Hey hey hey"

Jae Millz - Round 2 vs Murda Mook

"Im wearing it"

PH - Round 3 vs Dizaster

"4 minutes and 56 seconds"

Ness Lee - Round 2 vs Loe Pesci

"Forgot what he was doing there"

Tsu Surf - Round 1 vs X-Factor

"I do the zippin' around here"

Locksmith - Round 2 vs Dizaster

"Throw your shoe at George Bush"

Math - Round 3 vs T-Rex

"The side of your face"

QP - Round 3 vs AB Hogish

"Nintendo style - old school"

Murda Mook - Round 1 vs Jae Millz

"Cab fare and some pizza"

Jin Round 1 vs Professor Green

"It wasn't that Serius"

Fresco - Round 3 vs Soul Khan

"Mind bodying Soul"

Philly Swain - Round 3 vs Scott Free

"Flip, reverse and popping"

John John Da Don - Round 1 vs Brixx

"Cripple you for life"

Real Deal - Round 1 vs B-Magic

"Making the exception"

E.Ness - Round 1 vs Mysonne

"Bang Bang Boogie"

Iron Solomon - Round 1 vs Mic Assassin

"The British are coming!"

Jae Millz - Round 2 vs Sire Castro

"Am I trouble or what!?"

Serius Jones - Round 3 vs Big Ace

"Case Closed"

*Leave a comment if you would like to suggest a blog topic or comment on this blog*

- Drect

P.S: Rone's 2nd vs Rugged, The Saurus first 3 against Dumbfoundead, DNA's 3rd vs Rone & Dirt's "gun" round vs DeastroDollar are some favorites that didn't make the list.

Smack/URL Summer Madness 2 Highlights (Video)

2012-08-21T20:30:00.004-04:00

"Page 31 was on hand for Smack/URL.TV's Summer Madness 2 at Webster Hall where the legends came out to face off with today's brightest battle rappers. Serius Jones, Loaded Lux, Murda Mook, E Ness, Aye Verb, Iron Solomon, DNA, Calicoe, Charlie Clips, T-Rex, and more came to the stage in front of a sold out crowd and rocked the stage. Celebrity guests Q-Tip, P Diddy, Lloyd Banks and Busta Rhymes all chimed in from the VIP balcony, and Diddy raised the stakes with a 10 thousand dollar prize on the Aye Verb vs Tex Rex undercard.

Page31.com compiled all of the highlights of the event including Murda Mook's 5-0 win Vs. Iron Solomon that ended with a George Zimmerman reference for the ages. Loaded Lux edged out Calicoe, Serius Jones and Charlie Clips had an epic battle and E Ness was put to shame in front of his old boss Diddy. For a full breakdown of the event visit: http://page-31.com/show-review.php?SmackURL-TVs-Summer-Madness-2-Return-Of-Th... Please credit www.page31.com for all re-posts.

www.page31.com. Follow us on twitter @tweetpage31, and like us on Facebook under "Page 31." Color to the deaf, Music to the blind!"

- via Page31.com

Battle Breakdown - Summer Madness 2: Return of the Legends

2012-08-19T18:17:00.002-04:00

THE LEGENDS HAVE RETURNED ...

Five years after battle rap has been resurrected and brought to heights its never reached before (a la SMACK, Grind Time, KOTD, etc), some of the names that helped pave the way for this current generation to shine finally return to the ring on of the biggest battle rap cards to date. The following is a breakdown of the matches, including: background info, timelines, quotable's and my professional opinion on the outcomes.

*Waive your mouse over the links that appear throughout the "timeline" sections of this blog to see videos*

THE CARD

DNA vs E.Ness

John John Da Don vs Hitman Holla

Calicoe vs Loaded Lux

T-Rex vs Aye Verb

Charlie Clips vs Serius Jones

Murda Mook vs Iron Solomon

Let's Get Started ...

E.NESS vs DNA

DNA

Since his burst onto the scene in May of 2009, everyone knew DNA would be destined for greatness. Unlike most battle rappers, he excels in all formats presented by the many different leagues around the world. DNA has destroyed 2vs2 battles, three-minute rounds in SMACK format, one/two minute Grind Time rounds, and un-timed matches on multiple occasions.

At the ripe age of 21, DNA has made a career out of being the fierce underdog who will never back down from a challenge. He is the poster child for overcoming the odds.

TIMELINE

May 2009: Debuted against Prophit and rocked the battle scene with an unforseen mix of freestyle, written and aggression.

Aug 2009: Helped revolutionized modern day promotion and marketing fo today's battle game by making an in-depth blog about Lil Farnum and their battle at Grind Time's Grizzlemania I. After the blog's great success and an even greater response to the battle, DNA became of the the first undercard's to push their battle past 100K views.

Sep 2009: Became the first emcee in Grind Time to battle a Canadian opponent (Loe Pesci)

Oct 2009: Proved himself as one of the world's best freestyle emcees when behind the scenes battle footage of DNA vs Mike Flamez and Real Deal surfaced

Oct 2009: Defeated Rone (with a bomb strapped to his chest) in a must-win battle to prove who was the next top tier in the New York's battle scene.

December 2009: Had one of the biggest battle debuts/overall views in Grind Time history in his main event matchup with Rich Dolarz and destroyed a 2 on 2 matchup with Soul Khan vs ZM and Rone on the same day.

December 2009: Classic 2on2 with Soul Khan vs ZM and Rone

Mar 2010: Debuted on SMACK against Oun P

Aug 2010: Took 2nd place in Redbull and Eminem's national Emsee battle

Jan 2011: One-round unlimited match against T-Rex

Sep 2011: Earned the opening match against X-Factor for SMACK's Summer Madness I

Nov 2011: Battled Dizaster in front of Drake for the main event at KOTD's Flatline

May 2012: Battled the seemingly unbeatable Tech 9 on URL and further proved his top level consistency on the battle scene

Jun 2012: Stole the spotlight from the main event battles at KOTD's Vendetta as he faced Eurgh in a classic match, which is arguably both emcees best showing

QUOTABLE

"I came to fuck up this event on some Dizaster shit/

They asked me 'Can-I-Bus' I told them trust, this Arsonal is Illmaculate//

I would give him this K Shine, but ill Pass cause im the reason this event is what it would be today/

So take out a pen and pad and try spelling 'VENDETTA' without a D-N-A"

- DNA vs Eurgh

PIVOTAL CAREER MOMENTS

- Battling Rich Dolarz, which became one of Grind Time most viewed battles

- Arguably beating T-Rex

- Spitting a story in reverse against Oun P

- Battle vs Dizaster becoming KOTD's most viewed battle, at over 1M hits

E.NESS

The "Lochness Monster" aka Elliot Ness is definetly one of the best RAPPERS in the battle world. His smooth flow and casual, yet aggressive style of writing always seem to play to his advantage. One of the few people to can win a battle off of pure "rap ablity."

TIMELINE

2003: Battled Young Money's Jae Millz for MTVs & Diddy's Making The Band 2: Da Band

Feb 2006: Infamous street battle with Hollowman was leaked to the internet

Sep 2008: Won against NYC rap legend Mysonne in the World Series of Hip Hop

Sep 2010: Battled Iron Solomon on Grind Time

Aug 2011: Battled Arsonal in Philly

QUOTABLE

"Cut off his oxygen, Sugar Ray Robinson/

or Allen Iverson, cross him out his wally moccasins//"

- E.Ness vs Iron Solomon

PIVOTAL CAREER MOMENTS

- Out-besting over 40,000 emcees for a spot on Making Da Band

- Facing off against Young Money's Jae Millz

- Beating Mysonne

- Comeback performance vs Iron Solomon

SYNOPSIS

DNA is the clear favorite to win this bout and is not the underdog for the first time in his three-year career. Coming off of three of his best performances (Dizaster, Tech9 & Eurgh), he will definitely be in top form for this match. E.Ness can win, but he will need to revert back to the same person that killed it against Mysonne in New York if he wants a shot. He must include personals, jokes, bars, flow, freestyle ... basically every skill in Ness' arsenal must be exercised to pull off the win.

MY PREDICTION

2-1 in favor of DNA: He will come out with an overwhelming amount of punchlines, but E. Ness will finish strong, gaining steam in the 2nd round.

HITMAN HOLLA vs JOHN JOHN DA DON

JOHN JOHN DA DON

John John is the BEST emcee of battle rap's third generation. He has the complete package that any promoter would want in a star battler. After DESTROYING 2011 and the first quarter of 2012, he finally gets his chance to shine against a highly regarded opponent and boost his name through the all time battle rankings.

TIMELINE

Jan 2010: Debuted on Grind Time vs 30/30

Feb 2010: Battled Passda of the popular asian hip hop group, Yellow Boyz

Apr 2010: Faced off in a match against P-ro in GT's Florida vs Georgia

Feb 2010: Battled popular GTEC emcee and 106th and Park champion Lotta Zay

May 2010: Went toe to toe with GTEC's Troy Brown in his first main event match

Dec 2010: Battled Grind Time Georgia President, Syd Vicious

Jan 2011: Clashed with Brixx Belvy in a classic match that was seen as one of the best matches of 2011

Feb 2011: Won his rematch against Lotta Zay in another classic bout

Aug 2011: Debuted on URL's Proving Ground vs B-Magic

Oct 2011: Faced off in his final classic Grind Time battle vs Money Bagz - this was seen as one of the best battles in GT's history

Apr 2012: Faced Bill Collector in a highly anticipated match between fan favorites

QUOTABLE

"Body you, then ya mans get it after/

They'll find ya dog lyin' bear in a box ... animal crackers//"

- John John Da Don vs Brixx Belvedere

PIVOTAL CAREER MOMENTS

- Winning Rematch battle vs Lotta Zay

- Classic matches with Brixx, Lotta Zay & Money Bagz on Grind Time

- Entering URL's Proving Ground in classic fashion vs B-Magic

HITMAN HOLLA

Hitman always has two things in his favor: an unmatched amount of raw aggression/energy and some very vocal celebrity fans. He understands one thing that a lot of battle emcees don't: how to carry yourself as a top artist and make the right career decisions. Every time I have doubted the man's ability against some of the best in the game, he always rose to the occasion.

TIMELINE

Summer 2007: Main event vs RemyD during Fight Klub's trip to STL

Feb 2008: vs Birdie (as Yung Holla) on Word War

Sep 2008: Rematch vs RemyD on Word War

Jan 2009: vs Cashola on Word War

July 2009: vs Rich Dolarz on Street Status

Jan 2010: URL debut vs Big T

May 2010: Classic match with Cortez on URL

Dec 2010: Highly anticipated match vs Arsonal on URL

Aug 2011: Achieved Main Event status on URL's Summer Madness I vs Hollow Da Don

Dec 2011: Debuted on Battle America vs Goodz

Mar 2012: Classic match vs Aye Verb to determine the king of the St. Louis battle scene

May 2012: Beanie Sigel puts up $5,000 for Hitman Holla to destroy unknown rapper

QUOTABLE

"Its alotta weapons i can slay yall with/

The black gloves, rubber grip wit the radar chip//

I come in one of Verb parties with a ar clip/

And shoot soon as I get in like im JR Smith//"

* Proceeds to remix line*

- Hitman Holla vs Aye Verb

PIVOTAL CAREER MOMENTS

- Highly Debatable match vs Cortez

- Beat Arsonal and became URL's first 1M view battle

- Cosigned by Nelly (bet $50K with Drake) during battle with Hollow Da Don

- Match with with Aye Verb was one of the best battles in history as it reached 1M views in a few months and became one of the most viewed matches of our time

SYNOPSIS

Battle fans around the globe seem to be split up over this match. Some say that Hitman Holla is battle tested against some of the greatest and will not loose to a rookie on the main stage. Others say regardless of experience at big events, John John will kill Hitman. John John has to put on his best performance ever: not only to beat Hitman, but to prove himself as a solidified top tier. This is the battle he has been waiting for his whole career. Hitman, on the other hand, took this battle to shut John John up and and dig his grave once and for all. Both have A LOT on the line.

MY PREDICTION

2-1 in favor of John John Da Don: I honestly believe John John is one of the best battle emcees on the planet at this point. An A+ performance from JJDD might equal three of the best verses we have heard in the last 5 years. However, don't mistake my judgement; Hitman Holla can beat almost anyone with the right game plan and only 50% of his total energy. If Hitman does not prepare properly or takes John John Da Don too light, this could be the biggest body bag of Summer Madness II.

CALICOE vs LOADED LUX

CALICOE

"There's a difference between metaphors and real rap" seems to have grow to be more than just Calicoe's slogan. It has become the blueprint by which many battle emcees now right their lyrics. Calicoe has proved that in todays battle world, rhymes backed up by actual facts may have more of an effect on opponents than great punchlines. He is the prince of the Detroit battle scene.

TIMELINE

May 2009: Debuted on worldstar vs Prince Lord in the much hyped Chicago vs Detroit battle

Dec 2009: Debuted on Grind Time vs B. Silva

Jan 2010: Debuted on URL vs Yung Ill

Mar 2010: vs Nu Born on URL

May 2010: vs Rich Dolarz on URL

Jun 2010: vs Heartless on Grind Time

Dec 2012: vs Shotgun Suge on URL in a highly controversial match that saw Suge disrespecting Detroit legend Proof (RIP)

Jan 2011: vs Metta on Street Status

May 2011: vs K-Shine on URL

Oct 2011: vs Math Hoffa in a much hyped underdog match on URL

Dec 2011: vs Arsonal on URL's first card in Detroit

Apr 2012: vs O-Red on Ultimate Warrior

QUOTABLE

"Ill catch him at the red light, blast the ten/

First 48 will be like Ray J - on camera gettin' brains off that car-dash-he-in"

-Calicoe vs Heartless

PIVOTAL CAREER MOMENTS

- Had one of his best early performances vs Nu Born

- Killed the K-Shine battle

- With the odd against him, beat Math Hoffa at Summer Madness I

- Put Detroit on his back in the Arsonal battle & earned over 1M views

LOADED LUX

After only two battles, the whole world knew Loaded Lux was one of the best. The man may have some of the most complex rhymes in rap period; not just battles. Lux has an unprecedented amount of charisma to go along with his knack for structuring outstanding bars, which makes him three times as deadly. His battles on 106th and Park proved his delivery could be fixed to please a commercial crowd without dumbing down his lyrics; a feat many of the greatest lyricists dream of. Loaded Lux was truly ahead of his time, as all of his verses would be considered great by todays standards.

TIMELINE

- Year Unknown: vs Dee (aka Shirt-N-Tie)

- SMACK DVD Vol. 5: Battled Murda Mook in an instant classic; in a lot of peoples eyes, this was the first time Mook lost

-SMACK DVD Vol. 12: Faced Young Miles. This match proved Lux was one of the best in the battle business

-2007: Won 7 Weeks on BET's Freestyle Friday segment of 106th and Park and was retired into the hall of fame. While on the show he faced the likes of: Relentless, Nase Felon, Cess-Lo, Mike Louch, J Biz, Precyse and Nu Born

QUOTABLE

"You prolly thought this was a bright idea, who hit the light switch?/

Hype shift, this is where it looks like the fights fixed//

Tight fist, beat you with the hand that I write with/

Punchlines that remind Rodney King of the nightsticks//"

- Loaded Lux vs Nase Felon

PIVOTAL CAREER MOMENTS

- Classic battle vs Murda Mook on SMACK

- One of the best single performances in history vs Young Miles

- Freestyle Friday Hall-Of-Fame run

- Founding Lionz Den battle league and paving the way for SMACK to make a comeback

SYNOPSIS

Calicoe's strengths are his wordplay and ability to expose and break someone down. Loaded Lux (most likely) has barely anything to be exposed for, so this battle automatically becomes a match of bars and entertainment value. Calicoe has great wordplay from time to time, but Loaded Lux scores an A+ almost every time in flow, delivery, and lyricism. I can see Calicoe doing well if he stays away from trying to out-rap Lux and focuses on breaking down his personal character and style by taking an observational approach.

MY PREDICTION

3-0 in favor of Loaded Lux: If this battle was in Detroit or another state, Calicoe would have a strong chance of winning, but Lux is one of the most beloved battle rappers in the histroy of New York City (and everywhere else.) Many may argue that Lux has never performed in front of a crowd of 5,000 people before, but I believe his style is custom made for the big stage. CALICOE HAS TO COME CORRECT or he will not survive the match.

T-REX vs AYE VERB

AYE VERB

As the founding father and king of the St. Louis battle scene, Aye Verb has put in as much work as any top battler in history. He is a very smart person and has the ability to understand what the fans want to see and when he should alter or upgrade his style/approach. From the entertainment value of his hilarious blogs to his top notch pen game and delivery, Aye Verb seems to have everything down pat.

TIMELINE

Sep 2008: vs Yung Mase on Street Status

Mar 2009: vs SB in the streets of NYC after his battle with Head Ice ended up falling through. Even though this was raw footage, it helped spark Verb's buzz nationally

July 2009: vs Hollow Da Don on Street Status. This close bout proved Aye Verb was worthy of the top tier status

Oct 2009: vs Marv Won was Aye-Verb's Grind Time debut. One of the first battles to escalate the "bars vs jokes" debate, as Verb refused to change his style while switching leagues

Feb 2010: vs Young Miles for his URL debut, which was in classic fashion

Jun 2010: vs Math Hoffa on URL for another highly debatable classic match

Jan 2011: vs Big Will on Street Status

Sep 2011: vs Charlie Clips at Summer Madness I

Jan 2012: vs O-Red on URL

Mar 2012: vs Hitman Holla for the unofficial "King of St. Louis" title on URL. Both emcees put on a classic and the video instantly reached 1M views

QUOTABLE

"He's such a bitch ass nigga, we can't tell if he's sweet or not/

Ill show up with two hammers on me even if we agree to box//

Now try that Math Hoffa shit - swing, ima weave the shot/

Then these niggas give you that same treatment that Jesus got//"

- Ave Verb vs Hollow Da Don

PIVOTAL CAREER MOVES

- Close match vs Hollow Da Don, in which the winner is heavily argued til this day

- Classic match vs Math Hoffa

- One of the best performances in battle history vs Hitman Holla

T-REX

Rex is a legend, but I think he solidified it during this generation. He may have the best delivery available to a battle rapper. Rex's strength has always been the ability to take a line that no one else could say and make it hot. Now with his "grown man bars" campaign, Rex has started to separate himself from the pack and further add to his legend. Just when you think you know T-Rex, he does the unexpected, whether its throwing on a kangol against Okwerdz or his crazy performance vs Math, Rex is ready for anything.

TIMELINE

Feb 2003: vs Omar in his first taped footage from High School

SMACK DVD: vs Un Kasa from Dipset in his first SMACK battle

SMACK DVD: vs Young Miles on his second SMACK battle

May 2006: vs NH at a Philly vs Harlem event

Sep 2008: vs Tech 9 in the World Series of Hip Hop

Dec 2009: vs Math Hoffa in his URL debut

May 2010: vs Okwerdz in his Grind Time debut

Jan 2011: vs DNA in a one round promo for Time in Money

Oct 2011: vs Conceited at URL's Summer Madness I

Jan 2012: vs Yung Ill for Battle America

Feb 2012: vs G Souldier for Battle America/No Coast

Mar 2012: vs Artisan for Battle America/AHAT

July 2012: vs Donnie Menace for Battle America/AHAT

April 2012: vs Arsonal on Ultimate Warrior

QUOTABLE

"I can get a little kid to murk you/

Cause you father's a snitch - you was raised by a rat like a Ninja Turtle//"

- T-Rex vs Un Kasa

PIVOTAL CAREER MOMENTS

- Battling twice on SMACK DVD and starting the "Dot Mob" with Murda Mook

- Featured (alongside Jim Jones) on Ron Browz' "Pop Champagne" remix

- Arguably beating Math Hoffa in his URL debut

- Signing to Battle America and destroying all competition across the US

SYNOPSIS

The thing that makes this battle so interesting are the blogs that were filmed to promote the match. T-Rex traveled to St. Louis and claimed that no one has ever heard of Verb in his own city. Aye Verb responded with (fake?) pictures of T-Rex partially nude that he had (apparently) obtained from a girl Rex met online. Both rappers claim to have a lot of dirt on each other, so this makes the match very interesting. Besides Mook and Solomon, this may be the most even matchup on paper. With the information each claims to have on the other, someone may get exposed, embarrassed, or worse.

MY PREDICTION

2-1 in favor of Aye Verb: After watching his performance against Hitman Holla, it has become apparent to me that Verb is one of the best performers and lyricists in the history of battle rap. Both him and T-Rex have top notch delivery and flow, so that may not be as big a factor in this match. It will come down to punchlines and exposing information. They can both drop big lines, but Verb does it on a more consistent basis. After watching the blogs to promote this match, it seems like Verb may have some hurtful things to say to Rex, but he never get's bodied; T-Rex will win at least one round.

SERIUS JONES vs CHARLIE CLIPS

CHARLIE CLIPS

Spitfire punchlines, amazing crowd control, crazy freestyle ability and properly timed jokes - these traits all belong to Charlie Clips. He has a vintage set-up/punchline/deliver approach to battle rap that may be outdated to some, but Clips gets his points across quick, allowing him to easily dismantle opponents. He has one of the greatest debuts in battle rap history under his belt, along with the (greatly shared) opinion that he may have never lost a round, let alone an entire battle.

TIMELINE

Apr 2009: vs Tay Rock in his battle debut Lionz Den. He caught one of the biggest bodies in battle history and started his career being hyped as one of the best

Sep 2011: vs Aye Verb debuted on URL at Summer Madness I. This was rumored to have been another body bag, but the a lot of fans feel as though the crowd was unfair

Apr 2012: vs X-Factor on URL, Clips had another deadly performance

Jun 2012: vs Big T on URL's first trip to Chicago

QUOTABLE

"Im the controller - I leave squares like you so dead/

so if X plan to try angles like Verb, he'll get an L2 and have to battle O-Red"

PIVOTAL CAREER MOMENTS

- Active member of Camron's "U.N." imprint

- Debuting on Lionz Den and instantly being hailed as one of the greatest

- Had the most hyped performance of Summer Madness I

- Classic performance in one-round battle vs X-Factor

SERIUS JONES

As the master of slow flow and articulation, Serius Jones has always had a way with words. His style has been watched by many, but successfully duplicated by none; from the signature nose grab and hand waive to his famous opening line, "I said yo!" Jones won 12 consecutive battles in the Fight Klub and gained national exposure, as his battle with Jin for the Fight Klub title was released on television. In a world full of aggressive rhymers competing in a street area, Jones' calm, funny, and well-paced style has always been a breath of fresh air.

TIMELINE

Early 2000s: 9 unreleased Fight Klub battles against unknown opponents (besides Math Hoffa)

Fight Klub: vs Big Ace

Fight Klub: vs Moonface

Fight Klub: vs Jin for Fight Klub championship and $10K

Fight Klub: vs Professor Green at the 2005 Mixshow Powersummit for $50K

SMACK DVD: vs Murda Mook in one of the most highly anticipated matches in battle history

Jan 2009: vs Charles Hamilton

QUOTABLE

"You broke, that's why you wanna come back and battle over here/

But you been wack your whole career//

Ain't there two billion people in China?/

You can't even go platinum over there//"

- Serius Jones vs Jin

PIVOTAL CAREER MOMENTS

- 12 battle win streak in Fight Klub

- Destroying Jin (first loss) for the Fight Klub championship

- Signing with DTP in 2006

SYNOPSIS

A lot of people seem to think Charlie Clips has the upper hand due to recent battle experience. The word on the street is that Serius Jones is going to get killed and should have stayed retired. Jones seemingly over-cocky attitude may come off as naive to some of his peers, but Serius knows what he has gotten himself into. This matchup can go either way, based on both emcees' game plans.

MY PREDICTION

2-1 in favor of Serius Jones: A few days ago, I told myself that Charlie Clips was the safe bet, but after thoroughly watching a lot of footage, I believe Serius can win the crowd, it just may take him a round or so to warm up. His complex setups (and overall well put together verses) and should finally get the attention they deserve, especially against an opponent who will choose a different method of setting up punchlines. Clips could catch fire and kill Serius 3-0 or Jones could come back in classic fashion and do the same. This is the only match I had trouble predicting; can't wait to see what happens.

MURDA MOOK vs IRON SOLOMON

IRON SOLOMON

One of the most influential pioneers of this modern day battle scene. Iron Solomon was the first emcee to cross over from battle competitions over beats into the street format successfully. He has faced top competition on all sides: from Australia's Justice at Scribble Jam to Math Hoffa on SMACK DVD. If there was a top ten greatest battle lines list, Iron Solomon might have five of them. His wordplay, metaphors and punchlines are unparalleled - he hast the most (consistent) bodies in battle history.

TIMELINE

Unknown: vs Immortal Technique

2004 Scribble Jam: vs Elfamail

2005 Scribble Jam: vs Nocando

2005 Scribble Jam: vs Zeale 32

2005 Scribble Jam: vs Passwurdz

2005 Scribble Jam: vs Justice

Apr 2007: vs The Saurus on Jumpoff TV (based off of what many people believe the '05 Scribble Jam final should have been)

Apr 2007: vs Mic Assassin on Jumpoff TV (arguably biggest body in battle history)

Underground Sessions: vs Madness

Underground Sessions: vs Flamez

Underground Sessions: vs Shirt N Tie (battle where people started calling Solomon the greatest of all time)

Detroit's "Who Wanna Battle": vs 106th and park retired champ, Avalanche

Fight Klub: vs ZM

Fight Klub: vs Jin for the King of Fight Klub Title

SMACK DVD: Classic match vs Math Hoffa - one of the most debated battles in history

Sept. 2010: Debuted on Grind Time vs E.Ness

QUOTABLE

"Back in highschool, I smashed his chickiddity/

To cut, she cut science class to visit me//

We had the chemistry, attracted physically/

Taught her sex ed. and woodshop, now Math is history//"

- Iron Solomon vs Math Hoffa

PIVOTAL CAREER MOMENTS

- Destroying 99% of his competition in 2005 Scribble Jam

- Bodying all of his opponents on Underground Sessions

- The infamous bodybag vs Mic Assassin on Jumpoff TV

- Classic match with The Saurus

- Became Fight Klub champ and stopped Jin short of a comeback

- Classic SMACK battle vs Math Hoffa

MURDA MOOK

Mook IS the founding father of the battle scene as we know it today. He debuted against battle legend Jae Millz, in a match that would spark the fuse to todays battle scene. Every one of his matches has seemingly been a classic. With his last showing against Young Hot, he proved why he was still the king of battle rap. Murda Mook is the reason why people say, "EASY!" at the end of their verse. A true pioneer.

TIMELINE

SMACK DVD: vs Jae Millz in the CLASSIC that started it all

SMACK DVD: vs Party Arty = CLASSIC

SMACK DVD: vs Loaded Lux = another CLASSIC

Fight Klub: vs Cardi

Fight Klub: vs Verse

Unknown: Wave of unreleased battles in the midwest, featuring a classic vs Marvwon

SMACK DVD: vs Serius Jones in a highly anticipated classic match

Jan 2006: vs Weeze in an infamous street battle

May 2006: vs Joey Jihad in a highly debatable street classic

Sep 2008: Destroyed Young Hot in the World Series of Battle Rap

QUOTABLE

"So when he do spit his shit and say something okayish/

Its goin' sound ten times better, cause its going against the greatest//

I do think Im the greatest - I believe in the hype/

Thats why every time you hear me, I compare me to Mike//

Example: Remember when AI crossed Mike out his sneakers?/

It seemed so much worse cause we ain't think Mike had a weakness//

Off of that one move AI got his fame/

They forgot Jordan had 35 and still won that game//

- Murda Mook vs Young Hot

PIVOTAL CAREER MOMENTS

- Classic Debut vs Young Money's Jae Millz

- Surprisingly great performance vs Serius Jones

- Epic return to battle rap against young Hot

- Signing to Ruff Ryders

SYNOPSIS

This is the greatest possible match of all time; the battle we have been waiting for since Fight Klub couldn't get it to happen years ago. Even though I have my prediction, there is no clear cut-winner. The crowd will pay ultimare respect to these two emcees and will be dead quiet for five long rounds, to catch every single line. If this is both of their best performances, it could go down as the best battle in history, as both emcees will retire with their legacies fulfilled.

MY PREDICTION

3-2 In Favor of Iron Solomon: Iron's whole battle career was based on this moment and he will not let it slip. He consistently spews out THE BEST lines in battle history, whether it be written, premeditated, or freestyle. Murda Mook is going to have to be three times better than he was against Serius Jones to get the clear win. In the event that one emcee ends up bodying the other, it may be worse than Canibus pulling out the notebook; we want a CLASSIC. These are the most prepared emcees in history; the show will be amazing. 5 Rounds is a LONG time.

- Drect

*If you want me to write a blog about your event, please email drect7@gmail.com*

Arizona: The Key to Fresh Coast Expansion in Battle Rap

2012-08-16T23:52:00.005-04:00

For a long time, California has been known as the home of West Coast battle rap. Names such as, The Saurus, Franco, Dizaster and Dumbfoundead are prime examples of the sunshine state's talent pool. Some of the best writers and freestylers in the world have come from Cali.

Through Grind Time, it became even more apparent as the term "Fresh Coast" was coined and rappers from all over the world traveled to partake in some of the biggest events in battle rap history. Among its huge crowds, seasoned emcees and deep roots, its very hard to see any other state on the west messing with Cali's roster.

Being that the east coast, midwest and down south pull a lot of battle emcees from multiple states, this leaves you to wonder where the next big battle surge will emerge out west. Seattle, Portland, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico and Colorado have all contributed to the battle scene, but have yet to rival Cali's talent pool.

Recently, a few trips to visit family have landed me in Phoenix. While visiting last year, I was invited to a few battles that hosted performances by some promising emcees. After closely watching their scene grow for a year, the mind starts to wonder ... could the west finally have a new hot spot?

Enter the Grand Canyon state, Arizona:

History Lesson

The more blogs I write, the more these battle "history lessons" seem to become my trademark. Its only right that before I speak on the current state of AZ's battle scene, I take a small trip back to the past ...

From 2001-2008, Tucson, AZ hosted an event called Mic Fights! The format was very scribble-jam esque and the competition was very formidable. Around the time Mic Fights! 7 arrived on DVD, footage started being released on youtube. This event pioneered the Arizona battle scene and provided hardcore battle fans with hours of entertainment.

Notable Emcees from Mic Fights! :

Nocando - The most known emcee on this list in the battle world. From Scribble Jam and WRC to Grind Time and Red Bull Emsee, he's done it all. This LA native and Project Blowdian made an appearance at (the final) Mic Fights 11 and was able to finish on top.

Speak - From his classic battle with Jin to his Butcher Battle hosted by DJ Vlad, Speak was always a dope freestyler. By far his greatest feat, however, is writing Gucci Gucci for Kreayshawn.

Calliz (aka Mark Spitz) - One of the best freestyler's from the early 2000s that never received his well deserved shine. "Fuck it, ima talk about his rolex - ima break that shit and make it a broke-lex/ any time that i take it its a stole-lex, and since your a BITCH that makes it a hoe-lex." - The video was deleted(?), but this was definitely one of my favorite lines of that entire time period.

Other Notables:

Roch

Meskaline
Oki

Calliz Vs. Christopha Tha Philisopha @ Mic Fights! 5

Reemergence of the Scene

A few years back, Grind Time attempted to start a division in AZ, based off the the success Keefe Write had managing artists through his Sand Trap battles, but due to a few mishaps and bad timing, only a couple battles came out, which resulted in a few emcees not getting the proper respect they were due for crazy win streaks and classic matches. With the emergence of Voice Box battles in Tucson, the scene seems to be revitalized, as they are flying in outside talent to compete against some of the states best. I have devised a list of 10 people to look out for while you are browsing the net for battle footage. These emcees have been killing it for a while and its time they receive the proper shine they deserve.

Arizona's (tentative) Top 10

KONSHIS PILOT

The man's name has rung bells all around the west, from the Jungle to Grind Time West, but Konshis never had his chance to shine in a big event. His talent is unquestionable; from lyricism and delivery to clever wordplay and creativity, Konshis Pilot has it all. His versatile style would allow him to shine in ALL battle leagues.

Konshis Pilot vs KG the Poet

KG THE POET

KG has probably been the hardest working man in the AZ battle scene for the past few years. As a result, he was able to slip through the cracks and get his name out before Grind Time's viewership took a serious plummet. Battles with Mr. Biscuit, Konshis Pilot, Uno Lavoz and QP make him the states most viewed battle rapper. Due to his slick street style and Detroit roots, KG would surely shine on the East Coast in URL's proving ground.

KG the Poet vs QP

NITTY

Nitty got his start in the Sand Trap battle league, but was a victim of bad timing and unreleased footage. With wittiness, jokes, street content and punchlines, Nitty has it all.

Nitty vs Type Z

C-GUTTA

I've only had the opportunity to see him perform once, but Chicago native, C-Gutta is definitely a beast. His most impressive attribute is the way he structures topics and delivers them with an unfamiliar twist. After a few more battles, Gutta should be top 5 in the state.

C-Gutta vs J-Rich

KIDD W.I.T.E

Kidd W.I.T.E. and his brother, J-Frost made their imprint in the battle scene when they drove from AZ to ATL to compete in Grind Time Georgia. After both put on impressive performances, they were unable to remain consistent due to the travel distance. W.I.T.E's pen game is nasty, any true lyricist will pay homage to the man's notebook.

Kidd W.I.T.E. vs Gladiator

J-FROST

After Frost destroyed his first opponent on Grind TIme, he had a lot of battle fans screaming the phrase, "top tier." His highly anticipated match with Florida's Jonny Storm fell through, and Frost never really had a huge stage to shine on again. On his A game, Frost is top 3 in the state.

J-Frost vs New Era

PHAL KILMER

In about a year's time, Phal Kilmer has done 10 battles on Voicebox, won the championship, and faced Jonny Storm. Once he buckles down, improves his style and overall entertainment value & appeal, Phal wil go far.

Jonny Storm vs Phal Kilmer

T2 GOOD

T2 Good has battled on GTN since there was only one division. He is definitely the OG of the current AZ battle scene. He resurfaced in GT's DMV division and became the man to beat after a few great battles. Now in AZ, he still feels as though he has something to prove. T2 always had the shot to get big name matches, but something always happened that prevented him from reaching a top level opponent. He has the skill set to be a beast and definitely had his superstar moments, but needs to get focused and re-attack the battle game with his best foot forward.

T2 Good vs Mendoza

EXO

EXO was arguably the best rapper on Sand Trap, but fell victim to bad timing like a lot of the other emcees on this list. With a crisp style that was reminiscent of the Fight Klub glory days, he was sure to be a star in this battle generation.

EXO vs Nitty

FRANK WHITE

Frank White, originally from Chicago, has the ability to freestyle the whole battle or show up with a written and kill his opponents. I was able to attend with battle with Ace Boogie (unreleased) in which he really impressed me. With proper preparation, Frank White is up there with the rest of the top 10.

Sacc vs Frank White

Honorable Mention: Ace Boogie, Y-Not, DieVerse, Mossferatu (if he writes), Bandit, Ratchet, and Crookyd

*There was a very dope rapper in the Sand Trap that went by the name of "Beantown Bully" (aka Juss), but due to stealing a very large amount of bars (from well known battlers) and using them against opponents in battles for money, he was forced to leave the state. He appeared in a GTNY battle vs C4 at March Madness, but was not granted an opportunity to battle again when news of his antics in Arizona had spread. The controversy surrounding him played a huge role in a lot of Sand Traps' emcees inactivity in todays battle scene.

The Future

Arizona has enough dope emcees to make a serious push in the battle game, but there needs to be an overhaul. The 10 emcees I have named (plus a few more) need to actively battle at major events and the scene has to be a little bit more diverse. It seems as though a lot of street cats battled in Sand Trap and progressively became extinct during the transition from Grind Time to Voice Box. Promoters from Mic Fights!, GT, VB and Sand Trap need to join forces and bring every emcee from the past and present together for a few major events and establish a true fan base in Phoenix, while making occasional trips back to Tucson. Also, the overall production level needs to be raised; once AZ's top battlers start looking crisp, inactive emcees will want to battle again and an international crowd will start taking greater notice.

If I had the time, I would put all of this together myself, but due to a few projects (including a new league, EBA) my hands will be tied up. In the meantime, these artists from AZ need to band together and make their way toward the midwest, east coast, Cali and Canada where they should attain the proper respect and views they deserve after so many years.

Take it from me: quality control and production can (and will) go VERY far. AZ is not to be taken lightly - hopefully they can blossom and show the rest of the world theres more than just desert in Arizona.

August 31st is the biggest battle in Arizona history. Check the video flyer:

- Drect

Lyrical Ladies: The 2012 Guide to Female Battle Rap

2012-08-01T04:59:00.000-04:00

Intro

People always ask me if there are any good female battlers out there. They tell me they hate listening to girls rap, then try to be nice because they remember that I manage Gattas. What these idiots don't know is that there are enough dope female emcees on planet Earth to start a hip hop revolution. Search "female emcee" in youtube and you will find pages on pages of gems. Of course, like all youtube searches, you will also find some hot trash. This is where I come into play; a guide through the world of feminism in hip hop - specifically battling. Prepare to find yourself immersed in not only this blog, but the female battle rap world for the next few weeks. Just make sure your internet doesn't suck - you have a lot of videos to check out.

*Click on the pictures throughout this blog to see their respective videos*

Prologue

Its fall of 1992 and I was about five-and-a-half years old. TLC just dropped their debut album, Oooooooh... On The TLC Tip. I think that was when it happened - watching Left Eye rap was like, "Damn ... I'm in love." Ever since then I've had a strange, yet justified obsession for female rappers. I think a lot of emcees do, its just not something we talk about all the time.

Fast forward a few years to my Grind Time days. I remember being on these huge staff calls with the division "Presidents" trying to encourage them to have at least one female battle per event. Everyone said, "ok" but I don't think most were that interested. A lot of men feel as though women sports or activities are inferior to our own, or just boring to watch. I always felt differently about women rapping for some reason; either I'm a huge hip hop head, or I just love women that much. Probably both.

Sonny Bamboo calls me one day and says, "Hey I got this girl. She's a little rough around the edges and doesn't write for her battles, but with some coaching I think she could be the truth." That was the call that sparked the wave of female prevalence in this generations battle movement. The girl was Young Gattas. She was only 18 at the time.

More on the adventures of Gattas and Drect later. Lets go back a little bit ...

Where This Began

The Roxanne Battles from the Beef II DVD

The first female rapper you have to credit for battling, (let alone being nice as hell given her young age at the time) is Roxanne Shante. In 1984 when she responded to the group "U.T.F.O's" song "Roxanne, Roxanne" with "Roxanne's Revenge," she was able to move over 250,000 copies in New York alone. The result was a group of diss records exchanged back and forth between top hip hop artists at the time, which was appropriately named the "Roxanne Wars," due to her name appearing in most of the titles. Sources tell me that a lot of the '80s top rap artists had to battle Roxanne Shante in order to receive their record deals, as she was the hottest battle emcee of that period; a true pioneer. Another notable female emcee who battled on wax was MC Lyte, who destroyed Antoinette and ended there beef once and for all with her 1988 release, Shut the Eff Up! (Hoe.)

Making Da Band Battles (2002)

In 2002, when P. Diddy first put together Da Band, no one would know the turned out or how long these emcees careers would last, but we all tuned in to the show, which helped spark the reality tv wave and gave hip hop fans abroad a unique look behind the scenes of the music industry. In one of the shows most viewed episodes, Diddy made the remaining contestants battle to earn their record deals. The legendary footage featured featured female emcee, Babs destroying the two other females left in the competition; Mysterious and Mina. These were credited as being the first battles between female emcees to appear on major network television. Thinking back, I can remember the hottest punchline everywhere from my highschool to 106th and Park at the time being, "You'll get sent home like Mysterious from Making Da Band."

Remy Ma vs Lady Luck @ Fight Klub

The first battle between two females reminiscent of todays popular acapella format was definitely Remy vs Luck in 2005. On one side you have Lady Luck who had been killing dudes at the time and was signed to Def Jam in '99. On the other side, you have Remy Ma from Terror Squad, who was hand picked by Big Pun. The backstory Itself was interesting enough. They battled twice, with Remy taking both bouts, but people will forever argue the winner. Personally, I think they both took one, but you know Fight Klub and their surprise "Sudden Death Overtimes" for no reason lol.

After those two made history, female battles became kind of scarce to the world outside of Fight Klub. I saw women like: K. Tana, Psalm One, Word Perfect, Likwuid Stylez, Grace Vega, and Mahogany Red pop up over the net (do your research!), but it didn't seem like anything people were heavily pushing at the time.

There was however, one exception ...

Lady Luck came out of retirement to bust Reece Steele's (winner of VH1's "Ms. Rap Supreme") ass for 3 long rounds.

Reece Steele vs Lady Luck

Fast forward back to Grind Time

The only female battle rapper Grind Time had was Young Gattas, but she had no girls to compete against. The result was her first 5 bouts being against men. A lot of people felt as though Gattas was unfairly losing half of her battles, due to the misconception that a loss would hurt a male more than a female. That's when I stepped in, along with PH and Cortez and made something happen that was way over due ...

Cortez and I had always been close, due to the fact that I saw one of his battles on the internet that only had about 300 views at the time and brought him into Grind Time for his first match. During the beginning stages of our battle reign, I would call 'tez and ask him who all the dope people in Fight Klub were, whose footage never came out ( a la Philly Swain, Lotta Zay, etc.) One time, I called him asking for females and the name "Sara Kana" came up. I was told that she might be hard to find and may not want to be involved, but I was determined. A week later, Sara Kana was my best friend (thanks myspace).

We always had Sara Kana in the cut waiting. We even shot a promo video (as seen on Worldstar) where she spit a verse at Lady Luck and Reese Steele. It caught fire, and a lot of the fans were asking for her to battle. At some point, myself, PH and Sonny Bamboo agreed that Gattas and Sara had to go down.

They almost fought, Nems kept walking in front of the camera, PH was mad, Jay Focus was making funny faces, the decision was controversial, and Cortez got blamed. Ultimately, all these factors made it a classic battle. You could tell the women in the crowd were super into it and the men were acting like they never saw a female before. We were onto something.

Young Gattas vs Sara Kana

The New Era

I get a call from this cat named M.I. (Full Fledge) in Connecticut. He tells me he has some of the hardest spitters in the country and they just needed a chance to shine. The result, was sending Cortez, Nu Born and Sara Kana a state over to battle some of CT's best. That's where Sara Kana went head to head with QB. This was an important turning point for female battles - after the event, Sara decided to become a GTN staff member and bring QB into Grind Time's battle movement.

QB's faceoff with Young Gattas was a very crucial part of GT & female battle history. Not only did it spark the fuse that lit the fire under young female emcees to battle, but it also included some very important guests.

A few weeks before the event, I was relaxing in my house on a Sunday. I get a call from a weird number and hear "Hi Drect I love everything you have done. Its so ill! Its so hip hop." I'm thinking to myself, "who the hell is this" ... one of the best phone calls of my life - that's how i met Monie Love and got her to co-host this battle.

Currently at 143K views, QB vs Gattas stands as one of the most viewed battles in female history and it seemed to launch both girls into the spotlight with male emcees, who had been taking virtually all battle notoriety.

QB vs Young Gattas

Sara Kana, Gattas & QB had opened the flood gates for a plethora of female emcee to join the league. Names like: Ms. Fit, Imah X, Oh Blimey, Looney Divine, Precyse, T-Kayne, Coco McPuffington, Annisha, 40 Barrs, Jroz, Emseadez and Nique all appeared on the GTN cameras in a span of 2 years.

Looney Divine vs Oh Blimey

While all this was going on, SMACK introduced Ms. Hustle as the first lady of URL and had the streets going crazy with the thought of two women battling on the main stage.

That first battle ended up being Ms. Hustle vs E-Hart. The streets were sewn up - roaring over this instant classic between two female emcees battling on a stage that had been previously dominated by men only. The battle currently sits at 189K views.

Ms. Hustle vs E-Hart

Enter Queen of the Ring

A few years back, maybe the summer of 2010, Sara Kana introduced me to a friend of hers named Debo. Debo had been working with Vague on King of the Ring and wanted to link up and pick my brain about the battle scene. After a while, Debo told me they were doing an all female battle league. As you can imagine, I was hype, but didn’t know how successful it would be.

After 2 years, a plethora of battles, and the addition of Babs Bunny to their staff, you can tell that QOTR definitely arrived on the scene.

THE BREAKDOWN

A lot of people reading this blog may not know the female emcees to look out for on the battle circuit, so I have devised a few lists breaking down some of the best emcees from Queen of the Ring and the rest of the female battle world.

*These lists are in no particular order & are just my opinion. Then again … who’s opinion is better than mine :) *

TOP 10

Here is a list of the top 10 female emcees. Many will argue who are the best, but the criteria for this list includes: longevity, opponents faced, popularity, consistency and overall skill level.

YOUNG GATTAS

12 battles in, Gattas is definitely the most well seasoned and well rounded emcee on this list. From delivery, charisma and freestyle to punchlines and flow, she has it all. With her versatile look and consistency/longevity, she has definetly been one of the most popular emcees internationally in the battle game. Gattas is definitely the queen of crowd pleasing punchlines.

MS. HUSTLE

When she came onto the scene with a Nicki Minaj diss and earned the title of URL’s first lady, everyone knew her name without Hustle even stepping a foot into the ring. Hustle has multiple flows, different ways of delivering her bars and ads a nasty finishing touch on all her material. Ms. Hustle’s style the the female embodiment of NASTY. After her battle with O-Red, Hustle proved Gattas isn’t the only female capable of battling men.

E-HART

The quiet and poised lyrical assassin. E-Hart earned the title of “Queen of the Ring” by starting from the ground up and killing opponents with her professionally put together, yet raw style. Hart is to female battle rap what Mobb Deep is to underground hip hop. She plays the calm role very well and doesn’t need to be hype and aggressive all the time to get her point across. Her classic battle with Hustle solidified her spot as one of the nicest to do it.

QB BLACK DIAMOND

From day one we all new QB was a problem. What she couldn’t do lyrically at first, she made up for with pure energy. She has the rare ability to make ANYTHING sound hot. The men and women of the hip hop world love QB to death because of her street smart, gutta and grimy/hood style.

MS.FIT

Due to her close affiliation with Cortez, a lot of people unfairly slept on Ms. Fit at first. Her battle against Imah X proved she belonged among the elite of the female world. If Ms. Fit is a little more active this year, her point should get across. I’d love to see her against Chayna Ashley.

JAZ THE RAPPER

“My name is Jaz with one ‘z’ but you goin catch two or three once you go night night nigga!” – Jaz is the truth FOR REAL. Her slow style of almost speaking reminds me a little of the old Serius Jones, as it allows her to properly articulate like no other. Line for line, Jaz is one of the best. We’ll see where her delivery and stage presence is at when she battles QB later this year.

CHAYNA ASHLEY

Chayna is the wordplay Queen. The imagery she creates with her methodical, yet effective delivery is top notch. Jaz and Chayna both propelled themselves into the top tier of women in their classic performance against each other.

PHARA FUNERAL

Phara has the ill style and delivery. I don’t know if she if half Spanish, but she rolls her “r’s” and it sounds hot lol. Pharah excels in stage presence – she can keep the crowds attention from start to finish.

OH BLIMEY

Oh Blimey is the only west coast emcee on this list. She has a projection that reminds me of Dizaster or Syd Vicious. People outside the venue, down the street can feel her energy; its through the roof. Her accent mixed with crisp delivery and sharp metaphors make her the Fresh Coast’s female emcee of choice.

DUTCHESS

Dutchess probably has the best resume on this list. She has battled: Gattas, K. Prophet, Ms. Fit, and QB, but most importantly lived to tell about it. I love the way Dutchess puts together her words; she has some of the best delivery a female rapper can have. I would love to hear her throw more punch lines into her material and drag the crowd deeper into her battles.

BARS: TOP 5

If the only criteria for judging a battle was wat you wrote in your notepad [insert Canibus joke here], these girls would win every time:

Jaz the Rapper

Ms. Fit

Gattas

E-Hart

Chayna Ashley

PRESENCE/DELIVERY: TOP 5

These 5 emcees could kill you without spitting a single punchline; they make almost everything sound dope:

Phara Funeral

Ms. Hustle

Gattas

Tori Doe

DRECT's FAVORITE FEMALE EMCEES TO WATCH

You know I had to do it!

Gattas

Bonnie Godiva

Tori Doe

Ms. Hustle

Jaz The Rapper

WHO TO WATCH FOR

A lot of people may want to strangle me for not including their favorite female battler, as there are many women who soon may top this list or are arguably better than those already mentioned. To be fair, here is a list of the female emcees you DEFINITELY need to watch out for. They are all one battle away from the notoriety they deserve.

*These lists are in no particular order & are just my opinion. Then again … who’s opinion is better than mine :) *

1. Don Lady - Don is probably the funniest woman I have ever seen battle and her dress code/swag is crazy. Her presence and delivery are top notch, but her punchlines could use a boost along with her metaphors and wordplay. The lyrics are there, but her transitions from funny material to punchlines could be smoother. She has the uncanny ability to clown her opponents and get the crowd into an uproar. All of her battles are entertaining.

2. Shooney Da Rapper - Shooney has been right there since the beginning. She has consistently gotten better since the beginning of QOTR. The only thing keeping Shooney out of the top 10 is a win against a top female.

3. Tori Doe - standing around 4’11 and weighing around 100 lbs, Tori is definitely the smallest and most sweet and innocent 20 year old I have ever seen. The rapping is a different story. Aside from Gattas, Tori may have the coldest bark in the female battle game. Her confidence, projection and charisma are all top notch. Not to mention, the girl has BARS! From Rebuttals and punchlines to crowd control and delivery, Tori seemingly does everything with ease. The only thing I would like to see Tori Doe do a little more is switch up her flow. She WILL be one of the top 5 girls in the next year.

4. Raine - Raine is definitely one of the vets of the female battle game. The biggest complaint about Raine you will probably find is that she forgets a lot of her bars. Well … that is until her last battle with Matrimony. After that performance, Raine is probably top 10, due to her unique style, flow and overall ability to rap, while adjusting to the battle format. We’ll have to see how she does in her next battle. Again, I have to stress that, in a world of copycats ... Raine has HER OWN style.

5. Precyse - When Precyse gets in the zone, she is scary. She looks like she wants to kill the person she is battling. You can’t deny that the girl gives it her all each time. She has a simplistic, yet effective way of delivering her bars. If Precyse buckles down and gets a little more technical with her delivery and bars, she will be very good.

6. Jada Raye - Jada Raye is ill, she just needs time to develop her own identity and become comfortable in her surroundings.

7. Krissy Yamagucci - Hands down Krissy has the coolest/most swagged out delivery ever. She oozes style. When she first came into the QOTR I thought she would rise to the top immediately. If she learns to develop timing and drop a few huge punches every so often, she could be top 10.
.

8. Dwella - I’ve only seen Dwella twice. Once in her tryout and another time in her first main event battle. She’s dope and will go far- just needs more matchups.

9. Ms. Tash - In terms of punchlines and metaphors she is in the top 10. Tash needs that extra umph in her chest. Once she develops that “I don’t give a fuck, im bodying bitches” attitude, it’s a wrap.
.

10. Looney Divine - Looney is definitely the EMCEE’s emcee. You can tell a great deal of her influence comes from the underground. I don’t know too many people who could pull off an MKUltra (see WWII) line the way she did. Once Looney learns to slow down and deliver her lines properly, she got it.

11. Bonnie Godiva - Bonnie was always nice lyrically, she was just very soft spoken. I had the opportunity to see her come out of her shell live against Star Smilez two weeks ago. Bonnie is sick. At times her setups can seem amateurish, but she always brings it back with a crazy punchline. She has recently joined the battle group Innuendo, which notably features: Nuborn, Daylyt & QP.

12. 40 BARRS -To this day, 40 is one of the only people (male or female) that I’ve ever heard properly execute a “slow it down” bar. Sad to say that she might need to dumb down her punchlines a tad to get the proper “oohs” and “aahs” she deserves. Once 40 learns to project her voice properly and get an attitude to go along with her style she has a spot in the top 10.

13. Star Smilez - I didn’t know Star was that good until she battled Bonnie Godiva. When the battle debuts, a lot of people will be impressed from both sides. An extra emphasis on her punchlines and a shot at a few more opponents and Star will shine (no pun indended.)

14. Norma Baytes - From personal experience, Norma is pretty exciting to watch. What she may lack lyrically, she makes up for with raw aggression and attitude. She needs to learn to slow down, develop a nice pace and poise and watch herself rise to a new level. She is the only person I've ever seen ass clap in a battle o_0

15. Imah X - Like 40, Imah may need to slow down a little bit and make her material a little more crowd friendly. A lot of her content is stuff that only the top 20% of intellectuals in America can understand. Watch one of her battles in slow-mo and you will find yourself staring in amazement at how brilliant some of her lines are, but for a live crowd, they don’t come off the right way. Once Imah becomes aware of her surroundings and learns to adjust her material based on location, she will take off.

16. Lex Banko - Not too much to say about Lex. She is nice. Just needs the right opportunity to arise and let's see if she can run with it.

17. Royal Honey - I watched Royal Honey battle for the first time the other day. It was against Tori Doe. Honey has a great pen game, but needs to work on her delivery. She has a lot of emphasis on her lines, but I think it would sound better if she was real smooth with it. If Royal Honey sat down and came up with a style that best suited her and boosted her confidence, she would come into the ring a few notches ahead of the competition.

18. Matrimony - I didn't realize how good Matrimony was until she battled Raine. Sometimes she trails off a little bit and her content goes off topic, but she snaps right back into it with a good line. Matrimony will excel when she learns to deliver her best lines back to back.

19. K. Prophet - She is a dope emcee. I think the only problem with K. Prophet is her consistency. She would be in the top 10 if she brought her A game every time. Her lyrics have never came into question, as her wordplay has always been top notch. I am Looking forward to see what she does in her next battle.

A few femcees didn’t make this list due to lack of exposure, inactivity or the fact that I haven't gotten a chance to see them battle more than once. Other notable female battle emcees on the rise are: Fendi, Ash Cash, T-Kayne, Mz Hollywood, Classy, Cashlee Jay, Vixen, Nique, Coco Kakez, Dekay, Mudslinger, Mz Streamz, Yumi Doll, Shana Konor, Ms Murk, Gucci Top Model, Qua Star, Ms. Queen, Stargirl Lady Red, um ... sorry if I forgot you, but my brain is now officially fried - its 4:35am EST.

QOTR CLASSICS

A few classic female battles to watch after you read the blog:

QB vs Ms. Hustle

Don Lady & Tori Doe vs Phara & Shooney

E-Hart vs Ms.Fit

Jaz The Rapper vs Chayna Ashley

What Could Have Been, What May Be & What Will Be

Lady Luck Responds to Dutchess

With Gattas announcing that she is retiring from battles in the US, Lady Luck threatening to punch Dutchess' mic around for a large price and the emergence of Sara Kana’s new league Barz & Brastrapz, there is probably a lot on the fans' minds. I would have loved to start a female battle movement of my own, but I may not have the patience or free time these days. However, I am extending an open hand for all of the women I named in this blog, as well as inspiring female emcees to hit me up for pointers or direction.

I would LOVE to see:

Someone get women from other US regions involved
Mz Streamz vs Anyone
Babs vs Anyone
Gattas vs Lady Luck
Gattas vs Ms. Hustle or Jaz the Rapper (even though E-Hart wants the battle)
Chayna Ashley vs Ms. Fit
Bonnie Godiva vs 40 BARRS
Tori Doe vs Anyone in the top 10
An event featuring 5 top women vs 5 top men
A few more female 2on2s

As I'm writing this, I have been informed that Ms. Hustle is battling Chayna Ashley at the next QOTR event. Should be a goodie!

Also, QB vs Jaz on URL??? Well DAMN!

Watch out for Gattas vs Dutchess droppin on the urltv youtube channel soon. Hopefully this week ...

Hopefully, I put you guys onto a few dope female emcees and gained some interest for the movement.

This is blog is dedicated to:

- Sara Kana for always being loyal and by my side

- Gattas for trusting my judgement and becoming my sister. We in this forever

- Debo: all the politics aside, you been my boy. We got this
- Mz Gracie for having the best comments on earth!
- Melody for being the most enthusiastic woman i know

and ...

All the women who help build this movement and will keep it going strong for many years to come.

Feel free to comment on and repost this article.

- Drect

P.S. My future wife may be in this blog. I will never tell though, lol

Loe Pesci "GOOD X 2" Album Review

2012-03-21T01:01:00.000-04:00

Click here to listen and purchase

Enter Loe Pesci, one of the dopest battle rappers in Canada and one half of the group OG Hindu Kush, who have seemed to gain a lot of positive reviews for their OG Hindu Kush: In 3D album.

I promised Loe that I would check his music out, but never really had the chance to listen to a whole project. When GOOD X 2 debuted at #1 on bandcamp.com, I had to see what all the hype was about.

Let me start by saying that I like all sub-genres within rap/hip hop from the crunk and dboy shit to some of the more wordy and lyrical songs, but I LOVE that smooth east coast sound that embraces samples, snares, and jazz instruments. I was pleasantly surprised with I started GOOD X 2 - this is my sound!

When I first downloaded the album, I was surprised by all the artwork, then I loaded up iTunes and realized (aside from the regular album artwork, pictured above) all tracks had their own artwork. I haven't seen too many artist use the id3 tagging available with iTunes to their full advantage - huge plus. Let's look at the track list:

*1/5 - horrible, 2/5 - cmon son, 3/5 - good, 4/5 - great, 5/5 - future classic*

1. DMT with Joe Rogan - This track is crazy. Loe's slight accent, enunciation and sharp/aggressive delivery really allow his voice to shine over bass and snare production. I realized that Loe is capable of having a lyrically superior verse without succumbing to "shitty hook syndrome." Im glad he picked this song for his lead video - good choice.

Rating: 4/5 stars

2. Life Changing feat. Narcicist - This is another crazy beat; I need to find out who Loe's producer is. Im not a huge fan of rappers with the raspy voices (personal preference), but Narcicist was alright. Loe killed his verse and the hook. Line of the song, "You live with rats and bugs, you'll get your house raided."

Rating: 3/5 stars

3. Can't Get To Sleep feat. Justice McFly - This may be the best song on the album. My brother (who grew up in the "golden age" of hip hop and is friends with some of our favorite rappers) is the hugest hip hop critic I know. He walks in the room and says, "Oh my god this is crack, WHO IS THIS!" Definitely a superb track. Sonically, both Loe and Justice McFly had verses that seemed to fit perfect with the beat- I found myself not even caring about the lyrics, the whole song is crazy.

Rating: 5/5 stars (usually I only give 5s to classic hip hop songs)

4. WW3 feat. Justice McFly - I really like the verses on this song, but the hook isn't as crisp as the first three tracks.

Rating: 3/5 stars

5. My Sampler - I like the creative writing and idea behind this song, but if DMT with Joe Rogan is a 4, I cant rate them the same. Quote: "Dear MPC60, my schedule been busy" - raw.

Rating: 3/5 stars

6. Headbangers - The samples in this beat are very dope. We go right back to Loe's complicated, yet smooth and catchy hooks. This first line of the song definitely set the tone, "On the mic im too nice like Ned Flanders."

Rating: 4/5 stars

7. The Game feat. The Narcicyst - Great beat and two good verses. I think the hook would sound GREAT if it was done by a female vocalist.

Rating: 4/5 stars

8. Street Runner feat. The Narcicyst - Im not a big fan of emcee rapping over just bass and samples - its not a bad track though.

Rating: 3/5 stars

9. GOOD X 2 feat. Borden - Not a huge fan of the beat, but the hook is PERFECT - it brings up the overall value of the song. Borden reminded me a little of Prodigy with his smooth, yet gutter delivery - this joint definitely reminds me of the Mobb Deep glory days.

Rating: 4/5 stars

10. Ugly You feat. The Narcicyst - Narcicyst's voice is perfect for this beat. It was a great decision to make him go first and do the hook, the way he says "ugly you" makes the hook. By this time, I realized that Loe's verses wont dip under a certain quality. Not one bad Loe Pesci verse on the album. I liked the first two verses better than the third, but it is still a quality track. (On a second listen, I actually like the third verse.)

Rating: 4/5 stars

All in all, this is a very good album and a great solo effort from Loe, who should solidify his spot in Canadian hip hop, as well as the international underground scene. Its worth every dollar - a MUST BUY for hip hop heads. Pesci does a good job of staying in his lane and selecting the right production. I would love to hear an EP (maybe 5-7 tracks) where Loe has no features besides a few vocalists on his hooks. Cant wait to hear Loe Pesci's next project - he's gained a fan. Hopefully when I make it north of the border, we can hop in the studio.

Overall Rating: 4/5 stars

Click here to listen and purchase

Odd Future "Oldie" Video

2012-03-20T18:25:00.002-04:00

This video is hot crackness ... thats all

A Closer Look at Nicki Minaj

2012-03-08T06:45:00.004-05:00

A few days before her … um … controversial performance at the Grammys, I found myself arguing with my boy Aak over whether Nicki Minaj was good or not. My argument was in her defense, but after the Grammy performance, I just gave up.

About a week ago someone says to me, "name one good Nicki verse besides Monster" - I know they exist, but I couldn't think of any off hand.

This is what led me to write this short essay about Nicholas Lewinsky aka Barbie. Can she really be as horrible as the hip hop community is making her out to be? I decided to do my own research.

Now, I wasn't exactly a fan of Nicki when she first arrived on the scene. I'm not talking about her Cash Money days, i'm talking about her Come Up DVD/Fendi days. She killed a few freestyles, but the only thing that stood out back then (to me) was her physical appearance. She had a very marketable look, but seemed to rap a little like Lil Kim (ironically) with a strange accent.

Lets take a look at her discography & break down some verses:

Mixtapes:

Playtime is Over (2007) - I had this mixtape, but didn't really like it. A few tracks were worth 4 stars in itunes.

Sucka Free (2008) - First I heard of this was the "Higher Than A Kite" video. This is when I said DAMN SHE IS DOPE (and fine)! I wasn't a huge fan of the whole mixtape, but that one song stuck with me for some reason.

Beam Me Up Scotty (2009) - It was cool. This is when the whole Barbie craze started, The tape was ok, but I HATE "Itty Bitty Piggy" that "She Got A Donk" beat drives me crazy.

Pink Friday:

Music Videos were creative, but this album wasn't really my thing - it was pop/light rap. I wish she had at least one super hippy hoppity song on there, but hey … it is what it is.

Lets look at some of her features since she started buzzing:

Keyshia Cole, I Aint Thru -

Keisha Cole is ALWAYS fire. Nicki's verse was real good for the song, but it wasn't a super bomb.

Grade: B

Kanye West, Monster -

She out-rapped Jigga & Yeezy while playing the double personality thing perfectly and tore Lil Kim up. Everyone knows this was a fire verse. This is the song that made hip hop heads resepct Nicki.

Grade: A+

Jay Sean, It Ain't The End -

A lot of the people who read this may hate radio-friendly pop music, but major artists have to do these songs. I actually think Nicki did a very good job, given the type of track this was. "Wasn't a rapper, then i coulda got a pop deal" - true story.

Grade: C+

Trey Songz, Bottoms Up -

This was a little weird, but I liked the whole song.

Grade: B

Sean Kingston, Dutty Love -

Caribbean feel, she half-rapped with a accent & half rapped "regular." Was real good for the song.

Grade: C+

Diddy, Hello Good Morning -

She MURDERED this: "wait wait wait holdup they aint get that there, like 1100 horses when i switch that gear/ i just swerve on em sorta like 'i missed that there,' and i PRESS THE LITTLE BUTTON ON THE SITBACK CHAIR" - i rewinded that about 200 times.

Grade: A

The 2 Sean Garrett Songs -

I hate these

Grade: C-

Bedrock -

Um … What were you expecting?

Grade: B-

Ludacris, My Chick bad -

I feel like Nicki murdered Luda sooo bad on his own song that he kind of bodied his rep as a dope lyricist. "I fill her up - Balloons" - wtf Luda. Anyways, "These bitches wanna be my bestie, but I take a left and leave 'em hangin' like a testie/ trash talk to 'em then i put 'em in a hefty" - fire. Sidenote: Eve killed the remix.

Grade: B+

Mariah Carey, Up Out My Face -

I mean … its some girly stuff - blah.

Grade: C

Usher, Lil Freak -

The concept of her getting a female for a threesome is dope lol. Cmon - I know y'all didn't expect her to spit the illest lyrics ever.

Grade: B-

Yo Gotti - 5 Star Bitch -

I don't listen to any of the artists on this remix - Yo Gotti has some dope tracks though. I remember watching this just to see Nicki's verse. She took a down south hit song and MERKED it. I don't even like the song but that verse was crack. It was the first time she started doing the funny lil mannerisms.

Grade: B+

Big Sean, A$$ -

I want to say she murdered this, but honestly her ass stole the show. I think her verse was weird as hell, but she still kinda killed it. She outshined Big Sean lyrically, but … idk man i give up.

Grade: B

Birdman, Y.U. MAD -

I didn't like this. I honestly think Birdman had the best verse on the song :-/

Grade: C-

Will.i.am, Check It Out -

I don't care what anyone says, this whole project was creative. "Put the iron to your face, you ol' wrinkled bitch."

Grade: B+

I feel like the hip hop community goes too hard on Nicki Minaj. She writes her own lyrics (look for Onika Miraj on the writing credits), which is more than I can say for a lot of your favorite rappers. I manage a female rapper, so I can only imagine how hard it is for her behind the scenes. Don't compare Nicki to the Jean Graes, Foxy Browns, and Lil Kim's of the world. Its not a fair comparison when Nicki is doing songs with the likes of Madonna, Will.iam, and David Guetta, while CROSSING OVER to THEIR genres. She has radio Disney, White America, and Overseas listening - do you think her label wants Hi-Tek, Pete Rock & Alchemist producing her albums? Its all about the (young) money.

AT THE SAME TIME … the Marge Simpson hair, devil worshipping performances and super crazy-bitch mannerisms have gone too far. Nicki has crossed over into pop, but I believe she'll come back and hip hop will be on her "dick" once again.

And yes Aak, she does have more than one good verse.

- Drect

Elite Battling Logo Design Contest

2012-01-14T19:19:00.003-05:00

2012 marks a new year full of new opportunities and surprises in the world of battling. The staff at Elite Battling Association would like to kick things off with a bang and give our fans/supporters a chance to be involved with the battle scene. Just two days ago, Drect announced he was starting a new league, only to be flooded with emails, facebook messages, and tweets about EBA’s logo. This is where YOU come into play! Starting now, we are giving graphic designers the opportunity to DESIGN OUR LOGO. The rules are simple, just send a message to elitebattling@gmail.com including your name, phone number, at least TWO variations of your design, and why you feel as though your work is #GameChanging.

Specs:

-hi-res image as PDF of JPEG
-300 dpi, 1000x1000 minimum
-color and black and white versions, both on transparent backgrounds
-winner will be asked to submit an EPS for the final logo after contest

Contest beings now and ends January 28th. Winners will be announced shortly after the deadline.

If you win and we use your design, you will receive $200 and a chance to be a part of the Elite Graphic Design team. Good luck, and please keep in mind we are Elite and would like our logo to reflect our name. Design is an essential part of the urban market; from the chain & t-shirt all the way to the video intro, we are Elite #GameChangers.

Good Luck!

Leaving Grind Time

2012-01-11T21:52:00.001-05:00

I’m not usually one to speak out/air out dirty laundry on the internet, but with all the recent controversy surrounding myself and GTN, I feel obligated to. There are many misconceptions, half-truths, blatant lies and weird situations behind the scenes. I am taking this opportunity to tell people the truth about the battle rap world and myself. I have been silent for so long because I don’t like causing drama over the internet, but I have decided to speak on certain situations in light of the fact that I am leaving my own company.

Now before I start going crazy with the world’s longest post ever, please keep in mind that I am not bashing any individuals. I am just being honest; shit has gotten out of hand and I’ve had enough.

XXXXXX

THE BEGINNING

To really understand what exactly Grind Time is, and how things ended up this way, we must first look at how this all started.

You all know the story, I was a broke college student who used my last $1000 to invest in a camera and start a rap battle “league.”

What some of you don’t know is that I have always been the biggest fan of battle rap (#1 fan if you will.) I used to spend ALL MY TIME from high school through college taping 106^th and park battles off of the VCR, talking to battlers on myspace, downloading battles on LIMEWIRE (haha), buying SMACK DVDs (and bootlegs of SMACK lol), and scouring the internet for the latest news on who battled at Fight Klub. Battling was my life before Grind Time.

Then Jumpoff.tv came along and it was the best thing to ever happen to me. I saw guys like Hommy Hom, Madness, and Professor Green for the first time. I watched EVERY SINGLE battle from the Jumpoff live events in England, the NYC street battles, and the (first) WRCs. This lead me to videos of scribble jam, underground sessions, brainstorm, mic fights … basically … I had seen every battle prior to the second WRCs (which I was a part of.)

Things became interesting when I started watching THE ELEMENTS LEAGUE on youtube, which was a small Canadian battle league the hip hop community in Nova Scotia had put together. Here, I was introduced to guys like: Casper, Pat Stay, Greedy, Cronic, Decipher, Miracle and Quake.

TEL was my first look into the future of battle rap. I was highly fascinated by the idea of a “league.” It was like a battle rap reality show with real characters. And battles were OPENLY WRITTEN, which was the best thing since sliced bread. For the first time, cats were using written material to their utmost advantage by writing specifically for their opponent, consistently and openly without airs.

We’ll get back to Canadian battles later.

The name “Grind Time” was not made up by myself, Madd Illz, Lush One, or anyone who had/has anything to do with the battle movement.

I had an internship at a Internet Radio station in Orlando named “Rhythm96” back in ’07. My close friend/roommate DJ Chyld co-hosted a segment on the station with me and we needed a name. He came up with “Grind Time Radio” and we stuck with it, even though I hated the name lol. We used to interview underground artists and even had the first “Grind Time Battle” which was retired 106^th and Park Champ/ex-SoSo Def Artist SunNY against Unorthodox Phrases, who was a friend of mine making a name for himself in the Orlando battle circuit. (How did an unknown nigga named “Drect” get SunNY to battle an unknown niggas name “Unorthodox Phrases?” More on my networking skills and what I actually do for Grind Time later.) If you want to hear it just search on youtube - its on the Grind Time page. Chyld moved on and I co-hosted the show with (now big Mixtape DJ/Producer) La Profecy, which ended up in us getting fired/not showing up (can’t remember.) Shout out to Chris, the owner of Rhythm96 – he was A BEAST. I learned so much from watching this dude. He was a 30-something year old black guy who lived in the back of his moms’ house. The guy had grown kids and everything. Somehow, he managed to get sponsorships from Sprint, a company van, VIP tickets to EVERY function, and pay all of his moms bills/put clothes on his kids. All this with only about 40 listeners a day lol. His key to success? He said “Get you a Jewish white girl and send her into those meetings.” Smh that Jewish white girl saved his life.

Should have taken his advice huh? We had Kap tho! That OBVIOUSLY counted for something.

But we’ll speak on Kap in a minute…

Anyways, I decided to keep the name Grind Time, learned how to work that camera, edit videos, and linked up with my dude Corey, who shot the first video. (Shout out to Corey, dude drove from Boston to NY to film/edit Bad Blood, among other things.)

After a few battles I linked up with Illz, who said together we could really turn GT into something great. That’s when we started doing multiple battles in one day and adding some rules into the mix.

People like to recognize me as the founder of GT, but I give Illz a lot of credit as Co-founder because I honestly did not know what the hell I was doing. I had ideas at that time, but he gave us direction and experience (throwing battle events like Lounge Battles.) I couldn’t have done this by myself and Illz had been nothing but kind to me – he helped me get my name around Orlando when I was a nobody. I respect Madd Illz for that.

Then we hooked up with Lush One, who threw a lot of our classics, added a bunch of divisions, and you guys know the rest.

MY INFLUENCE ON THE BATTLE SCENE

I don’t speak up to often, but I feel like my role in Battle Rap history has been downplayed (and will continue to be if I don’t say something.) People take credit for my accomplishments and sometimes pretend I don’t exist, so ill shed a little light on this situation for you guys.

- I created the whole “tier” system against Madd Illz advice lol. We had a chart in which I ranked all of the emcees in GTN by “Top/Middle/Low Tier” and placed them in (what I thought to be) their respective categories. I even remember Surgeon General calling me and arguing because I put him in the “middle tier.” Lol that’s my dude tho!

Back in these days:

http://i40.tinypic.com/34t1sev.jpg

Why did I do it? I have no idea. Just felt necessary.

The result? Til this day, everyone and their mama wants to be “Top Tier.” I didn’t even know the word “tier” was cool, I just used a thesaurus (no Peter.)

These tiers were supposed to segue into an eventual championship, and become a way for “low tier” emcees to mature into top-level opponents through accomplishment, but somehow it became GIVEN due to popularity. Shit happens I guess …

- Worldstarhiphop.com played a huge role in GTN’s widespread internet success. I had never even heard of the site until a friend of mine, Mike P aka 1080p told me about their success in college. He said everyone on the east coast was always on the website and it would be a good outlet for Grind Time. I sent Q from worldstar a HUGE email explaining why a partnership could be beneficial for both of us. After speaking with him on the phone we finalized the agreement. As worldstar blew up, their business practices changed and they slowly stopped putting our videos up. Last I heard, one of their reps told Cortez they had done enough for battle rap. It was good while it lasted though.

- Website chats also play a huge role on a few major battle sites. When the GTN site first launched, we needed a way to stay in contact with our fans and get the community talking. It takes a while to get a forum going, so I researched chat boxes on the internet and came across “chatango.” It was great while it lasted, but the spam was out of control. I wanted to find another service, but not everyone agreed that having a chat box was necessary. I still disagree, but whatever. Shoutout to URL for keeping the chat box alive.

A&R WORK

Lets be real: times have changed. When I first started this, WE NEEDED BATTLERS BADLY. We were taking ANY/EVERYBODY at one point. Of course we used internet footage to scout a large deal of talent, but there was also a lot a groundwork put in.

No one has spent more time discovering and helping develop TOP battle artists than myself. For this reason, I do consider myself the top battle rap A&R. I can’t take any credit away from any of our GMs though; they all had pretty much built their divisions from nothing. Shout out to all the West Coast vets for properly representing their part of the culture.

Hollow Da Don – I first saw him on 106^th and Park and was able to contact him through myspace. The thing that impressed me the most was Hollow’s blog-style videos that he uploaded online. Dudes freestyles were amazing. I am the one who told Hollow about the Houston WRCs. We fell out of contact for a little while, until he shot me a call one day asking about the WSHH (World Series of Hip Hop) battles that Q from Worldstar threw (Mook vs Young Hot, Lady Luck vs Reece Steele, etc.) I had nothing to do with the situation, but it re-established our contact with each other. That’s when he told me he was undefeated in Fight Klub, but the footage never came out. Ever since then, I really wanted to help dude out. When Grind Time NY came along, I was able to reach out to former 106 champ Jay Focus and thought it would be a good theme for him to battle Hollow. Hollow wasn’t too keen on the idea, but he did it as a favor to me. When that first battle came out I told Hollow if he kept battling he would be one of the best. Homie was really humble and thankful for all the attention he received. A few classic battles later and everyone knew his name.

Dizaster - Lets revisit the WRCs for a second. You had a stacked West Coast prelim event. There was this Middle Eastern guy partnered with a black girl and they were going IN. I CLEARLY thought they deserved a spot in the division, but they did not make it for whatever reason. I looked Dizaster up on youtube and found his battles in the West Coast Pit, where he was DESTROYING guys from Fight Klub in front of celebrities and what seemed like every hood in southern Cali. He (almost) seamlessly was able to integrate freestyle with writtens and had this amazing energy that commanded the attention of everyone in the room. How was this guy so overlooked? I was mad as hell and had to do something about it. I called Dizaster and chopped it up with him - dude was cool as hell, so I started a petition on the jumpoff.tv forums to get Dizaster in WRC. Somehow, he ended up battling with Syanide in the NY division after the community was able to get a look at his youtube footage. When GT came around Dizaster was not too keen on battling, because he felt the WRCs was a bad experience and he had put in too much work at the Pit, who had not even put all of his footage out. I promised him I would try to get him the best opponent possible. I spoke to Lush, who as able to talk The Saurus into battling Diz. Saurus was apparently very impressed with Diz and took the battle with almost no complaints. THANK YOU TO THE SAURUS – that move was one of the greatest moments in GT history and set a lot of things in motion. When Dizaster heard the news, he was more excited than I have ever heard him and truly thankful for the opportunity. Watching Dizaster grow into the emcee he is now was AMAZING. With some better battle management, Diz will be undoubtedly one of the best 3 battlers in history. He has the ability to beat anybody.

Conceited - Con used to message me on youtube back in the day. After seeing one of his (crazy) freestyles on youtube, I tried to get him in GT. He explained that he wasn’t really a fan of 60-second rounds, but would support. I remember showing certain staff members his battles, and them saying, “he’s aiite – nothing special.” I was dedicated to getting this man a battle. He almost battled BC (from New Orleans) at an event in Orlando last minute, but wasn’t prepared and decided he only wanted to battle with the best possible material. A few months went by and he told me his homie Fox was doing a big battle in the Jungle and he would be battling “Tall T.” I talked to Fox, who sent me the event footage to put on Grind Time. Con had been my homie for a minute, so I sent his footage to Worldstar, and DAMN the feedback was crazy. The rest is history.

*Sidenote: Soulja Boy tweeted Con wanting to do SODMG/SONS, but idk what happened. I tried to help, but the contact was a little spotty. Con is not currently signed to SODMG.

Young Gattas - Sonny Bamboo found Young Gattas. When she battled Tut, I remember shooting her a call saying, “Why do you keep battling dudes you already proved yourself. Take time to get prepared and watch your popularity skyrocket once you start battling females.” She took my advice and I started managing her. Ill speak on her Grizzle 2 battle in a minute …

24/7 - State of Mynd went to college with him and told me to check out one of his raps on myspace. After watching it, I thought he had potential and pushed for him to get a battle in the league. I don’t think everyone was sold on him at first, but damn that battle against V-Money (who actually did good) was CRAZY. Remember the Mystique from X-men line? Still one of my favorites til this day. ME AND KAP TRIED SO HARD TO GET 24/7 vs DNA FOR GRIZZLE 2. Unfortunately, we couldn’t pull it off though.

Cortez - I was on youtube one day looking for emcees to battle for the first GTNY event. I came across a battle Vlad the Butcher threw that had about 200 views. It was Jay Focus vs Cortez. I found his myspace and sent the man about 8 messages. I was able to get his cell number and he said he was down. Cortez played a key role in scouting a lot of the NY emcees. Anytime someone’s name popped up, he told me about their history in Fight Klub and around the city. Cortez had a lot of inside info that helped me discover many emcees that were overlooked by previous companies.

Aak - I met Aak in college, and he is one of my best friends on Earth. He knows everything that has been going on since day 1. The man is very talented, but didn’t want to battle at all. After about a year of me bothering him, he never looked back. I still want to help push Aak to the next level, which he is capable of competing on.

Philly Swain - Swain grinds harder that ANYONE I know. If you let him tell it, he came out of jail and got a call from me that saved his life. I found Swain by typing, “fight klub battle” in the myspace search (lol); Swain was about 6 pages deep. I knew we needed street cats, and he fit the profile. I was able to set up Scott Free vs Philly Swain at GTNY and GODDAMN that battle blew up. Swain was a loose cannon back then and I remember being the only person not afraid to talk to him. Him and Hollow was one of those battles that changed GT for the better. Swain has been holding it down for me ever since! His music is taking off too! Congrats to the bull (lol) for signing a $1.7 million deal with G1 entertainment.

Ness lee - Ness has been a close friend ever since the WRCs. He told me that his battling times were finished – he was done. I didn’t want to hear it though! I pushed for Ness Lee to battle for about 2 years! Finally he battled Jay Focus in GTNY. We used to have conferences on his performances and discuss necessary style changes. After a few battles, Ness came into his own. He is one of the most skilled lyricists I have ever heard. Congrats on your recent success with the battles and music homie!

Lotta Zay – Lotta Zay was on 106^th and Park when I still used to watch it. I remember rooting for him. I remember him loosing to Jay Focus and me throwing something at the TV – I almost broke that joint. After search for him FOREVER it ended up being him who hit me up. He never complains and has always been loyal to the brand. I appreciate your dedication homie!

Sara Kana – Lets be real, if it wasn’t for Sara Kana the female battle scene may not exist. I remember asking Cortez who the best female was in Fight Klub that we never heard of. He mentioned Sara, but didn’t know how to find her. I hunted her down on good ol’ myspace and told her SHE NEEDED to be a part of the GT movement. She was so excited! I remember when we released that freestyle/callout he did to Lady Luck/Reese Steele – I sent it to worldstar and everything went crazy. Sara battling Gattas was one of the most anticipated battles amongst our staff. Sara battling QB was the start of the new wave of female emcees. Sara has grown to be a close friend and confidant and will always be at my side going into the future. Um … I love you Sara … no homo.

Jonny Storm – I just got off the phone with him not too long ago and told him I was posting this. He goes “remember when you talked me into battling after Knowledge Medina battled Hardkore.” Im like, “oh shit … I do remember that.” Storm is one of the best battlers I have ever seen in my life. I don’t even think he tries half of the time – shit comes natural to him. Kap and I always wanted to see Storm vs Hollow. It may be a little too late for that one though lol. I battled Storm in the finals of the first battle I ever entered, and he won in overtime. He was one of the people that encouraged me to go hard with battling. Knowing you may face people like Illz, Am I Am, Midaz, Hemisphere, Storm, Madness, Kap, and Critical kind of changes your outlook on battling. At least it did back in the freestyle days. I consider myself a product of the Ozone (Orlando) scene – that’s what pushed the whole GT movement.

There’s more people including ones that I didn’t discover but wouldn’t be battling on GTN if it wasn’t for me such as John John Da Don and Syahboy.

Its these relationships (not just mine – the whole staff) that helped build GT. We all felt as though we were part of something that would help EVERYONE advance their careers. It hurts when people pretend and assume I don’t care about the scene. I put my life on hold to help out people I didn’t even know that well, because I love battles/hip hop. I remember giving Knowledge Medina my last $60 so he could drive to Orlando and battle Mosh Jelton. I never even asked for it back, Knowledge was another one of them dudes who never complained and was a good sport. HighCollide is another one! I used to talk to homie on the phone in between my college classes. NO ONE COULD GET HIM TO BATTLE. I gave him every possible reason to jump in GT and he finally said yes. IM MAD ABOUT HOW THE GTN CHAMPIONSHIP ENDED UP – it was out of Collide’s hands (and mine) and I apologize to him for that. I have lost contact with a lot of guys as the years have went on and just want them to know how much I appreciate what they gave to the culture.

I also recall those moments where myself and other staff members have been on the phone for HOURS trying to figure out what matchups would be the best look. I was able to link Lush with Arsonal to discuss his first GTN battle. There were so many people who wanted the chance to battle Arsonal because he represented that street style; they wanted to prove the personal punchline/scribble jam-esque freestyle battler could keep up. Lush and I were on the phone FOR HOURS racking our brains on who to give the opportunity to. Should it be a Hollow rematch? What about Passwurdz? We ended up agreeing that Okwerdz deserved a chance. Looks like we made the right decision.

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CURRENT ISSUES WITH GTN -

Let me start off by saying that GRIND TIME WAS/IS A HUGE SUCCESS. As a movement it was perfectly executed, BUT the same things that made GTN a great movement were the same reasons it wasn’t a great business.

Like I said before, I used to watch EVERY SINGLE BATTLE. Now, I can’t even watch half of this stuff. Quality control is really an issue (with emcees and video quality.) I know as well as you guys we needed a new channel a long time ago, and really pushed for this, but not everyone agreed. I remember thinking that me speaking up against certain decisions was just going to add more issues to our ever-growing list.

GT was not started as a business, it was started as a hobby. There should have been contracts and paperwork taken care of from the jump, but we just went off of the trust/buddy system, which can only hold up for so long.

This is what I call “Diddy’s Law” :

Everyone hates Diddy because he has a long record of screwing over artists in favor of his pockets. Honestly, this is just him being a great business man; he understands how the industry works:

-label signs artist

-label screws artist

-artists learns business

-artists starts label

-artists screws artist

- the cycle repeats itself

As much as I hate this cycle, it seems to be the way things work. The first time Diddy tried to be a nice guy, the Jay Electronica situation blew up in his face. Now, he is probably going harder on his artist. I have no intention of “Diddying” people, but its something I keep in mind, as people try to play you.

GT not having proper paperwork has allowed artists to disclose “private” information and discredit our company in favor of another. For example, DNA had a successful career in Grind Time, in which he won and lost matches. Despite his losses, the staff really believed in him and worked to get DNA the best possible matches. First Rone, in which he won and had his break out performance. Then, the 2vs2 against Rone and ZM (Rone and Soul Khan were extremely popular at the time.) Finally, we got him his biggest name in the form of Rich Dolarz. Then he goes to URL and downplays Grind Time. I have nothing against DNA - he is still my dude, but he shit on GT in order to make his star shine brighter (he is not the only one.) All of these things have been a horrible look for the “company.”

The THREE CEO system does not work. Honestly, its stupid as hell. I think its more of a ego thing than anything else. Its just a title and we all have no real obligations to each other or GT.

How did we end up with three CEOs? Once upon a time the whole staff went to war. A certain individual was almost forced out of the company against his own will. EVERYONE agreed to work under me, but I don’t believe I had the guts at the time to pull such a crazy move. I honestly felt bad and we went back to the old way of working. Lush basically turned into Sean Parker (see Social Network movie) and talked his way to the top – sharing power between three people was weird, but I thought this could create a system of checks and balances.

During this time, our graphic designer thought his job may be in danger, so he trademarked the logo under his name, which is why we had to change it. I don’t even like the logo, but it’s a little too late for that.

Because of this, and many other instances, I never really felt like GTN was MY COMPANY. Yes, I started it, but I never fully had control over creative decision-making. I wasn’t willing to force myself into that position either, I felt as though it could hurt a lot of people uninvolved in the business side.

OTHER LEAGUES

I have NO BEEF with any of the other battle leagues. I watch battles from every outlet. I appreciate Don’t Flop’s dedication, SMACKs contribution to the live element of battling and promotional prowess and King Of The Dots vintage approach/great organization.

Of course there are many other leagues, all with much to offer to their physical communities, as well as the ever-growing online fan base battling has built.

Unbeknownst to most people, I even extended my hand in helping other leagues bettering themselves at one point. Remember The Elements League? Well I was able to speak to a lot of those guys on MSN back when GT first started. They all wanted to be involved, but lived in Canada. Im sure Organik knew aboot Pat Stay already, but I remember telling him to look up guys like Casper, Miracle and Hollohan. I had heard about Hollohan and was able to have a few convos with him. I knew Pat Stay may make his way over there, but I really pushed Hollohan and Miracle to contact Organik. Obviously they contacted him lol. I don’t know if he reached out to them before me, but I really wanted to see those guys from Nova Scotia be apart of something huge. Glad they made it.

On another note (with a different league) …

One of the biggest things I learned through Grind Time is that being a nice guy will kick you in the ass most of the time. There is a league out there that started up a little while back. I was introduced to one of their leaders shortly after. He told me how much he respected me for building GT and needed some advice. Over the next year or two we became pretty close and talked often. I still consider the man a friend. When his league took off he sometimes asked me for favors and I was/am glad to help him out most of the time. Then a situation arose that I was unwilling to offer my hand in due to a conflict of interest. A few other people became involved and things got out of hand. His company has had a lot of success, and I have heard rumors of his staff saying things such as “grind time is dead – fuck them, they are corny anyways” and even downplaying some of our artists. This situation ultimately ended up in him and the friend that introduced us falling out. I don’t really know what to believe, but I definitely helped their movement in a few ways and never wanted anything back. If their recent success has caused them to shit on GT that’s fine, but I learned my lesson. I still consider the aforementioned person a friend, but I had a great lesson in separating business from personal. I will not make the same mistake again.

Oh yea … someone from SMACK tried to recruit me when they heard a rumor of me leaving. I respectfully declined. J

TURNING POINTS

Throughout these past four years (damn time flies) there have been a few major turning points in GT’s history. With good business sense, we would have cornered the market, shut the game down, and became millionaires, but hey …. Shit happens. I would just like to point some things out.

- Math vs T-Rex falling through created URL. Why did this fall through? Someone promised someone else the money. They money was not received and contracts became voided. I didn’t have much to do with this, but loosing that battle HURT. I lost sleep over that.

- The Jin battle falling through was also a tough one to handle. Jin is one of my favorite batters of all time and I was hype for his comeback. As you all know he was set to battle Illmaculate, then Dizaster went bananas and Jin accepted both battles. Jin was going to be in LA on November 24^th (I think), but Dizaster was on the MTV 1Million dollar battle and didn’t have time to prepare for both. We had the option to do the battle on the 24^th (which I suggested was a safe option), but Lush thought a New Years battle would be a great idea. As we were still discussing the battle with Jin’s management, someone released the flyer too soon and Jin’s manager became angry at our unprofessionalism and called the whole thing off. They were a few shady instances in this situation from both sides, but we never directly spoke with Jin (he obviously accepted in blogs though.) Things didn’t end on a good note and Jin’s name was unrightfully dragged through the mud, as he was just trying to help us out. This KILLED me – I felt really bad for Illmaculate also, who had every right to blow up, but never said a single word about the situation publicly.

- Kap leaving … well … um … this deserves its own section.

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KAP SITUATION/GRIZZLEMANIA 2

Let me start this off by saying that Kap is the man. Ill always consider him a friend, and we always keep it 100% with eachother. Kap has (as he would say) the mentality of a “boss.” A lot of times that mentality caused him to clash with the CEOs, but we all had love for him. It was actually Illz who made Kap the GM of GT Florida, even though they never really got along. He was just the right man for the job. For reasons that have nothing to do with me and I am not at liberty to speak about, they were not too keen on each other. They were able to put differences aside and thug it out (lol) for the battle scene. Then there came Grizzlemania 2 …

Grizzle 2 was the most stressful thing in the world. Kap and I got together a few times each week to plan out the battles for this. He put HIS OWN PERSONAL MONEY on the line and we hoped to see a return in sponsorship money. I put together a huge business plan to help, but no HUGE sponsors bit. Shout out to 9five eyewear though, they have always held us down.

At battle of the Bay 5, Lush and I tried to throw a 4 Man tournament together between Reign Man, Iron Solomon, Locksmith and ______ (last person was up for discussion,) but it fell through.

Iron Solomon was supposed to battle Reed Dollaz. Reed stopped picking up the phone. Kap had to choose between Reign Man and ENess. He picked ENess. GREAT BATTLE.

Sidenote: I wish Madness didn’t have to battle 8 times that weekend, him and Soul Khan would have been one of the best battles in history – it was still dope though.

After the event, Kap had took a huge loss and wanted to receive part of our youtube checks. He probably should have asked before the event, but hey … shit happens. I was not opposed to giving him some money, but others were. This small situation turned into Kap and Illz disrespecting the hell out of each other. Lush and I couldn’t stop them from starting WWIII; it was too much. On a business level I could see why we didn’t cut him a check, on a personal level it was FUCKED UP. And remember what I said about GTN being a business??? I even told Kap when I got a share of our money I would give him some. Apparently, google thought our views hiked up too much during this month and didn’t send our check. I have mixed feelings on the truth behind this (check), but whatever … shit happens.

After all of this Kap still didn’t leave and began planning another event. Him and Illz continued to have problems, and that’s when Kap left. Shit was sad and we didn’t know what to say at the time.

From this situation, my biggest regret was that some battlers were unhappy about the way their battles were released (Andy Milonakis’ page) and were not able to benefit from a GT debut like Aak, Maniphest Destne, and Swave Sevah.

Shouts to Andy for doing what he could. Kap is still the man - he always had faith in me as a businessman and emcee. I haven’t talked to him for a while, but ill probably shoot him a call tonight. What’s good homie!?!

This leads me to the next situation …

AMI MILLER VS YOUNG GATTAS

This all started when I saw Ami on 106^th and Park, she was fine and with some fine tuning I thought she could be ill. I asked Kap what he thought and he said her and Gattas would be crazy, and a good look for both. I was able to contact her manager, who was confused by the whole situation, but became open to the idea once he started researching Grind Time.

Even though I managed Gattas, I still reached out to help Ami because I didn’t want her to think this was a set-up. Her and Gattas even got on the phone and spoke about how great the battle could be on several occasions. We honestly tried to help, but the contact wasn’t always there. Ami and her manager started acting like they had the situation under control so I left them alone.

I told Gattas she should try switching up her look, but she got scared and tried to fight me (lol), so I dismissed the idea. After a while she became more open to dressing girl-ish. I was able to get her a stylist (What’s good LaLa!), and the response was huge! The battle got so many views it was crazy.

Then the bullshit started …

Ami’s manager was mad because I didn’t tell him Gattas was going to look girly, he thought we cheated him. Dude was calling me every day with a new issue: asking me to delete comments – the whole 9. One day he texted me something along the lines of, “You bitch ass nigga. You have been making money off the battle blah blah blah…” Obviously he doesn’t know how much we make off one battle lol, but whatever he didn’t even want to speak to me. His people flagged the video on youtube, so I had to put it on private. Its still on private, I don’t really want to take it off because youtube has warned our account a few times and another penalty could really hurt us. Im not trying to go there. Ami’s manager and I exchanged words on several occasions – shit got out of hand. Ill just leave it at that.

Sucks because I wasn’t trying to set Ami up, I really wanted her to excel and become a part of this battle movement. She did pretty good her second time on 106^th and park. I even tried to get her to battle again. It was too much though, im done with the situation. I apologize to Gattas and thanks to Kap for making it happen.

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EYERATE SITUATION

Im honestly not on rapmusic too often and had no idea who Eyerate was. I always saw him bashing something about GT. I forget what he said exactly, but he somehow managed to get my attention on the board. I sent the staff an email asking to ban him from GT events (at the time I had no idea he was helping sponsor events.) Lush and Sonny explained to me that he helps out and they thought it was unnecessary. Somehow Eyerate saw this message, got mad, then hacked my email account.

I received a call from Sonny and Lush a little while later saying that Eyerate was demanding to talk to me, and if I refused he would expose Grind Time. I didn’t really understand why at the time, but they seemed really concerned, so the four of us had a conference call. Eyerate told me he believed someone on the GT staff was stealing money from staff members and the community and told me he wouldn’t expose me if I gave him any information. I told him I wasn’t interested in ratting anyone out (even though a few things he said made sense), because im not down with disloyalty. He told me if I ever needed help with business I could reach out to him, but he was still going to throw me under the bus. I told him it was fine, “Do what you gotta do.”

Im still a little confused with that situation, but I honestly understand some of the topics he was hitting now.

XXXXXX

AVOCADO

Avocado left Grind Time because he was not paid (the FULL agreed amount) for his services on multiple occasions. I have never directly employed Avocado for graphics or editing, but he seems to think I’m to blame. I texted him a while back and he claimed to have no issues with me. Regardless, the scene changed once Avocado lent his hand (and arms lol), so I appreciate his contributions.

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FOX NEWS SITUATION

Leave it to the people to say that im rich, live in a mansion, and steal from the battle community. Let’s get something straight: any of my perceived wealth definitely does not come from GTN. Most of the top emcees have LITERALLY pocketed more money from Grind Time than I have. That wasn’t a mansion either lol it was a two-story house, in which I no longer live.

You guys may be confused, so let me put something in perspective for you: GT makes money every month off of sponsorships (normally during big battles) and Google Ad Sense. Google pays partners a 100^th of a cent per view, which works out to about $1,000 (before taxes) per 1,000,000 views. They cut you a check on a monthly basis. Someone was designated with the job of bookkeeping/keeping track of our income, but there is no GT Title, .com website, or proper paperwork. We all are sitting here looking stupid now.

Irresponsibility, lying, cheating, and stealing have all been present behind the scenes of GTN for a while. My biggest mistake was trusting others and being too nice. People only have their best interests in mind and will stab you in the back over pennies.

Honestly, its embarrassing I have been letting shit slide for this long. I look crazy for never speaking up, I just figured things would work themselves out. I am, however, thankful to go through some of these situations at a young age. You learn more from mistakes than you do from success, and all these GT struggles have turned me into a BEAST.

XXXXXX

…

I remember when Arkaic told me “Grind Time is cool, but it will never be as big as Jumpoff bruv.” He could have been right, but I believed in GT. Everyone did and that’s why we made it.

It seemed like I was in the same position at this time last year, but I chose to stay. You really get a chance to learn who your real friends are.

It really bothers me that my character has come into question when I try so hard to do right by people. Do you know how many people offered me money to put out their battle? Did you know Hollow was going to give me the money to settle all of GTNs business issues at one point? I couldn’t take it. A few hundred dollars isn’t worth your trust (SMH @ Absyrd.)

People continue to practice bad business and I am tired of my name being attached. I haven’t agreed with about 82.6% of the decisions we have made in the past few years and im ready to move on.

I made a huge mistake in thinking that I could do everything; by doing so I probably stopped some of our growth. I had edited most of the GTN battles. Having Avocado and Corey’s help was great, but I always end up editing more than im supposed to. Til this day, people hit me up asking “where’s my battle.” I have some Boston, NY, and Atlanta battles to put out and then im done. I apologize to the emcees that have been bugging me – its not your GMs fault. In my defense, I had to slow down with the uploads because my mom is sick and I am currently in Arizona taking care of her.

As many times as people bash GT, NO ONE CAN ERASE HOW MANY TIMES WE MADE HISTORY. THREE PEOPLE WHO DIDN’T KNOW SHIT ABOUT BUSINESS CREATED THE WORLDS LARGEST RAP BATTLE LEAGUE AND HELPED CHANGE HIPHOP.

The only reason I edit is because I care and I want emcees battles to come out faster, too bad it’s the other way around. I am not an editor – it’s a daunting task. I used to walk to my college at 1am (slow ass internet) and sit there for 3 or 4 hours at a time uploading battles.

I can’t complain though. I have paid my dues.

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THE FUTURE

Somewhere along the lines, I figured out I have a talent for marketing. I have been able to network my ass off and establish ties with some great people. I have been asked to do everything from be in charge of Rhianna’s ghostwriter’s internet marketing campaign (she is coming out as an artist) to working on a new basketball reality show that is currently in development.

Im always down to help, but I can’t see myself being part of someone else’s team. My heart lies within this battle stuff; I want to help battlers push to the next level. I remember having a conversation with Nocando about his internet marketing and him being blown away at all my ideas. I’d love to do this all the time, but Grind Time had us working 80-hour weeks lol (holla at me Nocan). We are sitting on a gold mine – a potential multi million-dollar industry and I don’t believe anyone is fully capitalizing on this opportunity.

So I have taken matters into my own hands and decided to create and new battle venture/company/league (yes im the only CEO lol.) This is a fresh new start and a chance for me to do things correctly. I have emcees ready to go, business plans, and all that good stuff.

I consider myself a GAMECHANGER and refuse to do anything that is not innovative, beneficial to all parties, and MONEY MAKING. Copycat battle leagues are the worst. I have a chance to expand into a few other markets and am ultimately in a better business situation now then I was with GT, but lets just take this one step at a time.

Appreciate you guys for being here since day one.

Oh yea … the new company is called EBA (Elite Battling Association) or Elite Battling for short.

Shout out to the person that I told it was called “ERL.” They ran back and told SMACK. Lol im not an idiot gimme some credit y’all.

Ill be here for a minute, so rock with me.

-END-

Kids are the future...

2008-04-21T18:55:00.004-04:00

so im on the bus on my way to school last friday I believe. Something happened that helped me realize why its so important for me to include socially aware & creative music. Its definitely no tjust all about swag and bitches...well for me anyways....

there two little black kids about 12 and 14. I think they were brothers.

The little one asked me to use my cell phone, so I gave it to him. I see him pointing at my screen because I have a picture of me at a battle from a lil while ago on it.

Him and his brother both were just staring at the screen in amazement like "wow you rap." I told them I did...

then the older brother says, "you go hard like my niggas (lil) Boosie and Gucci (Mane)."

Now, here is where two different points of view can come into play.

1. The hiphop advocate would give them a lecture about why those dudes aren't good and why they should listen to real hiphop.

2. I could have said "hell yea nigga" and started spittin some irrelevent bullshit that they would have ate up.

Instead I told them I didn't reallly rap like that. They asked me who i rapped like, so i thought for a second and told them "nas & kanye."

What happened next broke my heart, the older one gives me the blankest stare like he never heard of those dude & he didn't comprehend what I was saying. He goes, "yes but remember that line...(busts out into some gucci verse about bitches with tattoos)." Then he's like, "do you rap like that?"

At this point I wanted to slap the lil nigga and mke him stand in the corner with his face to the wall in the corner. (lol nah)

i told him "naw" and he looked mad disappointed. I let them hear one of my songs and they liked t a lot.

This goes to show that radio and tv don't exposed our youth to anything beneficial at all. The black community is deeply influenced by rap music. Sadly, lot of us don't read, so a lot of times music is a way we cope with life. When all you listen to is "hoes, hoes, hoes, 22's" I think that our music and our culture slowly looses its value.

Don't get me wrong, I like commercial stuff, but its oversaturating the market. And its making the kids sound dumb as hell. Next thing we know the first words from our kids are going to be, "fuck that nigga." Its horrible, but now I know why people like Oprah and Bill O'Reily continue to hate (more or less Oprah.)

I think hiphop has a bright future though...a lot of new artists with different styles and messages are starting to be heard more with the rise of independent lables. I honestly think that as soon as the majors slowly become extinct a lot of people will become believers.

Im going to leave u with this thought...

"If u think hiphop is dead, then you're looking in all the wrong places."

- Drect

Networking...

2008-04-10T17:25:00.002-04:00

Right now im at school. About an hour ago i was sitting down just chillin when i saw this girl who looked like she was a mix between black and spanish. She was sitting down talking to this older-looking black gentlemen. Me, being the nosy person I am, kept an open ear to their conversation just to see what was going on.

All of a sudden, the dude starts saying he know Rodney Jerkins personally, DJ Khalid, and starts naming a bunch of people. Usually, people at my school do a lot of talking, but never get anything done (which is sad because I go to Fullsail - one of the top Recording schools in the World.)

Then, I hear the girl saying that she does R&B and is all about her business. The guy starts saying that he can hook her up with all the contact she needs to succeed (in a nut-shell.)

I don't know if you see an oppourtunity here, but i definitly did. I kinda waited till they stopped talking, and followed the girl outside.

As soon as i got a chance i hit her with the "excuse me" (she was wit her homeboy) told her I heard her say she does music & I do videos. Her and her homie (who makes beats i guess) got excited and said they wanted to come to the Knowledge Medina vs hardkore battle (next SUNDAY!!! the 20th!!!) to see what I do an network.

Now, if you are a true business man/woman you probably see what I did. I opened up a oppourtunity for myself. Heres what I see:

-I can make some money shooting her and her friends/associates videos
-I might be able to get her to collab on a track with me that needs female vocals
-I can meet the man she was talking to through her. It seems like I could learn a lot from him.

Theres so much more. i really don't understand why people are scared to talk and network. This is the ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY networking is key!!!!

I was at the University of Central Florida campus last week because my girlfriend had a presentation. The school president was there and she said the realest thing I have ever heard in my life, "You go to school for education, but the most important thing you will do is network." People need to understand this and take it to heart. I've heard so many stories about how people got jobs because someone they met in college called them randomly saying "I know a job you will be perfect for."

Basically, its all about opening oppourtunities for yourself. NETWORKING IS KEY. And that ladies and gentlemen is just a little example of how to network!

Damn...

2008-04-07T19:54:00.003-04:00

I havent wrote on here in a couple days, but a few things have happened since then...

This past friday I went to university of florida (about a 3 hour ride to gainesville) with my Grind Time partner Madd Illz, who is rated the number one rap battler in the south. Unorthodox Phrases, who is coming up in the battle scene out here. And Trig; Guerilla Republik founder and Immortal Technique's cousin.

The ride was maaaaaaad long, but it was all good on the ride up. Basically, we were going to some emcess freestyle challenge and 2 on 2 bboy competition.

I really was tired as hell and had a headache, but i didn't really care about the damn competition. I was just going to network and get out the house, i guess.

When I got there i had to wait like 30 minutes to get into the bathroom. This apparently a big mistake. While I was in the bathroom, they announced the rules for the freestyle challenge. So, when it my turn in the first round, I had to pick three random words out of a hat and incorporate them into A 45-SECOND freestyle. So, Im think everything is all good when I say a line about "fucking emmigrants" or something like that (lol) and I see mad people looking at me lke I just killed the Pope. Then i hear someone like "U can't swear."

That basically cost me advancing to the next round. LOL I talked to Madd Illz (who judged) and my homeby Midaz (Blakout) from Orlando, who notified me that that wasn't the ony swear I said. I guess I had cursed like 25 times. Lol I had to laugh at that.

Basically the last round was Midaz and the defending champ from UF (forget his name.) Midaz won! I think the most memorable line was "Nigga you suck at excite bike" the way Midaz said that was funny as hell.

Is it just me or does it seem like everythere orlando rapper go we shut shit down???? Me and Mad Illz went to Tampa about a year ago to this 4 week long battle and they had to change the brackets and have us battle each other in the semis instead of the finals cause we were murdering their hometown heroes so bad.

But anyways ... Does anyone watch that show "Americas Best Dance Crew???" Its pretty good and I've been addicted to it for weeks (until the final 2 weeks ago). Anyways there was a crew from Tampa in it...i saw the crews leader and talked to him for a little while at the event. Dude was pretty down to Earth; come to find out he watches battles and knew of madd illz.

So, after the battle we cyphered and I murked it with this long ass freestyle and some spanish-european-something looking nigga battled midaz. Of course Midaz murked him, but the dude best lines was a response to Midaz "saying he needed a kilt and a bagpipe" or something. Dude responded by saying "im scottish cause i met and girl and I bagged and then piped."

Its kinda suspect. I said that line to Madd Illz in jumpoff after he called me the last king of scotland or something. It was kinda obvious that dude watched jumpoff by the way he battle rapped. so...idk...wateva i got fans.

But yea the ride home was crazy long. We listed to Necro's The Sexorcist, which i never heard before that night (well...morning) and it was the funniest shit i ever heard in my life. EVERY RAP FAN MUST HEAR THAT. Its pretty sick and twisted, but you won't stop laughing.

SO basically Trig ended up giving e a ride home in the end and taking to me about how him and his cousin (Immortal Technique) founded Guerilla Republik. I always knew dude, but I never chilled with him before. Trig is cool as hell; I can see him and Guerilla Republik being a huge business partner in the future. Dude is mad smart.

But yea, this is kinda late, but I should have some more stories soon.

2008-04-03T13:44:00.001-04:00

so yesterday the bithday was hype. I got a li money & spend it with my girl you know.

Man random thought ... I need to start working on my image. I've been getting a little chubby lately. I gotta define these biceps and chisel these abs up before the end of the year. Lol i guess thats a birthday resolution or something.

My 21st Birthday

2008-04-02T13:42:00.003-04:00

So, today is my 21st birthday & my facebook page is blowing up like crazy!!! I guess I created this blog just in time. A new age represents growth and maturity. Your life should be changing for the better; 21 is an "official" adult. I honestly don't think i'm going to get crunk tonight or party til 6am. I'm going to chill and work on the project i've already been working on. Setting up these grind time battles, and reading these business books. I can't loose focus now, i have a great idea that im going to run with. What is this idea??? I guess you have to keep reading and find out (read the context clues)!

So, in light of my birthday I guess i'll "freestyle" a poem

21 Years Young

Some say im 21 years old

I say im 21 years young

See "old" is a word that is commonly connected with a stereotype in our society

old is outdated

old is rusty

old is out of shape

old is the exact opposite of what I am

I am full of life

And mentally im in the best shape of my life

Physically i need to loose a few pounds, but thats not the point (lol)

So if you see someone on their birthday don't ask "how old are you"

because you're old when you choose to be old, old occurs right before its almost over

ask how "young"

because "young" is full of life & young is the future

-Drect

umm.....i don't know if i like this. I kind of went the non-rhyming route with this post. But it's all good it was a freestyle.

I hate when people ask me if I "feel 21" HELL NAW! I still feel like im in high school. But I am more mature which is good. Im so focused. If I stay this way I could be financially stable by 22 (school loans paid off and everything) and rich by 25. I hope ...

"I don't need a mask" - new Song

2008-04-01T14:52:00.003-04:00

I'm working on a new song to this instrumental i downloaded. It's called "I don't need a mask" I really like it and I think the concept is crazy. Its basically saying that im the hiphop version of a superhero. I think a lot of people will like it because of the fact that I drop a lot of cartoon superhero names. I trying to record it today, but i don't know if i'll get around to it yet.

"I'm a superhero, naw I don't save the day/

my tactics are to rap sick and change the game//

nah I don't need a mask/

nah I don't need a cape//"

It probably look weird on here, but its whatever. Its simple, but real creative. I'll post the song on here when I finish.

Getting Started...

2008-04-01T14:17:00.001-04:00

I just signed up for this site. I've been doing a lot of reading lately and technology is changing daily. We (musicians) will not get a chance to make as much money off of our album sales as those who came before us. But, despite the fact that odds are against an indie artist - I have a plan.

My mom always said, "If you write things down they will happen." So maybe thats the approach that I'm taking. Hopefully, I will be able to look back on this and smile at my journey. Maybe i can re-live the good parts of my struggle through my words.

This is all for now. Stay tuned this should be a crazy "story" for David "Drect" Williams