Baltimore emcee Tay Roc is 2015's Battler Of The Year, according to a survey organized by The War Report. More than 30 panelists from around the world of battle rap (including BattleRap.com's Chris Mitchell) listed their individual Top 10s for the New York-based media outlet, which then tallied everything up to find the highest rated picks. The panel also awarded Rookie Of The Year to Chess, and Most Improved Battler Of The Year to Shotgun Suge.
Tay Roc was extremely popular in 2015, with his resume consisting of high-profile battles with Tsu Surf, Calicoe, Brizz Rawsteen and John John Da Don, all on URL.
Watch Jay Blac run down the the winners, or scroll down for the full list and an explanation of TWR's methodology.
Total Scores
Top 10
- 1. Tay Roc — 189
- 2. Chilla Jones — 166
- 3. Danja Zone — 142
- 4. K Shine — 140
- 5. Bigg K — 137
- 6. Shotgun Suge — 122
- 7. DNA — 119
- 8. Hollow — 117
- 9. Charlie Clips — 68
- 10. Loaded Lux — 66
Honorable Mentions
- 11. Danny Myers — 59
- 12. John John Da Don — 55
- 13. Pass — 54
- 14. Dizaster — 43
- 15. Chess — 41
Rookie Of The Year: Chess
Chess wasn't necessarily brand new to battle rap in 2015, having already made a nice run on Season 3 of BET's "Ultimate Freestyle Friday" the year before, but 2015 was definitely big for him, starting with an intense match-up against DNA at URL's "Rookies vs. Vets."
He went on to face DNA twice more in two doubles matches (the original fell apart after a scuffle mid-battle and was rescheduled), as well as Rum Nitty on the West Coast at URL's "Traffic" and Brooklyn Carter in a classic for his home league of We Go Hard.
See all of our coverage on Chess here.
Most Improved: Shotgun Suge
Shotgun Suge's stock soared in 2015, silencing pretty much all of his (many) critics. He was well-prepared on the URL stage and brought heavy aggression against Th3 Saga, T-Top and Big T, finishing his year with a URL main event with Charlie Clips.
The Methodology
Here's the voting process explained by Jay Blac, as well as a list of some of the panelists. BattleRap.com regulars will already be familiar with the system from our Top 10 Battle Rappers of 2015 (So Far) list from last summer.
Subscribe to The War Report on YouTube and follow them on Twitter for more. Also, keep an eye out for their Fan Poll winners, coming soon.
Thoughts? Let us know in the comments below.
{{ comment.author.name }}
{{ reply.author.name }}