A classic battle can happen anywhere. You don't necessarily need a stage, a huge audience, bright lights or big names. You just need two hungry emcees.
Here's our list of the best battles from leagues that don't always get the attention they're due. Curating the choices wasn't an easy task because of the sheer volume of battles that came out last year so to make things easier, BattleRap.com reached out to a few league owners to get their picks. We've added our own write-ups to our personal favourites too.
The list is by no means definitive, so add any we missed in the comments section below. There's a chance the battle made our "Most Slept-On" list or will be in our upcoming picks for Don't Flop, KOTD and URL.
U Dubb
Hollow Da Don vs Loaded Lux
Who: Hollow Da Don (Queens, N.Y.) vs. Loaded Lux (Harlem, N.Y.)
Where: UW's "High Stakes" in Elizabeth, N.J.
When: Jan. 26, 2014
Why you should watch it: What is there to say about this battle that hasn't been said a thousand times already? It was incredible. It was debatable. It was the biggest battle to ever happen when it went down. And best of all, it lived up to very high expectations. Watch it if you haven't already and watch it again if you have.
Daylyt's "Matrix" antic against B Magic from the same event is also worth a look, though the footage still hasn't gotten an official release.
Queen Of The Ring
We hit up QOTR rep Debo for his favorite battles from the female-emcee platform in 2014. Here are his picks:
Tori Doe vs. C3
Who: Tori Doe (Harlem, N.Y.) vs. C3 (Queens, N.Y.)
Where: Queen Of The Ring's "No Holds Barred" at Irving Plaza in New York, N.Y.
When: June 28, 2014
Why you should watch it: This 43-minute epic marks the return of Harlem's Tori Doe, who'd been away from the QOTR ring since 2012. She faces one of the current top female emcees in Queens' C3. The crowd plays a major role in the battle, cheering and jeering for both rappers. One of the biggest reactions comes from Tori's coldest bar of the battle: "I was gonna let her live / How y'all figure? / Y'all know I got an abortion / Ain't the first time I'm gettin' rid of a nigga."
MyVerse vs. Cee The Boss
Who: MyVerse (Orlando, Fla.) vs. Cee The Boss (Brooklyn, N.Y.)
Where: Queen Of The Ring's "Murder She Wrote" event at Church Ave. Boxing Gym in New York, N.Y.
When: Oct. 26, 2014
Why You Should Watch It: Two of the most impressive up-and-coming female emcees face off in what was Battle of the Night at QOTR's "Murder She Wrote" event. Both showed a ton of potential.
Daylyt vs. 40 B.A.R.R.S.
Who: Daylyt (Los Angeles, Calif.) vs. 40 B.A.R.R.S. (Boston, Mass.)
Where: QOTR's "Caskets or Classics" in New York, N.Y.
When: March 8, 2014
Why you should watch it: Daylyt’s third round, where he exposes himself to the crowd, unfortunately overshadows his epic second, where he goes in on all of womankind with Bible quotes.
GO-Rilla Warfare
Big Kannon gave us his choices for the Chicago league he runs with Mz. Gracie.
Born vs. Brixx Belvedere
Who: Born (Bronx, N.Y.) vs. Brixx Belvedere (Atlanta, Ga.)
Where: GO-Rilla Warfare's "The Blueprint 1.5" in Markham, Ill.
When: Sept. 19, 2014
Why You Should Watch It: When we got to GO-Rilla Warfare's "Blueprint" event outside of Chicago, all anyone could talk about was how good the previous night's main event between Born and Brixx had been.
The small-room atmosphere was perfect for the complexity of their wordplay and people in the crowd went bananas as they began to realize they were witnessing a classic. Both of these guys are praised for their pen games by those in the know but somehow remain under-appreciated by most fans and almost completely ignored by major leagues. This battle should change that.
Danny Myers vs. JC
Who: Danny Myers (Las Vegas, Nev.) vs. JC (Pontiac, Mich.)
Where: GO-Rilla Warfare's "The Blueprint" in Markham, Ill.
When: Sept. 20, 2014
Why You Should Watch It: This was Battle of the Night at that Chicago event I mentioned above. JC was working like crazy throughout 2014 but hadn't been buzzing as much compared to the early stages of his career. Here he shows what made him a household name in the first place. In a pre-battle interview, JC told BattleRap.com that watching Danny Myers take on Rum Nitty made him love battle rap again, so it makes sense that he'd be inspired going up against him.
Danny, as always, brings three rounds of heavy punches and enthusiasm, and shows no signs of slowing down even with an incredibly busy schedule.
Black Ice Cartel
Cartel video editor Jon Dough gave us this selection:
QP vs. QP
Who: Quantum Physics (Stockton, Calif.) vs. Qleen Paper (Detroit, Mich.)
Where: Black Ice Cartel's "The Grudge" in Milwaukee, Wis.
When: Feb. 16, 2014
Why you should watch it: There wasn’t really a good reason for this battle to happen besides these guys having the same initials. There also isn’t really a good reason for Qleen Paper to spell his name with a Q instead of a C. In fact, it’s a small miracle that both of these guys actually made it to the venue prepared with three rounds since they’ve each been plagued by inconsistent performances and/or attendance in their careers.
Either way, forget about the past. They both show up here. Quantum Physics brings the densely layered wordplay style he pioneered, while Qleen just Talks. That. Shit. As always, the editing from Syndicate Cartel‘s Jon Dough helps the big punches hit ever harder.
40 B.A.R.R.S. vs. Cortez
Who: 40 B.A.R.R.S. (Boston, Mass.) vs. Cortez (Brooklyn, N.Y.)
Where: Black Ice Cartel’s "The Eulogy" in Milwaukee, Wis.
When: June 22, 2014
Why you should watch it: 40 B.A.R.R.S. makes up for her weak footage against Jaz The Rapper with this performance. She attacks from all angles while Cortez focuses mainly on one: 40's gender. Still, Cortez shows that he’s really good at disrespecting women, although the jury's still out on if that’s a compliment or not.
Rare Breed Entertainment
ARP, the founder of the New York-based RBE league gave us these choices:
Bigg K vs. Big Kannon
Who: Bigg K (Norfolk, Va.) vs. Big Kannon (Chicago, Ill.)
Where: RBE’s "Lift His Soul" event at Club DROM in New York, N.Y.
When: July 5, 2014
Why you should watch it: There are so many fire lines in this battle that by the second round you'll be praying for the air horn button to break. Here, Bigg K is coming off a tight battle with Danny Myers the week before to face a well-prepared Big Kannon.
Kannon's freestyles are on point and his race angles are killer, and K takes fat jokes to a new level in his third when he says: "In my hood they come and see me for the dope / You take showers in the car wash with cheeseburger soap."
iBattle
iBattle rep Logic gave us these picks for the Connecticut league's best:
- Scripts vs. K-Kendle
- Danja Zone vs. M.Ciddy
- Chilla Jones vs. Blackheart Adonis
- Cityy Towers vs. Born
- Hazey Willimas vs. Prez Mafia
Here's iBattle emcee E.Farrell's write-up of the last one:
Hazey Williams vs. Prez Mafia
Who: Hazey Williams (Hartford, Conn.) vs. Prez Mafia (Bronx, N.Y.)
Where: iBattle Worldwide’s "Cold War 2" at Addiction Nightclub in
Waterbury, Conn.
When: Jan. 18, 2014
Why you should watch it: After a brief hiatus followed by his opponent no-showing at the "Summer Madness 3" PGs, Hazey Williams stepped back into the iBattle ring against one of NYC's most promising up-and-comers, Prez Mafia.
In one of the highest viewed iBattle releases from 2014, both emcees throw punch after punch in an attempt to prove who could bar up heavier to the modern day standard.
Hazey displays what many would consider a career performance, with credit given to his trademark "Fat Nigga Bars," which he has no shame in providing an abundance of: "You gon' say I'm fat? Well I think I'm fine / And yo bitch don't mind the wait (weight) like take ya time."
Prez on the other hand, has no trouble returning fire with a mix of wild performance and witty wordplay: "And I'm VENTIN', so when you see a bullet in the air, duck (air duct)."
Check this one and be the judge for yourself, without a doubt an undeniable slugfest from both sides.
Barbarian Battle Grounds
Daylyt vs. Quest MCODY
Who: Daylyt (Los Angeles, Calif.) vs. Quest MCODY (Detroit, Mich.)
Where: BBG's "Power" in Detroit, Mich.
When: Nov. 8, 2014
Why you should watch it: Quest is a veteran from the WRC days who took some time off and was mostly unknown to new fans. He made a statement with his return. Daylyt himself said Quest broke down his character better than anyone before. Daylyt kills it too, bringing no gimmicks other than just rapping and writing really well.
Spit Dat Heat
Danny Myers vs. Brixx Belvedere
Who: Danny Myers (Las Vegas, Nev.) vs. Brixx Belvedere (Atlanta, Ga.)
Where: Spit Dat Heat's "Pen Game Mean" in Atlanta, Ga.
When: Feb. 23, 2014
Why you should watch it: Danny Myers took over battle rap in 2014. He was everywhere, either hosting or battling in Spit Dat Heat, AHAT, KOTD, LA BattleGroundz, URL’s PGs, BET’s Ultimate Freestyle Friday, and probably another dozen places He always comes prepared with quotable content and total conviction. In this battle, his “That gun spitting over and over like it’s trying to memorize a verse” line still had us screwfacing the third time we heard it. He also looks like he’s always having an awesome time.
And that’s exactly the first angle Brixx takes to break him down. Brixx brings a ton of original, natural wordplay and an ease of performance that shows how long he’s been at this. His third round “I assembled you” concept is ether, hacking at Myers’ writing style better than anyone we’ve seen before.
AHAT
Who: Danny Myers (Las Vegas, Nev.) vs. Dre Vishiss (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Where: AHAT's "IndyPenDense" in Las Vegas, Nev.
When: July 5, 2014
Why you should watch it: This battle won AHAT's official Battle Of The Year Award.
What did we miss? Leave the battles in the comment section below.
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