Top Moments From RBE's "Blood Sweat & Tiers 3" & "Lift His Soul 2"

Standout battles and performances from RBE's double-header in New York on Labor Day weekend.

RBE can add two more successful events to its resume after last weekend's "Blood, Sweat & Tiers 3" and "Lift His Soul 2." This was a two-day event, and we've decided to recap the events together so as not to distract from either. There were a fair few upsets, some predictably strong performances, and great atmosphere as usual.

Battles of the Night

Blood, Sweat & Tiers 3: Ooops vs. Born

RBE-Ooops-vs-Born

Fans were excited for this match-up, but in reality, most predicted Born to clearly win. His back-to-back punching style seemed like it might be too much for Ooops' more reverent approach. In the end, though, Ooops was able to edge it in the building. Both these emcees clearly respect each other's writing, and they were on stage completely alone by their own request.

Unfortunately, Born had mic issues early on and ultimately decided not to use one at all. It was easy enough to hear him, but his unenhanced projection seemed to affect his ability to control the crowd at times. Even when there was chatter, though, he soldiered on. Born was his typical self this battle, which means relentless punches and expert name flips, but also, unfortunately, a third round stumble that probably cost him the win. It was minor, but it nevertheless had an effect.

Ooops impressed a lot of people here, and with the way the crowd was rocking with him, you'd never have known he was the underdog. His presence and, surprisingly, humor, were at an all-time high and helped him distinguish himself from Born. As the third round approached, fans were interested to see if his notoriously indulgent "real talk" round would be enough for a victory. Given the aforementioned stumble, it was, and Ooops made a big announcement. "I'm done with battle rap," he said. Read on for more about that.

Lift His Soul 2: Chilla Jones vs. Danny Myers

RBE-Chilla-Jones-vs-Danny-Myers

If you follow Writer's Bloque's exploits as a battle rap crew, this should come as no surprise to you. Almost every Bloque-on-Bloque battle has been a classic or near-classic. This was no exception.

Mere hours before this battle went down, I asked Twitter who would win. Almost everyone who responded went with Chilla. Those fans won't be disappointed with Chilla's performance, but a W for him won't come until the footage drops, if at all. He had a phenomenal showing, but Danny's energy consistently overtook Chilla in the building. However, the footage is likely to change the dialogue because some of Chilla's content may have outweighed anything Danny said, and his third round was one for the books.

If energy and animation are important to you in battle rap, Danny should be one of your absolute favorites. Although Chilla took some angles, Danny's style proves to be nearly unbeatable in a small room against someone who aims solely to out-bar him. That might be a different story against a different battler, but his unrelenting method worked wonders here. He was punching all over the place, and he somehow broke new ground with some "chill" flips.

Performances of the Night

Blood, Sweat & Tiers 3: Showoff

RBE-Showoff-vs-Arsonal

Ooops and Born were both candidates for this spot, but it wouldn't be right not to give Showoff his shine. He resoundingly beat Arsonal in the building, and he handled all the intensity like a pro.

To be fair, this battle might have gone differently if Arsonal had been more prepared. Despite landing some uproarious haymakers, he stumbled or choked in every round, sometimes very badly. He seemed fully invested, but he fell flat a couple times while Showoff sailed smoothly through his material. Showoff took full advantage with a clean performance, making it hard to make any excuses for sloppiness.

Far more importantly, Showoff was barking on Ars for all three rounds. He set the tone early, stating, "I'm not gon' choke this battle … AND YOU NOT EITHER!" directly in Ray Swag's face, pushing past Ars to say it. He also, apparently, made up his mind not to be bullied. When Ars made a comment during his round, for example, he unceremoniously told him to "Shut the fuck up while I'm rapping," before calmly continuing. While this normally might throw fans off, the crowd was hyped to see Show taking charge of the battle.

Lift His Soul 2: Big Kannon & JC

Big-Kannon-vs.-JC

I know, this is a total cop-out. Again, both Danny and Chilla were candidates for this spot, but it would be wrong to gloss over the other Bloque-on-Bloque crime. Big Kannon and JC, despite being crewmembers, proved to be more distinct as performers than you may have realized, and it was pretty much impossible to choose between them.

JC performed similarly to how he recently did versus Psycoses, with stone-faced wordplay and punches based around broad angles, but on a much higher level. He had to pause after nearly every line for the crowd to spaz, and he was deadly consistent. BK, on the other hand, started with bars, freestyled the entire second round to make a point, and closed on a hilarious note. His goal seemed to be to flaunt his versatility, and he certainly succeeded.

RBE-Big-Kannon-vs-JC-Best-Photo

This battle was exceedingly difficult to call live, and it's hard to say what effect the camera will have. BK took Round 1 pretty unanimously, earning some of the biggest reactions of the night. His Round 2, though extremely impressive for all-freestyle, paled slightly in comparison to JC's. The third was razor close, but the crowd seemed to favor JC's more serious content over BK's more jokey approach.

Standout Moments

Ooops' Departure

RBE-Ooops-

Ooops stated a few days before his Born battle that he would be retiring from battle rap, and he seemed to make it official by addressing it in his third round. He partially attributes it to lack of authenticity and given his recent undertakings, it makes sense. He's becoming a renowned anti-violence activist in St. Louis, and he understandably wants to pursue that path. That's great for him of course, but it raises the question: Who will be RBE's new go-to guy?

The Rise of Jimz

RBE-Jimz-vs-Cortez

"I'm more proud of Jimz than anyone else here, and you can quote me on that," said Lawrence of RBE's staff as the two-day event wound down. Lawrence said this as a first-hand witness to the enormous amount of flak Jimz has gotten since he started battling. Recently, Jimz has finally been able to turn that around.

He turned heads in his Cityy Towers battle with markedly stepped up material, and here… He beat Cortez in the building. It will probably be different on camera, sure, but Jimz was cooking.

Arsonal vs. A.R.P.

RBE-Arsonal-vs-ARP

After having stumbled through some of the battle, Arsonal found himself in a tough position in the third round. Although he probably planned the forthcoming attack, he seemed to say to himself, "Fuck it. Might as well go at the host." Randomly, he decided to address ARP's scuffle with Queenzflip in Toronto at "Blackout 5," declaring Flip the winner and lauding him for his use of biting. Ars yelled all of this directly at ARP, and he didn't seem to appreciate it. The two were basically arguing in the middle of the battle, but it was undeniably entertaining.

Ice Bag Jai

Jai-vs.-Rosenberg-Raw

Jai and Bill Collector put on a pretty great battle, and Jai's first round was one of the highlights. He wordlessly lifted a Subway bag full of ice to his head before beginning the first round, in obvious reference to Bill getting punched by Hitman Holla's little brother, ShowwOutt, whose name would surface more than once during the match.

Clips Cooking

RBE-Ah-Di-Boom-vs-Charlie-Clips

Complaints of Clips' recent energy deficiency were apparently well-heard. His attention to that criticism was obvious, and his performance was one of his liveliest in recent memory. In terms of sheer enthusiasm and animation, his Hollow and Boom showings are night and day. Not surprisingly, Boom more than did his thing with wordplay and jokes, making it that much more entertaining.

Two More Potential Bloque-on-Bloque Classics

Danny-Myers-Big-Kannon-JC-Chilla-Jones

Winning formula, meet winning formula. Writer's Bloque makes classics, and so does RBE. Danny Myers, Big Kannon, Chilla Jones and JC could all be seen enjoying the event together, and each of them did their part to continue the trend of WB classics. Given RBE's track record, most fans expected this anyway.

Here are my in-the-building winners from both days.

Blood, Sweat & Tiers 3

Breezy Nice 3-0
J Murda 2-1
Ooops 2-1
Jimz 2-1
Toss-up between Charlie Clips & Ah Di Boom
Showoff 2-1

Lift His Soul 2

Clip 2-1
Bill Collector 2-1
JC 2-1
Uno Lavoz 3-0
Danny Myers 2-1

All photos by Smart Alix Kushboy.

Were you there? Let us know your thoughts on the event in the comments below.

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