The first edition of Black Ice Cartel’s "Format" series went down last week (Oct. 10) at the Dirty Dozen M.C. Club in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The clubhouse is essentially a medium sized warehouse, and the battles took place in the pit format, giving the event a similar vibe to the old Lionz Den battles or Grind Time's "Battle Of The Bay" series. Despite Aye Verb canceling against Qleen Paper and Quest Mcody canceling against AQ, the event still hosted six solid battles.
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QP vs. Bonnie Godiva — Battle Of The Night
A rare match-up where both battlers got extremely personal without sacrificing lyrical content, this grudge match had the crowd captivated from start to finish. QP, known as a pioneer of associative scheming, lived up to his "#4 in the world" moniker and showcased some of the wildest wordplay of the night while performing with the energy that he occasionally lacks.
He elaborated on his claims that he used to ghostwrite for Bonnie and alleged that Born and Chilla Jones write for her now, dissing both those emcees multiple times in the process. Bonnie proved that she didn’t need QP’s help by showing up with three solid rounds of quality wordplay and punchlines herself, including a third round that may have overshadowed QP’s. QP contends for performance of the night, while Bonnie put up a tough fight.
I had this as a 3-0, no bodybag, for QP, with the third round being debatable.
B Magic vs. Danja Zone
The last battle of the event featured these two wordsmiths. Danja came with a wild amount of energy and threw some of the hardest hitting punches of the night, while Magic came with his trademark flurries of punches, including gems like “the toys’ll get to talkin' like Indian in the Cupboard.”
Still, Magic’s relentless attacks didn’t seem to be enough against Danja Zone’s energy and haymakers. Danja put on a show that had many calling it performance of the night. In the building, it looked like 3-0 in favor of Danja, but it could look very different on camera where the disparity in their energy might not be as apparent.
Real Deal vs. DNA
This was the closest of the headlining battles, with Real Deal and DNA both showing the crowd why they’ve been battle rap mainstays for so long. Real Deal came with more punches and fewer personals and angles than usual, saving all of that for the third round as he attacked DNA’s tendency to overbook himself.
DNA’s performance spoke for itself, proving that even though he’s got an incredibly busy schedule lined up, he still has the focus to go 100% every time he steps in the ring. As expected, they both came with rebuttals and freestyle material as well. There was a technical issue with some of the equipment mid-battle, and DNA instantly freestyled about it, provoking the wildest crowd reaction of the entire night.
Undercard battles
There were three undercard battles: Dubby Dub vs. Murder Ron, Pyrex vs. Superblack and Capboy vs. S Kapone.
Capboy and S Kapone stood out as the two best undercard emcees and put on a hot battle. S Kapone edged the first two rounds, and in a surprising turn of events got bodied in the third. Both of these cats showed a lot of skill in their battle and with some improvement could put up a fight against some of the well-known names today.
Were you there? Let us know your winners in the comments section.
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