Everything You Missed At Black Ice Cartel's "Format 2"

Black Ice Cartel brought its brand of battle rap to New York for the first time last weekend, and gave fans the authentic New York battle rap experience. The Milwaukee-based league drew a familiar cast of characters to the Brooklyn event, including Jaz The Rapper, Goodz, Swave Sevah, Beasley, E. Farrell and a heavy contingent of media outlets.

However, the downsides of the authentic New York battle rap experience were also in play, with a chatty crowd, the postponement of one of the headline match-ups and long delays (the doors opened at 1:00 p.m. and battles didn't start until after 5:00 p.m. despite being scheduled for 3:00 p.m.).

Of the three main events that did go down, two of them lived up to (or surpassed) expectations, while the third was enough of a train-wreck to still be notable.

QP vs. Chilla Jones

This battle lived up to the hype ... sort of. It was extremely long, contained some unbelievable writing, and was highly debatable. However, it also contained a choke, some impatience from the crowd, and more tension than was probably necessary at times.

Chilla went first and set the bar very, very high with his opening round. He began with his now-famous practice of rattling off dozens of homophones, much to QP’s disgust (QP’s scorn for Chilla’s bars would become a recurring theme throughout the battle, and he definitely erred on the side of “doing too much”). Chilla hit consistently throughout this round and closed on a room rocker: “You think I’m focused on QP? Hardly. I ain’t even see this bitch on the card like Steve Harvey!” Getting a thunderous reaction is a great way to end a round, and the pressure was on QP, who promised to retire if he lost a single round.

Immediately, it was clear that QP’s approach was going to be decidedly different from Chilla’s. He opted for a spastic, all-over-the-place performance with freestyles at the beginning of every round and with nearly every word being part of a bar or scheme. It was hard to follow at times, but incredibly impressive. Round 1 was razor close until QP choked several minutes in, had time called on him, then made the bizarre decision to search through his phone as the crowd watched.

Round 2 was something of a blur on both sides out of sheer complexity, but it was also where both emcees began to get more personal (although the most sensitive content was reserved for Round 3). Chilla hit consistently once again, but he was outdone by QP in the building. QP toed the line with how long his round was, but it was just short enough to hold universal attention.

Round 3 was almost impossible to call in the building, but a lot of fans gave it to QP based on the amount of reaction he amassed over his (extremely long) round. Things may get more complicated on camera because Chilla’s personal angle (“you are a bisexual prostitute”) hit a lot harder than QP’s (“you are an Uber driver”) and painted a convincing picture. But the insane amount of wordplay in QP’s round may win him the third on camera regardless. For now, I can’t call it but technically, QP has to retire.

K-Shine vs. Qleen Paper

This battle was a disaster, but Qleen 3-0. K-Shine choked, badly, in every single round (and twice in Round 3), and even Qleen had a couple of strange pauses. Qleen was always able to recover though, and he spit plenty of grade-A material. The tragic thing is that Shine’s material was quite strong as well; it was simply overshadowed by a striking lack of preparation.

The most memorable parts of this battle were in the third round where Qleen hilariously went at Shine with the well-worn “tranny” angle, saying things like, “I pull over because my Trans actin’ up. You pull over because your TRANS actin’ up,” and where Shine went at Tay Roc with a callout that keeps the NWX vs. Dot Mobb feud brewing. Regardless of those moments, this isn't a battle you'll be watching more than once.

Charlie Clips vs. Danny Myers

Thankfully, the main event exceeded expectations and was probably the strongest battle of the event. For one thing, Clips did little to no freestyling, having clearly prepared three dope rounds. Also, predictably, Danny soldiered through a sometimes-hesitant crowd and delivered three rounds of fire as well. This was a somewhat debatable battle in the building, and the footage may or may not change that.

Clips went first and began by noting that for the Top 10 of 2015, “the Bar God ain’t even make the list” and asking, “what the fuck is a Bar God to an atheist?” Clips nailed the tone of this round, making Danny seem inferior without resorting to the “I don’t care” approach. It was immediately obvious that he was not there to play: no “sike I lied,” no stumbles, no recycling. His Round 1 was rock solid, and it put more pressure on Danny than he probably expected.

With Nunu Nellz co-hosting the battle not two feet behind him, Danny began his round: “Let’s get it live, homie. I’ll- … I was just waiting for Nunu to call time on me!” The crowd loved it, but Nunu hated it and it seemed to impact her reactions for the rest of the battle. Danny took the first with a fire round, landing numerous haymakers.

Round 2 was extremely close. Clips delivered another polished, mostly personal round, and Danny brought multi’s, graphic imagery, and more wild punches. It was minor, but Clips’ stopping for a moment to tell someone behind him to be quiet (when the room was almost silent) probably lost the round for him. A few said 1-1 at this point, but most had Danny 2-0 going into the third.

As far as Round 3 goes, you could argue that Clips played it safe while Danny took risks, but Clips still took this round. He began by agreeing that he does look like Ice Cube, which seamlessly segued into the NWA-themed “Straight out of twelve racks! A stupid motherfucker named Danny, gave his whole life savings up to Randy!” He stayed on this hilarious note for most of the round, and the crowd loved it. Danny, on the other hand, made a point to rap his ass off with a rapid-fire style not generally welcomed in New York. The gamble was honorable, but Danny 2-1, not 3-0. Great battle.

Watch Mike P interview Danny about his thoughts on the battle too:

Danja Zone vs. DNA

This battle fell through at the event because of apparent family issues with DNA. It was announced that it would happen the next day, and the league made good on that promise with a battle in front of a small crowd at a Queens barbershop less than 24 hours later. We weren't there for it personally, but there was positive feedback from all involved.

The Undercard

Capboy vs. PVPER

This was a one-rounder that took place in a pit format, over the objections of many in the crowd who couldn’t see. Capboy had a strong start, earning reaction for solid punches, but he was unable to recover from a choke a couple minutes in. PVPER then proceeded to clearly take the battle, getting the crowd to spaz several times for what seemed like more original content.

Gwitty vs. Hazey Williams

This will probably be a solid watch when it drops, but it was plagued by increasing chattiness inside the venue as it went on. Gwitty’s style is pretty lethal in a small room, at least for about a round and a half. His Round 1 was crazy, performance-wise, with plenty of typical "Qwitty" quotables. Hazey probably took the last two rounds though, fighting the disinterested crowd.

Jai Smoove vs. Example

This was an interesting, albeit somewhat one-sided male-versus-female one-rounder. Example went first, and he had some solid moments, but also some controversial anti-female content that didn’t go over too well. Jai Smoove had little trouble winning the crowd over with a dominant performance, and she spat several memorable lines like “Yelling ‘dyke,’ ‘butch,’ or ‘him,’ won’t do nothing ‘cause this dyke will butcher him.”