Ready To Die
PPV Rating
Staff Writers: France
QB Black Diamond is no stranger when it comes to venturing into owning a league. She has been around these streets before, she has a deep understanding of the business of battle rap and her commitment to showcasing the talent of Connecticut. Drawing from her experience as a previous league owner, QB utilized her knowledge to curate a lineup of matchups that highlighted the skill and blended styles that complement each other well, to put on some entertaining battles for the evening. The event was named Ready to Die and took place on March 9th, to symbolize the Notorious B.I.G. This league is going to be putting on for the region of Connecticut and give them a home. And let me say, that QB made all the right moves in her first step forward with the investment in her league’s first event. With thorough marketing across various media platforms like Restore order, Champion, 15MOF, OTFMZ, and more. She had Charlie Clips be the host of the event for every battle. Also, she secured the Ruin Your Day team for the PPV broadcast to ensure the highest quality stream.
Despite a minor hiccup during the event, which is not uncommon in the world of battle rap, QB’s dedication to providing a top-tier experience was evident. However, there was some criticism regarding transparency regarding the main event that I do have to note. Her battle was T-Rex was not announced as a 3-round battle which is crucial information for fans. I will say, that QB is running an event while also battling at it, and that may be the highest level of stress, but I’m pretty sure that if she was transparent about the battle being a 1 rounder, everyone would be understanding, especially knowing how much she has to deal with. Nevertheless, QB’s efforts paid off, and the event was highly successful, proving her capability as a league owner and paving the way for future events & the talent of CT.
Salutes to QB Black Diamond for her bold initiative in launching her own league, with promising prospects for many more successful events to come. Her dedication to showcasing Connecticut’s talent and her willingness to invest in the production and promotion of the event demonstrate her commitment to advancing the culture of battle rap. As she continues to navigate the challenges of league ownership, QB’s passion and expertise will undoubtedly lead to bigger events. Black Diamond Battle League has entered as a player in the market and we look forward to their future.
Addressing Debo And The Altercation
Staff Writer: Titus Majors
First and foremost, congratulations to QB for throwing her first event; it’s always cool to see battlers start their leagues in their regions. Unfortunately, the actual battles ended up overshadowed due to some extracurricular nonsense. By this point, if you’re on social media at all, you’re aware of what happened between Debo and Caps; endless memes and jokes have been flying, all of them hilarious, to be honest, and that’s mainly because everyone was able to get home safely.
Thankfully, the event didn’t end up being ruined. However, just because things ended smoothly doesn’t mean we shouldn’t address what happened because we’ve seen countless times where things don’t go as well as last night. I’m not here to defend Caps or bash Debo; ultimately, those are two adults who have their situations where lines have been crossed, and I understand why things happened the way they did when their paths finally met.
I will call that entire incident reckless, unnecessary, and irresponsible.
Again, this was QB’s first event; altercations can often lead to a venue shutting an event down, battles being missed, or random people getting caught up in something they had nothing to do with. Debo is a league owner who has gone through a few of these things and understands the potential fallout from them; in 2016, at Queen of the Ring’s Watch The Throne 2 event, things were so bad that he publicly said he would retire. Ironically, he expressed these feelings on Angryfan Radio(Battle Rap is a soap opera).
The conversation is still on YouTube, with three parts featuring a very emotional Debo venting his frustrations and an endless stream of support from various parties trying to get him to change his mind about his announced retirement. At one point, he was even asked how all the fighting could be prevented, and he said, “The way you can prevent that is by having grown adults in the building that are thinking rationally and thinking respectfully.”
Here we are in 2024, seeing that same person pull up to an event to swing on someone inside the venue; that isn’t rational thinking, nor was it respectful to the league owner. If this were just some fans being extra, I wouldn’t waste time on this, but these are people who aren’t just fans; this is a league owner who we’ve seen try and be a peacemaker between battlers, and we’ve seen managing crowds and entourages during URL events doing the exact thing he works to prevent.
We have a blogger who spoke too recklessly and assumed he was untouchable, and now we’re left with drama that has nothing to do with battle rap. I want to emphasize that I am not here telling anyone how to feel or react when someone speaks disrespectfully toward them. Still, I also want to emphasize that there is a higher standard for people of power and influence in this culture. A league owner starting a fight at someone else’s event is not okay because they know the ramifications of that; talking crazy online and expecting not to have consequences is also not okay. There are multiple truths here: don’t put someone through something you wouldn’t want to go through yourself and don’t act crazy online thinking you’re above being touched. All in all, this was really stupid and ridiculous, and I hope this doesn’t become a theme for the year.
A.Ward's Stellar Performance vs Bangz
Recapped by J Smo
A battle with an emphasis on freestyling, Bangz vs Ward ended up having the standout showing of the night from the top-tier Horsemen. At the end of a very busy back-to-back schedule, Ward’s final performance in this early stretch vs Bangz turns out to be not only his best so far of the year but one of the better 3 round performances across all of Battle Rap so far in 2024.
Matching Bangz in the rebuttal category, Ward not only entertained with his on-the-spot rebuttal ability but had some of his best written of the year, really winning by larger margins as the rounds went on. With a legacy battle vs Tay Roc on the horizon, Ward giving a showing like this a month and a half out shows not only the capability he has right now as a battler but also begs the question of what he will look like with a whole month and a half to focus solely on the Roc battle. Easily the performer of the night, Ward adds a highlight to the catalog.
QB Black Diamond Ran A Successful event & Battled The Same Night!
The main event of the night had 2 legends squaring off in a 1 round bout with QB vs Rex. Running your own event and battling has proven to be one of the most challenging things a battler can do, and QB’s efforts resulting in a clean and solid showing need to be commended. Although easier to do in a 1 round format, the history of battlers doing this usually results in a losing effort, and for QB to secure a W on top of that is even more impressive.
The main piece in this is Rex performance lacking pace, as for the first time in a couple of battles Rex breather control was an issue with some extremely long delays that could even be attributed a little bit to stumbling with line repeating and prolonged breaks that got into awkward territory. Not the craziest battle, but another legendary male name in the books for QB and a light W to take from the event as well as an early observation to note for Rex as he goes into his Qleen Paper battle in April on Calicoe’s “Still Outside” card.
Dominate Victories
Dear Summer showcased herself in a dope battle against one of the newer top ladies in the game, Cheyraq. With both artists bringing an entertaining show, Dear Summer’s performance stood out by not just delivering punchlines with precision and charisma. Despite Cheyraq’s strong presence, Dear Summer’s command of the room and her ability to last the distance propelled her to a decisive victory in the third round. Cheyraq’s inability to close out the battle cleanly allowed Dear Summer to capitalize on the opportunity, securing the win and being one of the more memorable performances of the night
Similarly, Lotta Zay’s performance against Rizz was nothing short of impressive, as he dominated the stage with his commanding presence and razor-sharp lyricism. Lotta Zay as the vet emerged as the clear victor, delivering bar after bar with finesse and confidence. His pen is so smooth and he is one of the more underrated guys who was active a decade ago and competing with some of the top names. So a match like this was certainly a walk in the park, but it doesnt negate the fact that Lotta had some of the best-written material of the night. Despite Rizz’s efforts, Lotta Zay left no room for debate about the outcome. His performance was a prime example of his status as a seasoned.
