In 2023, John John Da Don, the visionary & league owner of the Bullpen Battle League has had a fairly active year. With 8 events, and a tournament for rising talent, all while remaining an active battle rapper, John John’s has shown a relentless work ethic. This event featured two of Bullpen’s top gunners, Chef Trez and Clone, headlining the event.
This year Bullpen has been pushing both homegrown talent and booking top tiers, John John has used well-thought-out bookings to produce good cards and even some of the better battles of the year. Clone vs. Ave and now Chef Trez are 2 of probably the best 15-20 battles this year at least and goes to show Bullpen is having one of its best years since it was throwing major events frequently around 2016-2018. Clone vs. Chef Trez only adds to that by being what I would consider the best back-and-forth Bullpen has had so far this year.
Battle Rating 3.75/5 Stars
Round 1
The 1st round of this battle starts off on Clone and very early he has a small freestyle playing off Calicoe being upfront watching their battle, a small sign of things to come on the rebuttal/freestyling front. From there Clone has a standard but good Clone round. His 3 and some change bar was fire, and the most notable part of his round was his Insurance scheme.
Usually, I’m a bit critical of scheming since a lot of times schemes are reused 5 to 6 times with the same praise, but Clone’s references and detail regarding the scheme were really clever and one of the more original ones I’ve heard in some time. As expected though, the top of Trez 1st has immediate rebuttals to match these peaks, matching his Insurance scheme with “The flow (Flow from Progressive) is where they find your body”, early haymaker to open. From there it’s Trez picking up where he’s been all 2023: in his bag. The Make It Clone/Scientist bar hit hard, as well as the Family Reunion and 1st Degree punches. By the time Trez hits “Pen/Pin was ready when you got here/Ordered your card in my name”, he had clearly shown the difference in the round. Dope 1st but I had Trez taking it very clear.
Round 2
Back on Clone top of the 2nd, he has a few rebuttals of his own. His rebuttals for Chef’s Scientist bar and Boxing/Mike Tyson bar were effective while not room shaking but did their job bringing the battle’s momentum back in his direction. From there Clone throws a flurry this round that really hits its stride by the 2nd half of the round. About halfway through the round, he lands his Midnight Train to Georgia/Gladys Knight bar which up to that point was his best of the battle. Follow that with his drug talk bars like “Judge Had Me Feeling like Geechi/Brining Trees up Against me” and “Elon Musk/Make a bird disappear”.
Using punching and real talk, Clone had an extremely good round that shows when he hits that type of level, he can compete with many top talents. Chef 2nd is also good, once again rebuttaling Clone with a GoFundMe and Pokémon bar that both shook the room. From there it just continues the barfest, with matching Clone with a lot of drug talk intertwined with creative punching, his Mooned and Hey Arnold bars being the peaks of his round, not to mention a very intricate stock scheme in the middle of his round. Much more debatable round, and can see the argument for Chef 2-0, but I personally had Clone edging the 2nd and knotting things up at 1-1.
Round 3
The 3rd puts a good ending to an already great battle, as Clone at the top of the 3rd rebuttals again, landing another 2 effective ones to keep the battle momentum going. From there he gets into some angle punching about Chef starting on Southern leagues and then going to URL. His Family Recipe and Drag Em Down Memory Lane bar (referring to SpitDatHeat) shows Clone has the ability to punch on topic as well, adding a layer of directness to his writing. He finishes the round with a couple more angle punches and a closing bar we all can stand with “They don’t care if I’m facing murder or not / Like the fans with Brizz”. Trez gives 2 more rebuttals on the last leg of this battle in response, one-off Clones Brizz/Mook bar where he incorporated Calicoe who as stated was front row for the battle. Making a whole setup and punch out of thin air, Chef’s 3rd round rebuttals may have been his best of the battle.
He then has a bar that reminds me a lot of his being on both URL/RBE concept vs. Showoff: “I’m back on Bullpen, they actin like John ain’t been big bro. They said if you can’t beat em than join em, and I did BOTH.” Can’t praise Chef enough, as he seems to just be the most all-around version of himself that he’s ever been. Finishing with a couple more dope Clone flips and a fire Clone impression to end his round, I thought Chef did what he needed to secure the win in another competitive round, edging him into the 3rd and in the process the battle, 2-1.
Very good battle from both. Clone continues his underrated 2023 campaign, with a good resume vs NXT, Ave, Chef Trez, and soon-to-be JC, a challenging run of writers. This battle vs Chef may be his most competitive outing vs a top tier yet. Could probably benefit from just mixing up the cadence and pace just a little. Over 3 rounds the same flow can become a bit repetitive on the ears regardless of the above-average material, although this battle he was so good it doesn’t stand out as much compared to other showings. And as for Chef, the best year of his career just seems to keep getting better. With Clips on the horizon, Trez has a very real chance of locking him in as one of the top 5 battlers of 2023 if not higher if his consistency continues through December. Great battle from 2 great MCs that seem to bring nothing less than good to great material.
1st – Chef Trez Clear
2nd – Clone Edge
3rd – Chef Trez Edge
