Cancel Chrismas
In The Building Rating
Staff Writers: France & J Smo
Cancel Chrismas
PPV Rating
Staff Writers: France & J Smo
LTBR Award Recipients
Battle of the Night: E Hart vs QB Black Diamond
Best Individual Performances of the night: #1 E Hart | #2 Charlie Clips| #3 QB Black Diamond
Best Rounds Of The Night: E Hart 2nd | Jaz 1st Round | Charlie Clips 1st
Attending the Chrome 23 Cancel Christmas event in the heart of New York City was a fun experience in the flesh. As the battles kicked off at 9 pm, the atmosphere in the building became charged with anticipation. The event’s strategic planning allowed for a seamless flow, ensuring that before midnight, we had witnessed four battles, maintaining a perfect balance between quality and efficiency. The choice to keep the event short proved to be a wise decision, curating an electric ambiance that left participants and spectators alike buzzing with excitement. You gotta salute Remy & the Chrome 23 staff on that. The Ruin Your Day Productions bring the quality they always bring to every stream. No stream is perfect so you can run into a few hiccups but very minor mic issues tonight which is always good. Vada Fly & Shotime SP running the pick and roll on the commentary showcasing their personality, analysis, and energy on the stream for each performance.
One of the highlights of the night was the warm and welcoming Chrome 23 staff, who consistently displayed a genuine enthusiasm for the event and the LTBR Brand. Their hospitality enhanced the overall experience, fostering a sense of community and camaraderie among attendees. The good energy reverberated throughout the building, creating a memorable environment that not only celebrated a big battle rap weekend but also embraced the energy of this vibrant culture. The Chrome 23 Cancel Christmas event was a testament to the success of a well-organized event. The quality of the battles is something you can never guarantee and some of the performances were closer to being lackluster to underwhelming hut you also got to see some vintage peaks of some of the great names on this card.
Podcast Recap
We will be introducing our new rating system for individual battles. Similar to the 5 Mics concept, We will give a 5-star rating per battle on the card. ☆☆☆☆☆
Taz vs Shiest Raw
Recapped by J Smo
1 ☆ Rating
The opener of the night saw Shiest return to the ring in 2023 vs a hungry newcomer in Taz. From 1st round, the pace of the battle was set early and carried throughout. Shiest went 1st and on the energy and content front just could not find her footing. With long setups that led to either lackluster punches or sometimes just seemed to lead to another long section, the round lacked notable moments or consistency. On the flip side, Taz started with a completely different level of energy. At times, it can feel like Taz is going through her material a bit too fast or aggressive but has a unique sound and conviction to her that separates her as a talent from your everyday battler. Although mostly low-hanging fruit with fat jokes and a couple of moments of good wordplay, Taz just brought way more all-around to asses and was up a clear 1-0.
This was nearly an identical process in the 2nd, with Shiest having prolonged dry spots that made it so Taz didn’t have to do much but give something at the bottom of the 2nd. Taz also did a lot more experimenting with her flow, and whether you liked every pocket the change of pace created tons more momentum on her side and was one of her biggest keys to going up 2-0. By the 3rd, Shiest showed slight improvements. Her Terra Squad bar not just being her best bar of the battle but one of the best bars of the battle overall. Taz came down to earth a bit, same energy but a little spottier with the content. Also had some heavy disrespect, torture bar kind of concepts that I think felt a bit cringey. Closest round of the battle, but even with these errors I still thought Taz simply out-battled Shiest and picked up a solid Chrome debut W that she can build off and improve her game from.
1st – Taz Clear
2nd – Taz Clear
3rd – Taz Edge
Who do you have winning between Shiest Raw Vs Taz
— Let’s Talk Battle Rap (@LTBRpodcast) December 9, 2023
E-Hart vs QB Black Diamond
Recapped by J Smo
3.50☆ Rating
Legend vs Legend action, QB vs Hart was also the only battle that could be considered a grudge match on the card. 1st round started on E Hart and off rip her pen was working. Chain punching for most of her 1st, Hart was putting together a ton of solid 1-rounders to gain momentum. Lot of QB and Diamond flips, her Diamond Necklace/Lost and Found being one of her best. One thing she did in the 1st that would carry on through the battle is she was rapping at an elite level, can’t stress enough how much this felt like signature E Hart. QB 1st in response was also very strong, her Cross Hart/Hope to Die bar early in her round being one of the more creative Heart/Hart flips in some time, further showcasing QB’s improved pen. Besides the solid Hart flips, she included some upfront disrespect about Harts’s appearance, expected not too crazy or bad. Her Johnny Football bar and E flips to end the round ended off what was a good opening round. Very close, and could go either way, but early on in a bar-for-bar bout, I thought Hart was a bit more creative and more importantly just delivered it in a much more surgical way.
The 2nd went back to E Hart and this is not only the high point of the battle, but the event as a whole. Starting from her Griselda scheme, to her 112/Peaches and Cream haymaker, and finally her “die from a Hart/heart beating” haymaker, the first half of Hart 2nd was already insane. This is just a string of a few highlights that was a round full of them and an elite, instant classic E Hart round. And I must stress, was rapped PERFECTLY, flowing and punching at the highest of levels. Already an uphill round for QB, her 2nd also happens to be her weakest round. After a little bit of bar-for-bar content again to start, she gets into a roasting session part of her round. Starting somewhat funny, it slowly turned into some of the old shock value QB content that leads down more of a bad path than a good one. Still toned back considering old QB’s standards but the sex-related bars to E Hart just didn’t seem like a fitting approach. Clearest round of the battle, E Hart smoked the 2nd.
Lastly the 3rd round, E Hart takes this round to match QB in disrespect but in a bit more of a “talk to your soul”, character breakdown type of way. Going at her appearance, style, and career E Hart raps through this round mostly straight through with minimal crowd reaction to stop her outside some peak haymakers like her Dan Marino bar and the wordplay with “Quotable”. This allowed E Hart to gain full momentum and gave the round a direct feel. Towards the end of the round as she used a snitch angle on QB her round was losing some steam but didn’t end on a bad note. QB 3rd started with a bit more shock value content, this time saying Hart tried to sleep with Rosenberg Raw. Just a strange angle, and more of the shock value content we do not need from QB, especially with how good she’s been in all other elements of the game. Her angle about E Hart flipping on QOTR was okay, and a couple of other clever bars, but just didn’t feel like she was matching E Hart in any category. Solid QB, but an elevated Hart with a vintage POTN showing.
1st – E Hart Edge
2nd – E Hart Clear
3rd – E Hart Clear
Who do you have winning between QB Black Diamond vs E Hart ?
— Let’s Talk Battle Rap (@LTBRpodcast) December 9, 2023
Charlie Clips vs C3
Recapped by France
2.50☆ Rating
The battle between Charlie Clips and C3 is quietly a mirror match when you highlight their shared qualities and attributes in humor, bars, freestyles, and schemes. In his opening round, C3 has a solid round to kick off the pace of the battle. Nothing really earth-shattering but she is aware this is a marathon, not a race, so she keeps a solid pace so that she can turn on the turbo button as the battle proceeds further. Charlie Clips addressed recent criticisms of his performances, asserting his mastery in the art of battle rap. He cleverly navigated the battle as a storyline, emphasizing the entertainment value and showcasing his ability to flip the script at any moment. Clips exhibited his showmanship, engaging the crowd seamlessly and incorporating C3 name flips that resonated with everyone. However, some of the schemes presented in the first round left room for much to be desired like the porn scheme. But although Friday battles are a common theme we always see in battles, I wasn’t mad at his Friday Scheme, some solid punches to close out the 1st from Clips for a convincing lead
C3, responding to Clips’ opening salvo, delivered a strong second round, countering with heavy bars that showcased her lyrical prowess. Her ability to land impactful punches demonstrated a resilience that kept the battle finely balanced. Meanwhile, Clips’ second round featured the freestyles that fans have come to enjoy. Notably, C3 and Cee the Boss, are present in the front and make the mistake of talking during Clips’ rounds, unwittingly becoming targets for the seasoned freestyler. This fell into a great trap that was able to help clips regain momentum in a round he was arguably losing clearly. The building can edge him this round but C3 lands the heavier bars nonetheless. I wouldn’t be surprised to see someone say they have the score even, but i edge this round to Clips.
In a touching turn of events, C3 opens her 3rd round with a few timely rebuttals herself and has another good round. I thought her 2nd round was the best of the battle, however, her 3rd certainly put her in a position for a win dependent on how Clips would respond. C3 closes out the battle well and finishes strong. Charlie Clips’ third round added a layer of sentimentality as he opened up about expecting a child and heading to the hospital after the battle. He has a slick Aquarius bar after announcing his having a baby. This revelation brought a unique and heartfelt dimension to the performance, eliciting congratulations from the room. Outside of this, he went into a whole Battle Rap Media scheme where he addressed all the media that had slandered him. Conveniently, Clips did not include LTBR in this media scheme but that’s because our criticism came from a standpoint of holding Clips to a higher standard and not disrespecting his name. Keeping it real and telling the truth doesn’t get you put in a Scheme, especially when you speak with journalist integrity & objectivity! But C3 wins this round the clearest. An argument can be made for C3 2-1, but in the building the Charisma of Clips strikes again with an improved showing from his recent work.
Who do you have winning between Charlie Clips vs C3?
— Let’s Talk Battle Rap (@LTBRpodcast) December 9, 2023
Bigg K vs Jaz The Rapper
Recapped by J Smo
2.50☆ Rating
The main event of the night, K vs Jaz was not only a heavyweight battle but a battle with major COTY and WOTY implications. Jaz led off and delivered what she has for most of the year: near if not elite, punch heavy 1st. Her K flips were hitting, her Quinceanera bar early on was dope, leading into a couple of bars directed at Remy Ma. This was followed by Zaya Wade bar and angle punches about her substance being better, breaking down K’s drug bar approach. Towards the middle of her round, she had a complex alphabet bar about the sound the letters K and C make, a clever concept with a long setup that I didn’t like but means little when you’re hitting for most of the round. She also hit different rhyme pockets towards the end of her 1st, just an all-round, very good, and balanced round. K would go bottom of the 1st, and this is also a good round although it starts off a bit light. With a slight slip of words to start, K still opens with a good punch “They got me out the Blue Room cause you’ll get Remy in the Red”, which was fire, setting an early theme of K attacking not just Jaz but female Battle Rap as a whole. A lot of straight disrespect for Jaz appearance and her role as a woman,
K fell a bit into the trap you’ve seen many others have before in their 1st intergender matchup. As the round went on, he got back to his back-to-back punching, landing his Babs/Deebo bar and NBA Jam bars, but by then the gap was already very clear with some dry spots through his round. Jaz was in a familiar spot she had been all year, up 1-0 clear with a great start to the battle.
As the 2nd starts, this is where things seem to go a bit downhill for everyone. Jaz 2nd starts with “Banana Clip/Curve Rebuttal” which was cool. Then the most unlikely of things happened: while breaking down Bigg K’s lack of impact in signature events vs other greats, she seemed to repeat a line she just said mid-set up the just blanks. A 7-8 second long slip up, it wasn’t the most egregious, but the immediate silence and prolonged moment optically was very rough and borders on the line of choke and hard stumble. From there she got it back, and the rest of her 2nd was a bit or miss content-wise. Her pockets were still present, and her Keith Lee was very dope, along with her Dog Years bar. The most notable moment of her round is the return of the scroll, this time with a list of people Bigg K has blocked on Twitter. Don’t mind the scroll re-use or topic of angle, although it wasn’t executed as elite as it was vs Twork. Some of the high points were saying K blocked minimal white people out of the whole list, and saying he blocked a woman on MLK day, leading into a Bigotry bar. As she puts the prop away and gets to closing her round, she another small but funnier stumble getting tongue-tied on the word narcissist.
K starts the 2nd with some counter-writing, addressing the “Mud Duck” angle he’s been in front of before and that was very quickly mentioned by Jaz in her 2nd. I had no idea where it was going for a second and thought it could be risky, K said he wasn’t referring to black women but just the women Jaz was related to, going right back into the straight disrespect bag that didn’t benefit him in the 1st. After another bar or 2 on topic, he switches out of it with a flow pocket, with some more disrespect about not caring about Jaz’s potential run for COTY cause he doesn’t care about women battling. Once again, I understand the belittling bully approach but to see one of the best punchers of all time and one of the current best anglers consistently go for low-hanging fruit felt like a stale approach when battling a Jaz who could match in many categories. After another bar of disrespect, K repeats himself a few times before seemingly finding the spot he missed and getting back to his round. Has to be noted that Jaz also had a meaningful slip-up, although it should be said K got back into his round smoother and played it off so well that the building didn’t seem to acknowledge it as it bled into crowd reaction, unlike Jaz with a slightly more prolonged and obvious section of silence. Bigg K’s 2nd half of his 2nd addresses Ghostwriting and lowering the standards for female battle rap. Although rapped well and a couple of small comedic moments and a good Brownstone and Brushes with the Law bars, K 2nd is an okay but beatable round and is pretty much saved by the fact Jaz, in my opinion, choked in the 2nd and gave away what was a not too crazy but winnable round. Had it 1-1 going into the 3rd.
Back on Jaz to start the 3rd, opening and breaking down K’s potential COTY run and his style/status in BR. Her “anti-SMACK” section was dope and showed another trend of Jaz’s year: extremely angle-heavy, somewhat lengthy 3rds. The COTY comparison kept going, with a good Waffle House bar that leads into an angle now talking about the unfair walls women have to climb in BR compared to men, once again in working off the COTY dialogue. Pretty solid angle and content but is once again a bit dampened by Jaz’s uncleanliness that carried from the 2nd, although not a choke/as extreme. The Men vs Women comparison angle has some good content as it goes on (the pulling out phone topic being a great talking point), but also came with its misses (bar about Remy changing Chrome to gender neutral league), and made up the rest of her round, leaving the door open with a weak 3rd.
K opens his 3rd with some more, you guessed it, straight disrespect but this time going to the Jaz Virginity angle, talking about how Jaz over-emphasizes the topic in her career. In a battle of not the best angle choices on either side, this one filed in as well but did find a high point with K’s “Download a Personality” bar that was one of his better of the battle. His 3rd turns into more of a roundabout the trends with modern women rather than being super direct to Jaz, but in an intergender battle still loosely related to the opponent at hand. The perception of the content will be extremely preference-based as it stems more from gender debate topics than straight punching or landing bars with wordplay. In the final section of his round, K takes one last angle going at Jaz for her prior 911 Operator job. Out of all the comedy-based material K had this battle this probably went over the best, with some really funny and somewhat true jokes about the behavior of a 911 operator, even getting a laugh out of Jaz herself. His final couple bars being a Wrestling Coach bar and calling Jaz an “eloquent roach”, K raps up what was also a lackluster 3rd of his own.
The truth is in a battle with high stakes, the matchup simply didn’t mesh. You get the weakest version of both these top tiers in 2023, and probably the least clean Jaz of her career. Missed angles, stumbles, and sometimes a lack of seriousness in the battle all led to this being a lackluster main event. I had both splitting the 1st 2 rounds clear, and the 3rd seems to be more about who did less bad than who reached higher peaks. While I wasn’t a fan of either content in the 3rd, the 3-4 slight stumbles by Jaz have to play a part in a round where neither showed real separation. K being cleaner and having a key bar of the round are the slight technicalities I found myself having to use to choose a winner, and edged K the 3rd and the battle. In a battle where many said a clear winner could lock COTY, it could be argued this battle is a bad look for both. Win for K in my opinion, but at what cost?
1st – Jaz Clear
2nd – Bigg K Clear
3rd – Bigg K Edge
Who do you having winning between Bigg K vs Jaz The Rapper ?
— Let’s Talk Battle Rap (@LTBRpodcast) December 9, 2023
