Chrome 23: Read The Room Takeaways

LTBR Award Recipients

Battle of the Night:  Shotgun Suge vs Eazy The Block Captain 

Performance Of The Night:
 #1 Shotgun Suge | #2 Charron | #3 Cortez 

Staff Writers: Q Moody (Senior Staff writer), France, Justin Smolenski (J Smo) 

Preamble by France: Read The Room Event

The Chrome 23 stage lit up once again as the first major battle rap event of 2025. Remy Ma delivered a bang to start the year off! Elizabeth, New Jersey, got an event that was filled with a lot of excitement in the room. There was also a lot of chattering amongst fans in the crowd, and at times, it disrupted some of the battles. Still, all of the marquee performances we got from the event was worth every penny of the price of admission or getting the PPV.

The blogs have been blogging, the Twitter spaces have been spacing, and everyone has been talking about the main event of this card since it happened. Eazy The Block Captain & Shotgun Suge’s battle lived up to the hype. Honestly, I would say it even exceeded expectations and was nothing short of captivating. We got a potential round-of-the-year caliber showing from Suge’s 1st round, and the battle combined theatrics, drama, high-energy performance, drug bars, and a competitive heavy-weight bout in the later rounds. That’s how main events are supposed to feel. The undercard showcased a lineup brimming with rising talent from the Trenches roster, each stepping into the spotlight for the biggest tests of their careers and complementing this new wave of rising stars of K1NG, Tex and Muu Wop, they went against some of battle rap’s beloved veterans making their Chrome 23 debut. Names like Cortez Mackk Myron and Clone. You also got some high-level top-tier action with the Co-Main event between Ill Will vs Charron, and a Chrome card can’t be complete without a lady involved. An intergender battle was in the mix with Shooney Da Rapper being the only woman on the card against Mike P. Albeit, their battle was one of the lowlights of the night. It wasn’t a good style clash, the rest of the card brought entertaining performances and good back and forth battles. 

Adding to the event’s allure was the expert commentary provided by a respected voice in our media landscape and one of the most credentialed in the game, our Staff Writer, J Smo! Ladies and gentlemen, please give us a round of applause.  (Stop reading right now and clap; we will know if you did it or not.) 

J Smo joined forces with the always-charismatic, Brooklyn battle rap legend, MS.Fit, for the “Read the Room” broadcast. This duo brought unparalleled entertainment value to the event that I didn’t know I needed as a viewer. Smo brought his sharp insights with humor and honesty. Smo always talks battle with eloquence, passion, and detailed breakdowns from his recaps on our website or his blogs. He brought that same persona to the big screen, and it elevated the broadcast with his ability to articulate the nuances of battle rap. In contrast, Ms. Fit added the in-ring perspective, dissecting strategies and performances with precision. She gave us the rapper’s point of view to break down the X’s and O’s of the battles. And they kept it 100 all night long; no Shoutouts needed. The synergy was well felt for two people who just met each other the same day and kicked it off that way. You can’t fake the funk with chemistry. Two people met for the first time, and they were both ready to talk some battle rap and entertain you!

This opportunity was made possible by Eazy The Block Captain, who personally reached out to J Smo to secure his involvement. It marked another milestone for LTBR, with more continued collaboration opportunities with Chrome 23. Thank you to Remy Ma and the entire Chrome team for including us, and I salute them for a very successful event. Everyone involved plays a great deal in curating the event. 

From us judging past events to commentating on one of the year’s most anticipated kickoffs, This is a Win for the LTBR team, and we are proud to contribute to and grow alongside Chrome; we are thankful for the opportunities, and we are proud of J Smo for rocking this big moment. If you have been following his Journey into battle rap for the last two years, you are elated to see him reach new heights, and this is just the beginning. As the LTBR brand, we look forward to future opportunities to collaborate and remain deeply invested in the elevation of this culture.

Biggest Takeaways:

Charron: The Run Continues

Written By J Smo

The co-main event of the night held heavy name value for Read The Room, as while Suge vs Eazy was the main focus, many respected Charron vs Ill Will as a heavy matchup in it’s own right. Both battlers were clipped up and helped this battle live up to expectations, but even more impressively is the fact with both being high level, there was still a clear winner. That winner was Charron, who once again brought Performance Of The Night level material, something that had defined his 2024 and now starts off his 2025. From the 1st round to the 3rd round, Charron started on 100 and ended the same way. Bars, pockets, delivery, the full skillset was out, as well as him displaying his high-level Battle Rap IQ and genuinely living up to the card title of “Read The Room”.

This clear W, many calling a gentlemen’s 30, isn’t in any way to discredit Will either. Will was very good, having the rebuttal of the battle and a litany of great attacks and showing his all-around prowess. The battle truly is a great fight; Charron is just giving some of his best work to date and, at this point, is not only winning battles but rarely even having competitive rounds. 15+ years in, and there’s a real debate this is the best era of Charron’s career. Pound for pound, as of right now, He’s one of the best battlers in the world and it’s no need to be quiet about it any longer.

Trenches New Talent: Flashes Of Greatness But With Room To Improves

Written By J Smo

A big part of the Read The Room card was the opportunities given to the Trenches roster vs vet names. K1NG, Tex, and Muuu Wop got names in the form of Clone, Mackk Myron, and Cortez, and the battles played out with various results and quality. Muuu Wop may have gotten the most favorable result, with many, including myself, giving Muu the battle 2-1 (1st and 3rd). However, there was room for debate, with people arguing for Clone as well as it was a decent but not great opener for the event. Muuu brought good content, but his pacing and delivery weren’t as sharp as usual, so it’s a performance that would feel like a slight step back despite the results of the battle, but it’s not anything that he can’t tighten up. The winning streak continues, but he has shown better. 

Texx vs Mackk was a very good battle, with Mackk showing up at a vintage level in the 1st two rounds and getting the win to the consensus, but Tex did his part in making it a good battle and clearly took the 3rd. Tex 3rd round was a great standout highlight for him, a very quality round that I wish he was able to bring more of. Moving forward, It will be on the radar for him to get a clear win in his next battle. There is also a little critique for him to enhance some of the content and get more aggressive with his point of attack in these battles. There is absolutely some grace to have with Tex, as this is his 5th battle overall of his entire career, and there is still much to learn. he might get there over time, but it starts with building the small habits and collecting the wins. He’s had some top battles of the night in previous events, but one can say, outside of his one-judge win from the first round of the tourney, he hasn’t won clearly since on The Trenches/Chrome.

And finally, K1NG vs Cortez, which was not just the best battle from the new talents but arguably the battle of the night. Even fighting through a talkative crowd, both were great in a scenario where Cortez returns to Battle Rap and shows (once again) why he’s a legend in our sport, and K1NG continues to give high-level performances on his initial run in Battle Rap, this time in front of his most established opponent yet. The consensus on the LTBR’s Twitter poll has a lopsided outcome, in favor of Cortez winning, but K1NG came out with the best results of everyone facing their biggest test. 

There are different things to take from all these battles and the roster as a whole. None of them had a flat-out negative showing, but none got a staple clear Win or attention-stealing POTN either. The results can be debated, while I had Muu and K1NG winning their battles, virtually all three battles were debatable, with most votes leaning towards Cortez and Mackk in their respective matches. All the newcomers showed promise and continuation in their development but also showed there are elements of their game they still can improve on. This is part of reaching the next level in competition. All of this comes with the development process, and hopefully, these talents can review the praise and critique and further sharpen their game as they continue to climb the ranks and make their impact in this potential new era of battle rap stars. 

Cortez vs K1NG: Returning Legend vs Rising Star

Written By J Smo

One of the highlights of the events was K1NG vs Cortez, which turned out about as could be expected. It was a clash of styles, with Cortez showing off a complete attack and, most importantly, showcasing why he is one of the best pure rappers battle rap has to offer, while K1NG continued to display the signature aggression and punching that has gained him the momentum he has. The 1st two rounds of this battle are insanely close, with both using their strengths at maximum ability. Whether it was Cortez flow pockets leading into significant bars like his “Rocky/Cold Punchers” or “Brick Per Diem” highs, while K1NG landed memorable haymakers with “Shoot Through The Jacket/Sounds Better In The Trenches” and “Bridge On Cort/Golden State Logo”.

You can call the 1st 2 in a mix of different ways; while I called them both as an edge for K1NG, many would argue it 1-1 if not both edged to Cortez. You can say their first two rounds from both were better than their 3rds, but Cortez’s very substance-based 3rd speaking on his son was a great mix-up of content, and with the noisy crowd affecting K1NG’s 3rd, this would be the clearest round of the battle going to Cortez.

With two contested rounds and a fairly clear one, many had Cortez winning, and his return showing being of his level is one of the biggest takeaways of the night in its own right. However, K1NG further showed why he is considered not just the best of the Trench’s new talent but one of the best up-and-comers in general, and walks away with a debatable fight and maybe his best back-and-forth in general vs. a great Cortez. No matter what you call it, this one is a gem and something both battlers should see a lot of praise for, and, hopefully, one of the first battles they decide to drop to YouTube from the event. 

An Honest Convo About Eazy The Block Captain vs Shotgun Suge

Written By Q Moody

I’ll be honest, after the event Sunday, I was fully prepared to come to the recap and make the case for Eazy The Block Captain in this battle and say people are really overreacting and just not giving him any credit. That it’s a great battle, the first great battle of the year and closer to a debatable than a clear loss. 

I wanted to come here and tell you about how phenomenal Shotgun Suge was. That in his biggest spotlight in a couple of years, he fully displayed the wrecking ball potential a motivated Suge possesses. 

That it was a grudge battle with the best possible outcome. Great showings from both men that can lead to hotly contested debates for months and years to come.

But as has been the story with most of Eazy’s battles now since rumblings of the now-confirmed incident, Eazy handles the post-game of these battles so poorly that, frankly, he comes across as the loser because of how he’s behaving even if he didn’t actually lose the battle itself.

Eazy’s first round was strong. Taking the approach of starting off with the Remy topic and landing some bombs based on that, but for someone we’ve given the label of being a counter writer, he still didn’t do something that would allow him to take the sting out of the angle and for as good as Eazy was, this was made clear when Suge dropped an avalanche of a first round on him. It was classic Suge in full effect, but with the event being maybe a 20-minute drive away from Newark, there’s the added benefit of the venue being filled up with people who are there to see and cheer on Suge. This isn’t to downplay anything; it’s to illustrate the mass of momentum Suge created after that round and that even after a good showing, Eazy might’ve been in a bit of a deficit.

The second round shows Eazy with some sharper writing, starting off with the hypocrisy of getting on him for the infamous Christmas picture with Remy with things that Suge partakes in that would all be considered haram in Islam. The 2nd round historically is where Eazy really zones in, and in this battle, it’s no different. And while Suge still has a fantastic 2nd round, with how potent Eazy’s writing was and a bit of a drop off from Suge, it’s a round I think most people should be scoring towards Eazy. I do think if Suge spent more time on the angle of Sco and Hurricane Du being siblings and Sco still being so close to Eazy, it could have been enough to take the round because conceptually, that was the most interesting topic either of them brought to the table in the whole battle and it clearly was getting under Sco’s skin so the optics would have been even more in Suge’s favor.

And I still feel like the 3rd is an incredibly close round with Eazy and Suge both closing out strong and a ton of highlights from both of them. I genuinely think anyone acting like Suge won the 3rd clear is not being truthful. That being said, after a couple of years of Suge not being his best self and coming into this battle as the underdog, Shotgun Suge put on the level of performance that had him slotted as a COTY contender in 2022, and if this is the Suge we’re getting in 2025, he’s bound to see himself in the same talks at the end of the year. He was potent in all three rounds and the tidal wave of momentum never truly relented. 


“I don’t think Jersey will be biased.”- Eazy The Block Captain on January 3rd on his live on Youtube.

But that begs to look more at the core of the conundrum that Eazy has faced since June 2023: how do you move forward?

“I’ll admit, I lied to y’all.”- Eazy The Block Captain

We all saw and watched Eazy omit details and try his best to avoid telling the whole story. In his own words, he did lie. And the reality is the culture knew he was lying (unless you’re a Trenches bot). So the more everything got denied and downplayed, the more every close battle became a time to celebrate a possible Eazy loss. Because his behavior during this time did alienate so many people, fans, and battlers alike, and there are too many stories and things even non-Remy related to ignoring. Not to mention, there probably is an element of because of how unprecedentedly dominant Eazy truly was from 2020 up to the Hitman battle; there’s absolutely an envy element or waiting for the downfall that exists here, and Eazy’s self-promotion and arrogance only fueled those sentiments even more. The long and short of it is, there were probably already people who wanted Eazy’s downfall, and once the incident happened, the perfect ammunition was given, and Eazy’s handling of it all only made it worse. 

Trying to maintain the privacy of it all clearly was a difficult task, and I think that affected Eazy’s writing a lot in battles like Geechi and JJDD. Still, with the situation blowing up again the way it did in the last month, it seemed like Eazy finally had his hands untied from behind his back, so to speak. He could finally address everything the way he wanted to and take some power from that angle. I really think Eazy failed to do that. He can create clever lines from it, but he’s a better writer than that, and he should have taken this time to craft something more focused that works as a potent counter to it. Suge delivered three rounds of great material that weaved in that drama throughout, and I can’t help but feel like Eazy did himself no favors by not being prepared to counter more.

But the real issue I have with Eazy here and why I can’t defend him in this Suge battle the way I might with the JJDD battle is this was just straight-up inexcusable, sore loser ass behavior when it didn’t call for it with how he acted in the battle and since the event. Battlers get frustrated, I get it. But it is a Chrome 23 event; we know Eazy had a hand in setting the battle up. HE CHOSE to battle Suge in a town 20 minutes from Newark. This event could have been anywhere, but because Eazy likely thought Suge was an easy opponent, he thought home-field advantage wouldn’t exist to the level that it did, and that’s genuinely the level of arrogance and miscalculation that puts Eazy in the spot he’s in now. You can’t book the battle that close to Suge’s literal home and be surprised at the reaction he gets vs. what you got; that’s delusion and foolishness, and he created this himself.

Go check the recap for the Drop Your Location event from The Trenches and Bullpen that featured Eazy vs John John Da Don, and you’ll see that I had Eazy winning that battle. The problem is the lead-up to and post-battle behavior from Eazy made it hard to argue for him in such a highly competitive battle; his actions turned the optics against him. When you’re facing these legendary battlers who’ve shown the heights they can reach and they’re turning in high-level performances, you have to be able not to shoot yourself in the foot and give the audience even more reason to say you lost, and Eazy straight up does a bad job at this. Until then, there will be celebration spaces every time he has a close battle, and his work will continue to be diminished. I’m not saying it’s right or wrong, but we’ve entered a space where it’s impossible to have an objective, honest dialogue about Eazy. The stans think anyone who criticizes him hates him, and the people who despise him will say he was never that good. 

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